YANGON, Myanmar — A nationalist Buddhist monk in Myanmar noted for inflammatory rhetoric surrendered on Monday to police, who have been seeking his arrest for over a year for insulting comments he made about the country’s leader, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi. The surrender of the monk Wirathu came...
New US Citizen Refugees Excited for First Presidential Vote
PHOENIX — They came fleeing war and persecution in countries like Myanmar, Eritrea and Iraq, handpicked by the United States for resettlement under longstanding humanitarian traditions. Now, tens of thousands of refugees welcomed into the U.S. during the Obama administration are American citizens, voting the first time in what could...
Myanmar Army Deserters Confirm Atrocities Against Rohingya
BANGKOK — Two soldiers who deserted from Myanmar’s army have testified on video that they were instructed by commanding officers to “shoot all that you see and that you hear” in villages where minority Rohingya Muslims lived, a human rights group said Tuesday. The comments appear to be the first...
Myanmar MPs Reject Bid to Allow Suu Kyi to Become President
NAYPYITAW, Myanmar — Myanmar's parliament rejected on Wednesday a proposed constitutional amendment that would have allowed the country's de facto leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, to officially become president. The rejection had been expected because the proposal was opposed by the military, which under the constitution adopted when it held...
Rohingya Hail UN Ruling Ordering Myanmar to Prevent Genocide
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The United Nations' top court on Thursday ordered Myanmar to do all it can to prevent genocide against the Rohingya people, a ruling met by members of the Muslim minority with gratitude and relief but also some skepticism that the country's rulers will fully comply. The...
Nobel Winner's Army Defense Blasted in Myanmar Genocide Case
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Lawyers seeking to halt what they allege is ongoing genocide in Myanmar have slammed leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s defense of her country’s armed forces, saying Thursday that the Nobel Peace Prize winner and former pro-democracy icon chose to ignore “unspeakable” crimes targeting Muslim civilians. The...
Nobel Laureate Suu Kyi Defends Myanmar Army in Genocide Case
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Nobel Peace Prize winner and former political prisoner Aung San Suu Kyi denied Wednesday that Myanmar's armed forces committed genocide, telling the United Nation's top court that the mass exodus of Rohingya people from the country she leads was the unfortunate result of a battle with...
Fallen Rights Icon at UN Court for Rohingya Genocide Case
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Twenty-eight years to the day after Aung San Suu Kyi’s husband and sons accepted her Nobel Peace Prize while she remained under house arrest in Myanmar, the former pro-democracy icon appeared in a United Nations court ready to defend her country's army from allegations of committing...
International Court Judges Authorize Rohingya Investigation
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — International Criminal Court judges on Thursday approved a request from prosecutors to open an investigation into crimes committed against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority. A prominent rights group said the decision will give fresh hope to victims that those responsible for brutal crimes against the Rohingya will...
Myanmar Accused at UN Court of Genocide Against Rohingya
THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Myanmar was accused Monday of genocide at the U.N.'s highest court for its campaign against the country's Rohingya Muslim minority, as lawyers asked the International Court of Justice to urgently order measures "to stop Myanmar's genocidal conduct immediately." Gambia filed the case on behalf of the...