September 27, 2021

More than 100 residents of a town in Myanmar’s Chin state are across the border to India daily to escape ongoing offensives by the military junta in the western state, following clashes that erupted between national forces and local joint militia groups on Sept. 18, a civil society group and residents said. The Chin National Front’s (CNF) armed wing — the Chin National Army (CNA) — and the Chin Defense Force (CDF) launched an assault on Myanmar troop positions in Thantlang town on Sept. 18, but withdrew when government soldiers fired heavy artillery in retaliation against local civilians, CNF/CNA spokesman

Homicides in the U.S. increased nearly 30 percent last year compared to 2019, part of an overall increase in violent crime in the country, the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported Monday. In its annual crime statistics report, the FBI said nearly 1.3 million violent crimes were committed in the U.S. last year, up 5.6 percent from 2019 and the first time the figure had risen in four years. Nearly 18,000 killings were reported, the FBI said. The FBI report underscored the correlation between shootings and killings. Gun-related homicides accounted for more than two out of every three such deaths, according to

Thousands of farmers in India blocked highways and rail tracks on Monday to give renewed momentum to their months-long demand for scrapping agricultural laws that have triggered the country’s longest farm protest and presented a political challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The nationwide protest, or “bharat bandh,” was held on the first anniversary of the passage of the laws that the government says will modernize the agricultural sector, but which farmers fear will spell an existential threat to their livelihoods. The legislation allows farmers to do business outside government-run wholesale markets where they have sold their crops for decades