Emily Fishbein

1. This History Thread is about roles of #Nisei (Japanese ancestry, American born) soldiers in WW2 Burma. In Allies' fight vs Imperial Japan's occupation, Nisei were translators & psych war experts. My new book "Where the Mithuns Are" includes Karl Yoneda in Burma. (Order via last post #17.) 📚

Statement: Deadly airstrike on a hospital in Mrauk-U (Rakhine State, Myanmar) | Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF ... Today, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) learned of the bombing and destruction of the Mrauk-U general hospital in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Reportedly, the airstrike – which occurred around 9 p.m. on 10 December – resulted in the death of at least 30 civilians and injury to more than 70. It appears to be the deadliest recorded [...]Read More... from Statement: Deadly airstrike on a hospital in Mrauk-U (Rakhine State, Myanmar)

#Breaking: Today, MSF learned of the bombing and destruction of the Mrauk-U general hospital in Rakhine State, #Myanmar.

Reportedly, the airstrike resulted in the death of at least 30 civilians and injury to more than 70: https://ow.ly/uqV050XHrry

Dozens killed in hospital strike in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state Conflict monitors say the junta has increased airstrikes year-on-year since the start of Myanmar’s civil war Dozens have been killed in a military strike on a hospital in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state, according to an aid worker, a rebel group, a witness and local media reports, as the junta wages a withering offensive ahead of elections beginning this month. “The situation is very terrible,” said on-site aid worker Wai Hun Aung. “As for now, we can confirm there are 31 deaths and we think there will be more deaths. Also there are 68 wounded and will be more and more.” Continue reading...

Dozens killed in hospital strike in Myanmar’s western Rakhine state

#Myanmar people across the country, from major cities to remote villages, joined the December 10 nationwide Silent Strike. The people are united in rejecting the criminal junta’s sham election ✊🏽

#SilentStrike #RejectShamElection #SayNoJustTrap

Moves to begin collecting face scans, fingerprints, and other data are adding to concerns over the Indian government’s close ties to the Myanmar regime

Read more:
myanmar-now.org/en/news/fear...

The Pulitzer Center’s 2025: A Year in Stories features 5 projects from our Information & AI Focus Area.

These stories reveal failed AI systems, online criminal activities, & the expansion of tech companies' infrastructure into drought-ridden communities.

👉 bit.ly/YIStories25

Inside a Romance Scam Compound- and How People Get Tricked Into Being There

Information & AI Senior Editor @joannaskao.bsky.social selected @emilyfishbein11.bsky.social & @peterguest.bsky.social's story "Inside a Romance Scam Compound—and How People Get Tricked Into Being There,” published in @techreviewjp.bsky.social, as her #PulitzerStaffPicks.

👉 bit.ly/YIStories25

Watched, Tracked, and Targeted in Gaza Life under Israel’s all-encompassing surveillance regime.

I spent sixteen months reporting this story. It follows how surveillance tech is rewriting Gaza in real time — and what it’s doing to the people inside it. Reported in partnership with @justvision.org's Palestine Reporting Lab and published in @nymag.com

🏆 Thank you, Greta, for delivering our @rightlivelihood.org acceptance speech, and for your solidarity and courage.

We accept this award in honour of the courageous ppl of Myanmar, who've stood against the junta with unyielding strength, dignity and immense sacrifice.

Watch on FB 👉🏽 buff.ly/l4Ov7qX

Disclaimer: We only found out abut the translation after it went online and did not have a chance to input into the process. Therefore, we cannot vouch for its adherence to the original English version.
burma.irrawaddy.com/article/2025...

In Myanmar, Illicit Rare Earth Mining Is Taking a Heavy Toll As China has cut back on domestic extraction of rare earth minerals, uncontrolled mining in Myanmar has boomed in areas ruled by powerful ethnic armies. New reporting reveals how this activity is dama...

We wrote the article with a third journalist, who conducted ground reporting and chose to remain anonymous for security reasons. Read the original version, written for Yale Environment 360 with support from the Pulitzer Center's Rainforest Investigations Network, here:
e360.yale.edu/features/mya...

My article with Jauman Naw, about the expansion of rare earth mining in territory controlled by the United Wa State Army on Myanmar's eastern border with China, is now available in Burmese on The Irrawaddy website (1/3)
burma.irrawaddy.com/article/2025...

display of books titled "Where the Mithuns Are" by Edith Mirante. Cover is painting by Anthony Gross of people in WW2 Chin area of Burma.

1. This History/Literary Thread is about my new book "Where the Mithuns Are: Essays on War, Art and Beasts" (how to order it is at end of thread!) These exciting essays include WW2 Burma & #WhatsHappeningInMyanmar, bison, elk, wolves, Heizer's "City" & Indigenous mound sites. 📚

In Myanmar, Illicit Rare Earth Mining Is Taking a Heavy Toll As China has cut back on domestic extraction of rare earth minerals, uncontrolled mining in Myanmar has boomed in areas ruled by ethnic armies. New reporting in Wa territory reveals the activity is da...

This reporting also reveals new information about the harmful health, safety and environmental impacts of rare earth mining in Myanmar, where Chinese companies operate the mines and transport the rare earth to China for processing.
e360.yale.edu/features/mya...

