WorldMyanmar's military defended its crackdown on the Rohingya Muslim minority as a lawful counterinsurgency operation at a rare news conference on Tuesday, adding it was necessary to defend the country. He presented a series of slides with selected media reports claiming the military had “investigated” them and that the villagers told military investigators they did not know about any abuses. The military launched the operation after nine policemen were killed in attacks on security posts near the Bangladesh border on Oct. 9. More than 70,000 Rohingya have since fled from Myanmar to Bangladesh, according to U.N. estimates. But the results of the investigation appeared to have been preempted by the head of the military, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing.

Source: Sunday Times February 28, 2017 12:56 UTC