News
Myanmar to use US$1 billion loan for infrastructure projects
Economic development, agriculture, electricity, and infrastructure projects will be the focus of a framework for loans between South Korea and Myanmar. On September 3, Union Minister for Investment and Foreign Economic Relations U Thaung Tun and South Korea’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Ms Kang Kyung-wha signed ...
Thiha Ko Ko
Athan: 250 people face charges for social media posts
More than 250 people faced criminal charges for expressing their opinions on social media in the first half of the year, according to a report by local free speech group Athan. The report said 70 cases with 250 respondents were filed over opinions expressed on social media ...
Khin Myat Myat Wai
Myanmar youths to join ASEAN environmental meet
Five Myanmar university students have been chosen to represent the country at a regional youth meeting on the environment, the Environmental Conservation Department said. The Environmental Forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations plus three (China, Japan, and South Korea) will be held on Thailand’s Phuket ...
Myat Moe Aung
Tackling city issues with tech
The Digital Yangon App that can be used by the public to deal with issues such as abandoned vehicles, water problems, fire and waste disposal issues can now be used in six downtown areas of Yangon, said Yangon Region Minister of Kayin Ethnic Affairs Daw ...
Four Trapped in Collapsed, Flooded Coal Mine in Central Myanmar
Rescue workers were trying to get to four coal miners trapped in a collapsed mine in Satpyargon Village, in Magwe Region’s Minhla Township, as of late Monday afternoon. According to police, the mine, operated by the Inn Gyin Taung mining company, collapsed Sunday evening due to ...
Zarini Mann
Powering a conflict: the Kachin Independence Organisation's hydropower business
For nearly two decades following its 1994 ceasefire, the Kachin Independence Organisation built up a business empire that intertwined formally with the state. The vehicle for many of these businesses is Buga Co Ltd, which the KIO’s economic department registered with the Directorate of Investment and ...
Ye Mon
The right to community forest in Tanintharyi Region
When Charcoal burners began casting covetous eyes over the mangrove forest next to coastal Kanyin Chaung village in Tanintharyi Region, its residents joined forces to protect a natural resource that had served their community for generations. The threat emerged in about 2005 and it worried the ...
Kyaw Lin Htoon
In Myanmar, Better Oversight of Forests a Vital Step in Transition to Rule of Law
For the first time, the Myanmar Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (MEITI) has opened the books to share information with the public on revenue Myanmar’s government collects from harvesting timber. Last month, the MEITI released two reports juxtaposing statistics on production and tax payments from government ministries’ ledgers ...
Art Blundell and Khin Saw Htay
UNHCR Statement on Voluntary Repatriation to Myanmar
Through their bilateral Joint Working Group on repatriation, the Government of Myanmar conveyed to the Government of Bangladesh the names of 3,450 Rohingya refugees who have been cleared for return to Rakhine State, Myanmar. UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, sees Myanmar’s engagement in this process ...
Asian elephant footprints serve as safe spaces for frog nurseries
While wandering through northwestern Myanmar in 2016, a group of scientists stumbled on hundreds of huge tracks in the ground. According to a new paper in the journal Mammalia, these footprints, made by Asian elephants (Elephas maximus), have a lasting impact. Even when the giants that made ...
Nanticha Ocharoenchai