Myanmar’s sweeping internet blackouts drive rebels, medics, scammers to satellite service
Voice of America
FILE - Starlink satellite antennas are seen at the Internationale Funkausstellung, the international trade show for consumer electronics and home appliances, Aug. 31, 2023, in Berlin, Germany. Across Myanmar, rebel commanders and aid workers are turning to Starlink satellites. FILE - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, with a payload of Starlink satellites for a high-speed low earth orbit internet constellation, lifts off from launch complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Florida, July 17, 2022.
Across war-torn Myanmar, rebel commanders, aid workers and cyber-scammers alike are turning to billionaire Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites to stay in touch with each other and with the outside world amid some of the most severe internet restrictions.
Major General Kenneth Chigbu, deputy theatre commander of Operation Hadin Kai is shown with poses for a group photograph with Alice Loksha, left, and Fayina Ali at Army Barrack Maimalari Cantonment in Maiduguri, Nigeria, on November 15, 2024.
FILE - A Pakistani waits to open an internet page on a desktop in Lahore, Pakistan, Aug. 19, 2024. Pakistan's top cleric has declared that virtual private networks, or VPNs, are unlawful.
A Finnish soldier of the Karelia Brigade, one of the three Finnish Army readiness brigades, operates the K9 artillery, a 155 mm self-propelled howitzer during the NATO Exercise Dynamic Front, on November 17, 2024 near Rovaniemi, Finland.
This photo taken on November 18, 2024 shows Myanmar farmer Hla Han, 52, who lost his leg after stepping on a mine, peeling garlic outside his house in Demoso township, eastern Kayah state.
FILE - A student looks at Iran's domestically built centrifuges in an exhibition of the country's nuclear achievements, in Tehran, Iran, Feb. 8, 2023. Iran has increased its supply of uranium that has been enriched to 60% purity, according to IAEA reports seen by news agencies.
Spain's King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia visit the flood damaged town of Utiel, in the region of Valencia, eastern Spain, in the aftermath of catastrophic deadly floods, on November 19, 2024.
World leaders attending the G20 Summit pose for a group photo in Rio de Janeiro, Nov. 19, 2024.
China's President Xi Jinping, left, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz attend the G20 summit at the Museum of Modern Art in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 18, 2024. The two also met Tuesday on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in Rio de Janeiro.
Scores of people march amid concerns about corruption in state enterprises, in Gaborone, Botswana, Nov 18, 2024. Protest organizer Setlhomo Tshwanelang, left, presents a petition to Minister of Trade Tiroeaone Ntsima, in Gaborone, Botswana, Nov. 18, 2024.
U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein speaks to the media after meeting with Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, in Beirut, Nov. 19, 2024.
FILE - The sun rises near the Kariba Dam in Siavonga, Zambia, on Sept. 19, 2024. Zimbabwean Vice President Constantino Chiwenga speaks at the Zimbabwe-Zambia Energy Projects Summit in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, on Nov. 18, 2024. Delegates to the Zimbabwe-Zambia Energy Projects Summit in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe, take notes on Nov. 19, 2024.