A former Myanmar beauty queen has joined ethnic rebels to take up arms against the country's military junta, posting photos of herself with an assault rifle.Myanmar has been in chaos and its economy paralysed since the military seized power on 1 February, ousting civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi.Htar Htet Htet represented Myanmar in the first Miss Grand International beauty pageant in Thailand in 2013, competing against 60 contenders in swimsuit and national costume rounds.Fast forward e

A judge on Monday ordered Myanmar's deposed leader Aung San Suu Kyi to appear in person in court for the first time on 24 May, her lawyer said, after weeks of delays in her case.The Nobel laureate has not been seen in public since she was detained in a 1 February coup, when the military ousted her from power and re-installed its rule.She was subsequently hit with a series of charges, and her legal team has faced an uphill battle to get a private audience with their client.Multiple court

100 days after the military seized power in Myanmar, the nun who pleaded for protesters on her knees in the street says the coup has cast a pall of fear and depression over the country.The image of Sister Ann Rose Nu Tawng kneeling in the dust, arms spread, begging police not to shoot "the children" went viral in March as an uprising swelled in Myanmar.Today, the 45-year-old nun works in a clinic in Myanmar's northernmost Kachin state, tending to patients injured by security fo

Myanmar's junta declared Saturday night that a group of ousted lawmakers running a shadow government would now be classified as "terrorists", as the military moves to tighten its grip over a country in turmoil. Since the military seized power in a 1 February coup, detaining and ousting civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a nationwide uprising has refused to back down in its demands for a return to democracy.Protesters continue to take to the streets daily, while a nation

A shadow government of ousted Myanmar lawmakers said Wednesday it has set up a "people's defence force" to protect civilians, as the police and military deploy deadly arms against anti-coup protesters.The country has been in turmoil since the military deposed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, triggering a mass uprising of daily protests and a nationwide boycott from civil servants.So far, nearly 770 people have been killed in deadly crackdowns, according to a local monitoring g

The Myanmar junta has charged a Japanese journalist under a "fake news" law, a report said Tuesday, in the latest blow to press freedom since the military seized power.Freelance reporter Yuki Kitazumi was arrested last month and charged on Monday – World Press Freedom Day – with spreading fake news, according to a report by Kyodo news agency.He is one of 50 journalists currently held in Myanmar as part of the junta's crackdown on widespread protests against its 1 February coup.

Thousands of anti-coup protesters marched in Myanmar on Sunday, calling for a "spring revolution" with the country in its fourth month under a military regime.Cities, rural areas, remote mountainous regions and even rebel-controlled border territories have been in uproar since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a 1 February coup.The junta has aimed to suppress dissent through a brutal crackdown involving mass arrests and an escalating death toll.Demonstrations k

Explosions rocked Myanmar's largest city Yangon on Saturday as protesters held flash marches for democracy, defying a brutal junta that has held onto power for three bloody months. The country has been in turmoil since the military ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on 1 February, bringing an abrupt end to Myanmar's short-lived experiment with democracy.The power grab has triggered a massive uprising which the authorities have tried to quell with lethal force and live

A Myanmar swimmer has abandoned his dream of competing at the Tokyo Olympics in protest at the junta ruling his homeland, saying that taking part would be "propaganda" for the regime.Win Htet Oo is one of Myanmar's top swimmers but in early April, the 26-year-old said he was no longer interested in going to Tokyo."To accept the MOC (Myanmar Olympic Committee) as it is currently led is to recognise the legitimacy of a murderous regime," he wrote in a statement on Faceb

Thousands of ethnic Karen villagers in Myanmar are poised to cross into Thailand on Friday if, as expected, fighting intensifies between the Myanmar army and Karen fighters, joining those who have already escaped the turmoil that followed a 1 February coup.Karen rebels and the Myanmar army have clashed near the Thai border in the weeks since Myanmar’s generals deposed an elected government led by democracy champion Aung San Suu Kyi, displacing villagers on both sides of the border. “