Latest Myanmar News
Myanmar releases thousands of prisoners to mark Independence Day
BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government has released more than 6,000 prisoners and has reduced other inmates’ sentences as part of a mass amnesty marking the 77th anniversary of independence from Britain on Saturday. They included just a small proportion of hundreds of...
Myanmar's military rulers enact cybersecurity law with wide-ranging censorship provisions
BANGKOK (AP) — Military-ruled Myanmar, already notorious for cracking down on free speech, has enacted a new cybersecurity law with wide-ranging controls on the flow of information, according to a text of the measure published Friday in state-run newspapers. ...
Initial results of imprecise census in Myanmar show a slight population drop
BANGKOK (AP) — Myanmar’s military government announced Tuesday that provisional results of a census taken in October put the Southeast Asian nation’s population at about 51.3 million, a slight drop from the last official nationwide count of about 51.5 million taken 10 years ago. ...
The water was their livelihood. Now Thailand's sea nomads work to preserve a vanishing way of life
SURIN ISLANDS, Thailand (AP) — When Hook was a child, he started his days by jumping off the boat that his family lived on and into the ocean. By age 3, he could already swim and dive in shallow waters. His home was a kabang, a boat, that his family sailed in Thailand’s southern waters. The...
An ethnic armed group in western Myanmar claims to have captured a major regional army headquarters
BANGKOK (AP) — A powerful ethnic armed group in western Myanmar claimed Friday to have scored a major victory in the war against the ruling military, even as neighboring nations at a meeting in Thailand were discussing efforts to end the conflict peacefully. The capture by the...
Sri Lanka's navy rescues 102 Rohingya refugees found adrift aboard a fishing trawler
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's navy rescued more than 100 people believed to be Rohingya refugees who were found adrift aboard a fishing trawler off the island nation, a navy spokesman said Friday. Navy spokesman Gayan Wickramasuriya said fishermen had spotted the refugees,...
Utah mom killed with 3 kids was a refugee who fled violence in Myanmar
A Utah mother who police believe was shot and killed by her husband along with three of their children was a refugee who fled violence in Myanmar and dreamed of thriving with her family in the U.S., relatives said Thursday. Police believe the husband killed his family before...
Thailand hosts regional talks to find solutions to Myanmar's bloody civil war
BANGKOK (AP) — Two days of meetings on Myanmar ’s violent political crisis began Thursday in the Thai capital Bangkok, the latest in a long series of regional talks that have made no headway in restoring peace to the war-torn Southeast Asian nation. Myanmar has been wracked by...
Thai police detain 2 suspects after a bomb in a border province killed 3 and injured scores
BANGKOK (AP) — Thai police on Saturday said two suspects were in custody as authorities investigated a bombing in the north that killed at least three people and injured dozens of others. An explosive device was thrown into a crowd during an outdoor performance at an annual...
UN drug experts say opium production has leveled off in Myanmar, but instability may trigger a rise
BANGKOK (AP) — There has been a slight drop in the production of opium in Myanmar, the world’s biggest source of the illicit drug from which heroin is derived, experts from the United Nations said Thursday, while warning of strong prospects for future expansion of the deadly trade. ...
