News
Myanmar to fight climate change by protecting forests
Though it emits very little greenhouse gas – and what is emitted is offset by its forests – Myanmar is affected more than almost any other country in the world by climate change, the country’s delegates will tell the Paris climate conference. About 20 Myanmar government ...
Opium poppy farmers seek help to end dependence
It is harvest time in the shadow of mist-covered mountains in southern Shan State – not for the rice or pulses growing elsewhere, but in the fields that will supply heroin to voracious markets, in Myanmar and across international borders. Down in the valleys and on ...
World Food Program extends aid program to end of 2017
The UN World Food Programme will extend its current Myanmar operations into the end of 2017, despite a funding shortfall of US$40 million. The announcement comes as the organisation continues its early recovery missions in areas affected by the monsoon floods in August, as well as internally ...
Authorities introduce new safety measures in Hpakant
Amid warnings of fresh disaster beneath the lowering waste tips, Kachin State government officials and civil society are mobilising to protect local residents and demand accountability from the companies they blame for the death of more than 100 people. Rescuers have abandoned attempts to recover any ...
Myanmar Central Bank in spotlight over coins
The ire of MPs over the 11.95 percent supplementary budget request from the outgoing government was directed on 3 December toward the Central Bank. While its request for K59.059 billion represents just 2.3 percent of the K2.464 trillion budget proposal, MPs said it was a prime example ...
People’s forum to meet this month
Strengthening links between government and people, the Myanmar People’s Forum will meet at Yangon’s International Business Centre from 15-16 December, executive director U Kyaw Lin Oo has announced. The forum brings together MPs, representatives of government and local civil society to get people’s voices heard. Keep reading ...
Mandalay gold rush cancelled
The gold rush has been cancelled, the authorities have announced. The 1000 or so hopeful gold miners who flocked into the village of Kyauk Pha when cable-layers thought they had struck lucky will just have to, well, flock off again. Keep reading ...
Last group of rescued migrants in limbo
Bangladesh and Myanmar remain at odds over 28 people who were among more than 900 rescued at sea in May, after being abandoned by human traffickers. Following the repatriation of 48 Bangladeshi nationals on 2 December, the Bangladesh embassy in Yangon said in a statement that ...
Companies begin to feel the heat as import costs climb
Myanmar’s plummeting currency has prompted a vicious circle of rising prices in the import-dependent economy, in which even export-driven companies face rising costs, say businesspeople. New laws and regulations are urgently needed to control the kyat, they said, which has fallen by more than 25 percent ...
President and NLD leader discuss transfer of power
President U Thein Sein and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi met for 45 minutes this morning to discuss the transfer of power following the landslide election victory of her National League for Democracy. U Ye Htut, a spokesperson for the president, said the meeting focused on ...