In Myanmar, Illicit Rare Earth Mining Is Taking a Heavy Toll As China has cut back on domestic extraction of rare earth minerals, uncontrolled mining in Myanmar has boomed in areas ruled by ethnic armies. New reporting in Wa territory reveals the activity is da...

This article, is based on ground reporting in territory controlled by the UWSA, where rare earth mining is extremely secretive and few if any journalists had previously collected firsthand information. It found that the mining is expanding near the China border. (2/3) e360.yale.edu/features/mya...

In Myanmar, Illicit Rare Earth Mining Is Taking a Heavy Toll As China has cut back on domestic extraction of rare earth minerals, uncontrolled mining in Myanmar has boomed in areas ruled by ethnic armies. New reporting in Wa territory reveals the activity is da...

My latest piece, with Jauman Naw and a fully anonymous journalist, about rare earth mining in territory controlled by the United Wa State Army on Myanmar's eastern border with China. Supported by the @pulitzercenter.org's Rainforest Investigations Network (1/3)
e360.yale.edu/features/mya...

The @pulitzercenter.org’s Impact Initiative supports projects that drive tangible outcomes from investigative reporting.

Apply now to make your work go further: https://twp.ai/9PWmja

Call For Proposals - Global Health Reporting Grants

The Pulitzer Center is eager to support U.S.-based staff and freelancers who want to report on critical global health issues.

This opportunity provides funds for overseas travel to cover critical health issues affecting communities around the world.
👉 bit.ly/PCgrantApp

‘We all feel the music together’: Singers bridge differences across borders As Chin people seek refuge from the Myanmar conflict in the Indian state of Mizoram, a common musical culture with the local Mizo population serves to ease tensions and bring the communities together.

Original story, with plenty of musical references and anecdotes, here.
www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/we-all-fe...

BENJAMIN SUM - HNEMTU BAWI (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO) YouTube video by Benjamin Sum

New song in Mizo language from Benjamin Sum, a former Myanmar Idol star who fled to Mizoram, India following the 2021 military coup.

In 2023, I wrote about Benjamin, and the ways music has shaped/ been shaped by history across this border & among the diaspora (1/2)
m.youtube.com/watch?v=juGC...

The grim task of recovering thousands of bodies from the rubble of Gaza Relatives and experts tell of the human and societal need to find and identify the dead, while images and data shed light on the scale of the job

The grim task of recovering thousands of bodies from the rubble of Gaza

The perils of abortion for Myanmar women Abortion carries a strong social stigma and is illegal in Myanmar, pushing many women to seek it in Thailand or, for those who cannot afford travelling to the neighbouring country, the use of dangerou...

Abortion carries a strong social stigma and is illegal in Myanmar, pushing many women to seek it in Thailand or, for those who cannot afford travelling to the neighbouring country, the use of dangerous pills bought on TikTok.

Working for peanuts: The precarious lives of women in central Myanmar Women in Myanmar’s central plains are unable to travel for work due to security concerns in the midst of civil war, and those who do work are struggling to support their families as they receive lower...

Women in Myanmar’s central plains are unable to travel for work due to security concerns in the midst of civil war, and those who do work are struggling to support their families as they receive lower pay than men.

‘Living in fear of the sky’: Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh battle environmental crisis The Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar are succumbing to an environmental nightmare of deforestation, landslides, flooding and fires – exacerbated by cuts in

The Rohingya camps in Cox’s Bazar are succumbing to an environmental nightmare of deforestation, landslides, flooding and fires – exacerbated by cuts in international aid that have halted most efforts to mitigate the effects of such disasters.
www.frontiermyanmar.net/en/living-in...

New painting by Cecilia, an artist from Kachin State, Myanmar. Kachin holds the world's largest jade mines and has seen a dramatic expansion of rare earth mining over the past decade.

Title: Lost

Caption: With the loss of natural resources, human resources are disappearing.

The report raises concerns about unregulated mining by the China Investment Mining Company in an area jointly controlled by Myanmar’s junta and the UWSA

Read more:
myanmar-now.org/en/news/chin...

Radio Free Asia Will Halt News Operations Amid Shutdown Until this month, Radio Free Asia had successfully resisted Trump officials who had tried to render it obsolete.

Breaking News: Radio Free Asia will shut down its operations for the first time since its founding in 1996, after being targeted by the Trump administration.

Must-read investigation👇

Back in Business: Zahkung Ting Ying Tries To Rebuild His Empire Over the past decade, the military-aligned warlord and his associates amassed wealth from Kachin State’s rare earth mining boom until the Kachin Independence Army took their territory last year, but.....

For over a decade, warlord Zahkung Ting Ying and his allies exploited the rare earth mining boom in Kachin State, Myanmar.

@emilyfishbein11.bsky.social & Jauman Naw report, for @frontiermyanmar.bsky.social, on how they have continued doing business even after losing their territory. bit.ly/47JC0JB

Myanmar: ‘Deadly attack’ on festival highlights paraglider threat to civilians Responding to reports of an aerial attack by the Myanmar military that is said to have killed upwards of 20 civilians, including children, when multiple bombs were dropped from motorized paragliders, ...

“As the military attempts to solidify power with a stage-managed election later this year, it is intensifying an already brutal campaign against pockets of resistance," writes Joe Freeman of @amnesty.org
www.amnesty.org/en/latest/ne...