Nigeria, Myanmar, Syria

Today's three stories you should know

Hello everyone and Happy New Year,

It’s great to be back this chilly Monday in London to start another year of highlighting the non-Western stories slipping under the radar.

Want to say a quick welcome and hello to the influx of new subscribers over the last 24 hours also. I hope you find the newsletter useful.

Oh, and keep your eyes peeled for a couple of new, and hopefully exciting, Proximities projects coming in 2026.

Bests,

Barry.

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Nigeria

The death toll from an attack on a market in Nigeria’s Niger State has risen to at least 50, according to police. Women and children were among the dead and several people were kidnapped after gunmen, believed to be criminals known locally as bandits, entered the Kasuwan Daji market in the village of Demo, burning stalls and looting food. Nigeria, particularly in the northwest, is dealing with multiple security crises, including criminal gangs kidnapping people for ransom and ISIS-linked groups battling the government for territory. The U.S. launched air raids against one of the militias last month after persistent claims from allies of President Donald Trump that Christians were being targeted, despite data showing more Muslims are killed by the Islamist rebels.

More from Africa News here.

Myanmar

Myanmar’s military government has freed more than 6,100 prisoners as part of an amnesty to mark the country’s 78th anniversary of independence from Britain. It was not immediately clear whether political detainees imprisoned for opposing the government were among them. The army retook power in 2021 by launching a coup against a democratically-elected government led by Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held incommunicado since. The coup prompted widespread protests that, after a brutal crackdown, developed into a civil war.

More from AP here.

Syria

The Syrian government and the Kurdish-led U.S.-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have failed to reach an agreement on integrating the SDF into the country’s army, state media said after the two sides met in the capital Damascus. The SDF had agreed to merge with the army by the end of 2025 when President Ahmed al-Sharaa came to power in December 2024 following a lightning offensive against the forces of former leader Bashar al-Assad. The sticking point appears to be whether the SDF remains a cohesive unit within the military or whether it is fully absorbed. The group holds swathes of territory in the oil-rich north and northeast and was instrumental in defeating ISIS in 2019.

More from Al Jazeera here.