World
‘It gets hold of you’: Crystal meth from Myanmar floods Australia streets
Melbourne, Australia – Myanmar’s remote jungle hills may be a world away from sun-soaked Australia, but the two countries share an insidious bond – crystalline methamphetamine.
Otherwise known as “ice” or “crystal meth”, crystalline methamphetamine is a highly addictive substance which has permeated Australia’s suburbs.
The Australian Federal Police estimates about 70 percent of the drug comes from northeastern Myanmar, near the Golden Triangle, where the country borders Thailand and Laos, and is transported through Southeast Asia before arriving in Australia by boat.
A recent National Drug Strategy survey showed that one out of every 100 Australians over the age of 14 had used ice in the last 12 months, mostly in the country’s major cities.
The same survey also indicated that about 7.5 percent of Australia’s population had tried methamphetamine during their lifetime.
Charlie Samson, who lives in Australia’s second-biggest city, Melbourne, first smoked ice when he was just 18. He soon found himself addicted.
“We’d go out for drinks, and someone knew a bloke who had some ice. And so we all tried it,” he told Al Jazeera.
“The next week, we did the same thing, and then it snowballed from there. Fast forward three or four months, I was secretly buying it on a Monday, because I’d been up all weekend.”
At the peak of his addiction, he was spending 2,500 Australian dollars ($1,690) a week on the drug. Despite his habit, Samson managed to maintain his well-paid construction job with the vast majority of his salary going on the drug.
“Before I rolled out of bed, I used to have to smoke about a gramme just to be able to function,” he said.
‘Smelled like tea’
Australia’s official health campaigns often declare ice users to be “psychotic” and “violent”, underscoring the prevailing stereotype of the homeless “meth addict”.
However, Samson told Al Jazeera that ice addiction could affect anyone and that people could remain apparently functioning members of society even when addicted.
He said he had seen lawyers and businesspeople all fall prey to the drug.
“I’ve met a few people who I thought, ‘He’s got a family, he’s paying a mortgage. And now he’s got nothing.’ Because at some point, it gets a hold of you, even if it’s not financially, it’ll get you mentally,” he said.
Samson, who is now 29, managed to hold down his job for six years before the addiction completely overran his life, and it was only after a short stint in prison that he managed to get clean.
While Samson told Al Jazeera he never knew the source of the ice he bought, he did recall batches that “smelled like tea”, indicative of methamphetamine originating from Myanmar, which is often smuggled in tea boxes.
The production of methamphetamine and heroin has increased in Myanmar since the 2021 military coup plunged the country into crisis and civil war, with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) saying that seizures of methamphetamine hit a record 190 tonnes in 2023 across East and Southeast Asia.
The UNODC says that Myanmar has also emerged as the world’s leading source of opium.
Most of the drug production is centred in the northern hills of Shan and Wa states, regions which have long been notorious for opium production and trade.
But the civil war has seen a spike in the drug trade, including heroin, methamphetamine and what is known as yaba – small pills containing a mix of methamphetamine and caffeine – with the proceeds used to finance the conflict.
The Australian Federal Police, which maintains ongoing operations in the region as part of efforts to stem the flow of drugs to Australia, told Al Jazeera that “transnational crime is not only a result of, but a driver of the current conflict, as it is financing various actors in the conflict and, therefore, reducing the incentive to pursue a durable peace.”
“Like heroin historically, methamphetamine production remains a significant source of income to transnational crime groups in Myanmar,” a spokesperson said. “Ongoing offshore seizures of drugs from Myanmar show this region remains a major source to the lucrative Australian market.”
Between 2012 and 2022, almost 10 tonnes of ‘tea packet’ methamphetamine was seized by the Australian Federal Police. In 2022 alone, this included more than 2.1 tonnes with a street value of more than 1 billion Australian dollars ($671.6 million).
‘Tea packet’ methamphetamine refers to methamphetamine manufactured in Southeast Asia and commonly packaged in branded tea packets for concealment and marketing purposes; different colours indicate purity, with green being the highest.
While the likely origin is Myanmar, the police told Al Jazeera it was “difficult to put a percentage on the amount of methamphetamine originating from Myanmar, as it is transhipped through multiple countries, concealing the true source of the illicit drugs”.
Increasingly potent
Samson has remained clean since leaving prison in June 2023.
But many other Australians are unable to break ice addiction and struggle even to take the first step of seeking help.
Turning Point is a Melbourne-based clinic whose services include assistance for those seeking help for methamphetamine use, including counselling and detox.
Clinical Director Shalini Arunogiri echoes Samson’s observations that methamphetamine addiction affects a variety of Australians.
“We see people who may fit that homeless stereotype,” she told Al Jazeera. “But we absolutely do see people who are working full time. We see parents. We see people who are in high functioning jobs who might be using daily.”
