Burmese people

Myanmar's military seized power in a bloodless coup on Feb. 1, detaining democratically elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi as it imposed a one-year state of emergency.

Myanmar military television said on Feb. 1 that the military was taking control of the country for one year, while reports said many of the country's senior politicians including Aung San Suu Kyi had been detained.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday robustly defended the jailing of two Reuters journalists who were reporting on the Rohingya crisis, as she hit back at global criticism of a trial widely seen as an attempt to muzzle the free press.

The jailing of two Reuters journalists shreds what remains of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's reputation as a rights champion, critics say, after she failed to come to their defence or speak up for the persecuted Rohingya minority.

YANGON — The Union Parliament on Wednesday elected former Lower House Speaker U Win Myint the country's 10th president after U Htin Kyaw left the post last week citing the need to rest.

Myanmar's President Htin Kyaw resigned suddenly on March 21 leaving the country's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi without a close confidant and political ally as she faces rising international opprobrium over the Rakhine crisis.

British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson met with Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar’s capital on Feb. 11 to press for action on the Rohingya crisis, as the country faces mounting pressure to punish troops accused of atrocities against the Muslim minority.

Pope Francis arrived today in Yangon, the economic capital of the Myanmar-populated Buddhist population, at the beginning of the first visit of the head of the Roman Catholic Church to that country, the world's agencies reported.

Myanmar’s first and incumbent State Counsellor (a position akin to a Prime Minister), foreign minister and de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi was announced the 2017 International Islamophobe of the Year on Nov. 26. 

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Wednesday (Nov 22) that Myanmar’s Rohingya population was being subjected to “ethnic cleansing”, accusing the security forces of perpetrating “horrendous atrocities” against the Muslim minority.