Yangon - The US government donated 16,000 tons of rice to typhoon-ravaged Irrawaddy delta Wednesday, prompting the normally hostile state-run media to the cover the news, an official of the US embassy in Yangon confirmed.
"There were five journalists from Ministry of Information who joined our trip for the first time," the official said.
The trip was led Larry Dinger, the deputy chief of mission, and included officials from the World Food Programme. The donated rice was imported from the US, sources said.
Dhaka - The government of Bangladesh on Monday asked Myanmar to clarify a planned border fence along the no-man's land along the two countries' shared border, officials said.
"We asked for an official version of the construction site of the fencing as Myanmar has given various versions of the location of fencing," Bangladeshi State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hasan Mahmud told a press conference.
Yangon - Myanmar's junta allowed an FM-radio service to open in the Rakhine State for the first time last week and plans to open similar services nationwide by July, government officials confirmed Monday.
"We started test-broadcast to Rakhine State on 27 March, 12 hours daily from 7 am to 7 pm," an official who requested anonymity said. "The station, temporarily named Pyinsawaddi, will cover four townships in the Rakhine State including Sittwe."
Sittwe is a major port city in the Rakhine, which borders Bangladesh.
Naypyitaw, Myanmar - Myanmar's military supremo on Friday urged political parties to abide by the constitution pushed through last year and to avoid "inciting unrest" in the period prior to a general election planned in 2010.
Senior General Than Shwe, who head the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as the ruling junta styles itself, vowed to hold next year's general election "systematically."
Bangkok - Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya left Sunday for an official two-day visit to Myanmar that is expected to touch on the controversial issue of the two countries' joint efforts to solve the ethnic minority Rohingya problem.
In his first official visit to Myanmar as foreign minister, Kasit will meet Prime Minister General Thein Sein and his counterpart Nyan Win in the military's new capital of Naypyitaw, 350 kilometres north of Yangon.
Yangon - The dramatic appreciation of the Myanmar kyat against the dollar over the past three months has cut into the earnings of Burmese working abroad, the Myanmar Times reported Tuesday.
"The kyat has recently risen in value for reasons not entirely clear, even against the US dollar, which now costs about 1,000 kyat," the English-language weekly reported.
For most of last year, the black market rate for the kyat was 1,200 to 1,300 to the dollar.
Yangon - The US government donated 16,000 tons of rice to typhoon-ravaged Irrawaddy delta Wednesday, prompting the normally hostile state-run media to the cover the news, an official of the US embassy in Yangon confirmed.
Dhaka - The government of Bangladesh on Monday asked Myanmar to clarify a planned border fence along the no-man's land along the two countries' shared border, officials said.
Yangon - Myanmar's junta allowed an FM-radio service to open in the Rakhine State for the first time last week and plans to open similar services nationwide by July, government officials confirmed Monday.
Naypyitaw, Myanmar - Myanmar's military supremo on Friday urged political parties to abide by the constitution pushed through last year and to avoid "inciting unrest" in the period prior to a general election planned in 2010.
Bangkok - Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya left Sunday for an official two-day visit to Myanmar that is expected to touch on the controversial issue of the two countries' joint efforts to solve the ethnic minority Rohingya problem.
Yangon - The dramatic appreciation of the Myanmar kyat against the dollar over the past three months has cut into the earnings of Burmese working abroad, the Myanmar Times reported Tuesday.
