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Heng Sithy, Cambodian tycoon turned dissident, arrested in Russia

Editor06 mins

WASHINGTON – Heng Sithy, a Cambodian businessman who drew headlines in recent weeks after accusing a number of senior police officials and members of the ruling family of theft, corruption and fraud, was arrested on Tuesday in Russia. The immediate reason for the arrest was unknown, but Fresh News, a government-aligned paper, published a statement Tuesday from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs saying the tycoon’s passport had been revoked. In December, according to the statement, the Phnom Penh Court issued an arrest warrant for Heng Sithy on a charge of blackmail with aggravating circumstances. A friend of Heng Sithy, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for safety reasons, confirmed his arrest. The friend shared voice messages in which the tycoon made grandiose claims about his reasons for traveling to Russia, none of which could be independently verified. “Tomorrow, I am going to Moscow and on Monday I will see Putin’s cabinet regarding drones and will inspect the drones and special forces,” he said on one voice message. In another, he spoke of the need to continue unspecified plans. “We must split the work,” he told his friend. “We must convince our working groups to continue the work to establish diplomatic groups and the fighting groups, I will be in charge.” RELATED STORIES Hun Sen’s nephew trades angry statements with businessman amid lawsuit threats Report: Online cybercriminal marketplace is part of Cambodian conglomerate Cambodian Elite Park Millions in Australia Defamation allegations At 39 years old, Heng Sithy appeared to have achieved the Cambodian dream. In a country where the average income is around $1,500 a year, he was a millionaire and paid all the dues expected of millionaires in a nation defined by its patronage politics. But last month, following a reversal in his fortunes following what appears to be a business deal gone bad, it seemed something in Heng Sithy cracked. A disagreement between Heng Sithy and a Singaporean entrepreneur spilled into the courts and then onto social media. As the dispute escalated, Heng Sithy began accusing senior police officials of taking multimillion dollar bribes from the entrepreneur, who he described as running “largest online casino network in Cambodia.” All denied the allegations. The Singaporean filed a defamation suit and on Dec. 3 the Phnom Penh Court issued an arrest warrant for Heng Sithy on a charge of blackmail with aggravating circumstances. The same month, he was stripped of his oknha title — an honorific bestowed upon wealthy, charitable and well-connected tycoons. Last week, Hun To, the nephew of the former prime minister, threatened to sue Heng Sithy for alleging that he stole US$9 million from a Chinese investor who sought government approval for a mine. Prior to his trip to Russia, Heng Sithy worked with his friend to prepare an open letter to Cambodian Prime Hun Manet. “I have never done anything wrong in business instead I was set up and got robbed [of] my wealth,” he wrote, according to the text shared with RFA. Cambodia, he added in the unpublished letter, had fallen “into the trap of criminal money when we have such officers in government doing such corruption.” The open letter closed with a direct appeal to Prime Minister Hun Manet: “Cambodia needs to be in good hands, a country needs a real leader, as a leader if your heart [is]… at the right place all will be good.” Neither Heng Sithy nor National Police Spokesman Chhay Kim Khoeun could be reached for comment. Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Abby Seiff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Russian PM wants closer economic cooperation with Vietnam after trade rises 24%

