News
Myanmar’s health ministry deems Thai cosmetic products ‘unfit for use’
Products of a popular Thai cosmetics brand were found to be “unfit for use,” according to an official announcement by Myanmar’s Ministry of Health on 10 February. “Two products of ‘Forever Young’ cosmetics were found to contain prohibited chemical ingredients that can harm people’s health and [we] ...
Fearing water shortages, Myingyan residents protest reclamation
Myanmar farmers are protesting against a plan they say will reduce their water supply. They say water is so short they have already been forced to abandon growing paddy and switch to beans and pulses. They demand that work to open up land around a nearby ...
Clashes spread in Shan State
Hundreds of civilians in Myanmar’s northern Shan State are reported to have fled a sudden offensive by government forces and separate fighting between two ethnic armed groups, while senior monks are intervening to help villagers trapped in the war zone. The two days of fighting in ...
Polio campaign to target almost 5m children
Striking what they hope will be a death blow against polio, Myanmar health officials are preparing for a nationwide assault. The Supplementary Polio Immunisation Campaign will take place from 20 to 22 February, National Immunisation Day. The campaign will target 4.6 million under-fives, administering both oral ...
Malaysia visa fee increase waived for thousands of workers
More than 2400 Myanmar workers left in the lurch while Malaysia and Myanmar dispute a visa fee will have their applications processed under the previous – much cheaper – payment schedule, according to the Ministry of Labour. Myanmar recruitment agencies have been boycotting Malaysia – long ...
Flood victims to get extra rice
The United Nations World Food Programme will support flood-affected people in Chin State with 500 tonnes of rice, as they continue to struggle after landslides and flood waters ravaged swathes of land in the country’s poorest state last year. More than 9 million people were affected ...
Media restrictions remain in place in Magwe
Journalists in Magwe blocked from parliament for the past five years have had their hopes of entering the chamber dashed. The previous hluttaw, dominated by Union Solidarity and Development Party representatives, refused to grant them access. But at the opening of the Magwe Region Hluttaw on ...
Community tourism begins to pay in Magwe
Community-based tourism is finally paying off in rural Magwe Region, says a local NGO official. A four-year project in Myaing township has hosted its first tourists, according to U Aung Min Naing, regional manager of ActionAid Myanmar. ActionAid launched the project in 2012 in the Inn ...
Evicted residents to lobby NLD for resettlement
Residents violently evicted in Mingaladon township last week are to petition the National League for Democracy for a speedy resettlement. They also want an investigation into the violence with which they were driven from their homes. The long-simmering issue of unlawful residents has taken on new ...
NLD signals end to squatter crackdowns
The sight of bulldozers smashing shanty towns as police drive out squatters from their flimsy homes could be a thing of the past, as National League for Democracy MPs take the helm in Yangon and Mandalay regions, as well as in Nay Pyi Taw. NLD MP U ...
