Podcasts about rohingya

Episode #609: Jostein Kobbeltvedt, director of the Rafto Foundation for Human Rights in Bergen, Norway, reflects on how the 1990 Rafto Prize awarded to Aung San Suu Kyi helped bring Myanmar's democracy struggle to international attention and how the global narrative surrounding her later collided with the realities of governing. The Rafto Foundation was created to recognize human rights defenders while their struggles are still unfolding. Early laureates were dissidents from Eastern Europe, and the committee's decision to recognize Suu Kyi marked an expansion of the prize's focus beyond that region. At the time of the award, Suu Kyi was under house arrest and largely unknown outside Myanmar. Her name came to the committee's attention through a brief newspaper mention, yet the prize helped introduce her story to wider audiences. International recognition soon followed, including the Nobel Peace Prize. The Rafto Foundation maintained long-term contact with Suu Kyi and her family during her detention, and in 2013 she traveled to Bergen to formally receive the prize. But the narrative surrounding Suu Kyi shifted dramatically after she entered government following Myanmar's 2015 elections. As State Counsellor, she confronted political constraints that differed from those she faced as an opposition leader. Violence against Rohingya communities beginning in 2016, and her response to the crisis shocked many international supporters who had viewed her as a democratic icon. The experience highlights the complexities of democratic transitions and the enduring influence of military power within Myanmar's political system. It also illustrates how international advocacy, economic engagement, and diplomacy have shaped Norway's evolving relationship with Myanmar. Despite continuing setbacks, Kobbeltvedt emphasizes that Myanmar's citizens remain committed to pursuing democracy, and their struggle continues to draw international solidarity.

Sign up to Musletter our show sponsor: https://musletter.comThe Thinking Muslim Conference: http://www.thinkingmuslim.com/conferenceDonate to our charity partner Baitulmaal here:http://btml.us/thinkingmuslimHelp us expand our Muslim media project here: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/membershipIn this wide-ranging conversation, Sami Hamdi joins Muhammad Jalal to examine the rapidly shifting politics of the Muslim world, from the emerging Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Pakistan defence pact to the war with Iran, changing US influence and the future of regional power.They ask whether the so-called “Muslim NATO” could become a serious political force, why traditional US allies are searching for new security arrangements, and what this could mean for Saudi Arabia, Türkiye, Pakistan, Egypt and the wider Muslim world.The discussion also turns to American politics, the growing backlash against Israel and AIPAC within the Democratic Party, Israel's tensions with Türkiye over Syria, and whether Muslims have more political agency than they often assume.In the final part of the episode, Sami reflects on his recent visit to Bangladesh and the Rohingya refugee camps. He discusses the failure to resolve the Rohingya crisis, the role Bangladesh, Malaysia and other Muslim countries could play, and why the plight of the Rohingya must remain a concern for the wider Ummah.An extensive conversation on Muslim geopolitics, Gaza, Iran, Syria, Türkiye, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, US politics and the Rohingya crisis.Find Sami Hamdi here:X: https://x.com/SALHACHIMIIG: https://www.instagram.com/salhachimi/Become a member here:https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/membershipOr give your one-off donation here:https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/donateListen to the audio version of the podcast:Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7vXiAjVFnhNI3T9Gkw636aApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-thinking-muslim/id1471798762Purchase our Thinking Muslim mug: https://www.thinkingmuslim.com/merchFind us on:WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbDYCfV5PO199ImLqZ34X: https://x.com/thinking_muslimLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-thinking-muslim/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/The-Thinking-Muslim-Podcast-105790781361490Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thinkingmuslimpodcast/Telegram: https://t.me/thinkingmuslimBlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/thinkingmuslim.bsky.socialThreads: https://www.threads.com/@thinkingmuslimpodcastFind Muhammad Jalal here:X: https://twitter.com/jalalaynInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jalalayns/Sign up to Muhammad Jalal's newsletter: https://jalalayn.substack.comWebsite Archive: https://www.thinkingmuslim.comDisclaimer:The views expressed in this video are those of the individual speaker(s) and do not represent the views of the host, producers, platform, or any affiliated organisation. This content is provided for lawful, informational, and analytical purposes only, and should not be taken as professional advice. Viewer discretion is advised. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nine years after more than a million Rohingya fled Myanmar, Bangladesh wants them to return. But return to what?As Myanmar's civil war intensifies, the Rohingya are caught between the military that drove them from their homes and the powerful Arakan Army now reshaping the battlefield in Rakhine State.Award-winning filmmaker and investigative journalist Ali Fowle joins Latika Bourke and Laura Tingle to unpack her new Al Jazeera documentary, Bloodshed on the Border. She explains how the Rohingya are being drawn into the conflict, why villages are being destroyed once again, and how a forgotten crisis has become even more dangerous.Plus: who is the Arakan Army, how did it become one of Myanmar's most effective rebel forces, and why does Bangladesh still hope to repatriate refugees despite the continuing war?Guest: Ali Fowle, documentary filmmaker and investigative journalist.You can watch Bloodshed on the Border hereGet in touch:We'd love to hear from you! Email us at global.roaming@abc.net.au

This plenary by Rev. Dr. Hrang Hlei, titled “From Displacement to Diaspora: Resettlement History of the Myanmar Diaspora in the United States," was recorded on August 7, 2026, as part of the Our Stories, Our Faith conference "Burma Christian Diaspora in Indianapolis: Celebrating Our Stories, Embracing Our Challenges." More information about the conference can be found at https://ourstoriesourfaith.org/.Download Rev. Dr. Hrang's presentation slides here: https://ourstoriesourfaith.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2026/08/Social-History-of-Myanmar-Diaspora-.pptx.pdf.“The history of the Myanmar diaspora in the United States is not one single story. It is a story of many people: Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Mon, Rohingya, and others. Many came not simply as immigrants seeking opportunity, but as refugees fleeing dictatorship, civil war, ethnic persecution, religious discrimination, poverty, and displacement. Their story is a story of struggles, hardships, challenges, and resilience. Their story reminds us that being a refugee is not only about finding a new country. It is about rebuilding human dignity, preserving memory, forming faith, and preparing the next generation.”Rev. Hrang Hlei, PhD came to the US in 2006 as a seminary student, and currently serves as the Congregational Care Pastor at Indiana Chin Baptist Church, Indiana. He was recently elected the new General Secretary for Chin Baptist Churches, USA, which connects over a hundred local congregations across the country. He did his doctoral research among the Chin immigrant churches and published it as The Formation of Chin Immigrant Congregations in the United States: Discovering Their Ecclesiological Identities. Rev. Hlei is passionate about helping and nurturing immigrant churches in God's calling to preach the gospel and make disciples here in the US and beyond. He is an ordained minister of American Baptist Churches, USA, and in his free time he enjoys watching historical documentary movies.Photo credit (thumbnail): Jacob Him, Svolta Film This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit caacptsem.substack.com