She added that the stigma of methamphetamine addiction is often a barrier to those seeking help.
“I think there is that real stereotype that has been portrayed in media, advertising and in public health campaigns. Those public health campaigns aren’t effective. In fact, they marginalise people who use that drug even more.”
Arunogiri says the purity of methamphetamine coming from high-volume trade regions such as Myanmar has increased over the last two decades.
“The drug that we have available in Australia for the last decade is quite potent – we’ve got very high potency crystalline methamphetamine. Here, it’s virtually impossible to get non-crystalline methamphetamine.”
She told Al Jazeera that the effects of the drug can be seen across a range of physical, mental and criminological indicators.
“One in three people who use at least every week are likely to experience psychotic symptoms – seeing things, hearing things. We know that a significant proportion go on to develop things like schizophrenia and long-term psychological illnesses. Using methamphetamine also often comes with criminal aspects as well.”
The Australian Institute of Health and Wellbeing recently reported that at least 46 percent of those entering prison had used methamphetamine in the previous 12 months.
John Coyne, Head of Strategic Policing and Law Enforcement at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, told Al Jazeera that methamphetamine use in Australia “fuels a cycle of criminal activity that often leads to incarceration”.
He says this includes theft and robbery to fund addiction, as well as violent behaviour, which can be triggered by the drug.
“Additionally, the illegal nature of meth means that possession and trafficking come with harsh penalties, further contributing to incarceration rates,” he said.
Coyne says the ongoing conflict in Myanmar, along with endemic corruption and human rights abuses by the military regime, creates serious challenges for Australian police in tackling the export of drugs from the region.
“While disrupting illicit drug routes is essential for regional security, engaging with a regime known for its oppressive tactics raises ethical and legal concerns,” he said.
According to the United Nations, the Myanmar military has killed more than 5,000 civilians since the coup and has reinstated the death penalty for political activity, executing pro-democracy activists.
That the regime is also allegedly directly involved in the drug trade presents a myriad of operational and ethical challenges for Australian law enforcement.
“The Australian Federal Police must navigate these complexities carefully, ensuring that intelligence-sharing is strictly focused on disrupting drug networks without inadvertently supporting a corrupt regime,” Coyne told Al Jazeera.
“This delicate balance is crucial to uphold international norms and prevent complicity in the junta’s ongoing human rights violations.”
World
AI helped a musician with Parkinson’s finish his new album when he could no longer play guitar
LONDON (AP) — Samuel Smith spent years writing songs with a guitar in his hands.
Now, the London-based singer-songwriter is using artificial intelligence tools to help him continue making Americana music after Parkinson’s disease largely took away his ability to play guitar.
Smith, who was diagnosed with the progressive neurological disorder in 2020, recently released his second album, “The Art of Letting Go.” For one of the eight tracks, an instrumental piece titled “Horizon,” he relied on platforms that use AI to generate music to create demo arrangements that would convey his vision to the musicians who recorded the song.
The demos he created by humming rough melodies into his phone and uploading the recordings into song generators like Suno and Udio weren’t for mixing into the final studio version of “Horizon,” Smith stressed. But tremors, stiffness and fatigue, which are common symptoms of Parkinson’s, caused his guitar skills to deteriorate during the more than a year he worked on the album, he said.
“So then I’m faced with a question,” Smith, 49, said. “‘Don’t play, don’t be creative, or find a way out, find a route.’ And for me, this was the route.”
Generative AI has divided the music industry, whose artists and record labels have complained of their copyrighted work being used to train the models behind AI-powered music tools. Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group and Warner Records sued Suno and Udio in June 2024, although Universal later reached a settlement and partnership deal with Udio and Warner did the same with Suno.
Less discussed is what those platforms can do when employed by a serious musician like Smith, whose disease affects the tools central to his songwriting and identity as a guitarist: his hands. He released his debut album, “In the Springtime,” in 2023, saying he wanted to give his two sons a way to remember when he could perform and record music himself.
“I’d always written, I’d also played, I always sung,” he said. “And immediately it became clear to me that I was in trouble, that my music was going to be seriously compromised.”
From prompts to convincing demos
AI music generators use systems trained on large datasets of recorded music and audio. The platforms analyze patterns in melody, harmony, and rhythm before generating new audio based on prompts or uploaded recordings. Users don’t need musical talent to end up with a serviceable song, or even a popular one.
Smith said producing convincing demos from the synthetic tracks the apps generated often required “50, 100, 150 attempts” and extensive editing “to get something that sounds close to my music.” After humming a song into his phone and uploading the recording, he gives prompts describing instrumentation, mood and style. .
“AI is not replacing anything for me,” he said. “It’s unlocking, it’s enabling. It’s allowing me to keep writing. I upload my lyrics; AI doesn’t create my lyrics. I upload my music; AI does not create my music.”
