Fight back or flee? Myanmar draft forces hard choices on youth
Reuters Weeks after Myanmar’s military government announced a nationwide draft, two young women from far-flung parts of the South-East Asian country headed to the jungles to take up arms against the junta. For two men in their 30s in Myanmar’s two largest cities, the threat of conscription after the February call-up prompted them to upend […]
Thousands of Israelis join anti government protests for third day
Jerusalem Reuters Thousands of Israelis took to the streets in Jerusalem on Monday, continuing a three-day protest against the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and demanding new elections. The protests have gathered in intensity as the war in Gaza nears the end of its sixth month and anger at the government’s handling of the […]
Tens of thousands rally against Netanyahu government in Jerusalem
Jerusalem Reuters Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in Jerusalem on Sunday against Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and against exemptions granted to ultra-Orthodox Jewish men from military service, in scenes reminiscent of mass street protests last year. Protest groups, including some that led the mass demonstrations that rocked Israel in 2023, organised the rally outside parliament, […]
Myanmar junta enforces mandatory military service for young people
Reuters Myanmar’s junta made military service mandatory for all young men and women, state media said, as it struggles to contain armed rebel forces fighting for greater autonomy in various parts of the country. All men aged 18 to 35 and women aged 18 to 27 must serve for up to two years, while specialists […]
BTS rekindle debate about military service in South Korea
Seoul, South Korea Reuters A surprise decision by South Korean boy band BTS to take a break from live shows has rekindled debate about mandatory military service in a country setting global pop-culture trends while facing a decades old Cold War threat. Military service is hugely contentious in South Korea where all able-bodied men aged […]
Protests against India’s new military recruitment system turn violent
Lucknow, India Reuters Police in northern India fired shots in the air on Thursday to push back stone-throwing crowds and authorities shut off mobile internet in at least one district to forestall further chaos, as protests widened against a new military recruitment system. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government this week announced an overhaul of recruitment […]