INSIGHT - In rebel-held Myanmar town, fragile unity pushes junta to the brink - a deep dive into the significance of the battle for Myawaddy after my reporting there earlier this week via Reuters #WhatsHappeninglnMyanmar
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Myawaddy, a critical trading post in Myanmar that rebel forces seized from the ruling junta last week, offers a glimpse of dynamics playing out across the Southeast Asian country as its vaunted military reels from battlefield losses reut.rs/4aC61ew

Reuters' Mohammed Salem has won the 2024 World Press Photo of the Year award for this image of a Palestinian woman, Inas Abu Maamar, cradling the body of her five-year-old niece in Gaza.

‘Myanmar's military may still seek to mount a counter-attack to regain the town, said Dulyapak Preecharush, an associate professor at Thammasat University. “So there is a question about possible intensification of fighting in the coming days.”’ reuters.com/world/asia-pac…

Soldiers stand guard, as 200 Myanmar soldiers withdrew to a bridge to Thailand after assault by the anti-junta resistance, which declared winning control of the border town of Myawaddy, near the border in Mae Sot, Tak province, Thailand, April 11, 2024. REUTERS/ soe zeya tun

Great stuff from Ryn J., shooting for us in Myawaddy.
Rebel groups take Myanmar border town: Hundreds of refugees escape to Th... youtu.be/VLL5EuibQIc?si… via YouTube

People in Myanmar are reviewing the one military base outside Myawaddy that hasn’t surrendered on Google Maps 😂

The Myanmar military junta has suffered a serious defeat with the loss of Myawaddy, the main trade route into Thailand. KNU forces + allies captured around 600 troops and a lot of equipment Friday; the last battalion in Myawaddy is still negotiating surrender terms with the KNU.

The ex-COO of former Germany fintech giant Wirecard helped run Russian spy operations across Europe. Incredible story ft.com/content/c3b500…

#Myanmar ’s resistance fighters strike in the heart of the military’s fortified capital - a significant escalation.

“What I know is that we were targeted deliberately, nonstop, until everybody was dead in this convoy”. The head of World Central Kitchen speaking to Reuters.

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Among other revelations here, one of the world’s most wanted people apparently bothered to leave an online review of a Pizza Hut in Zimbabwe (3 stars, if you were curious).

Biggest news to come out of Thailand since #สุขุมวิท11 : The city of Lopburi is experiencing unprecedented violence between two monkey gangs, authorities have been mobilised to quell chaos and are currently attempting to relocate the primates.

“Zhao’s designation is the first time a known political operative has been added to the list, and is an acknowledgement that China is believed to be using organized criminal networks as proxies to push its interests in the Pacific” occrp.org/en/investigati…

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Last year, Esquire assigned me to write a profile about Jay Shetty, the ultra-famous self-help influencer and guru to the stars.

At first, I thought Shetty was smarmy but ultimately harmless. But as I began my background research, I found Shetty had committed rampant plagiarism

Myanmar’s newly activated conscription law: extensive interviews with potential conscripts suggest only 10% of young people will comply. A fish vendor says: “I’d rather cut off a few fingers….” Nikkei Asia
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“To launder cash—or a reputation—is to mingle the dirty with the clean, and one consequence of London’s new identity as a 24-hour laundromat is that the city is full of crooks with pretensions to legitimacy and businessmen who seem a little crooked.” newyorker.com/magazine/2024/…