‘Become American, Work Hard, Love Democracy’: Dreams Dashed by Trump Orders

The New York Times
By Hannah Beech
Reporting from Bangkok
Feb. 12, 2025

President Trump’s moves to pause refugee resettlement, freeze foreign aid and suspend funds to promote democracy have added more chaos to one of the world’s most urgent humanitarian crises.

The world’s largest refugee camp is in Bangladesh, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims have sought shelter after fleeing Myanmar. It was built with the help of U.S.A.I.D., an agency paralyzed by the Trump administration.Credit...Reuters

The family of four refugees filled seven suitcases for their new life in America. They packed blankets, tin plates, one blade for clearing the land in their future home and one for chopping meat. They left behind what they were not supposed to bring: slingshots, fish paste, traditional medicines from their native Myanmar.

American Arrested Over 20-Acre Cannabis Plantation in Myanmar

The New York Times 
By Tiffany May and Saw Nang
April 25, 2019

Cannabis plants in Ngazun township near Mandalay, Myanmar, on Wednesday.CreditCreditAgence France-Presse — Getty Images

The 20-acre cannabis plantation was no secret.

The farm, near Mandalay in central Myanmar, had been praised on Facebook by a group calling itself the Mahar Legalization Movement Myanmar, which wants the Burmese government to ease the heavy penalties it imposes on cannabis production and use.

The group approvingly posted photos of what it called an “industrial hemp plantation” run by foreigners — just the sort of agriculture it said the country needed. The post was viewed thousands of times on Facebook.