“We're hardwired for love. We are taught to do violence, and to hate.” — Dana Mashoian Walrath A couple of months ago in Warsaw, the Polish writer and Jewish activist Konstanty Gebert argued that Gaza wasn't a genocide. Today's guest disagrees. In The Book of Genocides, graphic artist and anthropologist Dana Mashoian Walrath draws ten genocides including what she sees as the crimes against humanity committed by the Israeli army in Gaza. So what, exactly, is a “genocide”? Walrath's definition borrows from the Polish lawyer Raphael Lemkin, who coined the term during the Second World War. Lemkin meant the word to mean the destruction of peoples that had been deemed sub-human. Thus Walrath includes crimes against the First Peoples of the Americas and Black Americans alongside 20th-century mass killings in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Armenia, where her ancestors were persecuted. Some will quibble over this list. Although quibbling over the top (or bottom) ten genocides isn't exactly good taste. Besides, The Book of Genocides is a poignant work of graphic art in the tradition of Art Spiegelman's Maus. And its author, for all her anthropological insights into why people commit crimes against humanity, isn't shy with her genocide jokes. Springtime for Hitler, anyone? Five Takeaways •       Always a Land Grab. Ten genocides across five centuries — the First Peoples of the Americas, Black Americans, Aboriginal Australians, Armenia, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, the Rohingya, and Gaza — chosen not to rank horrors but to expose “the repetitive patterns and the processes that underlie genocide.” Walrath's definition is Raphael Lemkin's original, processual one, before politics narrowed the convention: the purpose is always a land grab, the apparatus always dehumanization, and precise academic definitions are often deployed “to keep some stories and histories out.” The book began as an interactive art installation with nine genocides and a tenth chapter on “the borders of genocide” — Afghanistan, Vietnam, Congo, Ukraine, Palestine — until the violence in Gaza persuaded her to make the case outright, while insisting the aim is not to demonize her Jewish friends, Judaism, or Israel, but to show the system. Her hope: that a globally framed comic might open dialogue between Jews and Palestinians “trapped in enmity right now.”•       Lemkin's Last Train. The man who coined the word is the book's tragic through-line. As a Polish law student, Lemkin followed the Berlin trial of a young Armenian who had shot one of the architects of the Armenian genocide — and found it ludicrous that the assassin faced justice for one murder while his victim had answered for none of his millions. His family farm had been seized in the First World War; his brother Samuel died in the forest. He escaped Warsaw on a train that was bombed, ran by night to reach his family, and failed to persuade them to leave (“they do this to us all the time”). Via Sweden, Russia, Japan, and Duke, he spent the war in Washington trying to make Americans see. His convention passed — then waited years for the US, UK, and China to ratify — and he died in 1959 penniless and friendless, UN officials fleeing him in the corridors. Walrath's speculation: his great regret, looking down, may be refusing to support We Charge Genocide, the 1951 petition by Black Americans — “we can't talk about something America has done” in the Cold War. Had America owned and repaired that crime then, “we'd be in a very different world.”•       Can You Have Half a Genocide? Andrew's pushback — if politicians can be “verging on genocidal,” does every Karen yelling at her kids get accused of it? — drew the hour's most honest concession: “that's the absolute spot-on critique of the approach I've taken.” Her defense is preventive: half a genocide is “too quantitative”; better to name things “on their way to massacre” and stop them, or repair them, than to litigate the label afterward. Genocide, she argues, predates modernity and Arendt's industrial reading — it arrives with the first hierarchical, extracting, wealth-inheriting “so-called civilizations,” Sparta and Thucydides included. Slavery qualifies because the operational word is systemic: the transatlantic trade ran on thinking of humans as lesser. But she draws one line firmly: asked about factory farms as future genocides, “I would hate to see genocide get used over there. It is something that humans do to one another” — and, she insists, don't have to: the literature on aversion to killing shows soldiers must be socialized into it. We're hardwired for love and taught to hate.•       Stanton's Stages in MAGA America. Is there something genocidal in MAGA's language about undocumented immigrants? “Absolutely.” Walrath applies the ten stages of genocide — the classroom heuristic Gregory Stanton first presented to the State Department in 1996 — and finds the United States “doing a heck of a lot of them”: polarization; dehumanization (people called vermin, “not worthy of life”); discrimination in the restriction of voting rights. “We're on very, very shaky ground.” Homelessness, in the same frame, is the product of structures that disenfranchise some and privilege others — “we've got enough to go around; we just revere wealth.” Her model for how ordinary people let it happen is Ursula Hegi's Stones from the River: the fearful, the wounded, the disenfranchised, vulnerable to takeover — with parallels in MAGA voters spurned by the neoliberal machine and unable to see who is pulling the levers. Hence her claim for the book: it is resistance, but resistance that builds a coalition across horrors rather than policing which horror counts.•       Springtime for Hitler. She didn't read Maus until 2009 — “that's when I found my medium and just went wild” — and pays it explicit homage in the book. Comics, she argues, let readers “come into” a history and think for themselves, and laughter is respite: an angry messenger gets no listeners. Her earlier Aliceheimer's let people laugh about her mother's dementia (not at it, she corrected sharply); telling audiences she's working on her genocide jokes makes them relax enough to hear the rest. Andrew's challenge — “do you really want to make it safe?” — produced the useful distinction: safe to enter, not whitewashed; hand-lettered so readers can bring the content in, every truth intact. The closing exchange landed on The Producers and Springtime for Hitler as a brilliant portrayal of the legacies of catastrophe. Her last word: knowledge must cross boundaries, “and the boundaries are all human made, so let's unmake them.” Andrew's: most will disagree with her list — and it may be a classic. About the Guest Dana Mashoian Walrath is a writer, artist, and anthropologist. Her award-winning works include Aliceheimer's, a graphic memoir about her mother's dementia, and Like Water on Stone, a verse novel about the Armenian genocide. She holds a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Pennsylvania; her comics, art, essays, and poetry have appeared in The Nation, The Lancet, Slate, and on NPR. The Book of Genocide...

Nine years after more than 700,000 Rohingya fled Myanmar for Bangladesh, more than 1.2 million remain displaced, living in increasingly difficult conditions. In this interview, Rohingya activist and Free Rohingya Coalition co-founder Naysan Lwin joins us from Germany to discuss the continuing persecution of the Rohingya, fresh allegations of trafficking, forced labour, sexual violence and arbitrary detention, worsening conditions in the refugee camps, and the struggle for safe and dignified repatriation. Lwin also reflects on the Rohingya case before the International Court of Justice and what justice could mean for a community seeking the restoration of its citizenship, identity and fundamental rights. Listen to the full interview.

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“Don’t worry, we will send your sons back soon. We are taking them for a meeting.” On the afternoon of September 1, 2017, ten hungry Rohingya men and boys walked out of the smoke-filled hills onto a beach in the fishing village of Inn Din, Myanmar. They hadn't eaten in five days, and the sea was the only place left to look. But instead of food, they found soldiers. What followed was a chillingly orchestrated deception. The captive men were photographed kneeling, given clean clothes, and fed a final meal of beef to ease the worries of the families waiting outside. But in reality, there was no meeting at all. By the next morning, they were led to scrubland at the north end of the village where a single, freshly dug mass grave was already waiting, and they were never seen alive again. Join your fellow Heinous fans and interact with the team at our website or through our socials (IG, TikTok) @heinous_1upmedia. - Love Heinous? But feel its getting too dark for you? Check out:

AP correspondent Charles de Ledesma reports Rohingya refugees are rallying in Bangladesh camps to demand a safe return to Myanmar.

ONU menciona situação dos direitos humanos, em particular a das comunidades minoritárias, por atingir um novo mínimo histórico; ausência do Estado de direito facilitou expansão de economias ilícitas que financiam o conflito e agravam a crise humanitária em toda a região.