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Updated Jan. 14, 2025, 06:55 a.m. ET. Vietnam and Russia are reaping the benefits of a free trade deal at a time when Moscow faces international sanctions, with bilateral trade rising by an annual 24% last year, Russia’s prime minister said as he began a two-day visit to Hanoi. “We are paying priority attention to increasing trade and economic cooperation,” Mikhail Mishustin said in talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Pham Minh Chinh on Tuesday, as quoted by Russia’s TASS news agency. “Mutual trade turnover is growing steadily.” A free trade agreement between Vietnam and the Eurasian Economic Union came into effect in 2016. During a June 2024 visit to Vietnam, Russian President Vladimir Putin pledged to boost trade. Some 11 agreements were signed after he met then-President To Lam, in areas such as nuclear power. After meeting Chinh on Tuesday, Mishustin saw the nuclear agreement bear fruit with the signing of a memorandum of understanding between Russia’s state nuclear corporation, Rosatom, and the Vietnam Electric Power Corporation, TASS said. Talks also focused on trade when Mishustin went on to meet Lam, now communist party general secretary. “My colleague and I discussed the entire list of our bilateral issues, signed a corresponding action plan for our relations until 2030, confirmed 13 roadmaps and will achieve an expansion of our trade turnover to US$15 billion by 2030,” TASS quoted the Russian prime minister as saying. Vietnam says bilateral trade was worth around US$4.6 billion last year. Russia is a long-time ally of Vietnam and they are marking the 75th year of bilateral diplomatic relations this year. Their Comprehensive Strategic Partnership puts Russia on the highest level of engagement with Vietnam alongside countries including China and the U.S. RELATED STORIES Vietnam faces Trump era with awkward trade surplus with the US Vietnam, France upgrade relations to Comprehensive Strategic Partnership Vietnam defense minister Phan Van Giang visits US to boost ties Facing international condemnation and sweeping sanctions for its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is keen to hold on to its allies in Asia. Putin has also been pursuing closer relations with North Korea, meeting leader Kim Jong Un last June just ahead of his Vietnam visit. That relationship appears to be paying off, with the U.S. claiming Kim is providing Russia with weapons and troops, while Putin has shared missile technology. Hanoi is not in a similar situation regarding the supply of arms to Moscow, given that Vietnam is heavily reliant on Russian weapons, which make up about 80% of its military might. However, there was no sign of any new Russian arms sales to Vietnam during Mishustin’s visit because of international sanctions, an analyst said. “No major arms procurement deals were signed because Western sanctions on Russia have affected international currency transactions through the SWIFT system,” said Carl Thayer, a veteran Vietnam watcher and emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales, Canberra. “During Putin’s visit last year, the two sides discussed the possibility of a ruble-đong transfer mechanism. However, as the Vietnam-Russian Joint Statement issued at the conclusion of Putin’s visit made clear, defense-security cooperation was confined to non-traditional security issues. Vietnam wants to avoid any penalties for violating Western sanctions.” Vietnam has, however, resisted calls at the U.N. to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Vietnam is also one of the biggest investors in Russia, according to Vietnamese state media. As of last November, Vietnam had 16 projects in Russia with US$1.6 billion in capital, the fourth largest of 81 countries investing there, the Vietnam News Agency said. Edited by Mike Firn. Updated to include Mishustin’s comments at a meeting with To Lam. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Dozens missing in mudslide at Myanmar jade mine

Editor03 mins

A mudslide at a Myanmar jade mine swept over a village on Monday and eight people were confirmed killed with dozens missing, residents of the area in Kachin state said, the latest disaster in the unregulated sector in which scores of people are killed every year. The mud swept through Sa Paut village in Hpakant township before dawn on Monday, after a pond full of jade-mining slurry overflowed, residents said. The bodies of three children, two women and three men, had been found by late morning but dozens were missing, residents said. “The damage was worse as it happened at night when everyone was sleeping,” a Hpakant resident told Radio Free Asia. “There were eight bodies found by 11:30 this morning … but there may be more dead.” Residents said about 50 homes were engulfed by mud and many villagers had joined a rescue effort. KIA-controlled gold mine in Myanmar’s Tanai township, Kachin state, after bombing by the military’s air force on Jan 11, 2024.(Kachin News Group) In Kachin state’s Tanai township, 15 people were killed in an air raid on a gold mine on Saturday, residents in the area said. RFA tried to telephone the military’s spokesman for Kachin state, Moe Min Thein, for information on the situation but he did not answer. Edited by Mike Firn RELATED STORIES China undermines its interests by boosting support for Myanmar’s faltering junta Myanmar junta chief urges peace after troops suffer setbacks Myanmar’s economy to contract by 1% this year on conflict, floods: World Bank We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Unexploded WWII bombs plague Palau amid US military build-up

