World News by Wild Rose

The son of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi said she sounded “fairly healthy” after speaking to the detained ex-democratic leader on Thursday for the first time in more than five years. Suu Kyi, 81, is under house arrest in the capital, Naypyidaw, according to Myanmar authorities, where she has been sequestered since being unseated in a 2021 military coup. “She was sounding fairly healthy,” Kim Aris, who lives in the UK, said after the telephone conversation. It was the first time he had spoken to his...

Fresh from walking down red carpets laid out by his Southeast Asian neighbours, Myanmar’s ex-military chief Min Aung Hlaing appears to have a new diplomatic feather in his cap: re-engagement with the United States. Washington slapped sanctions on Min Aung Hlaing just 10 days after his February 1, 2021 coup and the ensuing bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. Waves of subsequent sanctions targeted military-linked companies and cronies. Yet since last month, two rounds of talks with US...

There are signs the United States is shifting its policy towards Myanmar, formerly a global pariah.

Why is the Trump administration holding secret talks with Myanmar's military ruler, accused of genocide?

Authorities in Thailand have uncovered an audacious scheme involving hundreds of metres of internet cable sent over the Thai border to keep a suspected Myanmar scam compound online, after finding two ramshackle village homes using enough daily bandwidth to power an entire village. Officers raided the homes in Nong Lu, a Thai border village in Kanchanaburi province, which is the gateway to the Three Pagodas Pass in Myanmar – now a notorious hub for cyber scammers. Many scam centre leaders have...

Courts in China have sentenced three key figures of a notorious Myanmar crime syndicate to death for operating large-scale cross-border telecoms fraud networks and causing the deaths of four Chinese nationals. The Quanzhou Intermediate People’s Court and the Nanan City People’s Court in southeastern Fujian province handed down the rulings against syndicate head Wei Huairen, his nephew Chen Dawei and accomplice Liao Jingfang on Tuesday, following a trial held in May, state broadcaster CCTV...

Backing the genocide case against Myanmar must be followed by concrete action to protect the Rohingya.

On a recent Friday night in a Bangkok dive bar, a group of young Myanmar exiles sang softly along to a mournful ballad played on an acoustic guitar. None among the crowd had any plans to leave, either for their homeland or home for bed. They fled war, a broken economy and forced conscription into a military that seized power in the 2021 coup. While their future in Thailand is uncertain, their ties to home are kept alive by the hard currency they send back each month to parents and siblings left...

Delisting comes days after Trump administration reportedly reopened talks with Myanmar's government.

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. China tried 3 times to talk crime families out of scam business in Myanmar: CCTV China tried three times to persuade powerful families in northern Myanmar to shut down scam operations before Myanmar police carried out large-scale...

Myanmar leader Min Aung Hlaing in Malaysia for a two-day visit, his first since he became president in April.

Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Thursday said Malaysia would do “whatever is possible” to strengthen cooperation with Myanmar and fully reintegrate the diplomatically isolated nation into the Asean fold. The pledge came during an unusually high-profile official welcome for Myanmar President Min Aung Hlaing, despite Malaysia’s position that such engagement does not amount to recognition of his government. Min Aung Hlaing inspected a guard of honour in Putrajaya before holding private talks with...

China tried three times to persuade powerful families in northern Myanmar to shut down scam operations before Myanmar police made a massive arrest in 2023, according to a new documentary broadcast on Chinese state television. The three-part documentary, which was jointly produced by China’s Ministry of Public Security and state broadcaster CCTV and began airing on Monday, shows obstacles faced by Chinese authorities in pursuing criminal networks and scam groups operating in northern Myanmar...

Rohingya activist says it’s unfair to send refugees back to Myanmar

Nearly 1,500 Myanmar nationals who were sent back from Malaysia arrived in the country’s largest city on Sunday despite warnings from the UN refugee agency and rights groups that conditions for return remain unsafe. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the military seized power from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi on February 1, 2021, triggering widespread opposition and plunging large parts of the country into conflict. The returnees, including 86 women, have been convicted of staying...

Shrinking resources for refugee support groups in Malaysia collide with increasing hostility towards the Rohingya.

The third edition of the meeting will be held in Guwahati, underlining the growing focus on security challenges in the Northeast