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Episode #593: “Why are values included in international trade?” Arianna Bondi's research begins with that question, but Myanmar turns it into a problem of limits. A PhD candidate at McGill University studying international political economy, Bondi examined how the European Union tried to promote human rights through trade policy, focusing on Myanmar's place in the EU's Generalized System of Preferences. Her study, completed in 2020 at Johns Hopkins SAIS in Bologna, looks at the period before the 2021 coup. That timing matters; Myanmar had been brought back into the EU's Everything ButArms trade scheme in 2013 after preferences were withdrawn in 1997 over forced labor concerns. The policy was supposed to support development while encouraging respect for international standards. Bondi found that this created two different tools: positive conditionality, through engagement and market access, and negative conditionality, through the threat or use of withdrawal. Her interviewees saw little evidence that withdrawal had produced human rights change. Negative conditionality could send a signal, but it risked punishing workers while failing to reach the military structures responsible for the gravest abuses. Positive conditionality seemed more promising, especially in the garment sector, where EU-linked trade could improve wages, standards, and opportunities for largely female workers. But that success remained narrow. It could touch factory floors more easily than constitutional power, military violence, or the Rohingya crisis. Bondi's account keeps returning to mechanism. Human rights cannot be treated as one broad category that trade either improves or fails to improve. The question has to be which right, which sector, which actor, and which channel. EU policy also carried other motives: business access, regional influence, concern over China, and member-state interests. That makes the application of values uneven. Myanmar leaves the trade instrument under pressure. A tariff preference may help workers, a withdrawal may make a statement, and neither may reach the institution doing the most harm.

Episode #579: “I did not expect to be conversing in Urdu with someone in Yangon.” Bilal Hassan, a Pakistani creator and doctor, traveled to Burma after noticing how much of Karachi's everyday culture carried unexplained Burmese traces: khao suey, family names, old songs about Rangoon, and stories no one could quite complete. His trip began as a search for those missing links, but Yangon gave him something more complicated than recognition. The city felt to him like the place where South Asia and Southeast Asia meet, with Urdu-speaking caretakers at Bahadur Shah Zafar's shrine, Surti and Memon mosques tied to Karachi business families, Tamil and Chulia Muslim institutions, halal food, and Burmese Muslim cuisine shaped by migration. Yet those familiar traces existed inside a post-coup country marked by checkpoints, fuel shortages, surveillance, airport controls, and a visible gap between wealth and hunger. A roadside woman near Bago had only white rice to offer, while a hotel buffet back in Yangon complete with French champagne cost dozens of dollars. The deepest tension came through Muslim life itself. Downtown Yangon looked visibly Muslim in ways Bilal had not expected, but when the subject of Rohingya was broached, it changed the air in the room. Some Muslims distanced themselves; others admitted fear and sadness but refused to keep speaking. Bilal came to see Muslim communities as connected, careful, and guarded, maintaining names, food, language, and religious life while learning how not to stand out. He left resisting both tourist denial and headline simplification. Burma was not only a war zone, not only a beautiful country, and not only a forgotten extension of South Asian memory. It was all of those at once, and the connections he found could not be separated from the silences people used to survive.

The U.S. pauses its bombing campaign on Iran after advisers warn President Trump they're running out of targets and risk depleting the arsenal. The suspect in a Berlin Pride attack is shot dead by police. Shein flags tariff hits after posting a quarterly loss. And Rohingya schools in Malaysia are facing closures after a surge in online hate speech. Watch the latest episode of On Assignment on Wildfires ⁠⁠here⁠⁠. Watch the episode of On Assignment on data centers here⁠. Listen to the Morning Bid podcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Sign up for the Reuters Econ World newsletter ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Listen to the Reuters Econ World podcast ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Visit the ⁠⁠Thomson Reuters Privacy Statement⁠⁠ for information on our privacy and data protection practices. You may also visit megaphone.fm/adchoices to opt out of targeted advertising. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode #578: Aye Myat Thwe is a Burmese lay Buddhist practitioner raised inside the Mahasi Vipassana world, where devotion, meditation, and study were braided into ordinary family life. Watching her grandmother sit daily, she grew up assuming the classic Burmese hierarchy of authority was stable and complete, the commentaries as canon, Abhidhamma as the tradition's intellectual summit. For years, she accepted that inheritance without friction. Then scholarship cracked it open. Learning that Abhidhamma may not be the Buddha's original teaching shocked her, not because it erased its value, but because it revealed how much Burmese certainty is cultural as well as doctrinal. Once that door opened, she began questioning everything, and felt the social cost of doubt in a society where deference and inherited interpretation can outweigh inquiry. Her widening view extended to lineage identity. Early impressions, shaped by polemics against Pa Auk, taught her suspicion before she had direct experience. Later, encountering Mogok and Pa Auk more honestly, she came to see these traditions as parallel approaches rather than rivals, with conflict often generated by institutional competition and the anxieties of authority rather than by founding masters themselves. She also rethought the role of samathā and “powers,” recognizing both the risks of misuse and the legitimacy of deep concentration when ethically grounded. And she became attentive to how communities code-switch about cosmology, sometimes muting supernatural discourse to appear rational or modern, even while insiders quietly acknowledge it. The Rohingya crisis then forced an ethical reckoning. She saw how fear of protecting the Sāsana could override compassion, and admits she stayed quiet under communal pressure, turning blame inward. After the coup, the fractures deepened. She believes Burmese Buddhism's future depends less on defending institutions than on recovering moral credibility and everyday application, a reform that keeps roots while refusing corruption.

Krisis di Myanmar kian berlarut, nasib etnis Rohingya kian kalut. Jutaan di Cox's Bazaar, tak sedikit juga di Indonesia harus meninggalkan kampung halamannya. Banyak narasi tidak adil menyambut di tempat singgah, tapi apa yang mendasarinya?Podcast Bebas Aktif bersama dua peneliti, Mutiara Pertiwi dan Rizka Prabaningtyas.

Episode #576: “I have been attempted [at assassinations] twice when they shot me, but I escaped. My family, my brother, they are targeted, and armed groups are always behind us. They kill in a second.” Peter Saiful, a pastor with the Rohingya Christian Fellowship and a human rights defender, describes what it means to live as a Rohingya Christian refugee in Bangladesh after his family fled Myanmar in 1992. His account centers on a community he estimates at around 3000 Christian individuals in Bangladesh, dispersed across camps where concealment becomes a survival strategy rather than a choice. In blocks dominated by Muslim majorities, he says, Christians often cannot identify themselves safely, and “now they are pretending to be Muslim,” because discovery can bring abduction, beating, torture, and ransom. Saiful argues that the primary engine of fear is not the broader Rohingya population, but small armed factions with outsized power. A group of “very few people [are able to] control the Rohingya, because [the armed groups] have access to weapons that we cannot imagine,” leaving the majority too frightened to speak out. He traces this environment into specific violence, including attacks culminating in January 2020, when he says more than 400 youth set fire to Christian shelters, destroyed documents, and injured community members. On repatriation, Saiful rejects near-term promises as unrealistic, pointing to continuing flight from Myanmar and the lack of enforceable guarantees, while still insisting on belonging and citizenship rights, warning that without equal treatment and access, any return risks repeating a cycle in which Rohingya are moved and renamed for other people's purposes. “The government must ensure us that [they will] welcome us as a child, the way we welcome our children,” he says, and without that, he expects the same cycle will repeat and “we will be treated as a football.”

Episode #573: “I brought you here to the United States not so you could forget our homeland,” Salih Hudayar remembers his father telling him, “but so you could become educated and one day return to liberate our people and our country from the Chinese occupation.” Hudayar, now Foreign Minister of the East Turkistan Government in Exile, traces his political life to that instruction. Born in 1993 near Kashgar, he grew up amid tightening state control and left for the United States as a child after his father fled repression. He situates the current crisis within a longer history that includes two short-lived East Turkistan republics before Communist consolidation in 1949. He describes a post-2009 escalation of surveillance, detention, and forced labor under the banner of counterterrorism. Citing Chinese government documents and satellite imagery, he argues that mass internment, religious repression, family separation, and demographic engineering amount to genocide. Now based in Washington DC, Hudayar presses U.S. lawmakers to move beyond condemnation. Recognition of genocide, he says, is not enough without confronting what he calls the root problem of colonial rule. Running a government in exile, dispersed across continents and sustained by diaspora donations, requires coordination, discipline, and constant vigilance against external pressure. Myanmar surfaces repeatedly in the interview as both comparison and caution. Hudayar draws parallels between the Rohingya genocide case and his own effort to bring a complaint before the International Criminal Court, noting that the Rohingya precedent shaped the jurisdictional argument he pursued. He also references Myanmar's strategic importance to China's Belt and Road Initiative, particularly access to the western coast and energy corridors that could reduce Beijing's vulnerability in the Strait of Malacca. At a broader level, he frames the Uyghur and Myanmar struggles as linked by geography and power politics—both situated along China's periphery, both affected by Beijing's economic leverage and security influence, and both navigating how global powers respond when human rights concerns collide with strategic interests.

