The Irrawaddy

Floods affect hundreds of thousands in Irrawaddy division

More than 350,000 people from some 700 villages have been affected by flooding in three of the Irrawaddy Division’s districts, said the divisional government. Floods hit Hinthada, Maubin, and Pathein districts in early August and have forced more than 38,000 people into relief camps. “Hinthada district was ...

World Bank loan will not be used for govt salary increases, says president’s office spokesperson

Government employees’ salaries will not increase despite plans to take out a loan worth US$100 million from the World Bank, aimed at covering a state deficit by separating salaries from the budget, according to government officials. Myanmar’s President Htin Kyaw sent a message on August 5 ...

As Irrawaddy river swells, Mandalay prepares for possible flood

As the Irrawaddy River swells due to recent heavy rains, rising water levels are concerning to both locals and authorities in Mandalay, who are preparing for a possible flood. The river is about two feet above the 230.74-foot alert level in Mandalay Division. Local authorities have ...

Hundreds of jade mining licenses expire this month

Myanmar’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation has released a list of 310 jade mining companies in Kachin State who will be unable to renew their licenses when they expire at the end of this month. The government previously said it would not renew expired ...

Govt publishes data on populations of religious groups

According to the figures publicly launched by the Ministry of Labor, Immigration and Population, on 21 July in the capital Naypyidaw, Buddhists constitute 87.9 percent of the country, Christians make up 6.2 percent, Muslims comprise 4.3 percent, animists are counted at 0.8 percent and Hindus are ...

Migrants’ hopes and fears in Little Myanmar

Thai employers are reluctant to attract media coverage focusing on the region’s docks, markets or construction sites; workers told The Irrawaddy that if they were discovered as having contributed to a story on Little Myanmar, they feared they would be later fired. Wandering through Samut ...

Isolated and lacking labor rights, housemaids toil in silence

Khin Htar Kyu was in her late teens when she left her village in Irrawaddy Division’s Wakema Township with her younger sister to find work in Yangon to help her indebted family. Across Myanmar, there are tens of thousands of girls like Khin Htar Kyu who leave ...

Armed forces chief thanks NCA signatories for ‘constructive cooperation’

Myanmar Army Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing thanked ethnic armed groups that signed the nationwide ceasefire agreement last year for their “constructive cooperation,” while indirectly criticizing other groups. The armed forces chief alluded to NCA non-signatory groups “expanding their forces.” He urged them to eschew “dogmatism” and ...

Seizure of large quantities of illegal timber continues

With a crackdown announced on the illegal timber trade—and a proposed nationwide logging ban by the end of the fiscal year in March 2017—seizures of illegally cut logs have exceeded 10,000 tons in the first quarter from April to June. Myo Min, director of the Forestry ...

Thailand and Burma restart border demarcation talks

Thailand and Burma have agreed to renew negotiations over disputed border demarcations, which had stalled under Burma’s previous government. The agreement was reached during State Counselor Aung San Suu Kyi’s recent visit to Thailand, according to Burma’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Observers say that Thailand wants to ...

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