Aung Naing

Jan 16, 2025 | myanmar-now.org | Aung Naing

Residents of a village threatened by a major development project in Mandalay’s Amarapura Township protested last Saturday against encroachment on their property, according to local sources. The protest took place during a ceremony held to consecrate a new Dhamma hall donated to the village monastery by the project’s developer, Mandalay Business Capital City Development Ltd (MBCCD), the sources said. The company is owned by Maung Weik, a businessman with close ties to Myanmar’s military junta.

Jan 7, 2025 | myanmar-now.org | Aung Naing

Myanmar’s military has increasingly deploying slow-moving, motorised gliders to attack villages from the air in central Myanmar since last month, according to local and resistance sources. The first accounts of a military bombing raid using paramotors—parachute-like gliders propelled by small engines—in addition to planes or helicopters emerged from Za Yat Gyi village in Mandalay Region’s Taungtha Township on December 25, 2024.

Nov 28, 2024 | myanmar-now.org | Aung Naing

There has been a significant increase in gold mining along the upper reaches of the Sai River in eastern Shan State over the past three years, according to a report released by the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) on Wednesday. The area, which is under the control of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and an ethnic Lahu militia aligned with Myanmar’s military junta, has been heavily exploited by Chinese business interests since the 2021 coup, SHRF spokesperson Ying Leng Harn told Myanmar Now.

Nov 25, 2024 | myanmar-now.org | Aung Naing

Around 150 Myanmar nationals protested in front of a factory near the Thai capital Bangkok last week after learning they had been defrauded by “agents” promising to secure them jobs. According to Khaing Gyi, chair of the labour rights group Aid Alliance Committee, the victims were charged 3,500 to 7,000 baht (US$100-200) each by two Thai women posing as agents for the factory, run by Thai furniture company Index Interfurn Co., Ltd.

Nov 22, 2024 | myanmar-now.org | Aung Naing

The noose is tightening around the northern Shan State border hub of Muse as it faces a new blockade by anti-junta forces a month after losing access to trade with neighbouring China. On October 22, China closed its border gates at Muse and Mongla as part of its effort to pressure ethnic armed groups based along the border to end their offensive against Myanmar’s military junta.