Myanmar security forces fired mortars and machine guns at terrified Rohingya villagers fleeing northern Rakhine State for Bangladesh yesterday, AFP reports from Cox’s Bazar quoting one of its reporters and a border official at the scene, as clashes which have killed scores continued for a second day. The fighting, concentrated around remote border villages, is between suspected Rohingya militants and Myanmar security forces, but is increasingly sweeping in civilians -- from the Muslim minority as well as local Buddhists and Hindus. Rakhine State has become a crucible of religious hatred focused on the stateless Rohingya Muslim minority, who are reviled and perceived as illegal immigrants in Buddhist-majority Myanmar. Violence has again…

The Election Commission (EC) has designated 30 upazilas of four districts of the Chittagong region as…