Myanmar

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Airstrikes on Myanmar village feared to have killed 100

BANGKOK (AP) — Airstrikes by Myanmar’s military on Tuesday killed as many as 100 people, including many children, who were attending a ceremony held by opponents of army rule, said a witness, a member of a local pro-democracy group and independent media.

https://apnews.com/article/airstrikes-military-myanmar-village-918fd636bb81153928ab7481e06423e5?

Myanmar overtakes Afghanistan as top opium producer

Myanmar is now the world's largest producer of opium, overtaking Afghanistan, a UN report says.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-67688413?

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Scores of underage Rohingya girls forced into abusive marriages in Malaysia Deteriorating conditions in Myanmar and in neighboring Bangladesh’s refugee camps are driving scores of underage Rohingya girls to Malaysia for arranged marriages with Rohingya men who frequently abuse them, The Associated Press found in interviews with 12 young Rohingya brides who have arrived in Malaysia since 2022. The youngest was 13. Read more.

Why this matters: All the girls interviewed by the AP said they are held hostage by controlling husbands who rarely let them outside. Several said they were beaten and raped by traffickers and other men during the journey to Malaysia, and five said they were abused by their husbands. Half the girls are pregnant or already have babies, despite most saying they were not prepared for motherhood.   The unwanted marriages are the latest atrocity bestowed upon Rohingya girls: from childhoods marred by violence to attacks where security forces systematically raped them to years of hunger in Bangladesh’s squalid refugee camps. Global apathy toward the Rohingya crisis and strict migration policies have left these girls with almost no options.   Malaysia is not a signatory to the United Nations’ refugee convention. The girls — most of whom are undocumented — are therefore considered illegal immigrants. Reporting their assaults to authorities, therefore, would put them at risk of being thrown into one of Malaysia’s detention centers, which have long been plagued by reports of abuse. Malaysia’s government did not respond to the AP’s requests for comment.

Related coverage ➤ As more Rohingya arrive by boat, Indonesia asks the international community to share its burden AP Explains: What’s behind Rohingya exodus from Myanmar A boat carrying 180 Rohingya refugees vanished. A frantic phone call helped untangle the mystery

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Rape, terror and death at sea for Rohingya refugees In March, Indonesian officials and local fishermen rescued 75 people from the overturned hull of a boat that was carrying Rohingya refugees when it capsized off Indonesia. The U.N. says 67 other passengers, including at least 28 children, were killed. Until now, little was known about how the boat capsized, or why. The Associated Press, in separate interviews with eight surviving passengers, provides the first insight into what happened on board. Read more.

Why this matters: Most Rohingya understand the risks of taking to the sea. But those who board the vessels say the world has left them with little choice. In interviews following the March capsizing, the Rohingya say the Indonesian captain and crew sexually assaulted four women and girls and grew angry when others refused to join the captain in his bedroom. Passengers say the captain then deliberately capsized the boat before fleeing with three crew members. Police say murder charges aren't being considered.   The disaster is the latest in a string of tragedies to befall the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority that suffered mass slaughter at the hands of Myanmar’s military in 2017 in what the United States has dubbed a genocide.The results of their mass exodus have been catastrophic, and international indifference toward the Rohingya has, in many ways, worsened the crisis.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Myanmar’s worst violence since the military takeover is intensifying the crisis, the UN says   Rohingya who moved to island in Bangladesh are learning job skills, says Japanese charity chief   At least 8,500 migrants died on land and sea routes worldwide last year, the most in a decade

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Reports of army killing of villagers in Myanmar supported by photos and harrowing tale of a survivor

BANGKOK (AP) — Reports that soldiers of Myanmar’s military government last week carried out a massacre of more than 30 civilians in a village in central Myanmar were supported Monday in interviews with a local administrator and a man who says he survived the killings.

https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-massacre-of-civilians-by-army-c4b65ef8a61b327d77950e237a5b80b1?

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Myanmar’s ethnic rebels say they captured an airport in a new setback for the military government

BANGKOK (AP) — One of Myanmar’s most powerful ethnic minority groups battling the military government said it captured an airport serving the country’s top world-class beach resort, marking the first time resistance forces have seized such a facility.

https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-arakan-rakhine-ngapali-ff8cf55fa71edcac2ce846784a38d98c?