Editor010 mins

Read this story at BenarNews PELELIU, Palau — Palauan Sharla Paules surveys the contaminated ground of her lush tropical home island of Peleliu, still littered with WWII munitions 80 years after its liberation from the Japanese. She recalls as a child her grandmother warning the land was poisoned by unexploded bombs, disrupting almost every aspect of traditional life on the island. “They said after the war the soil was so contaminated they couldn’t even plant food,” said Paules, 49, who is part of a team clearing the island for the mine action group Norwegian People’s Aid. “They couldn’t plant bananas, taro, tapioca or soursop. You still can’t plant tapioca and eat it here, it’s really bad.” Roger Hess, right, and a member of the Norwegian People’s Aid clearance team inspect an abandoned WWII munition on Umurbrogal Mountain in Peleliu, Palau, Nov. 26, 2024.(Harry Pearl/BenarNews) Hess is the Palau operations manager for Norwegian People’s Aid and is preparing a clearance operation in the upper reaches of Umurbrogal Mountain, a series of jagged, jungle-covered coral ridges that was one of the main battlegrounds on Peleliu. The Type 91 grenade held by Hess is not an unusual find in Palau. “The fuse may not function, but if you put it in a fire it will blow,” he said. MORE STORIES FROM PALAU Teenagers fight US militarization of Palau with UN complaint over rights violations Patriot missile plan stirs debate in Palau ‘Respect our sovereignty’: Palau tells China The Micronesian nation is one of nine Pacific island countries contaminated by an unknown quantity of explosive weapons left behind by Japanese and Allied forces after WWII. Although international awareness about the issue in the Pacific is lower than in landmine and cluster munitions hotspots like Cambodia or Africa’s Sahel region, experts say potentially lethal munitions are scattered across the region’s lagoons, beaches and jungles. U.S. Marines move up to the front lines over terrain denuded by the bombardment of Peleliu to mop-up Japanese forces, Oct. 12, 1944.(AP) At the time of their deaths, Raziv Hilly and Charles Noda were part of a group cooking over a backyard fire pit without realising the WWII-era projectile was buried beneath the ground. While media reports occasionally highlight the deadly threat, there are no formal systems in place to track accidents or gather comprehensive data on the extent of contamination in Pacific island nations, according to nongovernmental organizations. In 2012, the Pacific Island Forum, PIF, endorsed a regional UXO strategy that aimed to mobilize and coordinate efforts to tackle the problem. But according to people familiar with the plan, after an initial burst of energy, including two regional conferences in Palau and the Australian city of Brisbane, little progress has been made in recent years. The PIF did not immediately respond to BenarNews requests for an update on the strategy. Palauan Sharla Paules is part of NPA’s survey and clearance team in Peleliu, pictured on Nov. 26, 2024. (Harry Pearl/BenarNews) In 2023, the Pacific region saw an increase in funding for clearance of ERW. The U.S., Australia and Japan raised financial support for Solomon Islands and Palau, and made new investments in Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, according to the 2024 report produced by the Landmine and Cluster Munitions Monitor. Eliseussen said geopolitical “tension with China” partly explained the renewed attention and additional resources for the problem in the Pacific. Last year on Peleliu, U.S. Marines completed a $400 million rehabilitation of a WWII-era Japanese airfield, including removing UXOs at the site. It will allow fixed-wing aircraft to operate to enhance the U.S. military’s strategic capabilities in response to China’s ambitions in the South China Sea and Pacific region. Between 2021 and 23, the U.S. Department of State provided Solomon Islands with $4.5 million for clearance, $1.5 million for Palau and smaller amounts for Marshall Islands, Fiji and Papua New Guinea. John Rodsted, a researcher at SafeGround, said international donors like the U.S., Australia and Japan needed to step up assistance to rid the Pacific of UXOs and take a long-term approach to funding. He added that the Japanese in particular “should put their hands in their pockets and actually help clear this stuff up.” Contaminated soil Since NPA began survey and clearance in Palau in 2016, it has found 10,844 ERW scattered across the country, according to its records. Hess could not say if Peleliu – with a population of about 500 people – would ever be free of ERW, but based on the ferocity of fighting there were “probably still around 100 suspected hazardous areas.” A member of the clearance team from the mine action group Norwegian People’s Aid peers into an American tank abandoned after WWII in Peleliu, Palau, Nov. 26, 2024. (Harry Pearl/BenarNews) On a recent survey of Umurbrogal Mountain, the detritus of war was obvious to see – mortars, rockets and shells dotted the ground. Weeks earlier, NPA staff found the remnants of a suspected landmine outside a cave while accompanying Japanese personnel searching for soldiers’ remains, Hess said. “The biggest threat to public safety are white phosphorus munitions that were fired from 81 mm mortars,” he said, referring to the incendiary weapons that ignite on contact with oxygen. Not everything discovered is hazardous, but such items are marked with yellow-tipped stakes and white spray paint and their GPS coordinates recorded for retrieval later that day. After the munitions are collected, they are moved to a makeshift storage facility near the Peleliu’s trash heap, then transported to a disposal site on the nearby state of Koror, where they are cut open and burned out. The work is slow going – and decades late – but according to locals like Paules, it’s starting to make a difference. “When I was little, we saw a lot of [munitions] on the side of the street. Nowadays we don’t see so much,” she said. BenarNews is an online news outlet affiliated with Radio Free Asia. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys…

