Asia Myanmar Military leaders enacted a cybersecurity law on 1 January 2025 that among other measures tightens internet control, bans VPNs, requires platforms to store user data for 3 years and enforces compliance with the motivation of curbing disinformation
Asia Myanmar The collapse of public health infrastructure has left communities to address widespread trauma independently; Kawthoolei Care Hospital in Kayin is training community health workers to provide mental health support amid ongoing conflict and displacement
Asia Myanmar Myanmar has overtaken Afghanistan as the world’s top opium producer: driven by economic collapse after 2021 coup, production surges unchecked with no clear solutions in sight; the UN warns that rising cultivation fuels conflict, instability, health crises
Asia Myanmar Over 100 Rohingya refugees were rescued off Indonesia’s Aceh province, located in the northernmost part of the country; stranded at sea for weeks, their plight spotlights the urgent need for regional cooperation on this crisis
Asia Myanmar The country is facing lingering impacts of Typhoon Yagi: damaged farmland hinders crop cycles and sparks fears of a rice shortage, rising prices and limited government aid heighten food insecurity concerns; urgent recovery efforts are needed
Asia Myanmar The junta is urging citizens abroad to return for mandatory military service; the move follows intensified recruitment efforts amid escalating conflicts with ethnic minorities within the country displacement and humanitarian crises
Asia Myanmar Lingering impacts of Typhoon Yagi: damaged farmland hinders crop cycles and sparks fears of a rice shortage; rising prices and limited government aid heighten food insecurity concerns; urgent recovery efforts are needed
Asia Myanmar Insecurity Insight identified 1500 incidents of violence against or obstruction of health care in Myanmar from the military coup on 1 Feb 2021 to 1 Oct 2024 in which 930 health workers have been arrested and 126 killed, health facilities damaged 327 times
Asia Myanmar During the Thadingyut Festival, thousands gathered at the Shwedagon Pagoda in Yangon to pray for an end to the civil war and recurrent floods in Myanmar; many came from crisis-hit areas, seeking solace amidst the worsening conflict and natural disasters
Asia Myanmar Dr Zaw Myint Maung, leader of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement and close ally of imprisoned leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, died of leukaemia; he was in the junta's custody
Asia Myanmar The Myanmar embassy in Bangkok announced that Myanmar citizens in Thailand can now obtain new passports on the same day without an appointment, urging people to go directly to the embassy to avoid the high fees charged by agents
Asia Myanmar Humanitarian assistance, including ready-to-eat food, clothing, mosquito nets, solar lamps and medical supplies have been handed out to the flood-affected populations in Myanmar by the Government of India