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Rebel group takes key Myanmar border town and rare earth mining hub in setback for military regime

BANGKOK (AP) — A powerful rebel group has seized a key trading town in northeastern Myanmar on the Chinese border, taking control of a lucrative rare earth mining hub in another setback for the military-led government, according to witnesses.

https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-rebel-fighting-army-setback-kanpaiti-b9b89e0ffd736e0cedb284543ae1107c?

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They were forced to scam others worldwide. Now thousands are held in detention on the Myanmar border

Thousands of sick, exhausted and terrified young men and women, from countries all over the world squat in rows, packed shoulder to shoulder. Weeks after being released from locked compounds where they were forced to trick Americans and others out of their life savings, they're still stuck in Myanmar waiting for a way home. Read more.

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What to know about Myanmar’s civil war, which is complicating earthquake relief efforts

The Southeast Asian nation of Myanmar has been plagued by wars and natural disasters since it became independent from Britain in 1948. Relief efforts from Friday’s devastating 7.7 magnitude earthquake, which left over 1,600 people dead, are especially complicated as the country has been embroiled in civil war since 2021. Read more.

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Survivors still being found from Myanmar earthquake, but hopes begin to fade as deaths exceed 2,700

BANGKOK (AP) — Rescue workers saved a 63-year-old woman from the rubble of a building in Myanmar’s capital on Tuesday, but hope was fading of finding many more survivors of the violent earthquake that killed more than 2,700 people, compounding a humanitarian crisis caused by a civil war.

https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-thailand-earthquake-c4ccdcd3ff2e38c54046274ee039cbf7?

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Myanmar’s military declares a ceasefire to ease quake relief as the death toll tops 3,000

Myanmar’s ruling military declared a temporary ceasefire in the country’s civil war Wednesday to facilitate relief efforts following a 7.7 magnitude earthquake that has killed more than 3,000 people. Read More.

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‘Unprecedented scale’

Thousands of men and women are lured by promises of well-paying jobs but end up being held against their will at compounds in Myanmar. It’s a scam underworld that cheats ordinary people around the world out of their life savings.

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Rescue efforts from Myanmar’s deadly earthquake wind down as death toll hits 3,600

BANGKOK (AP) — Long-shot efforts to find survivors from Myanmar’s devastating March 28 earthquake were winding down Monday, as rescue efforts were supplanted by increasing relief and recovery activity. The death toll surpassed 3,600 and was still climbing.

https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-ceasefire-military-resistance-earthquake-disaster-05329d5a2448d0afd9d7c09e55a1c759?

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Myanmar military recaptures strategic town from rebels after a year, government says

BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar ‘s military has recaptured a strategic gateway town from rebel forces after nearly a year, state-media reported Thursday, marking a rare turnaround in the country’s northeast, where an alliance of ethnic militias seized a large swath of territory in an offensive that began in late 2023.

https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-military-recapture-nawnghkio-105c19ae525948f9c7a0a7000a2f2e4d?

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A Myanmar town lies in shambles as both sides in civil war vie for control Kyaukme, a once-thriving town in Myanmar’s Shan State, is in shambles, targeted by both sides in the Southeast Asian country’s bitter civil war because of its strategic location at a key junction on the trading route to China. An Associated Press journalist has confirmed the damage in a rare visit to the war-torn area allowed by the country’s military government. Read more.

What to know: The town has changed hands twice since the army seized power in 2021. An ethnic minority guerrilla group captured the town in August last year, but it fell back into the hands of the military government on Oct. 1. The recapture of the town is a major victory for the government, coming after the resistance was widely believed to have won control of most of the country.   The army allowed an AP photographer to join a trip organized by pro-military Myanmar media, the only representative of foreign media who was permitted to do so. The military doesn’t allow a free press and bars journalists from entering conflict zones independently.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤ Photos show a town ravaged by civil war in Myanmar

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A massive 11,000-carat ruby has been unearthed in Myanmar’s war-scarred gemstone heartland

BANGKOK (AP) — Miners in Myanmar have discovered a rare ruby of enormous size, considered to be the second-largest by weight ever found in the conflict-battered Southeast Asian nation, state media reported Friday.

https://apnews.com/article/myanmar-mogok-ruby-min-aung-hlaing-war-2db4e7007da21dd6066c66732d888370?