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Man wanted in Lim Kimya murder is Cambodian official’s brother, records show

Editor05 mins

A Cambodian man who is wanted by Thai police in connection to the murder of a former opposition lawmaker is the brother of Pich Sros, a politician who initiated proceedings against the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party, or CNRP, that led to its 2017 dissolution, and holds a minor government position. On Tuesday, Lim Kimya, a former CNRP member of parliament, was gunned down in central Bangkok. One suspect in the murder — Ekalak Paenoi, a former Thai marine — was arrested on Wednesday in Cambodia’s Battambang province and as of this writing is still in the country pending extradition to Thailand. But a second man, believed to be the so-called “spotter” in the murder who followed Lim Kimya on a bus from Cambodia to Thailand, remains at large. Pich Sros, founder of the Cambodian Youth Party.(Fresh News) Pich Sros is also a member of the Supreme Consultative Council, an ad hoc body created by then-Prime Minister Hun Sen in 2018 to include smaller political parties who did not have any seats but were included in the new body to advise the government. Though the party failed to win any seats in 2018 or 2023, CYP joined the council with the lead representative, in this case Pich Sros, given a rank equal to a cabinet minister. Cambodians in the country and abroad expressed anger with both the murder and what they see as the government’s seeming disinterest in investigating the case. Thit Kimhun, a CNRP official, told RFA the opposition party would hold ceremonies for the slain politician in Long Beach, California, and Lowell, Massachusetts, on Jan. 19, while others would be hosted in France, Japan and South Korea. “We won’t allow this injustice to happen in Cambodia and now in Thailand,” she said. “We will continue to investigate and demand justice for Lim Kimya and his family.” In Springvale, Australia, a seven-day memorial ceremony will begin Jan. 12 with the local Cambodian community urging the Thai and Australian governments to investigate, said Chea Yohorn, president of the Khmer Association of Victoria. “The suspect is not an unknown guy,” Seng Sary, a political analyst based in Australia, told RFA. “He is a brother of Pich Sros. Giving justice to Lim Kimya will restore Cambodia’s reputation. We shouldn’t let him escape.” Calls to Pich Sros went unanswered Friday but earlier in the day he posted a photo to Facebook showing journalists packed tightly around an unseen figure, cameras and microphones shoved toward his face. The image depicts then-U.S. Ambassador Patrick Murphy speaking with reporters outside the trial of Kem Sokha. Above the photo, Pich Sros wrote a pithy note: “journalists have the right to ask questions/ but don’t have right to force people for answers/ journalists have the rights to ask/ but don’t have the right to demand for answers according to what they want.” We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Myanmar junta bans 7 books with LGBTQ+ themes

