SINGAPORE: Alphabet Inc’s YouTube has removed five channels of Myanmar’s military-run television networks hosted on its platform in the wake of the coup in the Southeast Asian country. “We have terminated a number of channels and removed several videos from YouTube in accordance with our community guidelines and applicable laws,” a Youtube spokeswoman said in a statement […]
Myanmar
Myanmar blackout may be cover for gross human rights violations — UN investigator
Myanmar’s army may be committing gross human rights violations under cover of a mobile phone blackout in parts of Myanmar’s Rakhine and Chin states, UN special rapporteur Yanghee Lee said on Monday. Lee, an independent expert who reports to the UN Human Rights Council on human rights in Myanmar, said nine townships had been blacked […]
Myanmar soldiers jailed for Rohingya killings freed after less than a year
Myanmar has granted early release to seven soldiers jailed for the killing of 10 Rohingya Muslim men and boys during a 2017 military crackdown in the western state of Rakhine, two prison officials, two former fellow inmates and one of the soldiers told Reuters. The soldiers were freed in November last year, the two inmates […]
Myanmar press freedom ‘suffocating’ despite Reuters reporters’ release
Media freedom advocates praised the surprise release of Reuters reporters in Myanmar but stressed the pair should never have been jailed in the first place and called for sweeping reforms of paralysing press laws. The Pulitzer Prize-winning reporters walked free from Yangon’s Insein prison Tuesday after more than 500 days behind bars as part of […]
Grassed up: Facebook leads Myanmar police to weed-growing Americans
Myanmar police have arrested one American and two locals after photos on Facebook led them to a huge plantation of towering marijuana plants near Mandalay. Pictures of the fields of weed started circulating on the platform last week — a rare sight online in a country where police photos of seized heroin and methamphetamine are […]
Myanmar’s top court rejects final appeal by jailed Reuters journalists
Myanmar’s top court on Tuesday rejected the appeal of two Reuters reporters sentenced to seven years in jail for breaking the Official Secrets Act, in a landmark case that has raised questions about the country’s transition to democracy. “They were sentenced for seven years and this decision stands, and the appeal is rejected,” Supreme Court […]
Malaysian inquiry probes trafficking camps, migrant graves
A Malaysian inquiry into the 2015 discovery of suspected human-trafficking camps and graves in the jungle heard Thursday police found one of the sites months before authorities publicly revealed their existence. The public inquiry, which began this week, is examining the conduct of law enforcement agencies with regard to the discovery of almost 150 graves […]
‘Masters of our destiny’: Myanmar’s Wa rebels in show of force
It has a standing army of 25,000, manufactures its own guns and conscripts at least one member of each household — meet the United Wa State Army: Communist, reclusive, China-backed rebels determined to protect their supremacy over Myanmar’s badland border zone. Thousands of soldiers, including a company of women and a sniper platoon in combat […]
‘The people’s messengers’: Myanmar’s satirical poets target censorship
In a classroom on the outskirts of Myanmar’s biggest city, a thin, bespectacled university student led about a dozen peers in boisterous chants of “Censorship is a shame!” and “We don’t believe in censorship!” It was the final rehearsal of a troupe performing “thangyat”, a centuries-old custom allowing free rein to satirise rulers and society […]
Climate change blights children’s lives in Bangladesh
Environmental disasters linked to climate change are threatening the lives and futures of over 19 million children in Bangladesh, including prompting many families to push their daughters into child marriages, UNICEF said Friday. “Climate change is deepening the environmental threat faced by families in Bangladesh’s poorest communities, leaving them unable to keep their children properly […]