News
Protesters told not to behave ‘lawlessly’
Villagers have been reprimanded over an unsanctioned protest staged outside the Mandalay Region government’s office last week. The Thabeikkyin township residents were seeking a meeting with the chief minister over gold mines they allege have encroached on village territory over the last few years with ...
Lack of budget hampering MCDC: mayor
Mandalay City’s municipal authority is staring at a long development to-do list, and a lack of funds to do it with, the mayor told regional lawmakers last week. Improving Myanmar’s second-biggest city will depend on finances, U Ye Lwin, mayor and head of Mandalay City Development ...
Documentary raises alarm over Shan region threatened by Salween dam
Activists on September 28 released a 30-minute documentary as part of a campaign against a mega-dam in central Shan State. The documentary, called Drowning a Thousand Islands, includes local people from the remote Kunhing area voicing their concerns that the proposed Mong Ton hydropower project will irrevocably ...
Parents to be surveyed on education system
In the hopes of boosting parental involvement in their child’s education, teachers are conducting a survey. Parents will be asked to participate in the paper-based questionnaire, with teachers aiming to gain a better understanding of the issues faced by Myanmar’s education system as it readies itself ...
MGMA backs garment industry to boom when US sanctions are lifted
Myanmar’s leading garment industry body has been buoyed by the lifting of sanctions it hopes will see a return to the glory days for the sector, when in the early 2000s a majority of country’s garments were shipped to the US. Speaking at a manufacturing trade ...
Earthquake experts to study tectonic movement in Myanmar
A research project aiming to gather more accurate data on the movement of tectonic plates in Myanmar will be undertaken across the country until May 2017, according to the Myanmar Earthquake Committee. Seismographs have been installed across the country starting in May this year. The first ...
USAID backs MFIs with $10m guarantee
USAID kicked off a seven-year program to guarantee over US$10 million in microfinance loans to the agricultural sector on September 20, as part of a new US effort to offer greater economic support to the country. The US development agency has signed a multi-bank loan portfolio ...
Foreign visitors to Myanmar near 750,000 in first seven months of 2016
Nearly 750,000 foreign nationals arrived in Myanmar through air and sea ports during the first seven months of 2016, according to the Ministry of Hotels and Tourism. Industry observers predict another 500,000 will visit the country as the tourist season resumes in mid-October, pushing total numbers for ...
China media: opposition to hydropower dams in Myanmar is “extreme”
Opposition to Chinese-invested hydropower schemes in Myanmar is being orchestrated by “extreme” groups in the country and has been extremely damaging to joint investment projects, an influential Chinese newspaper wrote on September 19. The suspension in 2011 of the US$3.6 billion Myitsone mega dam project by former ...
Calls for further protection for migrant workers
Myanmar’s preeminent trade union confederation has called on the government to take action to protect migrant workers from exploitation and unfair treatment abroad. Daw Htwe Htwe Thein, a director of the Confederation of Trade Unions of Myanmar, called for stronger regulation of employment agents who recruit ...