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Myanmar has banned seven books because of their LGBTQ+ content and will take legal action against their publishers, the military government announced, adding that the books were “obscene” and socially unacceptable. The banned domestically published books are “A Butterfly Rests on My Heart” by Aung Khant, “1500 Miles to You” and “Love Planted by Hate” by Mahura, Myint Mo’s “Tie the Knot of Love”, “Match Made in Clouds” by DiDi Zaw, “DISO+Extra” by Red in Peace and “Concerned Person U Wai” by Vivian, the Ministry of Information said. “These books are not accepted by Myanmar society, they are shameless and the content that can mislead the thinking and feelings of young people,” the Ministry of Information said in a statement published in state-run media on Thursday. LGBTQ+ people face widespread prejudice in socially conservative Myanmar, where British colonial-era legislation criminalises gay sex with up to 10 years in jail. The LGBTQ+ community made some advances during nearly a decade of tentative reforms, when the military partially stepped back from power to let a civilian government led by Aung San Suu Kyi rule, establishing some rights groups and holding festivals. But the democratic experiment ended in February 2021 when the military ousted Suu Kyi’s government and cracked down on dissent, with LBGTQ+ people among those who have been particularly hard hit, U.N. rights investigators have said. The ministry said the publishers of the seven books by Myanmar authors had broken the law by putting out obscene literature without permission and prosecutions would take place. Radio Free Asia tried to contact some of the publishers and authors of the banned books but was not able to. RELATED STORIES Junta censors tighten grip on Myanmar film industry Myanmar’s junta cuts filmmaker’s life sentence to 15 years as part of wider amnesty Myanmar’s junta shuts down publisher for distributing book on Rohingya genocide One reader in the main city of Yangon said he could not understand why the books were banned. While most were about LGBTQ+ people, they were not obscene, he told RFA. “These books can be read for entertainment. I don’t think they’re dirty,” said the reader, who highlighted strong characters in DiDi Zaw’s “Match Made in Clouds.” One Myanmar author, not among those whose books were banned, told RFA that while the expression of sexuality might be considered obscene, there was also the issue of free expression. “It doesn’t mean that obscenity should be allowed but banning books violates freedom of expression,” said the author who declined to be identified for security reasons. One member of the LGBTQ+ community said the military represented oppressive chauvinism. “The army is dominated by chauvinism. So women, children and LGBT people will always be oppressed,” the community member who also declined to be identified told RFA. “Taking action against books published about LGBT people but considered obscene is oppressing us … It makes me think we have to work harder in the revolution against the junta.” The U.N. Human Rights Council said in a report last year that Myanmar’s 2021 coup had precipitated an unprecedented human rights crisis. “Women, girls, and LGBT people are severely and uniquely impacted by this crisis, yet these impacts are all too often obscured and ignored by the international community,” it said. Edited by Mike Firn We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Myanmar junta bombs Rohingya Muslim village killing 41, rescuers say

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The Myanmar air force has bombed a fishing village in Rakhine state killing 41 civilians and wounding 52, most of them Rohingya Muslims, residents involved in rescue work said on Thursday, in an attack insurgents condemned as a war crime. Military planes bombed Kyauk Ni Maw village on the coast in Ramree township on Wednesday afternoon sparking huge fires that destroyed about 600 homes, residents said, sending clouds of black smoke up over the sea. The area is under the control of anti-junta Arakan Army, or AA, insurgents but a spokesman said no fighting was going on there at the time of the air raid. “The targeting of innocent people where there is no fighting is a very despicable and cowardly act … as well as a blatant war crime,” AA spokesman Khaing Thu Kha told Radio Free Asia. Villagers survey ruins in Kyauk Ni Maw village in Rakhine state after a Myanmar air force raid on Jan. 8, 2025.(Arakan Princess Media) RELATED STORIES Myanmar’s Arakan Army takes a major town, says ready for talks Myanmar’s junta answers rebel proposal for talks with week of deadly airstrikes EXPLAINED: What is Myanmar’s Arakan Army? The AA has made unprecedented gains against the military since late last year and now controls about 80% of Myanmar’s westernmost state. On Dec. 29, the AA captured the town of Gwa from the military, a major step toward its goal of taking the whole of Rakhine state, and then said it was ready for talks with the junta, which seized power in a February 2021 coup d’etat. But the junta has responded with deadly airstrikes, residents say. The military denies targeting civilians but human rights investigators and security analysts say Myanmar’s army has a long reputation of indiscriminate attacks in civilian areas as a way to undermine popular support for the various rebel forces fighting its rule. “The military is showing its fangs with its planes, that people can be killed at any time, at will,” aid worker Wai Hin Aung told RFA. Villagers watch homes burning in Kyauk Ni Maw village, in Rakhine state, after a raid by the Myanmar air force on Jan. 8, 2025.(Arakan Princess Media) The bombing of Kyauk Ni Maw is the latest bloody attack on members of the persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority. About 740,000 Rohingya fled from Rakhine state to neighboring Bangladesh following a bloody crackdown by the military against members of the largely stateless community in August 2017. Over the past year, Rohingya have suffered violence at the hands of both sides in the Rakhine state’s war, U.N. rights investigators have said. The AA took a hard line with the Rohingya after the junta launched a campaign to recruit, at times forcibly, Rohingya men into militias to fight the insurgents. On Aug. 5, scores of Rohingya trying to flee from the town of Maungdaw to Bangladesh, across a border river, were killed by drones and artillery fire that survivors and rights groups said was unleashed by the AA. The AA denied responsibility. Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Landowners restrict public access to hundreds of religious sites in Myanmar’s Bagan

