News
Myanmar released 29 political prisoners before power transfer
The Myanmar government under outgoing President Thein Sein on 22 January freed 29 political prisoners across the country, 18 of them from the notorious Insein Prison in the capital Yangon. Keep reading ...
Police to protect Kachin poppy destroyers
More than 1000 activists of a Christian-based anti-narcotics group are to have police protection after getting the go-ahead from the Kachin State government to destroy over 1600 hectares (4000 acres) of opium poppy fields. Permission was received on 21 January to mount the mass operation in Waingmaw ...
Disaster-prone year uses fraction of possible emergency fund
In a year of disastrous floods, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation accounted for more than 62 percent of total emergency expenditure, parliament heard on 21 January. Yet barely over one-tenth of the K100 billion emergency fund under the president’s control was utilised. The President’s Office ...
Ayeyarwady monitored as levels plummet
As the water level of the Ayeyarwady River is set to fall about 30 feet (9.1 metres) below its rainy-season peak, water authorities are sending out staff to camp out along the banks to help river traffic avoid running aground. Mandalay Region’s Department of Water Resources ...
USDP majority parliament passes trimmed budget for next government
Parliament has passed the K23.62 trillion (US$18.28 billion) budget for the 2016-17 financial year starting in March. In effect, this means that defeated members of the Union Solidarity and Development Party government have bequeathed spending patterns and constraints to the incoming government elected last November. Review committees ...
Independent bar association aims to usher in new era
Myanmar’s legal profession is aiming to come clean. Lawyers have launched the industry’s first independent, national bar association in Myanmar with the help of a London-based human rights training group and the rule of law committee. The Independent Lawyers’ Association of Myanmar was launched in Nay Pyi ...
NLD compiles land-grab lists
Amid indications that the incoming National League for Democracy government will take up the issue of land-grabs, the party’s Mandalay Region has begun compiling a list of farmland seized unlawfully in the region. “We are collecting data on farmland disputes. It will be up to the ...
Dala residents fret over bridge payouts
Dala township residents who agreed to accept compensation in exchange for land needed for a long-awaited bridge are hoping to get paid before the new government takes office. Of the 68 landowners affected, 66 have now agreed the terms offered following protracted negotiations last year. Both sides ...
Ministry of Home Affairs strikes up jade probe
A jade probe led by the government following several deadly accidents at mines in Kachin State has expanded its scope and is now being overseen by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The special investigative team, which was previously under the Ministry of the Environment, is looking into ...
Myanmar recruiters boycott Malaysia
Overseas employment agencies, angry at “bullying” from the Malaysian government, have resolved to boycott the country. Agency chiefs say they will no longer send Myanmar migrant workers to Malaysia, as the recruitment industry has been monopolised by a newly instituted system that has changed the ...
