Myanmar or Burma

Serge Pun, the former executive chairman of Singapore-listed Yoma Strategic Holdings Limited, was charged with money laundering and other illegal transactions in late July after his month-long detention by the junta, according to sources familiar with the case.

China urged neighbouring countries to help war-torn Myanmar advance its peace and reconciliation process as its foreign minister met counterparts from Laos, Myanmar and Thailand on Friday.

The National Unity Government (NUG) announced, on 14 August 2024, that it has established nearly 6,000 interim community-based schools in liberated and resistance-controlled areas since the February 2021 coup.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi warned Myanmar junta boss Min Aung Hlaing on Wednesday that Beijing would not accept comments intended to harm bilateral ties or “smear” China, according to a statement released by the Chinese Embassy in Myanmar after the two met in Naypyitaw.

It is rather irregular and interesting that Wang is meeting with the former dictator and mentor to current dictator MAL, Than Shwe who is reportedly under surveillance by MAL due to discontent within military ranks with MAL's leadership. In the past 2 months former president Thein Sein had met with Chinese ambassador in his residence, and then had paid a rare visit to China in an official capacity as well. China has outsized influence in Burma, and wheels are being set in motion.

UPDATE: The leader of the internal coup is reported to be Gen Nyo Saw while SAC Secretary Aung Lin Dwe as his deputy.

Breaking: A CDM captain said that SAC chair Min Aung Hlaing has been detained by Aung Lin Dwe. We can’t confirm the news yet but he’s not unreliable source either. Very big if true. We’ll update in this post if we receive more news.

In a statement to mark Kachin Martyrs' Day on 10 August 2024, the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) Central Committee called on different ethnic groups to not fight against each other.

Myanmar’s military regime currently controls fewer than 100 of the 350 towns in the country, according to Defense Minister U Yee Mon of the civilian National Unity Government (NUG).

Hundreds of residents of Pyin Oo Lwin – a garrison town in Mandalay Region – have been fleeing since Thursday due to fears of an imminent attack by an ethnic army and allied resistance forces, residents say.

Family members of military personnel stationed in the town, which is home to the Defense Service Academies – Myanmar’s West Point – and other military training schools, were among the first to start fleeing the town about 70 kilometers east of the country’s second-largest city, Mandalay, residents say.

Technology from China has helped the Myanmar military upgrade its internet controls, but resourceful users continue to exploit holes in the cyber dragnet.

Residents in Ward 1 of Payathonzu (Three Pagoda Pass), Kyainseikgyi Township, Karen State, are facing significant disruptions due to a gambling den operated by Chinese nationals. Despite the disturbances, locals are unable to file complaints as the area is under the control of various armed groups.

Local armed groups, including the Karen National Union (KNU), Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), Karen National Liberation Army-Peace Council (KNLA-PC), Karen Border Guard Force (BGF), and New Mon State Party (NMSP), are reportedly overseeing these gambling operations.

A statement issued on Wednesday by the Women’s Peace Network (WPN)—an advocacy organisation led by prominent Rohingya human rights activist Wai Wai Nu—claimed at least 200 Rohingya civilians, most of them women and children, had been killed in drone strikes by the Arakan Army (AA), on the Naf River the day before.