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Read RFA coverage of this topic in Burmese. Around 400 ancient religious monuments in Myanmar’s U.N.-designated World Heritage Site of Bagan are located on privately-held land, according to residents, who say access is restricted and maintenance is unregulated. The monuments — which include pagodas, stupas and temples — are on the property of private businesses and state-owned agencies, away from public view and oversight, the residents told RFA Burmese, speaking on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisals. A resident of Mandalay region’s Nyaung-U township, located about 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from old Bagan, said that without easy access to the monuments, it’s unclear whether they are being properly maintained. The Eden Group, which is developing a hotel, owns land with at least 24 temples, including the Agga Tae and Paungku temples, the resident said. “The fenced-in sections have never been fully protected,” he said, and it isn’t easy for the public to get access to the compounds. A man takes a selfie with an ancient pagoda to celebrate Bagan being named as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Bagan, Myanmar, July 27, 2019.(Ann Wang/Reuters) A source close to the Department of Archaeology and National Museum said that the pagodas are being repaired and maintained. “When necessary, we carry out maintenance,” the source said, noting that workers use chemicals to kill trees that grow on top of the monuments. “As for the pagodas in private compounds, we have the right to maintain all these monuments.” The source went on to say that laws, rules and regulations have been enacted to prohibit the construction of buildings near the pagoda area, including high-rise buildings. Nyi Mon, director of the Department of Archaeology and National Museum (Bagan), confirmed that officials from his agency are “constantly inspecting pagodas in the hotel compounds to ensure that preservation work is unaffected.” He dismissed claims that monuments located within hotel compounds are inaccessible to the public, and said that maintenance is regularly carried out on the sites “with international technology and advice.” ‘As if they belong to someone’ But a resident of Bagan pointed out that many of the sites lie behind locked gates, “as if they belong to someone.” “Vinyl sticker sign boards outside display the pagoda’s code number, name, and the maximum number of visitors allowed at a time,” he said. “However, the temples remain locked, and only archaeological staff are authorized to hold the keys.” “Since these heritage sites are managed by the private sector, concerns have been raised about their authenticity and credibility,” he added. Temples in Bagan, Myanmar’s central Mandalay Region, July 7, 2024.(Sai Aung Main/AFP) Myanmar’s prior military regime forcibly evicted residents of Bagan to the so-called “New Bagan City” during the 1990s under the pretext that their homes were located within cultural heritage sites. Nonetheless, ancient pagodas of great historic value still exist on land owned by prominent businessmen and state agencies. Translated by Aung Naing. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Myanmar’s Kachin rebels take key town on approach to Bhamo