Protests break out in Kyiv after Zelenskyy dismisses Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, Israel's Knesset passes a law curbing the attorney general's authority, Washington attacks an oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz, the U.S. House rejects an amendment to strip military aid to Israel, Trump fires a new Seattle prosecutor just minutes after his appointment, France's parliament adopts an assisted dying law, over 500 Rohingya are feared dead after two boats capsized, U.K. child sexual offense arrests hit a record high, xAI sues a user who allegedly used Grok to create child abuse material, and a study finds microplastics in 84% of heart attack patients. Sources: Verity.News

The former head of Italy's motorway operator has been given a 12-year prison sentence over the collapse of Genoa's Morandi bridge in August 2018. 43 people died when the bridge running through the city came down in a rain storm during the summer season, sending cars and lorries plummeting to the ground. The ex-chief executive of Autostrade per l'Italia Giovanni Castellucci was accused of delaying planned maintenance of the structure. More than 30 others were found guilty in connection with the disaster. Also, as Washington continues to strike sites across Iran; we hear from voices inside Iran. Reports emerge of two boats carrying more than 500 Rohingya migrants have capsized off the coast of Myanmar. How 'Bluey', the beloved children's cartoon series featuring a Blue Heeler puppy will now be available in an Australian Indigenous language. And how singing and learning to play instruments is helping to give orphans and young people displaced by war in Gaza hope. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight. Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment. Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk

Hii leo jaridani tunakuletea mada kwa kina inayotupeleka Ukanda wa Gaza ambako sitisho la mapigano kati ya Israeli na Palestina lililotiwa Saini tarehe 10 mwezi Oktoba mwaka jana wa 2025 limewezesha wakulima wa eneo hilo kurejea mashambani. Pia tunakuletea Muhtasariw a habari.Mashirika mawili ya Umoja Umoja wa Mataifa lile la Uhamiaji, IOM na la Kuhudumia Wakimbizi, UNHCR kupitia taarifa waliyoitoa kwa pamoja jijini Gneva Uswusi na BangKok Thailand, wameeleza wasiwasi mkubwa kufuatia taarifa kwamba boti mbili zilizokuwa zimebeba zaidi ya watu 500 huenda zimezama katika pwani ya Myanmar katika siku za hivi karibuni. Kwa mujibu wa taarifa za awali, boti hizo mbili ziliondoka mwishoni mwa mwezi Juni kutoka Jimbo la Rakhine nchini Myanmar zikiwa zimewabeba zaidi ya abiria wa jamii ya Rohingya, wakiwemo baadhi waliokuwa wametoka katika kambi za wakimbizi za Cox's Bazar nchini Bangladesh.Zaidi ya watoto milioni 23 wengine zaidi ya wale ambao wako tayari kwenye umaskini duniani wanaweza kutumbukia katika umaskini wa kipato ifikapo mwisho wa mwaka huu wa 2025 kutokana na kuendelea kwa mzozo wa Mashariki ya Kati na athari zake kwa biashara ya kimataifa, kwa mujibu wa ripoti mpya iliyotolewa leo na Shirika la Umoja wa Mataifa la Kuhudumia Watoto (UNICEF) jijini New York, Marekani.Na Uganda leo imeanza rasmi kuhesabu siku 42 kuelekea kutangazwa kumalizika kwa mlipuko wa ugonjwa wa Ebola baada ya mgonjwa wa mwisho aliyethibitishwa kuwa na maambukizi kupimwa mara ya pili na kubainika hana virusi hivyo, kisha kuruhusiwa kutoka hospitalini. Hatua hiyo ni mafanikio muhimu katika juhudi za nchi hiyo kudhibiti mlipuko, imesema taarifa iliyotolewa leo na Shirika la Umoja wa Mataifa la Afya Ulimwenguni, WHO ofisi ya Uganda.Mwenyeji wako ni Feissal, karibu!

In this bulletin, The UN fears more than 500 dead as boats carrying Rohingya refugees go missing; a report lays bare the rising use of drugs at work; and in sport Argentina facing possible FIFA sanctions over its semi-final Falklands banner.

Today we explore the Rohingya refugee crisis. My guest, Chris Henderson, conducted research on teacher motivation in Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh, which is home to over 1 million Rohingya refugees. Chris Henderson is an Education in Emergencies Specialist at NORRAG at the Geneva Graduate Institute. His latest article, which entitled “Through teaching I found myself again”: The role of self-efficacy in Rohingya refugee teachers' motivation to teach in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, will soon be published in Compare. freshedpodcast.com/henderson -- Get in touch! LinkedIn: @FreshEdpodcast Facebook: FreshEd Email: info@freshedpodcast.com

Episode #561: The third episode in a three part series, this was recorded inside Malaysia's Parliament during the final stretch of Malaysia's ASEAN chairmanship. It sits where diplomacy meets consequence—non-interference, the limits of influence, and the reset button of rotating leadership. Beneath that is Malaysia's lived reality: refugees arriving as people, not headlines, often in legal limbo and reliant on UNHCR papers. MPs speak of gaps in data, barriers to legal work and schooling, strained clinics, and the politics of backlash. The first guest is Zahir Hassan, a first-term MP for Wangsa Maju in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's most densely populated constituency. An engineer and disaster-risk advocate, he treats displacement as a systems failure that has turned permanent. Refugees were meant to be part of “a few months transition,” yet some families are now third or fourth generation in Malaysia. With no legal status, “they technically cannot work. They cannot earn a living here, [so] for them to survive over the years, they have got to work illegally,” he says. Hassan also warns that Malaysia can't drift year after year without proper data, planning, burden-sharing, and serious leadership at regional levels, and that stronger action needs to be taken towards the crisis. Mohammed Suhaimi Abdullah, MP for Langkawi and a former two-term senator, describes Bukit Malut as a settlement that began in 1982 with about 12 Rohingya families, and has grown to nearly 15,000 today. Some residents, he says, “have got blue identity card,” adding, “when you have a blue card, you have to treat them like Malaysians;” despite this, he laments that much of the region is plagued by poor infrastructure and few schools. Abdullah rejects stereotypes, asserting that these Rohingya communities are “not poor people! They're very hard-working,” and adds that this fact that has created resentment among local populations who are not willing to take on equally strenuous jobs. Finally, Hassan Karim is a MP for Pasir Gudang and a lawyer shaped by civil-liberties fights. Referencing his youth, he says: “We fought any attempt by the [Malaysian] government tosuppress the space for democracy.” Karim's actions aligned with his words then, as he notes that he was arrested on sedition charges for protesting authoritarian tendencies. Concerning thecurrent influx of refugees, he calls out Malaysian society for not extending sympathy to those fleeing conflict. “This kind of humanism must transcend religions and race,” he insists. If Malaysians can mobilize around Palestinians in Gaza as a matter of human rights, he argues, they cannot practice moral compartmentalization when the persecuted are nearer, poorer, and politically inconvenient. As Karim ask openly, if Muslim solidarity is invoked loudly elsewhere, why is it so thin here? His harshest criticism, however, is for Myanmar's military, adding that currently, “I feel pessimistic. I never heard or saw any tangible effort [of progress.]”

