With malaria and tuberculosis (TB) screening out front and sacrifices to jungle gods out back, health worker Htan Pi and her shaman mother are an unlikely double-act in their isolated Myanmar village.Their family have been the local healers for generations in the northern community of Satpalaw Shaung near the Indian border. This is Naga territory, a tribal region of former headhunters with myriad languages and customs still largely based on animist beliefs.But trainee Htan Pi, 24, is

Myanmar's military on Tuesday quashed proposals in parliament that would mean its MPs relinquish power, in a vote pitting the armed forces in open opposition against Aung San Suu Kyi as elections loom. The vote was the climax of a year of fierce debates between MPs as the civilian government attempted to reform the constitution and reduce the military's stranglehold on parliament.The country is gearing up to polls likely to be held later this year, only the second since out

Officially, rape hardly happens in Myanmar and domestic abuse is non-existent. The reality?

Sacks of heroin and methamphetamine are laid out in endless rows in a remote Myanmar border zone during a rare raid in the heart of Southeast Asia's infamous 'Golden Triangle'.The seizure in one of the world's biggest narcotics-producing regions put three major laboratories out of business this week and hauled in 43 million meth tablets.Record amounts of drugs continue to be churned out of the lawless forest areas by rebel groups and shadowy organised crime networks making

A refugee from Myanmar's tyrannised Rohingya minority, Lila Mubarak embodies perfectly the "poor, huddled masses" welcomed to the United States (US) for more than a century by a bronze plaque at the foot of the Statue of Liberty.The 27-year-old beams as she recounts her difficult path to citizenship a few short years after fleeing persecution in her homeland to make a new life in America's third city, Chicago. "I'm so happy to be an American citizen beca

A haunting refrain pierces the night as the tribeswomen of the Gongwang Bonyo, among the most isolated people in Myanmar, dance around a campfire to bless the harvest ahead.The group are part of the Naga, a blanket term for dozens of tribes each with their own distinct dialect living near the Indian border, only accessible by nerve-shredding motorcycle journeys and on foot.Dressed in black and wearing orange bead necklaces and palm leaf headbands, they rotate around a fire in Satpalaw Shaung

Around 20 children were injured Thursday when mortar fire hit a primary school in the northern fringes of Myanmar's Rakhine state, an area where the military is locked in battle with Arakan Army (AA) rebels.The attack happened in Buthidaung township, one of several areas in lockdown, and it is not clear who was responsible.Scores of civilians have been killed, hundreds injured and some 100,000 displaced since January last year when both sides stepped up operations.The AA claims to be fig

When the 34th ASEAN Summit concluded in June 2019 in Bangkok, it came as no surprise that the bloc was met with heavy criticism for suggesting Rohingya refugees will repatriate back to Myanmar within two years. More than 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee northern Rakhine state in western Myanmar during a 2017 military-led crackdown the United Nations (UN) has said included mass killings and gang-rapes executed with “genocidal intent”.

LGBT activists in Myanmar campaigning to decriminalise same-sex relations are urging thousands of people to paint their little finger pink as they try to highlight the issue ahead of elections later this year.Although space is opening up for the LGBT community in the conservative country, same-sex relations are still illegal, a legacy of former colonial power Britain.At the "pink pinky" campaign launch on Wednesday - held ahead of a Pride party in Yangon this weekend expected to att

It was recently reported that Myanmar had conceded that it had committed “war crimes” against its Rohingya Muslim community. This is as far as Myanmar has ever gone in admitting responsibility for the atrocities committed against its Rohingya minority. Still, to some observers, this is not good enough.On 20 January, a Myanmar-appointed panel concluded that some soldiers likely committed war crimes against the Rohingya but that the military, however, was not guilty of genocide.