US arrests Japanese Yakuza boss over missile sales to Myanmar rebels
Japanese Yakuza leader Takeshi Ebisawa was arrested by U.S. officials Thursday on charges of plotting to sell drugs and for purchasing U.S. surface-to-air missiles for Myanmar rebels. Ebisawa, 57, is described by federal prosecutors as a leader in a Japanese crime syndicate and is believed to have worked with co-conspirators. An unsealed criminal complaint Thursday revealed the missiles were meant to be used to protect drug shipments.
news.yahoo.comMyanmar orders foreign money held by banks changed to kyats
An order by Myanmar’s central bank that all foreign currency in bank accounts must be converted into the local currency has many in the military-ruled country worried over potential losses. Businesses and individuals were told in a notice issued Sunday that as of Monday they must convert dollars and other foreign currency into kyats within one day or face legal consequences. Foreign currency can only be sent overseas with government approval, it said.
news.yahoo.comMyanmar’s rebellion, divided, outgunned and outnumbered, fights on
Rebel groups, meanwhile, are pulling off surprising victories, even without central control and a lack of command structures. “This is the time, the right time, to make our revolution prevail,” said Bo Nagar, who leads a rebel group that claims to have killed some 180 government soldiers in ambushes since October. In retribution, Myanmar’s military raided a village in January looking for Bo Nagar, killing about 20 people, including his cousin, whose head was cut off and left on a toilet. The Myanmar military, meanwhile, continues to buy arms from willing nations, despite Western sanctions. The lack of weapons has frustrated fighters like 32-year-old Scott Aung, who joined a rebel group last March.
washingtonpost.comUN human rights council asked to act against Myanmar army
The main opposition organization in military-ruled Myanmar has urged the United Nations Human Rights Council to act strongly to restore democracy in the Southeast Asian nation, saying that the international community should put sanctions and other pressures on the country’s generals
washingtonpost.comWitness: Army attacks in eastern Myanmar worst in decades
While Russia's war in Ukraine dominates global attention, Myanmar's military is targeting civilians in air and ground attacks on a scale unmatched in the country since World War II, according to a longtime relief worker who spent almost three months in a combat zone in the Southeast Asian nation. David Eubank, director of the Free Burma Rangers, a humanitarian relief organization, told The Associated Press that the military’s jets and helicopters stage frequent attacks in the areas of eastern Myanmar where he and his volunteers operate, bringing medical and food aid to civilians caught in conflict. Video shot by his group’s members includes rare images of repeated air strikes by Myanmar military aircraft in Kayah State – also known as Karenni State — causing a number of civilian deaths.
news.yahoo.comMyanmar military revokes citizenship of opposition members
Myanmar’s ruling military council has announced the revocation of the citizenship of top members of the main group coordinating resistance to army rule. The announcement broadcast on state-run MRTV television on Friday said 11 leaders of the opposition to military rule have had their citizenship terminated because they had allegedly fled the country and harmed the national interest. It targeted eight members of the shadow National Unity Government, which views itself as the country’s legitimate ruling authority, and three prominent activists.
news.yahoo.comUN court hearings set to resume into Rohingya genocide case
An international case accusing Myanmar of genocide against the Rohingya ethnic minority is returning to the United Nations’ highest court amid questions over whether the country’s military rulers should even be allowed to represent the Southeast Asian nation.
New Zealand won't engage Myanmar in largest free trade bloc
New Zealand says it will not deal with Myanmar under a major 15-nation trade agreement, the world’s largest that took effect this year, citing the deadly violence and democratic setbacks in the Southeast Asian country after the military seized power.
Myanmar fighter jet crashes into lake, killing pilot
A Myanmar fighter jet on Wednesday crashed into a lake in the country’s northwest, state-run media reported, blaming the incident on a technical malfunction. The crash took place in a region where there is active combat between Myanmar's army and forces opposed to army rule. State-run MRTV said the plane crashed into a lake 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of the town of Sagaing.
news.yahoo.comIthaca, NY, has become a hub for refugees from around the globe
A port in the stormRecently, Ithaca has become one of the major hubs in New York for refugee resettlement. They joined a growing community in Ithaca, which, In 2016, had begun accepting 50 refugees a year, according to the Ithaca Journal. So, while Ithaca may be cold, expensive and remote, it’s home for many refugees like Phyu and her family. When refugees first arrive in Ithaca, they’ve typically come through a refugee resettlement agency that offers assistance for 90 days. More recently, many other organizations have gone “dormant,” as have larger refugee resettlement agencies designated by the federal government, according to Verderosa.
mlive.com'Absolute hell': One year since Myanmar's military coup
"In Myanmar we still have many people being killed every single day by the military, and the world is not watching," says one resident of Yangon, Myanmar's largest city. It's been one year since the army siezed power in the southeast Asian country, hours before a new parliament was due to convene. Troops rounded up lawmakers in dawn raids, ending a brief democratic interlude and setting the stage for months of bloodshed. Almost 1,500 civilians have been killed and over 11,000 arrested in the ongoing crackdown, according to a local monitor, with rights groups accusing junta troops of torture and extrajudicial killings.