00:00 Intro07:54 Orang Politik Korup?@hafizfazille: whats your estimatepercentage of corrupt politicians vs those that never take..23:50 Kemelut Berpanjangan Negeri Sembilan@jajator: your opinion about umno taking sides with Tengku Nazaruddin37:30 Muda & Bersama Gabung?@mister: Zaidel tak bertanding ke PRN Johor? Sokong ke Muda kerjasama dengan Bersama43:30 Shahril join Bersama?@deli.adlizin: Shahril nak join parti kancil tak? @talibz86: Kepada Shahril, tidak berminat ke utk menjadi calon parti bersama? Permohonan dah open tu@manluqman_ig: Is BERSAMA proposition attracts you?48:30 Isu Rohingya@nazhan87: Rohingya, UNHSR dan kegunaan mrk dipublic hospital. macam mna nk selesaikan?@drbeat78: Rohingya issue - salah siapa? Resolution?@muhayyz: Penyelesaian tuntas terhadap isu rohingya yang makin meruncing@naufalmhisham: Thoughts on the Rohingya issue and the impact on the internal and external politics

Episode #552: Mon Mon Myat, a journalist, filmmaker, and peace scholar, frames Myanmar's political struggle as a long contest over power, moral discipline, and the possibility of change without domination. Her account begins with U Hpo Hlaing, the nineteenth-century thinker she calls “a kind of very early political theorist in Myanmar,” and moves toward Aung San Suu Kyi, whose politics she sees as part of the same search for accountable authority. For Mon Mon Myat, U Hpo Hlaing matters because he complicates the idea that democracy arrived in Myanmar only through Western influence. He studied Western parliamentary systems, but tried to translate them into Burmese moral and Buddhist terms, creating what she calls “Burma-native democracy.” His work was not a full modern system, but it offered a principle: rulers must be bound by ethical restraint, not merely by power. Aung San Suu Kyi, in Mon Mon Myat's view, widened that principle. She did not speak only to rulers, but to citizens. Through speeches, radio broadcasts, and years of nonviolent resistance, she helped Mon Mon Myat understand politics as personal responsibility. “Politics had nothing to do with me,” she says of her younger self, before Aung San Suu Kyi's example changed her sense of what citizenship required. That is why nonviolence remains central to Mon Mon Myat's reading. She knows it is slow and costly, but argues that armed struggle leaves wounds across society, while nonviolence risks the masses less than others. The post-coup conflict has only deepened her fear of trauma that may last for generations. Her defense of Aung San Suu Kyi during the Rohingya crisis rests on a difficult distinction. Mon Mon Myat does not present her as flawless. She insists that Aung San Suu Kyi was a politician trying to hold together a fragile country, preserve civilian rule, and avoid further conflict under military pressure. Critics saw silence. Mon Mon Myat sees constraint, calculation, and a refusal to inflame communal violence. The hope she still holds is narrow but persistent: that Myanmar's future depends not only on removing military rule, but on whether power can be morally restrained before it consumes everything around it.

Episode #549: Mohammad Siraj, a Rohingya researcher, political analyst, educator, and aspiring legal scholar living in a refugee camp in Bangladesh, studies citizenship, constitutional reform, education, and human rights. Drawing on his work with the Rohingya Academic Research Institute and his experience teaching in refugee settings, he argues that the Rohingya crisis is not simply a humanitarian emergency but a political and institutional crisis rooted in discriminatory law, particularly Myanmar's citizenship framework and constitutional structure. Siraj's own life reflects the realities he studies. He once hoped to become a doctor, but military violence forced his family to flee Myanmar. In Bangladesh's refugee camps, he continued studying through limited educational opportunities and later pursued research training. Statelessness created major barriers: even when he received university offers, he could not accept them because he lacked a passport or travel documents. He turned toward law because he believes legal systems have excluded Rohingya from citizenship, political participation, and protection. He repeatedly highlights statelessness as one of the greatest obstacles Rohingya face. Without citizenship, movement, higher education, and professional opportunities remain difficult to access. His own studies through the online University of the People illustrate both determination and the limits of such alternatives. Siraj's research and teaching are rooted in these same conditions. At the Rohingya Academic Research Institute, a community-led organization in the camps, he helps Rohingya scholars document their history and rights. He also criticizes humanitarian education programs that prioritize administrative requirements over meaningful learning. In response, Rohingya teachers have created community schools using the Myanmar curriculum, though their certificates are rarely recognized by universities. For Siraj, the deeper cause of the crisis lies in Myanmar's 1982 citizenship law, which stripped Rohingya of citizenship and legal protection. He argues that lasting reform must restore equal citizenship and dismantle constitutional structures that entrench military power, while dialogue across communities remains essential for building a democratic Myanmar where all ethnic groups share citizenship, representation, and dignity.

Libano: cercasi tregua.Al Jazeera: Stati Uniti, i corpi donati alla scienza usati per addestrare medici militari israeliani.Sudan, colpiti mercato e ospedale nel Darfur.Europa, stretta su migranti e deportazioni.Senegal, crisi politica nel pieno dell'emergenza economica.Bangladesh, i Rohingya rischiano di essere dimenticati.Giappone: scomparsi da decenni tornano gli ibis crestati. Questo e molto altro nel notiziario di Radio Bullets a cura di Barbara Schiavulli 

Episode #547: Scott Leckie, an international human rights lawyer, and Jose Arraiza, a specialist in housing, land, and property rights and citizenship in conflict-affected settings, argue that land in Myanmar is not simply a resource but a central mechanism through which power is exercised, inequality is produced, and political authority is maintained. They emphasize that housing, land, and property (HLP) rights extend beyond formal ownership to include anyone whose ability to remain on land is vulnerable to arbitrary interference. The roots of Myanmar's current land system can be traced to colonial policies that classified inhabited land as “wasteland,” which enabled appropriation. This framework was later adopted by the country's military regimes; as a result, this legacy persists in a system where land can be taken with minimal process and little recourse, allowing authorities to reallocate land and consolidate control. The effects of this system are most visible in the interaction between conflict and land governance. While large-scale displacement is primarily driven by armed conflict, the land system determines what happens afterward. Displaced people frequently lose practical control over their land, as it is reclassified or repurposed, often for commercial activities such as mining or agriculture. In this way, temporary displacement is transformed into longer-term dispossession. The same system also shapes economic outcomes, directing the benefits of land use toward elites and those with political connections rather than affected communities. These practices diverge from international legal standards, which require safeguards such as compensation and access to remedies. The situation is further complicated by citizenship and documentation issues, which weaken individuals' ability to assert claims, particularly for marginalized groups such as the Rohingya. Although reforms between 2011 and 2021 showed that alternative approaches were possible, the 2021 coup reversed these changes. Today, governance is fragmented between military authorities and ethnic resistance groups, with some efforts to develop alternative land systems. Civil society organizations continue to support affected populations but face reduced capacity due to declining international support. Despite these challenges, Leckie and Arraiza argue that any future transition must center land rights, restitution, and legal protection, and that meaningful change remains possible.

O ano de 2025 foi o mais mortífero de sempre para as travessias marítimas dos refugiados da minoria muçulmana; sem continuidade da solidariedade internacional, situação das famílias corre o risco de se deteriorar.

