Myanmar’s junta said on Monday it raided one of the country’s most notorious cyberscam centers and seized Starlink satellite internet devices. Myanmar government media The Global New Light of Myanmar said the military “conducted operations in KK Park near Myanmar-Thai border” and had “seized 30 sets of Starlink receivers and accessories,” according to the AFP news agency. AFP said that number is only a fraction of the Starlink devices they identified using satellite imagery and drone photography. On the roof of one building alone in KK Park, images showed nearly…
Tag: Myanmar
Myanmar junta admits it’s unable to conduct election across entire country
The European Union’s Special Representative for Human Rights Kajsa Ollongren said on Thursday that they would not send observers to an election in military-ruled Myanmar, as it was unlikely to result in a credible outcome, according to the Reuters news agency. It follows Myanmar junta chief Min Aung Hlaing admitting on Wednesday that the military-backed administration will be unable to conduct an upcoming general election across the entire country, as a civil war triggered by a 2021 coup rages on. myanmar-elections Election officials display a ballot as they count votes…
The Guardian view on the online scam industry: authorities must not forget that perpetrators are often victims too | Editorial
A Chinese court last month sentenced 11 people to death over their roles in a illegal scam empire along the border with Myanmar. But it won’t end a noxious multibillion-dollar industry that devastates the lives of two sets of victims. The first are those cheated out of money, often by people posing as potential romantic or business partners in what are known as “pig‑butchering” schemes. The second are those who are forced to cheat them, working in conditions amounting to modern slavery. The recent study, Scam: Inside Southeast Asia’s Cybercrime…
Strike on festival protest in Myanmar kills at least 20, residents say
A military strike on Monday night hit a group in central Myanmar’s Chaung U township who were gathered to mark the Thadingyut full moon festival and to demonstrate against the military junta that rules the country. Video: Myanmar junta bombs full moon gathering (RFA) The attack killed at least 20 people, according to a Reuters report that cited an eyewitness, the human rights group Amnesty International, and members of the shadow National Unity Government and an armed resistance group in the area. An event organizer told Agence France-Press that 40…
China court sentences 11 people to death over alleged role in family-run Myanmar scam operations
A court in China has sentenced 11 people to death for their alleged roles in a family-run crime syndicate accused of running illegal gambling and scam operations worth more than $1.4bn, and for the deaths of workers who disobeyed them. The Wenzhou intermediate people’s court on Monday sentenced 11 members of the powerful Ming family in Kokang, Myanmar to death while another five were handed death sentences suspended for two years. A further 12 defendants received jail sentences of between five and 24 years. Two-year suspended death sentences are often…
Look to Myanmar for a vision of a world where authoritarians have unfettered power | Simon Tisdall
The children were sleeping when death came from the air. A military warplane dropped two 500lb (230kg) bombs on their boarding school, witnesses said. Imagine, if you can, the carnage and the horror. At least 18 died. Others suffered life-changing injuries. The ruling regime claims to be fighting terrorists. Yet more often than not, it is defenceless, blameless civilians who are killed, maimed and displaced. No, this isn’t Gaza. It isn’t Ukraine. It’s Myanmar, where appalling atrocities, including crimes against humanity, often go unreported and unpunished. That doesn’t render them…
Myanmar election results expected at end of January, official says
An official from the commission set up by Myanmar’s ruling military junta to oversee upcoming elections said Thursday that the results of the widely disputed poll will be available by the end of January. At a news conference in Naypyidaw, Myanmar’s capital, election officials said that six parties would run for nationwide seats, while another 51 others would compete in individual states or regions. The vote is scheduled to be held in three phases beginning on Dec. 28, with two weeks between each phase, officials said. The military announced the…
Myanmar’s Suu Kyi faces worsening health in military custody, son says
The son of former Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Friday that his mother is suffering from health problems and needs urgent medical attention, appealing for her release from military custody. Kim Aris told Reuters that the 80-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate had asked to see a cardiologist about a month ago, but that he wasn’t able to determine if that request had been granted. “I am extremely worried,” he said, according to Reuters. “There is no way of verifying if she is even alive.” Aris said that…
Myanmar’s ruling junta sets Dec. 28 election date as civil war rages
The military-backed election commission in Myanmar set Dec. 28 for the initial phase of long-promised elections, the first since the 2021 coup that overthrew the country’s last elected government and kicked off a still-raging civil war. Junta leadership nominally transferred power to an interim government last month in preparation for the elections. Last week, Min Aung Hlaing, the military chief and acting president, called for increased security to protect politicians and voters, warning of a rise in attacks on civil servants, according to the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar…
Myanmar junta forms new government ahead of elections
The military junta that controls Myanmar nominally transferred power to an interim government on Thursday ahead of a planned election in December and January. A state of emergency that was due to expire Thursday after seven extensions was lifted, Zaw Min Tun, a government spokesman, told state media. The decree had given legislative, judicial, and executive powers to Min Aung Hlang as head of the ruling military council. But state media reported late Thursday that martial law and a state of emergency would be imposed in more than 60 townships…