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Los Angeles Times

Los Angeles Times •

Myanmar's military sows fear and terror in nighttime raids

Aung Ko Ko trembled with fear as the nighttime curfew wore on. He could hear the soldiers and police outside his window firing gunshots and ransacking his neighbors’ homes in a Muslim enclave in the center of Myanmar’s largest city, Yangon.

The uniformed gunmen skipped his door, but they didn’t miss that of his longtime friend Khin Maung Latt. Security forces smashed their way into the 58-year-old’s home, beat him and dragged him away.

The next morning, authorities told Khin Maung Latt’s famil
Los Angeles Times •

Idle businesses, uncollected taxes. How Myanmar is tumbling toward a 'failed state'

The roads were clear of cars, restaurants sat empty behind metal gates, and convenience stores, the nerve center of so many neighborhoods, remained silent and dark.

It was a scene repeated across Myanmar on Wednesday as anti-coup protesters called for a “silent strike” to increase pressure on the military government, which seized power last month and, since, has killed more than 420 civilians, including at least 114 Saturday in a spasm of violence that also left several children dead.

The stri
Los Angeles Times •

Myanmar forces reportedly kill over 110 civilians in deadliest day since coup

Fears that Myanmar’s military would launch a brutal crackdown to mark Armed Forces Day were realized Saturday when security forces reportedly killed more than 110 people across the country in the bloodiest massacre since the army seized power in a coup last month.

While soldiers paraded on the empty streets of the isolated capital, Naypyidaw, in front of dignitaries from countries including Russia and Thailand, security forces across the nation gunned down scores of unarmed protesters and passe
Los Angeles Times •

Myanmar accelerates toward a civil war of 'unprecedented scale'

The 26-year-old student has never touched a gun, but she is heading into the jungles to enlist with rebels seeking to overthrow the military junta in a nation tumbling toward civil war.

The student, who lives in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, will soon embark on a treacherous journey snaking past military checkpoints close to the border with Thailand. Her hope of studying in Europe has been set aside so she can train in guerrilla warfare alongside ethnic insurgents, including her fellow majori
Los Angeles Times •

'The last battle for Myanmar': Citizens take up arms in bid to topple junta

Months ago, the banging of pots and pans each night by residents of Myanmar’s largest city symbolized resistance to the military coup that deposed the country’s elected government.

Now, the thud of bomb blasts marks the defiance against the military, known as the Tatmadaw, since its Feb. 1 takeover and brutal crackdown on dissent that activists say has resulted in more than 1,100 civilian deaths.

The explosions ring out in Yangon as urban guerrillas step up their attacks on the security forces
Los Angeles Times •

Sidelining of tarnished icon Aung San Suu Kyi leaves Myanmar’s democratic hopes in hands of others

The international condemnations poured in swiftly over Monday’s sentencing of onetime democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi by a court in military-ruled Myanmar.

But in reality, the 76-year-old Nobel laureate is no longer the prime torchbearer for the country’s democratic aspirations.

Suu Kyi, the civilian leader who was pushed aside in a de facto coup in the Southeast Asian nation this year, was convicted on two charges and given a four-year prison sentence that was quickly reduced to two years of
Los Angeles Times •

Myanmar sentences Aung San Suu Kyi; more verdicts expected

A court in Myanmar sentenced civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on charges of inciting violence and violating COVID-19 rules, dealing another blow to democracy in a country plunged into chaos by a military coup.

Suu Kyi was initially sentenced to four years in prison Monday, but the military government later reduced the sentence to two years under house arrest, according to state-owned media.

The sentence is expected to be the first of more to come; Suu Kyi is facing 11 charges in total, includi
Los Angeles Times •

'My friends are being burned': Atrocities mount under Myanmar's junta

One person appears to have been trying to crawl to safety. Two others are locked in a haunting embrace on the ground. A few of the corpses have their hands tied.

The charred remains of the 11 villagers in northwestern Myanmar tell the grisly story of their final moments. They were rounded up and beaten by soldiers hunting down resistance fighters. Some, if not all, were shot before they were trapped inside a hut next to a betel farm and set alight.


“We saw the smoke, but we thought the soldi
Los Angeles Times •

L.A. Times Earns Sigma Delta Chi Awards from the SPJ for Cultural Criticism and Foreign Correspondence

The Los Angeles Times has received two Sigma Delta Chi Awards from the Society of Professional Journalists. The awards, which recognize outstanding work in categories covering print/online, radio, television and more, were presented in a virtual ceremony on June 23.

Columnist Carolina A. Miranda received the award for cultural criticism, a new category this year, while Foreign Correspondent David Pierson, along with contributors Kyaw Hsan Hlaing, Hsiuwen Liu and Aie Balagtas See, were recognize
Los Angeles Times •

Myanmar's ethnic insurgents raise the pressure on military junta

The day her 4-year-old grandson was killed, U San Yee had taken him to their local market in rural Myanmar for sticky rice and his favorite fried banana snacks before coming home to play with his toy cars.

“We didn’t know that the Myanmar military would fire artillery shells,” U San Yee said. “That’s why we were just going about and living our normal lives.”

When the first explosions struck Kin Seik, a farming village of about 3,000 people, the two were watching “Tom and Jerry” cartoons.