Myanmar Watch
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EXCERPT:
Identifying a new species is not always straightforward. Scientists usually rely on physical traits that separate one species from another, but in nature those differences do not always fall into neat categories. Sometimes two different species look almost identical. These are called cryptic species. In other cases, a single species can vary so much in appearance that it seems like several different species instead. The challenge becomes even greater when both patterns show up at the same time.
Herpetologist Dr. Chan Kin Onn (previously at the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Singapore, now with the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum, USA) led research on a pit viper from Myanmar that seemed to be both similar to and distinct from its closest relatives. The work was published in the open access journal ZooKeys, building on an earlier genomic study in Systematic Biology that had already indicated the snakes represented a separate evolutionary lineage.
“Asian pit vipers of the genus Trimeresurus are notoriously difficult to tell apart, because they run the gamut of morphological variation. Some groups contain multiple species that look alike, while others may look very different but are actually the same species,” they say.
Myanmar’s new President: Is this shift towards civilian-led democracy or mere hogwash? The Hans India
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Chinese Drone Deal Behind Downfall of Myanmar Junta’s Chief Propagandist The Irrawaddy
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Myanmar Junta Chief Purges Heir to Military Helm as Presidency Beckons The Irrawaddy
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Myanmar Parliament opens packed with pro-junta MPs Khmer Times
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Myanmar’s new Parliament is to convene next month for its first session after elections The Hindu
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Bangkok offers to facilitate Myanmar ethnic talks without interference Thai PBS World
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Myanmar, Russia pledge to deepen cooperation in agri sector Global New Light Of Myanmar
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China and Myanmar Junta Warn Against ‘Foreign Meddling’ in Scam Crackdown The Irrawaddy
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BANGKOK — Rights groups on Tuesday slammed the Trump administration’s decision to end protected status for Myanmar citizens due to the country’s “notable progress in governance and stability,” even though it remains mired in a bloody civil war and the head of its military regime faces possible U.N. war crimes charges.
In her announcement Monday ending temporary protection from deportation for citizens of Myanmar, also known as Burma, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem cited the military’s plans for “free and fair elections” in December and “successful ceasefire agreements” as among the reasons for her decision.
“The situation in Burma has improved enough that it is safe for Burmese citizens to return home,” she said in a statement.
China Can’t Keep Its Hands Clean in Myanmar’s Scam Cities Foreign Policy
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Junta bombs border village, hundreds flee to Thailand Burma News International
A full moon festival in Myanmar’s Chaung U township was bombed by a paraglider on Monday, October 6, 2025. The attack has left at least 40 dead and 80 injured. It mimicked the method of attack used on October 7, 2023, by Hamas when they attacked the Nova music festival with paragliders.
An official claims they tried to alert the festival goers of the impending attack, but they failed to heed his warning. Children are among the dead and injured. The junta government recently promised elections next year. They are blaming anti-government forces for the attack, launching air strikes in the suspected region of the alleged attackers.
AT LEAST 40 people have been killed after a paraglider reportedly dropped two bombs on festivalgoers in Myanmar.
Children are among the victims of the deadly overnight attack which is believed to have been conducted by the Myanmar military.
The attacks echo the chilling Nova music festival ambush carried out by Hamas terrorists on paragliders on October 7, 2023.
From The Sun UK
Myanmar activists to sue Norway’s Telenor for handing data to military | Privacy News– www.aljazeera.com
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Excerpt:
Claimants say government used data to track and target activists in the wake of 2021 coup.
A group of civil society organisations in Myanmar plans to take legal action against Norwegian telecoms firm Telenor, accusing it of passing customer data to the country’s military government for use in repression.
The activists sent Telenor a notice of intent to sue on Monday, according to a statement from the Netherlands-based nonprofit Centre for Research on Multinational Corporations (SOMO), which is backing the case. The case states that the data shared by the telecoms giant was used by the military following its 2021 coup to trace and target civilians.
The claimants allege that Telenor, majority-owned by the Norwegian government, disclosed data from millions of customers to the military authorities, which, after toppling the country’s elected government, embarked on a campaign of violence and repression.
Election watchdog warns Myanmar junta’s planned polls lack credibility – eng.mizzima.com
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Prime Minister-led Myanmar delegation arrives back in Nay Pyi Taw from China – Global New Light Of Myanmar
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Students killed at Myanmar boarding school as junta escalates air war – NBC News
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The Myanmar Junta’s election commission has just announced plans to hold a “multiparty democratic general election” on Sunday, December 28, 2025. The commission was formed the previous month. It is seen as a sign that the junta is recognizing its inability to hold a land it took through force, denying the results of a fair and free election, though skepticism abounds as to whether the election will actually happen.
Myanmar to hold general elections on December 28: state media – TRT Global
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Excerpt:
Myanmar’s election commission has announced that the general polls will be held in Myanmar on December 28, state media reported.
The “multi-party democratic general election” will be held on Sunday, December 28, later this year, MRTV reported on Monday, citing a notification by the Union Election Commission.
