Military

Myanmar dam overflow floods 100 villages

September 3, 2018 by Thiha

Monsoon rains caused a central Myanmar dam to overflow early Wednesday, inundating about 100 villages and blocking the country’s biggest highway, a government official said. No casualties have been reported but thousands were displaced and took shelter in temporary camps. Swar Chaung dam’s spillway structure, which regulates the release of water from the levee, broke […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: army chief Min Aung Hlaing, Bago, damming rivers, electricity, Floods, floodwater, Government Official, heavy seasonal rainfall, highway, hydropower strategy, Military, monsoon, Myanmar, overflow, refuge, Rohingya crisis, social, Southeast Asia, spillway structure, Swar Chaung dam, Yangon-Mandalay highway

Why Facebook is losing the war on hate speech in Myanmar

August 27, 2018 by Thiha

YANGON, Myanmar – In April, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg told U.S. senators that the social media site was hiring dozens more Burmese speakers to review hate speech posted in Myanmar. The situation was dire. Some 700,000 members of the Rohingya community had recently fled the country amid a military crackdown and ethnic violence. In March, […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Aela Callan, Allah, Anthony Larmon, Bengalis, Burmese, CEO of Phandeeyar, Chris Tun, David Madden, Echo Myanmar, Facebook, Indonesia, Jes Kaliebe Petersen, kalar, Lars Erik Tellmann, mark zuckerberg, Military, muslim, Myanmar, Refugees, Rohingya, Rohingya-style food, Senate, social media, United Nations

Waiting for Godot: farmers seek return of seized land

August 23, 2018 by Thiha

Farmers in Myanmar are still waiting for justice as many of their lands were confiscated by government officials, military personnel, authorities and their cronies for various reasons, a new report from New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) revealed. The NGO launched the report “Nothing for Our Land: Impacts of Land Confiscation on Farmers in Myanmar” […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: aung san suu kyi, Ayeyarwaddy, criminal, Dawei, Farmers, Farmers Affairs Committee, government, HRW, Human Rights Watch, Illegal, investors, mandalay, Military, Myanmar, Myotha Industrial Park, National Land Use Policy, NGO, Pansuriya Gallery, Patrick Brown, President U Thein Sein, Shan State, special economic zone, Tanintharyi Region

Residents, Some Lawmakers Oppose Hotel on Former Wildlife Area Near Inle Lake

August 23, 2018 by Thiha

Lawmakers of Nyaung Shwe Township, southern Shan State, have joined local residents in objecting to the proposed construction of a hotel on 90 acres of prime land in a village in the Inle Lake area. The Inle hotel zone already occupies more than 620 acres of land, and residents and lawmakers urged that there should […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: biodiversity, chief minister of Irrawaddy Region, development, environment, forestry minister, infrastructure, Inle, Inle hotel zone, Inle Lake, Inle Lake conservation committee, Mai Thaut village, Military, Myanmar Naing Group Co. Ltd., Nyaung Shwe, southern Shan State, Wildlife, wildlife preservation committee

Inside myanmar’s incendiary and illegal charcoal trade

November 9, 2017 by Thiha

A year-long investigation into the multi-million-dollar charcoal market and how it moves from the villages of Myanmar into Chinese smelters. A trader turns off his truck’s engine at yet another checkpoint and, again, the soldiers ask him for cash. His truck is filled with charcoal from Myanmar, destined for factories in China’s mountainous southwest province […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: beauty salon, Bhamo upstream, British colonialists, British Empire, Cargo, Ceylon oak, charcoal business, charcoal market, Chau sa Kakan, China, Chinese non-governmental organization, Chinese smelters, cross-border charcoal trade, Dehong Commission of Industry and Information Technology, Department of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation, director of the Natural Forests and Plantations Division, domestic tourist industry, high-grade silicon metal, illegal charcoal trade, Illegal Timber Trade, India, Irrawaddy, Irrawaddy River, Kachin Army, Kachin State, Katha, mandalay, Military, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Mongabay documents, Myanmar, Myanmar Government, Myanmar's riverside villages, MYANMAR'S VILLAGE-MADE CHARCOAL, Myanmar’s Forest Department, pale green bags, rainy season, rosewood trees, silicon chips, silicon metal, Solar panels, Tianjin Binhai Environmental Advisory Service Center, Traders, U Kyaw Zaw, Yunnan, Zinlum

