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is a Times reporter based in Bangkok who has been covering Asia for more than 25 years. She focuses on in-depth and investigative stories.

Locations: Bangkok, Asia

☆ A Gen Z Resistance, Cut Off From Data Plans
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-23 | by ( Hannah Beech | Adam Ferguson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

In the night, the mountain air not quite chill enough to still the insects, young people gathered around a glow. The light attracting them was not a phone screen, that electric lure for people almost everywhere, but a bonfire. Moths courted the flame, sparking when they veered too close, then swooning to their deaths. For months now, these hills of Karenni State in eastern Myanmar have been severed from modern communications. In these resistance strongholds, where people from around the nation have congregated, there is almost no internet, cell service or even electricity.

Persons: strummed Locations: Karenni State, Myanmar

☆ What’s Happening In Myanmar’s Civil War?
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Hannah Beech | Weiyi Cai | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +16 min

RUSSIA CHINA INDIA Pacific Ocean MYANMAR INDONESIA Indian Ocean AUSTRALIA RUSSIA CHINA INDIA Pacific Ocean MYANMAR INDONESIA Indian Ocean AUSTRALIAWhat’s Happening In Myanmar’s Civil War? Parliamentary rule 1962 Military coup 1988 Nearly five decades of military rule Widespread pro-democracy protests followed by bloody military crackdown. National civil unrest 2021 Military coup ended power sharing with civilian government. Parliamentary rule Nearly five decades of military rule National civil unrest British colonial rule 1948 1988 1990 2007 2011 2021 1962 2015 Widespread pro-democracy protests followed by bloody military crackdown. National civil unrest 2021 Military coup ended power sharing with civilian government.

Persons: Adam Ferguson, Min Aung, Daw Aung, Suu Kyi, Aung, —, Tom Andrews, Chin, Rakhine Karen Mon Bamar, Kayan, Karen, Ms, hideouts Organizations: MYANMAR INDONESIA Indian Ocean, Insurgent, Council, Myanmar, 8th Battalion, Karenni Nationalities Defense Force, The New York Times, Senior, National Unity Government, People’s Defense Forces, Rebels, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Myanmar Peace Monitor, United Nations, General Administration Department, Union of, United, National Liberation Army Locations: RUSSIA CHINA, MYANMAR INDONESIA Indian Ocean AUSTRALIA RUSSIA CHINA, MYANMAR INDONESIA Indian, MYANMAR INDONESIA Indian Ocean AUSTRALIA, INDIA CHINA BANGLADESH Mandalay MYANMAR LAOS Naypyidaw Bay, Bengal Yangon THAILAND, INDIA CHINA Mandalay MYANMAR, Yangon THAILAND Bay, Bengal, Myanmar, Ukraine, Gaza, India, China, Karenni State, country’s, Suu, Myanmar’s, British, Sagaing Region, MYANMAR, Naypyidaw, Burma, United States, Rakhine, Thailand, Union, Union of Burma, Afghanistan

☆ A Ragtag Resistance Sees the Tide Turning in a Forgotten War
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-20 | by ( Hannah Beech | Adam Ferguson | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The night Ma Suu Kyi thought she would die of her wounds on the front lines of a forgotten war, a crescent moon hung overhead. Or maybe, she said, it was not yet time for her to die. “I’m an ordinary girl, an ordinary young person. I believe in federal democracy and human rights.”Ms. Suu Kyi said the words “federal democracy” in English. A new generation, which came of age during the civilian administration of the Nobel laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has taken to arms, joining rebels who have opposed military dictatorship for decades.

Persons: Suu, Virgin Mary dangled, ” Ms, Suu Kyi, Ms, Daw Aung Organizations: Virgin Locations: Myanmar, Suu

☆ Fighting to Govern Myanmar, From a Teeny Office in Washington
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-13 | by ( Hannah Beech | More About Hannah Beech | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

This pro-democracy government was formed after a military coup in Myanmar deposed civilian authorities in 2021. But Washington attracts political refugees from all over the world who hope proximity to power will draw attention to their national plights. Ma Aye Chan Mon and U Moe Zaw Oo of the N.U.G. remain optimistic they can get the world to care about Myanmar, despite the destructive forces of apathy and ignorance. “They don’t even know how to pronounce Myanmar,” said Ms. Aye Chan Mon, about the reception she often receives in Washington.

Persons: ”, Ma Aye Chan, Moe, Oo, Aye Chan, “ Organizations: White, National Unity Government, Washington Locations: Myanmar, Washington, Yemen

She does not know why they are fighting in the Holy Land halfway across the world, or even exactly who is fighting. In the impoverished northeast of Thailand, past cassava fields and cows dozing in the heat, Watsana Yojampa has her son’s new house almost ready for his return. There is a room for his daughter, soon to be painted purple because that’s her favorite hue of Care Bear. On Oct. 6, Ms. Watsana showed him tile options for the bathroom over a video call. He was very particular about his “modern house” and promised to get back to her on his preferred shade of gray, she said.