A number of Indonesian legal figures, including former Attorney General Marzuki Darusman, along with a member of a Rohingya activist network, filed a criminal case of suspected genocide in April against Myanmar's President Min Aung Hlaing in Indonesia's Attorney General's Office. - Sejumlah tokoh hukum Indonesia, termasuk mantan Jaksa Agung Marzuki Darusman, bersama dengan seorang anggota jaringan aktivis Rohingya, bulan April lalu mendatangi kantor Kejaksaan Agung Indonesia untuk mengajukan gugatan kasus kriminal atas tuduhan genosida dengan tertuduh Presiden Myanmar Min Aung Hlaing.Dengarkan SBS Indonesian setiap hari Senin, Rabu, Jumat, dan Minggu jam 3 sore.Ikuti kami di Facebook dan Instagram, serta jangan lewatkan podcast kami.

VOV1 - Bangladesh tiếp tục ghi nhận thêm nhiều ca tử vong liên quan đến bệnh sởi trong bối cảnh dịch bệnh lan rộng trên khắp cả nước. Theo Tổng cục Dịch vụ Y tế nước này, trong 24 giờ qua đã có thêm 16 người tử vong với các triệu chứng giống sởi, nâng tổng số ca tử vong từ đầu năm đến nay lên 528.Bangladesh hiện ghi nhận hơn 63.000 ca nghi mắc sởi trên toàn quốc, trong đó hơn 8.600 trường hợp đã được xác nhận dương tính kể từ tháng 3 tới nay. Riêng trong ngày hôm qua, nước này có thêm hơn 1.300 ca nghi nhiễm mới. Phần lớn những người mắc bệnh và tử vong là trẻ em dưới 5 tuổi.Dịch bệnh xuất hiện đầu tiên tại các trại tị nạn Rohingya gần biên giới Myanmar, trước khi lan rộng ra 58 trong tổng số 64 quận huyện của Bangladesh. Hơn 21.000 người đã phải nhập viện điều trị, khiến nhiều bệnh viện, đặc biệt tại thủ đô Dhaka, rơi vào tình trạng quá tải nghiêm trọng.Các cơ sở y tế đã phải mở thêm khu điều trị riêng cho bệnh nhân sởi, song vẫn thiếu giường chăm sóc tích cực và nhân lực y tế. Nhiều bác sĩ cho biết phần lớn trẻ nhập viện đều trong tình trạng nặng, với các biến chứng về hô hấp, viêm phổi và nhiễm trùng.UNICEF cho biết cơ quan này từng nhiều lần cảnh báo Bangladesh về nguy cơ thiếu hụt vaccine và gián đoạn chương trình tiêm chủng. Theo các báo cáo, việc chậm trễ trong mua vaccine đã khiến nguồn cung bị thiếu hụt, làm hàng triệu trẻ em không được tiêm phòng đầy đủ.Tổ chức Y tế Thế giới WHO cũng cảnh báo nguy cơ dịch bệnh lan sang các nước láng giềng như Myanmar và Ấn Độ. Trước tình hình khẩn cấp, Bangladesh đã nối lại việc mua vaccine thông qua UNICEF và triển khai chiến dịch tiêm chủng quy mô lớn trên toàn quốc.Theo UNICEF, chiến dịch này đã tiếp cận khoảng 18 triệu trẻ em. Tuy nhiên, giới chức y tế Bangladesh cho rằng cần thêm vài tháng nữa mới có thể đánh giá đầy đủ hiệu quả của chương trình tiêm chủng khẩn cấp.Bệnh sởi là bệnh truyền nhiễm nguy hiểm do virus gây ra, lây lan rất nhanh qua đường hô hấp. Bệnh đặc biệt nguy hiểm với trẻ nhỏ, nhất là trẻ suy dinh dưỡng hoặc chưa được tiêm vaccine, do có thể gây viêm phổi, viêm não và tử vong./.Đình Nam/VOV-New DelhiDịch sởi Bangladesh.

Today on The Gist, the profound failure of empathy within our immigration bureaucracy is put under the microscope following the tragic freezing death of Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a blind Rohingya refugee abandoned in a Buffalo parking lot by Border Patrol. Then, UC Berkeley law professor David Oppenheimer joins the show to discuss his book, The Diversity Principle: The Story of a Transformative Idea. He traces the intellectual history of multiculturalism back to 1810 Prussia, arguing that a clash of perspectives is essential for institutional excellence, leading into a spirited debate over the replication crisis in social science and the institutional flaws of the modern DEI apparatus. Produced by Corey Wara Video and Social Media by Geoff Craig Do you have questions or comments, or just want to say hello? Email us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠thegist@mikepesca.com For full Pesca content and updates, check out our website at https://www.mikepesca.com/⁠ For ad-free content or to become a Pesca Plus subscriber, check out ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://subscribe.mikepesca.com/ For Mike's daily takes on Substack, subscribe to The Gist List https://mikepesca.substack.com/ Follow us on Social Media:⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC4_bh0wHgk2YfpKf4rg40_g⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/pescagist/ X https://x.com/pescami TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@pescagist To advertise on the show, contact ⁠⁠⁠⁠sales@amplitudemediapartners.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Episode #539: In his analysis of Myanmar's democratic transition, Elliot Prasse-Freeman highlights the failures of a system that was inherently flawed from its inception. Although the 2010s brought real change to some, the military also retained significant control, making any possibility at political reform superficial. This left marginalized groups without meaningful change, and created a transition that, as Prasse-Freeman says, was “moribund” from the start. Economic reforms during that time emphasized privatization and the commodification of land, disregarding the needs of small-scale farmers. These policies led to land grabs, exacerbating the vulnerabilities of those already struggling. In parallel, he notes that this period failed to address ethnic justice, leaving the grievances of non-Bamar communities, including the Rohingya, unaddressed, and further deepening divisions. Grassroots activism emerged as a critical response, driven by frustration with both the military and the NLD's failure to enact real reform; local groups symbolized sustained resistance, organizing actions to reclaim land and assert their rights. Despite the many flaws, the resilience of the people of Myanmar remains evident. As Prasse-Freeman poignantly states: “One of the things that they talk about is that you have to make people be their own heroes! But in order to do so, you have to act like a hero yourself, because people aren't prepared to be their own heroes in front of a military that's constantly exploited them.”

Episode #536: “I never feel that war is this close to me,” Bencharat Chua, a Thai human rights professor and activist, reflects as she explains how decades of engagement with Myanmar have reshaped her understanding of conflict, democracy, and regional responsibility. Her central argument is that without democracy and a lived culture of human rights in Myanmar, Thailand will continue to experience instability, displacement, and violence spilling across the border. Human rights language, she insists, only matters if it becomes political practice and public will. Her involvement with Myanmar began in 1999, when she worked with the NGO Friends Without Borders and spent two years visiting refugee camps along the Thai–Myanmar border. There, she learned directly from displaced Burmese communities about repression and conflict, while also witnessing widespread hostility toward them within Thai society. She later joined the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Mahidol University, where she worked with Burmese students and long-time activists, including members of the 1988 generation living in exile. During Myanmar's political transition in the late 2010s, she became deeply involved with universities inside the country. Around 2018–2019, she helped train law lecturers after international human rights law became mandatory in Myanmar's law faculties. Although many lecturers initially struggled, she later saw lasting gains in confidence and political awareness that endured even after the 2021 coup dismantled the formal education system. Bencharat also traces political change through shifting attitudes toward the Rohingya. She recalls earlier denial among democracy supporters, followed by a significant shift, noting that “now everyone acknowledges what happened.” For her, this signaled that Burmese human rights advocates were beginning to extend rights principles beyond nationalist exclusion. She situates these changes within a broader regional context. While Thai state policy toward Myanmar remains cautious, tied to business interests and the “ASEAN way,” she identifies the Thai youth movement as a countercurrent, arguing that prolonged military rule has politicized a generation despite severe repression. After the 2021 Myanmar coup, her work shifted towards supporting parallel education for students resisting the junta, where she continues to confront the gap between human rights ideals and lived violence. These experiences have made war feel immediate and reinforced her belief that change depends on people willing to insist on dignity and rights, even at great cost. “We are ready to fight for democracy, we are ready to fight for human rights!”

