The Irrawaddy
Suu Kyi vows to amend Junta-era constitution
Myanmar’s de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi vowed on 18 April to push for constitutional amendments to build a true democracy in the Southeast Asian country as it emerges from decades of military control. “Our policies and principles are to ensure national reconciliation, internal peace, the ...
Avian Flu strikes poultry farms in Sagaing division
Surveillance of the poultry trade in Sagaing Division’s Monywa Township has been ramped up after an avian flu outbreak over the past several weeks. Local authorities have since killed over 20,000 chickens and restricted poultry trade from farms in the area.“With the help of the police ...
Mon armed group seeks talks with prospective investors
Nai Win Hla, an executive committee member of the New Mon State Party, said Mawlamyine Cement Limited inked a deal with the Mon State government in Myanmar to build a cement factory, and then built a coal-fired power plant inside the compound without local residents’ knowledge. ...
Shan community groups denounce European-backed dam projects
Ethnic Shan communities in northern Shan State have called for an end to four planned hydropower dams on the Namtu River, an Irrawaddy tributary, citing irreparable damage to the environment. More than 100 people gathered in Hsipaw Township to hold a prayer service on the bank ...
Report calls for logging moratorium, end to state-run MTE
International and Burmese environmental organizations this week said Burma’s forest reserves are largely exhausted, calling for a moratorium on commercial logging and the dismantling or privatization of the state-owned Myanmar Timber Enterprise (MTE). Those finding came in an analysis released on 30 March in a report ...
Burma’s Minorities Fear USDP Election Victory
During nearly seven decades the villages of the Karen have been torched, their men summarily executed and their women raped as the ethnic minority battled Burma’s military regime in the world’s longest-running insurgency. Their homeland has been called the “hidden Darfur,” where some 350,000 people ...