Editor07 mins

Ethnic minority Kachin fighters in northern Myanmar captured military camps on the approaches to the major town of Bhamo on Wednesday, another setback for the junta that have been struggling for much of the past year to hold territory in the face of concerted attacks. Junta forces now control less than half the country after suffering major battlefield setbacks in 2024, including the loss of command headquarters in Shan and Rakhine states, rebel groups have said. The military, which has ruled the ethnically diverse country with an iron fist for most of its history since independence from Britain in 1948, has called for talks but there are few signs of realistic steps towards peace. The Kachin Independence Army, or KIA, fighting for self-determination in Myanmar’s northernmost state, captured the military’s last bases in Mansi town, in southern Kachin state, about 17 kilometers (10 miles) from the town of Bhamo, on the main road south. “It can be confirmed, the three camps were captured this morning at around 11 a.m.,” said KIA information Naw Bu told Radio Free Asia, referring to bases for the junta’s infantry battalions 601, 319 and artillery battalion 523. RFA tried to contact the military council’s Kachin state spokesman, Moe Min Thein, by telephone to ask about the situation but he did not respond. Naw Bu did not give any information about casualties but said the junta forces in Mansi had been supporting their colleagues in Bhamo, an Irrawaddy River town and transport hub with a population of some 80,000 people before the latest fighting erupted. So the fall of Mansi was a significant loss for the military, Naw Bu said. “Mansi is important. These camps were providing security for Bhamo,” he said. The KIA launched an offensive to capture both Mansi and Bhamo on Dec. 4. A Mansi resident taking refuge outside the town told RFA that the military had responded to the loss of Mansi with sustained airstrikes. “The sound of explosions can be clearly heard from where I am,” said the resident, who declined to be identified for safety reasons. Mansi’s residents fled months ago to surrounding villages and farms, many living in tents, adding to Myanmar’s growing population of displaced that the United Nations estimates at more than 3.5 million people. RELATED STORIES Myanmar junta says it releases 600 political prisoners in mass amnesty ‘Snatch and recruit’ arrests in Myanmar target youth for military service Air, artillery strikes set grim benchmark for civilian casualties in Myanmar in 2024 Bhamo burns Naw Bu said the battle for Bhamo was fierce and the KIA had captured its police and civil administration headquarters, where junta forces were stationed. The military was defending its remaining positions with airstrikes and heavy weapons, he said. Most of Bhamo’s residents have fled but about 20,000 remain, according to estimates by aid workers, who say there have been civilian deaths in the fighting. Residents said at least eight of the town’s neighborhoods had sustained major destruction in fires sparked by artillery and airstrikes, including Min Kone, Nyaung Pin Yat, Kokko Taw and Shwe Kyee Nar, and about 50 residents had been killed over the past month. One resident said many of those displaced from Bhamo were sheltering in forests and villages with few supplies to sustain them. “Food and medicine are in need and the pregnant women need medicine and are facing hardship giving birth,” the resident, who also declined to be identified, told RFA. The KIA, one of Myanmar’s most powerful guerrilla armies, has made significant gains in fighting over the past year, capturing rare earth and jade mines that export to China, as well all main crossings on the border with China in its area of operations. China, the junta’s main foreign ally, has been trying to end the violence in its neighbor where it has extensive economic interests including energy pipelines from the Indian Ocean, and it has been pressing insurgents to strike ceasefires with the junta. Edited by RFA Staff. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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Thai police: Former Cambodian opposition lawmaker fatally shot in Bangkok

Editor04 mins

A former opposition party lawmaker was fatally shot just after arriving in Bangkok from Cambodia’s Siem Reap province, apparently by an assassin who fired at him as street vendors and others stood nearby, then casually rode off on a motorbike. as the CPP has used intimidation and the courts to neutralize the political opposition. Several Cambodians have said they were attacked in public in Thailand in 2023 because of their activism. Smash and destroy Last February, Prime Minister Hun Manet met with then-Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin in Bangkok to discuss a crackdown on what they called “interference” in Cambodian politics by Thai-based Cambodian political activists. In June, Hun Sen encouraged CPP supporters to “smash” and “destroy” opposition political activists in audio comments that were purportedly recorded at a party meeting and circulated on Cambodian social media. In November, six activists associated with the CNRP and one minor were deported from Thailand to Cambodia at the request of the Cambodian government. The six adults, who escaped Cambodia in 2022, were subsequently charged with “treason.” Cambodian activists remaining in Thailand told RFA in November that the arrests have increased their safety concerns, with one dissident saying that nearly 100 Cambodian refugees had fled their rented rooms for new housing and agreed to stop meeting up in-person. RELATED STORIES Cambodia charges 6 activists deported from Thailand with treason Cambodian opposition activist flees to US amid Hun Sen threats Government mum about Hun Sen audio calling for opposition to be ‘smashed’ Silent struggles plague Cambodian refugees in Bangkok Robertson urged Thai authorities to conduct a thorough and transparent investigation, adding that the French government should also “aggressively pursue justice” for Lim Kimya – “no matter where the path leads.” “Thailand’s international reputation is on the line in this case, and the Thai police and politicians should recognize they can’t just sweep this brutal murder under the rug,” he said. International human rights groups have condemned Thailand for assisting neighbors, including Vietnam and Cambodia, to undertake what the groups say is unlawful action against human rights defenders and dissidents, making Thailand increasingly unsafe for those fleeing persecution. Human Rights Watch has criticized what it called a “swap mart” of transnational repression in which foreign dissidents in Thailand are effectively traded for critics of the Thai government living abroad. Translated by Yun Samean. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster. We are : Investigative Journalism Reportika Investigative Reports Daily Reports Interviews Surveys Reportika

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