Now that Maung has learned about the history of the Rohingya community, he begins working towards an escape route. He hopes to leave the refugee camp and get an education so that he can advocate for his community. But his freedom of movement is limited and educational resources are scarce. This week, host Ngofeen Mputubwele charts Maung's journey out of the refugee camp in Bangladesh and into New York City. But even when Maung, and other refugees like him, settle into their new homes, the human rights abuses they have suffered linger. How is mental health impacted not only by past atrocities, but also by the current systemic mistreatment of refugees? And with refugees becoming political flash points across the world, what can be done to support refugee communities around the globe? Maung Sawyeddollah: Agent of Change, Rohingya Muslim Philippe Bolopion: Executive Director, Human Rights Watch Nadia Hardman: Researcher, Refugee and Migrant Rights Division at Human Rights Watch Emina Ćerimović: Associate Director, Disability Rights Division at Human Rights Watch Spyros Orfanos: Director, New York University's Postdoctoral Program in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis

Despite sanctions and repeated condemnation against the Burmese military, the ruling junta continues to unleash brutal attacks against its own people, including religious minorities such as Muslim-majority Rohingya and Christian-majority Chin, Kachin, and Karen communities. Several global efforts to hold the Burmese military accountable through a variety of international legal mechanisms are now underway.On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight podcast, Commissioner Stephen Schneck speaks with Tom Andrews, former Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, as well as Arsalan Suleman, a partner at Foley Hoag's International Litigation and Arbitration Practice. They focus their discussion on the ongoing case in the International Court of Justice which prosecutes the Burmese government's role in the Rohingya genocide.

The Burmese military maintains its grip over Burma through arson, arbitrary detentions, airstrikes, killings, and other forms of intimidation and violence to instill fear in its people, including ethnoreligious minorities such as Rohingya and Chin. The lack of justice for the junta's atrocities has deepened its resolve, yet Burmese people are seeking accountability through the legal principle of universal jurisdiction. On this episode of the USCIRF Spotlight podcast, Commissioner Stephen Schneck speaks with Tun Khin, President of the Burmese Rohingya Organization UK, and Salai Za Uk Ling, the Executive Director of the Chin Human Rights Organization. Their discussion centers on the principle of universal jurisdiction and how civil society organizations are seeking to prosecute responsible individuals through courts overseas for their part in ordering and carrying out genocide and crimes against humanity.

Now that he's arrived in Bangladesh, Maung finds himself stuck in an in-between. He's safe from the violence he faced in his home state of Rakhine, Myanmar, but there are restrictions on his freedom of movement, limiting his education and leaving him to grapple with the history that brought his community to the world's largest refugee camp. In this episode, host Ngofeen Mputubwele traces this history. Within the story of ethnic cleansing and apartheid enacted upon the ethnic Rohingya community, other big themes rise up. Witnesses and experts recount the role that social media played in Maung's trajectory, and point to other communities facing this crisis across the globe. Maung Sawyeddollah: Agent of Change, Rohingya Muslim Matt Schissler: Lecturer in history and anthropology at the University of Melbourne Htaike Htaike Aung: Director of the Myanmar Internet Project Kaamil Ahmed: Journalist for The Guardian; author of "I Feel No Peace" Shayna Bauchner: Researcher, Asia Division at Human Rights Watch Maria Ressa: Nobel Peace Prize laureate; co-founder and CEO of Rappler

Episode #526: “I actually was anti-Muslim when I was in high school!” recalls Thet Swe Win, describing how he was influenced by nationalist propaganda in his youth. But his involvement in the 2007 Saffron Revolution began to change him. Marching with barefoot monks, he witnessed Muslims come from a mosque to give them water, medicine, and slippers. “We do not have to hate each other, but we have to unite and fight back the military,” he realized. His mother, fearful for his safety because of his participation in the protests, sent him to Singapore. Immersed in a multiethnic workplace there, he gradually shed lingering prejudices, concluding that there are only good and bad people, not good or bad religions. Returning to Myanmar, he resumed activism after anti-Muslim violence erupted in Rakhine State in 2012 and spread to other towns, stoked by state television propaganda. In response, he and his peers launched the “Blue Sticker Campaign” to counter the extremist 969 movement and its hate speech. Still, he confesses that the anti-Rohingya propaganda he had absorbed throughout his life left him with lingering bias toward that community—until Rohingya activist Wai Wai Nu drew him into her campaigns and encouraged him to learn their history, which ultimately reshaped his perspective. Later on, Thet Swe Win founded Synergy, an organization dedicated to fostering social harmony. One of its well-known initiatives was the White Rose Campaign of 2019, where Buddhists offered roses to Muslims facing harassment. The gesture spread nationwide as a symbol of solidarity. His activism has drawn threats from MaBaTha, harassment by police, and raids on his office. Yet he remains firm in his resolve, and has refused to leave the region. Thet Swe Win insists Myanmar's future requires moral leadership, curiosity, and accountability. “The revolution without the political leadership or the moral leadership will be a chaos,” he warns. For him, real change “begins within, from within.”

Episode #525: Heidy Quah, founder of Refuge for the Refugees in Kuala Lumpur, describes her work supporting migrants and refugees in Malaysia, particularly those fleeing Myanmar. She began volunteering at a refugee learning center at eighteen and was transformed by what she witnessed, particularly seeing children on the verge of losing their only access to education because of funding shortages. From that moment, she committed herself to ensuring refugees could access basic rights such as education, healthcare, and dignified livelihood. Quah's organization now supports dozens of refugee learning centers, shelter homes for trafficked and abused women, and a livelihood initiative which enables refugee women to earn income through craft production. She emphasizes restoring dignity and agency, not charity or pity. Quah recounts harrowing stories of new arrivals—young people fleeing forced conscription, sexual violence, and the killing of family members—who survive perilous overland journeys to reach Malaysia. Many arrive already indebted to smugglers, having borrowed heavily to finance their escape. Despite deep physical and psychological trauma, they often must begin working almost immediately, driven by the urgency of repaying those debts and protecting the families they left behind. A central concern for Quah is the contradiction she observes in Malaysian society: strong public advocacy for Muslim refugees in distant conflicts, such as Gaza, yet hostility toward refugees trying to live locally, like the Rohingya. She notes that Rohingya refugees in particular face racialized prejudice tied to skin color and stereotypes about cleanliness or criminality. For her, the deeper issue is selective empathy—why compassion extends across oceans but falters at the shoreline. Throughout her work, Quah centers storytelling, representation, and hope. She believes lasting change comes when affected communities speak for themselves and when advocacy preserves dignity rather than reinforcing victimhood.