He added: “It then brings it to life in a way that I can play to session players and say, ‘Here, that’s what I’m thinking, that is what I’m hearing.’”
A bittersweet guitar duet
The album was produced by Grammy-winning pianist and producer Matt Rollings, who assembled a group of established roots and bluegrass musicians for the project. They included dobro player and 16-time Grammy winner Jerry Douglas, Grammy-winning banjo player Alison Brown, fiddler Stuart Duncan, guitarist Bryan Sutton, bassist Viktor Krauss and singers Jonatha Brooke and Glen Phillips.
For Smith, the experience of singing in a Nashville studio alongside musicians he had admired for decades was “an extraordinary moment.”
Grammy-nominated guitarist Julian Lage, known for his jazz and acoustic recordings with Blue Note Records, performed on the album’s title track and on “Horizon.” The latter recording became a bittersweet high point in Smith’s career; despite the progression of his disease, he managed to play a guitar duet with his friend.
“I hadn’t been able to play for months, but I kept telling myself that if I wrote something to take to the studio, perhaps the clouds would part for a few minutes,” Smith said. “That’s what happened. I had a window of about 10 minutes in the studio when my arm freed up. … So in the end, I was able to capture the last breath of my guitar playing.”
New possibilities and perils
Experts said AI-assisted music tools could benefit other people with disabilities or illnesses.
Ruaidhri Mannion, a composer, music producer and sonic artist who teaches at Brunel University of London, said technology like affordable digital recording software “effectively democratized the making of music” in recent decades. By helping songwriters and musicians communicate ideas and collaborate more easily, AI tools that generate polished-sounding material from voice or text prompts could work in the same way, he said.
“If these tools are able to enable people to be able to participate with other creative groups and encourage more people to feel confident to be able to reach out to an ensemble or an orchestra or something, then I think that is all for the better,” Mannion said.
But an overreliance on technology could intefere with the trial and error, frustration and synergy that are necessary parts of a musician’s artistic development, Mannion said.
“What makes a lot of music-making meaningful is the collaborative element,” he said. “There’s a lot of experimentation and development and failure that’s part of musical discovery.”
Udio and Suno have denied copyright infringement allegations and said they wanted to work with the music industry, not in opposition to it. Some musicians are unconvinced. A group of recording artists and activists, including singer-songwriter Tift Merritt, David Lowery of the bands Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, and ECR Music Group President Blake Morgan, published an open letter in February under the heading “So no to Suno.”
“Many in our community are embracing responsible AI as a tool for creation, and as a means for fans to explore and interact with our artistry. That’s wonderful,” the letter read. “But it’s not the same as creating an environment where AI-generated works sourced from our music are mass distributed to dilute our royalties or, worse yet, reward those actively seeking to commit fraud. Artists need to know the difference.”
‘Show us what you can do’
Smith said he thinks his experience demonstrated how AI could benefit society and expand creative access, if it’s developed responsibly.
“My message would be that if these companies want to show they’ve got a place, a role in society, then step up,” Smith said. “Engage with health professionals, engage with music therapists, engage with society and show us what you can do.”
On May 21, Smith collaborated with the Berklee Music and Health Institute for an event in New York that brought together music industry leaders, researchers and clinicians to examine how music can support people living with neurological conditions. Smith discussed his experience living with Parkinson’s and sang again alongside musicians who played on “The Art of Letting Go.”
Creating music is crucial to the legacy Smith hopes to leave for his children, ages 4 and 17.
“My 4-year-old is probably never going to remember me playing, and it’s heartbreaking,” he said. “But I’ve been able to pull this into something and refuse to be defined by this disease.”
World
Christian farming communities under siege as US report names Fulani militants Nigeria’s deadliest threat
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JOHANNESBURG — An estimated 30,000 mostly Muslim Fulani militants are operating in Nigeria, causing “worsening insecurity and religious freedom violations,” according to an influential new report.
The report, by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), states “violence by Fulani militants caused the highest number of deaths among all religious communities in Nigeria over the last year, as compared to attacks by organized insurgent groups and criminal gangs.”
The Fulanis, so-called herders of livestock, have, according to the USCIRF report, “targeted Christian (farming) communities in the Middle Belt and, increasingly, the South, burning homes and churches as well as kidnapping, raping, and murdering.”
CHRISTIANS TARGETED IN SYSTEMATIC KIDNAPPING CAMPAIGN IN NIGERIA BY JIHADI HERDSMEN, EXPERTS SAY
Funerals were held for about 27 Christians reportedly killed by Islamist Fulani tribesmen in Bindi village, Plateau State, Nigeria, on July 28, 2025. (Christian Solidarity International)
But a former counterterrorism expert at the State Department told Fox News Digital that the kind of strikes the U.S., working with Nigerian government forces, have recently carried out in Nigeria’s North against Islamist terrorist organizations such as Boko Haram and Islamic State, wouldn’t work against the Fulanis in the predominantly Christian central areas of the country.