In Myanmar, an artist wades into the sensitive business of noise PRI’s The World

September 21, 2017 by Thiha

The amplified calls of snack vendors, public officials and religious leaders add to the din of traffic and jackhammers — this is the soundscape of a country desperate to modernize after decades lost to isolation and military dictatorship. Myanmar’s noise pollution gained a level of notoriety over the past year, after a Dutch tourist named […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: artist Thurein Than Kyaw, Aung Myat Htay, Buddhist country, Dutch tourist, Klaas Haytema, Military, moderate voices, Myanmar’s only contemporary arts school, online defamation laws, online political criticism, park security, Prison, problem areas, producer of the soundsuit, religion and ethnic conflicts, religious leaders, Rohingya crisis, seven colorful megaphones, snack vendors, social issue, soundsuit, the co-founder

Marking 70 Years of US-Myanmar Relations

September 20, 2017 by Thiha

Today we commemorate a milestone anniversary in the relations between the United States and Myanmar. It was 70 years ago today, on September 18, 1947, that the US Department of State announced that the governments of Burma and the United States had “agreed to exchange representatives with the rank of ambassador.” That announcement was made […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: 70-year-old friendship, Advisory Commission, democracy, Embassy team, humanitarian crisis, life-changing opportunities, Military, Myanmar security authorities, Peace Corps volunteers, President Harry S Truman, President Obama, President Sao Shwe Thaike, Rakhine State, security forces, Shwedagon Pagoda, United States, US Department of State, US Myanmar Partnership, US President, US-Myanmar Relations, Vice President Richard Nixon

Govt urged to establish Belt and Road taskforce

September 6, 2017 by Thiha

From tackling illegal border trade to constructing Kyaukphyu SEZ, the to-do list for Belt and Road in Myanmar is very long. THE Myanmar government is urged to take a proactive role and form a taskforce to carve out its involvement in China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). An adviser to the National League for Democracy-led […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Africa, an economic adviser, Asia, Asia-led globalisation, Beijing’s grand design, Belt and Road Initiative, Belt and Road taskforce, BRI, China-led project, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Democracy-led government, Drug Trafficking, ERP, Europe, European Recovery Program, Export Markets, illegal border trade, Indonesia, Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, International Cooperation, Investment boost, ISEAS, Jakarta Globe, Kyaukphyu SEZ, land-based Silk Road Economic Belt, Maritime Silk Road, Marshall Plan, Member of NLD Central Executive Economic Committee, Military, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Planning and Finance, Ministry of Rakhine Ethnic Affairs, Myanmar Government, Myanmar Institute of Strategic and International Studies, Myanmar Times, National League, Nay Pyi Taw, permanent secretary, Regional Minister, Road Forum, Sean Turnell, Second World War, senior research fellow, Southeast Asia, State Counsellor, the United States, U Aye Lwin, U Tin Maung Maung Than, U Tun Tun Naing, U Zaw Aye Maung, U Zeya Thu, United States, Western European countries.

Myanmar’s Military Holds Key to Further Reform

August 22, 2017 by thiha

What does Myanmar need to push through a successful democratic transition? It must build strong institutions, transform the economy, and end decades of conflict between ethnic armed groups and government forces, among numerous other challenges. Yet, these enormous tasks seem trivial when compared to what is probably the biggest obstacle to further democratic reform: the […]

Filed Under: Latest News Tagged With: Asian Countries, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Border affairs, Burma, Capitol Hill, Education Training, Facto Leader Aung San Suu Kyi, General Staff College, Home Affairs, Junta Anti Democratic Efforts, Military, Obama administration, Rakhine State, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, State Department Policies, State National Guard, Tatmadaw in Myanmar, Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE, US Army Command, US National Defense University, US State Partnership Program

Yangon Chief Minister Apologizes to Military Chief

July 24, 2017 by Thiha

YANGON — Yangon Chief Minister U Phyo Min Thein apologized to the Myanmar Army Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing for comments that the military called confrontational. The chief minister said there were no civil-military relations in the democratic era and that the military’s commander-in-chief was the same as the level of director-general according to the […]