August 9-15: The Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation expects to complete construction of what will be Myanmar’s biggest electrical pump irrigation project later this month, said a government official.
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Members of the Burmese military junta-sponsored Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) at Aunglan (Allen) in central Burma are tricking people into joining their organisation without their consent.
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August 11: Thai authorities sent back 20 young Burmese women, mainly victims of human trafficking in Bangkok to Burma on 10 August.
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August 11: The below interview is excerpted from an August 11th Fresh Air interview with Jon Cohen. The introduction and the content on Burma is excerpted. To listen to the full interview, please visit:
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August 9-15: A grant agreement that will initiate the flow of money into Myanmar from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was signed in Yangon on August 4.
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August 9-5: The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation will provide US$400,000 to bolster the fight against the spread of avian influenza among Southeast Asian countries, including Myanmar, according to an
announcement released by the organisation last week.
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Myanmar will promote the use of natural gas and gasohol, a mixture of ethanol and gasoline, as alternative fuels for motor vehicles to cope with rising demand for energy and higher global oil prices, local media reported Thursday.
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August 19: The Thai people and authorities have long turned a blind eye to the hundreds of thousands of illegal foreign workers in their country. But the government has clearly decided to more closely monitor the situation, possibly in part to avoid complaints from neighbouring countries that it
is sheltering anti-government activists.
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August 19: Andrew Steele’s opinion article on Burma highlights the lack of any real, effective levers on the country’s generals [How to Move Burma Ahead, The 5th Column, Aug. 12].
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August 7: San Francisco – The General Secretary of the National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) told the Burma Pro Democracy Conference (West Coast USA)
that the Council, the oldest coalition of pro-democracy forces within Burma, is “transforming itself into an operational body” and taking up “a new, stronger role in leading and guiding and directing our people to the realization of a democratic nation.”
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