Sterling Tilley, former acting director within the Bureau of Counterterrorism, who has worked in Nigeria for the State Department, said that the U.S. “militarily dealing with the farmer-herder conflict is not advisable because it is likely to bring more instability in the country.” Tilley, now director of the Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship at Howard University, added, “There are some steps that can be taken to quell the violence, but there must be Nigerian political will to do so.”
Young people protest against the killings following a deadly attack by Fulani militants on Christian-majority villages in Benue state, that left 218 people dead and 6,000 displaced. The protest took place in Benue state in June 2025. (Open Doors UK)
This week, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth commented on the recent strikes ordered by President Donald Trump on Nigeria, saying, “Maybe a year ago, [the president] heard the call of Nigerian Christians who were being targeted and killed by ISIS. And he said, ‘Pete, I want the War Department to focus on ensuring that we do everything we can to protect those Christians.’”
NIGERIA NAMED EPICENTER OF GLOBAL KILLINGS OF CHRISTIANS OVER FAITH IN 2025, REPORT SAYS
Christians make up approximately 48% of Nigeria’s population. Fulani militants, the USCIRF report stated, “have often carried out operations during Christian holidays such as Christmas or Easter to further maximize the psychological impact, terrifying those communities from gathering to celebrate or worship. During attacks, assailants sometimes utter slogans with religious connotations, such as “Allahu Akbar“ (Arabic for “God is great”).
But, according to the report, Muslims are being attacked too. “Fulani assailants have not spared Muslims, raiding herders’ cattle and violently attacking non-Fulani Muslim communities,” the report added.
Coffins arrive at Ibrahim Babanginda Square in Makurdi, Benue State, on Jan. 11, 2018, during a funeral service for victims of clashes between Fulani herdsmen and natives of Guma and Logo districts. (Pius Utomi Ekpei/AFP)
“Violence at the hands of militants from the Fulani tribe far outnumbers violence from all other militant groups such as Boko Haram or ISWAP (Islamic State West African Province),” Henrietta Blyth, CEO of Open Doors UK & Ireland, an organization that highlights the persecution of Christians, told Fox News Digital.
While her organization was not part of the report, she said, “My heart has been broken as I have heard stories from women and men who have seen their beloved family members butchered in front of them or carried off into a life of slavery.”
AFRICAN UNION CHIEF DENIES GENOCIDE CLAIMS AGAINST CHRISTIANS AS CRUZ WARNS NIGERIAN OFFICIALS
Fulani Muslim men pray in Masallacin Shehu Mosque, Sokoto, Sokoto State, Nigeria, on April 24, 2019. (Luis Tato/AFP via Getty Images)
Blyth added: “The situation is complicated, and as the report concludes, it is too simplistic to say all perpetrators are religiously motivated. What is undisputable is that Christians are highly vulnerable and often the victims, paying the price in blood. They desperately need protection and, for hundreds of thousands driven from their homes, the chance to heal and rebuild their lives.”
The USCIRF report also stated, “Criticism of responses to Fulani militant violence from federal and state authorities has often described their responses as unsatisfactory at best and complicit at worst.”
Tilley told Fox News Digital that elections are to be held in Nigeria next year, and “the Fulani do have considerable political influence as a voting bloc. Thus, the Nigerian government seems reluctant to take actions necessary to quell the violence for fear that they could lose their base of support in the North and Middle Belt.”
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Fox News Digital reached out to the Nigerian government for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.
Published on
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned that Russia may be preparing to launch a “massive” new attack against Ukraine.
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“We have intel indicating that Russia is preparing a new massive attack,” Zelenskyy said in a post on social media late on Friday, while also advising people to listen out for air raid alerts and keep safe.
“The air force and protectors of our skies will be working around the clock, as always,” he added.
It comes after Russia deployed its nuclear-capable Oreshnik missile in a massive wave of strikes on the Kyiv region last weekend. Ukraine said the attack included 90 missiles and 600 drones.
The use of the Oreshnik, an intermediate-range ballistic missile that Russia first used in a strike on Dnipro in 2024, drew strong criticism from leaders across Europe.
On Friday, Zelenskyy also reiterated his call for more Patriot missile systems from the US. The Patriot is an air and missile defense system used to intercept ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, drones, and aircraft.
Zelenskyy told reporters in Sweden on Thursday that he was being “very persistent” in his pursuit of new missiles for the system. He reportedly wrote to US President Donald Trump earlier this week asking for more ammunition.
“For us — for a nation fighting for its survival — there is hardly anything more painful to see than Patriot batteries with no missiles loaded,” he said in his letter to Trump.
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