Model fearing Myanmar military heads to asylum in Canada

By TASSANEE VEJPONGSA
Associated Press

BANGKOK (AP) — A fashion model from Myanmar who feared being arrested by the country’s military government if she was forced back home from exile has flown to Canada, which she says has granted her asylum. Thaw Nandar Aung was stuck at Bangkok’s airport after Thai authorities denied her entry when she arrived Sept. 21 from a short trip to Vietnam. She has been living in Thailand but needed to leave and enter again in order to extend her stay. While at the airport she met U.N. representatives in an effort to avoid being sent back to Myanmar. She had denounced her country’s military rulers last year from the stage of Miss Grand International beauty pageant held in Bangkok and faces arrest if she returns home.