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Thai trips expected to rise as visa-free deal with Myanmar comes into effect
Visa-free travel to Thailand for Myanmar passport-holders has come into effect, sparking a spike in visitor numbers, travel agents say. Following an agreement reached last month, Myanmar passport holders can now visit Bangkok or Phuket for a two-week trip without queuing for a visa at the Thai ...
Flood-hit Myanmar farmers fear loan losses
As floodwaters recede from parts of Myanmar’s Magwe Region, farmers are facing new problems – paying back loans they took out before the growing season. Such loans from the state-run Myanmar Agricultural Development Bank are usually repaid from the proceeds of the crop. But in ...
Myanmar flooding affects one million
Nearly one million people have now been affected by widespread flooding across Myanmar since June, officials say. The government says up to 100 people have died and 1.2 million acres of rice fields have been destroyed. Keep reading ...
Myanmar and the politics of disaster
Myanmar has endured more than its fair share of human-made disasters. Almost everywhere you look there is evidence of the long-term consequences of official mismanagement, civil disorder and economic malaise. Those who suffered through the difficult decades of military rule remember the suffocation that comes with ...
Myanmar flood relief donor drowns
A woman from Myanmar’s Sagaing Region drowned while trying to bring supplies to relatives in a flood-ravaged town on 7 August, according to local officials. Ma Ye Ye Tun, 25, was ferrying donations with three other women from Kama village when their boat capsized, U Soe ...
Vietnam PM encourages Myanmar to grant licences to Vietnamese banks
Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung suggested Myanmar to consider granting licences to the Bank for Investment and Development of Vietnam to open branches in Myanmar. The Prime Minister received Governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar Kyaw Kyaw Maung in Hanoi on 6 August during his ...
Thai border community donates aid worth 750 million Kyat to Burma’s flood victims
Thai people from Thailand’s border province of Tak, have donated aid worth 750 million kyat in relief items through the Mae Sot-Myawaddy border crossing in Karen State for the people affected by the severe flooding throughout Burma. Mr Sumchai Katiyasanti, governor of Tak province, said all ...
Relief teams, donors struggle to reach hardest-hit regions in Myanmar floods
Floodwaters began to subside in some hard-hit areas of the country yesterday but relief workers were still struggling to reach the hundreds of thousands of people affected, including tens of thousands of displaced. Stranded communities in Rakhine State and Magwe Region told The Myanmar Times they ...
Myanmar Government trumpets pledges from China
Amid accusations that it caved in to Chinese pressure, the government has been at pains to show that its release in a presidential amnesty last week of 153 Chinese illegal loggers was accompanied by a number of pledges it has managed to extract from Beijing. The ...
PNG frees Myanmar and Cambodia ‘slaves’ from fishing boat
Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill yesterday pledged his nation’s support in tackling human trafficking as he confirmed the seizure of a boat carrying alleged slaves from Myanmar and Cambodia. Mr O’Neill said the eight people were rescued from the fishing boat Blissful Reefer. Keep reading ...