news.yahoo.comLaos makes big meth bust as UN warns of security breakdown
Police in Laos have made their second huge seizure in three months of methamphetamine, a development that a U.N. expert on the illicit drug trade said Saturday reflects a breakdown of security in Southeast Asia. Jeremy Douglas, the regional representative for the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, said the seizure of 36.5 million methamphetamine tablets in the northwestern province of Bokeo was the region’s second largest after 55.6 million meth pills were captured in October in the same province. Lao Security Radio, a state broadcaster, said on its website that four residents of the province were arrested Wednesday in Huay Xai district in a raid that also captured 590 kilograms (1,300 pounds) of crystal meth — also known as ice — a minor amount of heroin and a pistol.
news.yahoo.comReport: Ghostly monkey among 224 new Mekong region species
A monkey with ghostly white circles around its eyes is among 224 new species listed in the World Wildlife Fund’s latest update on the greater Mekong region. The conservation group’s report, released Wednesday, highlights the need to protect the rich biodiversity and habitats in the region, which includes Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar. The monkey, a new species of Popa langur found on the extinct Mt. Popa volcano in Myanmar, was the only new mammal.
news.yahoo.comOmicron variant is causing "hellacious" worker shortages nationwide
A "Great American Sickout," thanks to the spread of the Omicron variant is forcing businesses to cope with worker shortages as the U.S. struggles to combat the spread of the coronavirus. CBS News MoneyWatch reporter Amy Picchi joins CBSN with more.
news.yahoo.comJudging Joe Biden's first year in office
The beginning of the Biden Presidency is being measured by opposing forces – both by legislative wins, and by the economic headwinds of the continuing pandemic. CBS News' John Dickerson talks with Harvard University historian Jill Lepore, New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie, and The Atlantic's James Fallows about the presidency's "return to normalcy"; the chaos surrounding the withdrawal from Afghanistan and COVID-19 testing; the contrasting news of low unemployment and rising inflation; and how Joe Biden's temperament may be the most powerful tool being wielded by the Oval Office.
news.yahoo.comMyanmar restaurant, started by refugees, to sell grab and go meals at Meijer
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — A Myanmar restaurant in Kentwood will begin this month selling grab and go meals at Bridge Street Market and two Grand Rapids-area Meijer stores. Amazing Myanmar Asian Cuisine, 3740 28th St. SE, will sell 10 of its most popular menu items at the stores, said owner Min Min Tun, a Burmese refugee who runs the restaurant alongside his wife, Aye Soo.
mlive.comHRW: Democracy must step up as autocrats face turning point
A top rights activist feels populist autocrats could be facing a turning point as people learn that stirring words don’t always translate into action, but he says democratic politicians will have to step up with “visionary leadership” to keep autocrats from getting a second chance
washingtonpost.comMyanmar's Suu Kyi sentenced to 4 more years in prison
A court in Myanmar sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to four more years in prison on Monday after finding her guilty of illegally importing and possessing walkie-talkies and violating coronavirus restrictions, a legal official said. Suu Kyi was convicted last month on two other charges and given a four-year prison sentence, which was then halved by the head of the military-installed government. Suu Kyi’s supporters and independent analysts say the charges against her are contrived to legitimize the military’s seizure of power and prevent her from returning to politics.
news.yahoo.comCambodia defends leader's trip to Myanmar as 'positive step'
Cambodia’s foreign minister has defended Prime Minister Hun Sen’s trip to Myanmar, the first by a foreign leader since the military takeover plunged the country into turmoil, though there was little evidence the mission yielded any immediate breakthrough.
Myanmar military reverts to strategy of massacres, burnings
When the young farmhand returned to his village in Myanmar, he found the still smoldering corpses in a circle in a burned-out hut, some with their limbs tied. The Myanmar military had stormed Done Taw at 11 a.m. on Dec. 7, he told the AP, with about 50 soldiers hunting people on foot. The carnage at Done Taw is just one of the most recent signs that the Myanmar military is reverting to a strategy of massacres as a weapon of war, according to an AP investigation based on interviews with 40 witnesses, social media, satellite imagery and data on deaths.
news.yahoo.comMyanmar model-actor Paing Takhon named world's 'Most Handsome Face,' sentenced to jail in same week
Model and actor Paing Takhon was sentenced to three years in jail for speaking out during protests in Myanmar, in the same week he was named the “Most Handsome Face” of 2021 by entertainment site TC Candler. Takhon was named the world’s “Most Handsome Face” of 2021, coinciding with the model and actor’s sentencing this week for his support of the anti-coup protests in Myanmar earlier this year. Takhon rose to global prominence at the beginning of 2021 when he became known as the “hot monk” through viral social media posts.
news.yahoo.comSave the Children says staff missing after Myanmar massacre
The international aid group Save the Children says two of its staffers are missing in a massacre in eastern Myanmar that left more than 30 people, including women and children, dead and burned in their vehicles after they were reportedly shot by government troops as they were fleeing combat.
US issues sanctions, visa bans to mark Human Rights Day
The U.S. issued financial sanctions and visa bans on former and current government officials and entities in nine countries Friday — including China, Myanmar and Russia — as part of coordinated actions with Canada and the U.K. to coincide with International Human Rights Day.
Rohingya sue Facebook for $150B, alleging role in violence
Rohingya refugees are suing Facebook parent Meta Platforms for more than $150 billion over what they say was the company’s failure to stop hateful posts that incited violence against the Muslim ethnic group by Myanmar’s military rulers and their supporters.