Why Obama’s trip to Burma is such a big deal
This week, the White House announced that President Obama will visit Burma (also known as Myanmar), long an international pariah that has just recently begun to reform, later this month. He will be the...
View Article5 things to watch for in Obama’s visit to Burma
President Obama will make history on Monday, becoming the first-ever U.S. president to visit Burma, a long-isolated Southeast Asian rogue state, called Myanmar by its rulers. The Obama administration...
View ArticleWhy it’s such a big deal that Obama said ‘Myanmar’ rather than Burma
One small but potentially telling detail I and others were watching for in President Obama’s trip Monday to Southeast Asia’s longtime dictatorship and rogue nation Burma, a historic visit meant to...
View ArticleObama’s message for North Korea in visiting Burma: Let’s make up
On Monday, President Obama visited a medium-sized Asian country known for its international isolation, brutal military dictatorship and flirtations with nuclear weapons. If that sounds familiar, you...
View ArticleBurma by skateboard: A short film from a unique perspective
Although they couldn’t have known it at the time, when three British filmmakers traveled to Burma in the summer of 2009, they were visiting the southeast Asian hermit state at the midpoint between its...
View ArticleThe photo that defined Burma at its modern-day worst
On Sept. 25, 2007, Japanese photographer Kenji Nagai traveled to Burma’s capital city to document the rising pro-democracy protests there, led by a number of the country’s Buddhist monks in a challenge...
View ArticleVideo: the al-Jazeera documentary that Burma’s government publicly condemned
An al-Jazeera English documentary on violence between Buddhists and Muslims in Burma’s western province of Rakhine has earned a formal, public rebuke from the country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs....
View ArticlePhotos: The year’s 25 most dramatic moments in world news
The past year has been a big one for world news. There were transformative political movements bringing democracy to Burma and neo-Nazism to Greece, there was tumultuous violence in Israel-Palestine...
View ArticleHow former Burmese political prisoner Win Tin survived 20 years in jail
How do you survive two decades in jail, most of it spent in solitary confinement, and still stay sane? Somehow, former Burmese political prisoner Win Tin achieved just that. Now 83 years old, his body...
View ArticleStunning before-and-after satellite photos show sectarian devastation in Burma
In late March, as tension between Burma’s Buddhists and its Muslim minority escalated, a street vendor and a customer in the city of Meiktila began quarreling over a piece of gold. Somehow, the...
View Article‘I am proud to be called a radical Buddhist’: More Burmese embracing...
Members of Burma’s Buddhist majority, including some of its much-respected monks, are increasingly persecuting the country’s long-suffering Muslim minority and adopting an ideology that encourages...
View ArticleToday is the 25th anniversary of the most important uprising you’ve never...
Five years ago, a Burmese activist — then operating under a pseudonym as Myat Min, as the generals still held all power — told the New Yorker’s George Packer about what he had seen in 1988. That...
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The powerful stories behind the six best news photos of 2013
World Press Photo has announced the winners for its annual photo contest, one of the most anticipated photography competitions in the world. Here are the stories behind the overall photo of the year,...
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Shocking images of the world’s most forsaken people starving to death
WARNING: Some images in this gallery may be disturbing because of their graphic nature. View Photo Gallery —Restrictions on international aid have exacerbated a growing health crisis among stateless...
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Burma creates far-reaching ‘state counselor’ post for Aung San Suu Kyi
Burma’s parliament on Tuesday created a powerful new role for governing party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s revered Nobel laureate. Suu Kyi, 70, will now become Burma’s “state counselor,” a...
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‘I can’t take it anymore’: Ohio State attacker said abuses of Burma’s Muslims...
The Ohio State University student who carried out a knife attack on campus Monday wrote in a Facebook post shortly before the rampage that the abuse of a little-known Muslim community in Burma had...
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Indian legislator declares war on ‘killer’ dumplings
An Indian politician has declared war on “killer” Asian dumplings, saying teenagers' addiction to the popular local street food is “like drugs” and that they cause cancer. Ramesh Arora, a member of...
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