Nearly 900 Rohingya refugees were reported missing or dead in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal in 2025, making it the deadliest year on record. Also, Turkey sees two school shootings in one week. And, India launches a new generation of night trains. Plus, Mehmet Ali Sanlikol brings us the sounds of the electric oud. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices

Hundreds of Rohingya feared missing or drowned in new shipwreck Iran: 3.2 million now displaced inside country: UNHCR  Caribbean on brink as war shock and drought fears collide, says WFP 

When Maung and his family, his neighbors, strangers, cross the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh, they are officially refugees. But there's no rest for the weary, and the hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees escaping to Bangladesh have to build a refugee camp for themselves. As Maung helps his family assemble a temporary shelter, a sort of shadow city starts to rise up around them. Almost a decade later, Maung's family is still in Cox's Bazar.This week, Maung, other refugees and experts take listeners through a tour of life in the world's largest refugee camp and life as a refugee more broadly.Maung Sawyeddollah: Agent of Change, Rohingya MuslimChinda Precious: Nigerian refugeeJohannes van der Klaauw: Former representative at the United Nations High Commissioner for RefugeesTamanna Tiku: Urban DesignerMausi Segun: Executive Director of the Africa Division at Human Rights WatchNadia Hardman: Researcher, Refugee and Migrant Rights Division at Human Rights WatchKyle Knight: Former Associate Director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Rights Program at Human Rights WatchBelkis Wille: Associate Director of Crisis & Conflict division at Human Rights Watch.Emina Ćerimović: Associate Director, Disability Rights Division at Human Rights Watch

Episode #515: Toru Kubota is a Japanese documentary filmmaker who believes storytelling can foster empathy beyond abstract argument. A political science student at Keio University who developed an interest in refugee issues, in 2014 he joined a student project interviewing Rohingya refugees in Japan. Using a camera for the first time, he helped produce a short documentary about their lives. In 2016, Kubota traveled to Sittwe in Rakhine State and entered camps housing Rohingya displaced after the 2012 violence. Though officially designated as internally displaced persons camps, he saw them as places of confinement, where communities were segregated and deprived of adequate services. Filming an accidental fire inside one camp became a turning point; editing the footage later convinced him of film's power to convey lived experience. Following both the military's 2017 campaign against the Rohingya and the 2021 coup, Kubota returned each time to Myanmar to document events unfolding there. While filming a protest in 2022,soldiers arrested him at gunpoint and used staged photographs as evidence of his participation. He was charged with incitement and immigration violations and sentenced to ten years in prison. Fortunately, diplomatic pressure was able to secure his release after 111 days in detention at the notorious Insein Prison, where he had endured solitary confinement and struggled with despair. Since then, Kubota has supported exiled Myanmar journalists in a variety of different ways. His film “Borderline Resistors” follows exile media collectives along the Thai–Myanmar border. Reflecting on his imprisonment and the fragility of civil liberties, he recalls something an activist once told him: “Freedom is like air. You never appreciate it when you can breathe freely. But you finally realize how important is when you get drowned in water.”

When anti-Rohingya sentiment turned into gunshots in Myanmar in 2017, 16-year-old Maung Sawyeddollah was forced to flee. But what do you do when you're forced to leave your home? Where do you go? This week on The Great Unrooting, host Ngofeen Mputubwele asks how migrants get from here to there. What happens if you need medicine while you're traveling or are living with disabilities that make traveling difficult? What challenges do migrants face as they make these strenuous journeys? This week, we hear from people around the world who have faced these questions. We hear about Maung's mom, who fled while pregnant. Her story, alongside accounts from HRW researchers, paints a picture of resilience and bravery of the migrants who risk everything in pursuit of safety. Maung Sawyeddollah: Agent of Change, Rohingya Muslim Nadia Hardman: Researcher, Refugee and Migrant Rights Division at Human Rights Watch Emina Ćerimović: Associate Director, Disability Rights Division at Human Rights Watch Lindsay Mputubwele: Doula and child-birth educator Chinda Precious: Nigerian refugee Hanaa Rahimi: Former Afghan policewoman sharing her story under alias

A nearly blind Rohingya refugee found dead after being stranded by border patrol in freezing cold. Update: California Attorney General to oppose the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger. ICE car chase leads to crash involving children. Co-Host: Wosny Lambre Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's Casual Friday on The Majority Report   On today's program:   A 65-year-old woman from Minnesota calls in to C-SPAN to talk about how she is legally blind, on disability and under Trump her social services have been slashed to the point that she is literally starving.   Heather 'Digby' Parton, writer at Salon and the Hullabaloo Blog, joins the program to recaps the week's news.   In the Fun Half:   The Green Party's Hannah Spencer wins a seat in the UK parliament and delivers a moving speech centered on the working-class.   In a meeting about securing federal funding to build affordable housing in NYC, Zohran Mamdani gifts Donald Trump a novelty newspaper that makes the president smile like a child on his birthday.   Hours after the meeting with Trump, Mamdani puts in a call to trump to secure the release of a student that was kidnapped by DHS who entered campus under the false pretense of "searching for a missing child".   Anna Kasparian posts an antisemitic post about the "goyim waking up".   AIPAC is funneling shadow money through vague PAC's into Valeria Foushee's campaign in North Carlina.   Shah Allam, a blind Rohingya refugee who escaped a genocide in Myanmar, is dumped by ICE in a parking lot in the freezing Buffalo night and found dead five days later.   all that and more   To connect and organize with your local ICE rapid response team visit ICERRT.com The Congress switchboard number is (202) 224-3121. You can use this number to connect with either the U.S. Senate or the House of Representatives. Follow us on TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@majorityreportfm Check us out on Twitch here: https://www.twitch.tv/themajorityreport Find our Rumble stream here: https://rumble.com/user/majorityreport Check out our alt YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/majorityreportlive Gift a Majority Report subscription here: https://fans.fm/majority/gift Subscribe to the AMQuickie newsletter here: https://am-quickie.ghost.io/ Join the Majority Report Discord! https://majoritydiscord.com/ Get all your MR merch at our store: https://shop.majorityreportradio.com/ Get the free Majority Report App!: https://majority.fm/app Go to https://JustCoffee.coop and use coupon code majority to get 10% off your purchase Check out today's sponsors: BABBEL: Learn a new Language and get up to 55% off your subscription at Babbel.com/MAJORITY FAST GROWING TREES: Get 20% off your first purchase.  FastGrowingTrees.com/majority SUNSET LAKE: Use coupon code "Left Is Best" (all one word) for 20% off of your entire order at SunsetLakeCBD.com  Follow the Majority Report crew on Twitter: @SamSeder @EmmaVigeland @MattLech On Instagram: @MrBryanVokey Check out Matt's show, Left Reckoning, on YouTube, and subscribe on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/leftreckoning Check out Matt Binder's YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/mattbinder Subscribe to Brandon's show The Discourse on Patreon! https://www.patreon.com/ExpandTheDiscourse Check out Ava Raiza's music here! https://avaraiza.bandcamp.com

A disabled refugee was found dead days after U.S. Border Patrol let him off alone at a closed coffee shop — sparking widespread outrage and accusations of inhumanity within ICE and CBP. Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a Rohingya refugee who spoke little English and was nearly blind, vanished and died in Buffalo after being left miles from home with no support — authorities are now investigating.Meanwhile in New York City, federal immigration agents sparked protests when they entered a Columbia University dorm under controversial circumstances to arrest a student. After public backlash, Mayor Zohran Mamdani secured her release following a meeting with President Donald Trump, showcasing a bold approach to resisting aggressive immigration tactics.In this video we break down:

Against the backdrop of Donald Trump's tariffs, America's closest ally, Canada, has struck a trade agreement with its rival, China. Speaking in Beijing, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said the relationship with China had been "more predictable" than the one with the US. Is President Trump pushing his allies into Beijing's orbit? Also: Taiwan's tech firms will invest $250 billion in the US in exchange for lower tariffs. The government of Myanmar has begun its defence at the International Court of Justice against charges that it committed a genocide of the Rohingya people. South Korea's former president Yoon Suk Yeol is sentenced to prison for his 2024 attempt to impose martial law. And we take a look at the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament, as host nation Morocco prepares to face Senegal in the final. The Global News Podcast brings you the breaking news you need to hear, as it happens. Listen for the latest headlines and current affairs from around the world. Politics, economics, climate, business, technology, health – we cover it all with expert analysis and insight.Get the news that matters, delivered twice a day on weekdays and daily at weekends, plus special bonus episodes reacting to urgent breaking stories. Follow or subscribe now and never miss a moment.Get in touch: globalpodcast@bbc.co.uk