Myanmar

In a gruesome, bloody festival muslims all over the world have been slashing themselves with sharp blades, covering their bodies in mud and lighting bonfires in the streets to mourn the death of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson today.

From kayaking through the majesty of a Norwegian fjord to riding over Myanmar’s dawn mist in a hot air balloon, National Geographic searches talented photographers across the world to capture its cover photo.

Myanmar?s president on Aug. 30 signed into law the last of four controversial bills championed by radical Buddhists but decried by rights groups as aimed at discriminating against the country?s Muslim minority. 

Malaysian police said on Aug. 23 they had found 24 human skeletons - all believed to be victims of trafficking - in newly discovered graves along the Thai border in the northern Malaysian state of Perlis.

Turkish security forces have detained 435 migrants and Syrian refugees along with three suspected people smugglers, before they embarked on an attempt to cross the Aegean Sea to Greece, reports said Aug. 22.

The leader of Myanmar's ruling party has been removed from his post, an official said Aug. 13, after a shock police swoop on party headquarters that laid bare a power struggle among the country's key political players ahead of elections.

Southeast Asian nations were at loggerheads on August 6 over a joint statement on tensions in the South China Sea, with Beijing's allies opposing strong criticism of its land-reclamation activities, diplomats said.

A repatriation center with a capacity of 400 people will be built in the Ayvac?k district of the northwestern province of Çanakkale.

Monsoons have resulted in the deaths of hundreds of people across Asia as rescue workers tried to access remote areas in India, Myanmar and Pakistan in the wake of floods and landslides. Indian authorities estimate 120 people have been killed in recent days, while more than a million have been displaced as heavy rains made the situation even worse.

A death toll of 27 from flooding across Myanmar was expected to rise as rescue workers struggled on August 3 to reach some of the hardest-hit and most remote inundated areas, officials said. 

More than 150,000 people have been affected by severe flooding after weeks of torrential monsoon rains caused rivers to over run banks and triggered landslides, the government said.