Myanmar or Burma

The Myanmar military junta has arrested and filed a case against the son-in-law of the country’s ex-dictator Than Shwe for allegedly “damaging the state’s peace and stability” through his Facebook posts, in a challenge to the old dictator who handpicked the current regime leader as military chief in 2011.

China has closed its border crossing with Pangwa in northern Myanmar after the ethnic Kachin Independence Army (KIA) reportedly seized control of the border town.

The KIA and its allies last week seized the headquarters of junta-aligned Border Guard Force Battalion 1002 in Lu Pyi village, about 10 km from Pangwa, which is a rare-earth mining hub.

The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the Karen National Union (KNU), and allied resistance groups captured the hilltop artillery base on Thursday after a four-month siege, the resistance groups told the media.

The United Wa State Army (UWSA) is providing protection for a scam centre that recently set up in a remote area of Tangyan Township, shortly after UWSA troops moved into the township.

On October 14, the Arakan Army (AA) declared in a statement that it had successfully rescued sixteen Bangladeshi people who had been left behind in the Bay of Bengal. After being rescued by the Arakan People's Revolutionary Government's Coast Guard, they were turned over to the Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB).

China is preparing to welcome Myanmar junta leader Min Aung Hlaing in the near future, a move that could be seen not only as a major policy shift on the part of Beijing toward the regime, but also as giving some much-desired legitimacy to the junta, which is reeling from a nationwide armed resistance movement.

The Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) has seized Hsipaw Township in northern Shan State after defeating the last Myanmar junta battalion headquarters outside the town, despite Chinese demands to stop fighting the regime.