Myanmar or Burma

Heavy fighting in war-torn Myanmar has forced nearly 4,000 people to flee into India in the last four days, Indian officials in the northeastern state of Mizoram said Monday.

The refugees, crossing thick forested routes to neighbouring India, ran from clashes between rival Chin armed groups, Mizoram state home secretary Vanlalmawia, who uses only one name, told AFP.

A long documentary for the weekend. This is a good snapshot of the country back in 2014 when it was opening up to the world after half a century of isolation under military rule. You can see the old ways and transition to changes opening up was introducing. Most of all you can feel the bubble of optimism building in the country. This was 1 year before NLD's overwhelming victory in the elections that surprised everyone and the military.

The Kokang armed group Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA) has been enforcing a mandatory military service requirement for one member of each household in Lashio Township outside urban wards, residents of the city said.

Photo – Revolutionary forces led by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have completely captured the Kantdaunt Police Station on the Pale-Ganggou Road in Pale Township, Sagaing Region, at 6:40 a.m. today (June 19), a PLA official confirmed to Mizzima.

Armed groups in the Rohingya camps of southern Bangladesh have joined forces to battle the Arakan Army, the ethnic Rakhine group that has taken over much of the refugees’ home state in Myanmar. But fighting is more likely to hurt than help the Rohingya cause.

Banmauk People's Defence Force (PDF) has instructed six villages in southern Banmauk Township, northern Sagaing Region, to supply 10 recruits each, according to sources from the villages.

The state of emergency was declared because for about the last week another Chin resistance force, the Chin National Organisation/Chin National Defence Force (CNO/CNDF), has allegedly been inspecting the phones of passers-by, demanding tolls and turning back people who cannot pay the toll at one of its checkpoints in Khawthlir Village, in the Hualngoram region, according to Hualngoram HPO/CDF.

European aerospace giant Airbus has officially divested from AviChina, a Chinese state-owned arms and aviation manufacturer linked to Myanmar’s military, according to a statement released Wednesday evening by the Blood Money Campaign.

The move, effective since April 1, follows months of pressure from the campaign’s global #Airbus2Airstrikes initiative, which was backed by 361 organizations. Rights advocates called it a “major blow” to the Myanmar junta’s ability to source military equipment through foreign partnerships.

AviChina, a subsidiary of China’s AVIC, has long been implicated in supplying aircraft and defence technology used by Myanmar’s military in deadly airstrikes. Activists say Airbus’s withdrawal sends a clear signal that international business ties with regimes complicit in war crimes are unacceptable.

Since taking control, the ethic army has imposed its rule on the ruby-rich town.

While companies affiliated with the previous military junta were banned from operating, locals allege that large-scale mining rights have been granted to individuals connected to TNLA leaders and foreign business interests, particularly from China and the Wa State—which is controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA)—and that those mining operations are causing serious environmental damage.

Junta chief Min Aung Hlaing has amended the Union Election Commission Law, which allows government staff to chair all Myanmar’s election bodies ahead of voting due in December or January.

Many government departments are led by ex-military officers who can dominate the election sub-commissions down to the village level.