Myanmar Crisis

Vicky Bowman in 2014. (Radio Free Asia via AP)
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar's sentencing of former U.K. envoy shows 'nobody is safe'

Prison terms for Bowman and husband shatter confidence of Yangon business sector

3 September 2022
Vicky Bowman currently runs the Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business. (Photo from MCRB website)
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar jails Britain's former ambassador and spouse for a year

Vicky Bowman and her husband Htein Lin were arrested on Aug. 24

2 September 2022
The depreciation of the kyat against the dollar is believed to have been triggered by the central bank's forced currency conversion rule.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar plans $200m currency intervention to fight inflation

Local currency kyat slides nearly 40% in August as fuel prices climb

2 September 2022
Weaker logistics and more supply shortages, as well as soaring fertilizer and fuel prices, are contributing to Myanmar's economic woes.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar inflation crushing consumers since military takeover

Rice prices have surged more than 40% while exorbitant gas costs hit transport

26 August 2022
Rohingya refugees mark the second anniversary of their exodus at a camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, on Aug. 25, 2019. Another three years later, they still have nowhere else to go.
Politics

Rohingya refugees mark 5th 'Genocide Day' as repatriation hopes dim

Military control in Myanmar keeps millions in Bangladesh limbo

25 August 2022
Myanmar's military chief, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, presides over an army parade in Naypyitaw in March 2021.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar military drives itself into corner on violent crackdowns

Regime learns election gimmicks from Thailand but not how to avoid a bloodbath

18 August 2022
Aung San Suu Kyi, pictured here in 2019, has been detained since the military took control of Myanmar in February 2021.
Myanmar Crisis

Suu Kyi gets 6 more years in prison, bringing total to 17: source

Ousted Myanmar leader found guilty of misusing charity funds in closed-door trial

15 August 2022
A Wa soldier walks through a rice field where opium was once grown in Myanmar's Shan State. (Photo by Adam Oswell)
Life

From headhunting to weaponized drones: Myanmar's Wa carve own path

Minority emerges as power broker amid post-takeover chaos

12 August 2022
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing has run Myanmar's military-led government since February 2021.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar general meets with Japan lawmaker for 1st time since takeover

Min Aung Hlaing and ex-cabinet minister Hiromichi Watanabe discuss bilateral ties

12 August 2022
Myanmar is preparing to build routes and charging stations for electric buses.
11 August 2022
Southeast Asian ministers met in Phnom Penh on Aug. 3. Among the attendees were, from left: Vietnam Foreign Minister But Thanh Son, Cambodia Foreign Minister Peak Sokhonn, Indonesia Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, Brunei Second Minister of Foreign Affairs Erywan Yusof, and Laos Foreign Minister Saleumxay Kommasith.
International relations

ASEAN ramps up pressure on Myanmar after execution of activists

Southeast Asian leaders to assess prolonged crisis, says joint statement

5 August 2022
Southeast Asia's top diplomats shake hands during the opening ceremony of the ASEAN foreign ministers meeting in Phnom Penh on Aug. 3.
International relations

ASEAN struggles to find way forward on Myanmar crisis

Malaysia proposes banning Myanmar's military appointees from bloc meetings

4 August 2022
Southeast Asia's top diplomats started their annual meeting on Aug. 3 in Phnom Penh.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar shifts ASEAN to 'a la carte' diet

Crucial week of diplomacy could determine future of the Southeast Asian bloc

3 August 2022
A beach in Ngwesaung, in the Ayeyarwady region of southern Myanmar, in 2017. With the pandemic easing, the military regime wants to restart tourism. (Getty Images)
Tea Leaves

Sun, sea and civil war: holidaying in Myanmar

Tourists to strife-torn country must first make peace with risks and ethics

3 August 2022
Hun Sen, left, meets with Min Aung Hlaing in Naypyitaw on Jan. 7: The Cambodian leader is useful to the Myanmar regime as a conduit to seek international legitimacy.
Opinion

ASEAN's impotence in Myanmar can be traced to Hun Sen

As bloc chair, Cambodia has let the region down by closing its eyes to abuses

3 August 2022
Top diplomats set to meet for ASEAN talks. From left: Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Cambodian Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn, and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi. (Source photos by AP and Reuters)
International relations

ASEAN to host ministerial talks amid Myanmar crisis, Ukraine war

Meetings to include U.S., China as Pelosi's possible Taiwan visit raises tensions

2 August 2022
Local media reports indicate a Japanese man named Toru Kubota has been detained in Yangon.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar authorities detain Japanese man in Yangon

Man in his 20s, reported as Toru Kubota, was arrested with 2 Myanmar citizens

31 July 2022
Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing in Moscow on July 12. Japan's policies derive from the tenuous assumption that the military regime can continue to hold power.
Opinion

Japan is backing the wrong side in Myanmar

Opposition NUG will prevail in war and better realize economic development

28 July 2022
People protest in the wake of executions, in Yangon on July 25. (Screen grab obtained from a social media video) 
Myanmar Crisis

World condemns Myanmar junta for 'cruel' execution of activists

U.N. human rights chief calls the move a 'regressive step'

26 July 2022
A complex of four buildings called "Yoma Central" near Yangon Central railway station, is under construction on July 22. Before the change in government, work on the site was frenetic, but there are no workers there now.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar building projects worth $1.3bn frozen since army took power

Double whammy of political instability and COVID leave developers out-of-pocket

24 July 2022
Myanmar poll workers count votes in the November 2020 general election.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar military prepares for election in bid for legitimacy

Skepticism of 'free and fair' vote widespread a year before August 2023 deadline

23 July 2022
Rohingya refugees near Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh in 2017. The African nation of Gambia filed the case in 2019. 
International relations

U.N. court rejects Myanmar claims, will hear Rohingya case

Decision sets stage for hearings airing evidence of atrocities against the ethnic minority

23 July 2022
Myanmar's foreign-currency shortages will limit supplies of such imports as fuel and cooking oils, the World Bank says.
Economy

Myanmar economy to grow 3% as recovery lags: World Bank

Prepandemic activity unlikely to return soon despite weaker-than-expected COVID hit

22 July 2022
Myanmar military chief Min Aung Hlaing, second left, meets with Rosatom executives on July 11. (Photo courtesy of Myanmar's Ministry of Information)
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar seeks Russian assistance in push for nuclear energy

Min Aung Hlaing meets key business leaders and defense officials in latest trip

19 July 2022
A bank employee ties stacks of kyat together in Yangon. The Myanmar currency has weakened since the military took control of the country in 2021, now trading for around 2,190 to the dollar on the street.
Myanmar Crisis

Myanmar revokes foreign company exemption from currency rules

International businesses need to convert deposits into kyat, central bank says

15 July 2022