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This photo taken on September 12, 2022 shows the members of the Nay Pyi Taw People Defense Force running at the frontline frontline in Mobyae, Southern Shan State, Myanmar.

Matrix Images / Kaung Zaw Hein

What We’re Watching: China gets “heavy” in Myanmar, Nigeria violence surges, Bangladesh’s ex-leader approved lethal crackdown

China wields rare earths leverage in Myanmar’s civil war

You might not have heard of Kachin State in Myanmar, but the region, which lies along the Chinese border, supplies nearly half of the world’s “heavy rare earths.” Those minerals are crucial ingredients in high tech manufacturing. Much of Kachin is controlled by rebel groups battling the Myanmar junta, and until now China has bought the minerals directly from the rebels. But Beijing, recently drawing closer to Myanmar’s ruling junta, has now threatened to halt buying minerals from the rebels unless they stand down. If they do, it would be a big win for the ruling junta. But if the rebels stand firm and China follows through with the threat to halt purchases, global high-tech supply chains could face serious disruptions.

Violence in Nigeria has surged in 2025

According to Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission, various militant groups killed at least 2,266 people in the first half of 2025 alone, a total higher than the 2,194 deaths for all of last year. For decades, Nigeria has faced violence and terror from the jihadist militants of Boko Haram, but the country’s security problems extend well beyond that to include northern insurgencies, secessionists in the oil-rich southern states, clashes between farmers and herders in central states, and criminal gangs in multiple regions. Nigeria’s military and police are fighting multi-front battles that appear to be getting worse fast.

Leaked audio reveals that ousted Bangladesh leader authorized lethal crackdown

Nearly a year ago, former Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called for an investigation into who was responsible for killing up to 1,400 people during last summer’s student protests against her rule. Now, the former leader has egg on her face, after a leaked audio revealed that she herself authorized her security forces to “use lethal weapons” against demonstrators. The leak comes as Hasina, who fled to India a year ago, faces trial in absentia for crimes against humanity.

Russian Minister of Transport Roman Starovoit attends a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in Moscow, Russia January 30, 2025.

Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via REUTERS

Hard Numbers: Fired Russian official found dead, X calls out India, Myanmar clashes drive refugee wave, Liberian president offers apology

$246 million: Ousted Russian Transport Minister Roman Starovoit was found dead in his car with an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound on Monday, just hours after being fired by President Vladimir Putin. Starovoit, a former governor of the Kursk region – which was invaded by Ukraine last summer – was potentially implicated in an embezzlement probe focused on $246 million which was earmarked for border defenses. The Kremlin says that it was “shocked” to learn about his death.

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Rescuers work at the site of a building that collapsed after the strong earthquake in Mandalay, Myanmar, on Sunday, March 30, 2025.

REUTERS/Stringer

Myanmar struggles to cope with aftermath of quake

The death toll continues to rise in Myanmar after a devastating 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck near the central city of Mandalay on March 28. Approximately 1,700 people are dead and over 3,400 injured, with the US Geological Service estimating that casualties could top 10,000. The quake caused extensive damage to infrastructure, including bridges, roads, and hospitals, and left thousands homeless. Relief operations are further complicated by Myanmar’s ongoing civil war — the opposition said it would commence a two-week ceasefire in earthquake-affected areas, even as the junta reportedly continued bombing civilian areas.

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A soldier from the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) on the outskirts of Myawaddy, the Thailand-Myanmar border town under the control of a coalition of rebel forces led by the Karen National Union, in Myanmar, April 15, 2024.

REUTERS/Athit Perawongmetha

Myanmar militia retakes symbolic capital from junta forces

In a major symbolic blow to the junta that controls Myanmar, fighters from the Karen National Union’s armed wing retook the eastern town of Manerplaw on Wednesday, nearly 30 years after first losing it.

The background: The junta has held power since a 2021 coup, but has been on its back foot this year, facing losses along its borders with Thailand, China, India, and Bangladesh, as ethnic militias team up with pro-democracy fighters to press government troops from all sides.

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A view of the city of Tehran, Iran, amid pollution.

Morteza Nikoubazl/NurPhoto via Reuters

Hard Numbers: Tehran’s pollution closes schools, Social media swing vote, Militia controls Myanmar-Bangladesh border, Signs of Assad-era torture, Big boost for Ukraine

10 million: Officials in Tehran, a city of more than 10 million people, closed elementary schools and kindergartens on Saturday and Sunday because of dangerous levels of air pollution. On Tuesday, they announced the closure of all governmental offices, universities, and schools on Wednesday and Thursday. Schools will move classes online. In Iran, schools are generally open from Saturday to Wednesday.

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FILE PHOTO: At a secret jungle camp in Myanmar's eastern Karen state, a fitness coach and other civilians are training with armed ethnic guerrillas to fight back against the country's military takeover.

REUTERS/Independent photographer

Myanmar junta calls for peace talks with minority militias — not pro-democracy fighters

After a year of rebel victories that have left Myanmar’s ruling junta on the defensive, its chairman, Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, invited ethnic minority armies to peace talks in a state television broadcast on Tuesday. The junta's invitation likely aims to divide these groups from pro-democracy fighters from the ethnic Burmese majority.

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FILE PHOTO: Myanmar's army chief General Min Aung Hlaing inspects troops during a parade to mark the 67th anniversary of Armed Forces Day in Myanmar's capital Naypyitaw March 27, 2012. The event commemorates the Burmese army's rising up against Japanese occupiers in 1945.

REUTERS/Soe Zeya/File Photo

Myanmar launches census that rebels say will be used against them

On Tuesday, Myanmar’s ruling junta officially launched a census aimed at creating election rolls for a promised vote next year, but the armed opposition tied to the former democratic government of Aung San Suu Kyi, known as the National Unity Government, is urging citizens to comply with caution. They allege the military is using the census to collect information on the whereabouts of potential political dissidents as well as create lists of men eligible for military conscription.

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Refugees from the Myanmar civil war near the Thailand-Myanmar border in June 2024.

Kaung Zaw Hein/Reuters

Hard Numbers: Escalating war crimes in Myanmar, UN climate pact ignores fossil fuels, Waves of people leave New Zealand, Mpox spreads in Africa, US approves big arms deal for Israel

900: UN investigators in a new report on Tuesday warned that the Myanmar military is committing war crimes at an “alarming rate” as a devastating civil war continues to consume the country. The report, based on information collected from over 900 sources, says that thousands have been arrested and many have been “tortured or killed in detention.”

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