The last general elections in the Buddhist-majority Southeast Asian country were held in November 2020, won by the National League of Democracy (NLD), which was ousted in a military coup in February 2021.
The announcement of polls came after the military junta last month formed a commission to oversee general elections, effectively signalling the end of the state of emergency rule.
Junta chief Senior General Min Aung Hlaing also appointed himself as acting president.
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A Myanmar junta air strike on a rebel-occupied ruby mining hub killed 13 people on Saturday, according to a resident and a spokesperson for an armed opposition group.
Civil war has consumed Myanmar since the military seized power in a 2021 coup, sparking resistance from pro-democracy guerillas who found common cause with long-active ethnic armed groups.
Their scattered forces initially struggled to make headway, but a combined offensive starting in late 2023 seized swathes of territory, including the town of Mogok – the centre of the ruby trade.
Myanmar is rich in precious stones and rare earth elements coveted by all factions and sold, mostly to neighbouring China, to boost war chests.
A junta spokesperson could not be reached for comment.
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Iran has found a new market for its arms since the 2021 coup in Myanmar.
A Boeing 747 cargo plane from Iran landed in Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon three times between January and April last year.
Operated by Iranian cargo airline Qeshm Fars Air, the flights departed Mashhad, Iran’s second city, and returned to Iran the following day, flight tracker data shows.
What did Qeshm Fars Air bring to Myanmar?
One of the flights delivered a consignment of 21 boxes thought to contain military drones and engines. The sight of Iranian cargo planes landing in Myanmar’s capital has also sparked speculation they are supplying the junta with more powerful weapons, including guided missiles.
Qeshm Fars Air is already under US sanctions for allegedly transporting weapons to Tehran-backed groups in the Syrian civil war on behalf of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. But Myanmar Air Force defectors and other informed sources told The Irrawaddy that Tehran is now also delivering weapons to Myanmar.
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A fleet of junta military vessels moving upstream along the Ayeyarwady River resumed its journey from Htigyaing Township on the morning of 23 July, according to the Htigyaing Revolution (TR) group.
The fleet, composed of cargo ships and river warships enroute to Bhamo, halted overnight in Htigyaing on 22 July before continuing its advance. As of 11:15 am on 23 July, the vessels were reportedly near Dingyi Kya village in Htigyaing Township.
“They’ve already left. The situation hasn’t changed much yet. They’re near Dingyi Kya village in Htigyaing Township. There hasn’t been any airstrike so far,” a TR official told reporters.
In anticipation of possible conflict, the Bhamo District People’s Defence Force Battalion 1 issued a public warning on 22 July, urging residents of riverside villages to evacuate immediately. The group also cautioned against traveling along the river, holding festivals, or attending public gatherings due to the risk of air and naval attacks as the fleet approaches.
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BANGKOK — A military fighter jet crashed and burned Tuesday in an area that has seen intense fighting during Myanmar’s civil war, with a rebel group claiming to have shot it down while state-run media reported it suffered a mechanical failure.
The aircraft went down midday in the Sagaing region, about 140 kilometers (85 miles) west of Mandalay, Myanmar ‘s second largest city, according to state-run MRTV television.
It did not identify the type of jet or mention casualties, and said a search and recovery effort was underway in Pale township where it went down.
Local media reports identified the plane as the two-seater Chinese FTC-2000G, a fighter ground-attack jet, and broadcast images of a crashed plane with body parts nearby.
Sagaing region is a stronghold of armed resistance to the military, which seized power in February 2021 from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi. Opposition to the takeover began peacefully, but escalated into a civil war as the authorities resorted increasingly to lethal force to quell dissent.
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Since launching its sweeping offensive in November 2023, the Arakan Army (AA) has positioned itself to seize its home state, Rakhine, from the Myanmar military. On the eastern fringe of the Bay of Bengal, Rakhine has made international headlines as the site of the 2017 Rohingya genocide and the host to major Indian and Chinese infrastructure projects. The impact of Rakhine’s fall for those issues has been well-explored elsewhere. Less examined is how AA allies in southwest Myanmar have mobilized to support their patron, the AA, and how the group could shape the wider conflict. Although the AA is an avowedly ethnonationalist rebel group primarily interested in self-determination for Rakhine, it has expressed solidarity with the broader anti-junta movement and built up an extensive network of allies within it.
The axis that has emerged as a result has enabled the AA to expand its influence close to India in Chin State, threaten the military’s industrial base in Magway and Bago regions, and endanger the junta’s grip on the rice bowl of Ayeyarwady Region. As of early 2025, the AA is now the premier benefactor of insurgent activity in the southwest, with at least 17 groups and likely far more that have fought alongside and in parallel to the AA in Rakhine, Chin, Bago, Magway, and Ayeyarwady. This has greatly threatened the junta, complicated the AA’s relationship with the National Unity Government (NUG), and further entrenched its place in Chin state. Through these alliances, the AA has the power to greatly impact the trajectory of Myanmar’s civil war.