The Burmese junta’s sentencing of two journalists to 3-year prison terms for taking photographs of the new administrative capital in Pyinmana is an “outrage” and further jeopardizes press freedom in the country, according to Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association.
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Text of report in English by Khin Hninn Phyu, carried by Burmese newspaper The Myanmar Times website on 20 March
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Text of report in English by Win Kyaw Oo, carried by Burmese newspaper The Myanmar Times website on 20 March
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Two ethnic Arakanese soldiers from the Burmese Army surrendered to a KNU base in Taungu Township and they arrived in the Thai-Burma border recently says the BBC Burmese program.
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In much of Asia a dry season could mean a break from monsoon rains and intermittent floods but for the Karen ethnic community, settled along Burma’s eastern borders, it means a season of death, destruction and flight.
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The Burmese military has been forced to introduce new taxes and improve tax collection procedures to control the country’s economy, according to a new report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission of Asia and the Pacific.
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The Gas Authority of India Limited (GAIL) has strengthened its presence in Myanmar further with the news that its move for an equity stake in the another of the country’s promising gas fields has been sanctioned. According to reports covered by Dow Jones today, officials in Myanmar have backed GAIL’s agreement with South Korea’s Daewoo International Corp. that will see the Indian NOC take up a 10% interest in the A-3 natural gas exploration block that Daewoo operates.
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Mandalay, Burma’s second major city, has replaced Tachilek, opposite Maesai, as the new nerve center of the country’s international drug trade, according to insider sources.
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Philippines member of parliament Mario ‘Mayong’ Joyo Aguja said international policies on Burma should be reviewed and practical solutions favoured during a workshop in New Delhi today.
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North Korea and Myanmar have ties that could turn into a security threat and thus need close monitoring, a former White House aide said.
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Russian business shows interest in prospect and extraction of minerals, development of hydropower engineering, transport and communications in Myanma, spokesman for the Russian Foreign Ministry Mikhail Kamynin said on Friday on the eve of a visit of Foreign Minister of Myanma U Nyan Win to the Russian capital.
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