Persons: Yojampa, Anucha Angkaew, Watsana Locations: Holy, Thailand, Israel

This is what it looks like when a Chinese naval vessel bears down on your fishing boat. We know because we were there. This boat was carrying Times journalists off the island of Palawan, in the Philippines, looking at how China was imposing its territorial ambitions on the South China Sea. An international court says China has no claim to these waters. The Chinese navy boat guarding Mischief Reef said differently.

Locations: Palawan, Philippines, China

☆ Vietnam Chases Secret Russian Arms Deal, Even as It Deepens U.S. Ties
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-09 | by ( Hannah Beech | More About Hannah Beech | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

When President Biden is greeted by Vietnamese officials in Hanoi on Sunday, he will be celebrating the prospect of adding another friend in Asia to a coalition that his administration hopes will side with American interests rather than China’s and Russia’s. During Mr. Biden’s visit, the two nations will underscore their commitment to “increase peace, prosperity, and stability in the region,” a White House press statement said. Nguyen Phu Trong, the top Vietnamese leader, is expected to confer upon the United States an upgrade of strategic ties. The Biden administration has reciprocated early, glossing over the Communist Party of Vietnam’s intensifying human rights crackdown. Signed by a Vietnamese deputy finance minister, the document notes that Vietnam is negotiating a new arms deal with Russia that would “strengthen strategic trust” at a time when “Russia is being embargoed by Western countries in all aspects.”

Persons: Biden, Biden’s, Phu Trong, glossing Organizations: White, Communist Party of, Finance Locations: Hanoi, Asia, United States, Vietnam, Russia, Siberia

☆ Ancient Art or Fashion Forward? Both, Says a Top Batik Designer
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Hannah Beech | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In one chest, Ms. Komara recently recalled, were batik designs from the island of Java, in the other elaborate weavings from Indonesia’s outer islands. She swallowed more wine, inhaled clove-scented smoke from an Indonesian cigarette — and considered how to enrich the heritage of a nation of more than 17,000 islands. Since that melancholic night nearly four decades ago, Ms. Komara has refashioned an ancient art by entwining disparate textile traditions with an aesthetic all her own to create a modern Indonesian silhouette. Her batik and other designs for her fashion house, BINhouse, have transformed a cultural expression that was intricate and lovely but so locked in tradition that it bordered on staid. Ms. Komara, known by her nickname Obin, no longer depends on lampshades for a living as BINhouse has become a global force in spreading batik’s beauty.

Persons: Josephine Komara, Komara Locations: Java, Indonesian

☆ Cities vs. Rising Seas
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-19 | by ( Manuela Andreoni | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

What does a country do when rising seas threaten to swamp its coastal capital? In the case of Indonesia, the country’s leaders are building a new capital city, from scratch, on higher ground. The project poses a big question, Hannah wrote: What happens to the millions left behind in the old capital, Jakarta, once the government moves? Rising seas are a challenge for two-thirds of the world’s biggest cities, including New York, Mumbai and Shanghai. Today, I want to talk about what leaders around the world are doing about the problem and what the future might hold for people in these cities.

☆ The Plan to Build a New Capital
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-17 | by ( David Leonhardt | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Today, 40 percent of Jakarta lies below sea level, and flooding is increasingly common. To deal with that threat, Indonesia’s popular president — Joko Widodo, in his ninth year in office — has devised an audacious solution: He is moving the country’s capital. The new capital, now under construction, is called Nusantara. It is being built from the ground up, about 800 miles from the current capital. Joko promises that the city will be a model of environmental stewardship, carbon neutral within a few decades.

☆ What’s a President to Do When a Nation’s Capital Is Sinking? Move It.
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Hannah Beech | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +38 min

A new capital city for a place with such disparities and diversity presents both a challenge and a chance for reinvention. Moving the Seat of Power From Java to Borneo Detail area Malaysia Nusantara Borneo Java Sea Indonesia Jakarta Java Indian Ocean Detail area Malaysia Nusantara Borneo Java Sea Indonesia Jakarta Java Indian Ocean Indonesia’s new capital, Nusantara, will be about 800 miles from the current capital, Jakarta. It cannot be overnight, it’s not like Aladdin comes with his genie,” said Bambang Susantono, the head of the Nusantara Capital City Authority. We have to prove that this will be a self-propelling city.” — Bambang Susantono, head of the Nusantara Capital City AuthorityCritics of I.K.N. Indonesia’s capital city faces sinking land and rising seas.

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