International media go live from Myanmar

Thursday, 04 April 2013 17:14 Khin Myo Thwe Myanmar’s Ministry of Information has announced that Japan’s national broadcaster, NHK, and US-based wire service Associated Press have been granted permits to open bureaus in the country. “We are now examining the application of another Japan-based media group, Kyodo News, which also wishes to open a branch in Myanmar,” said a spokesperson from the...

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5.5 earthquake recorded in Magway

Thursday, 04 April 2013 12:34 Mizzima News View Larger Map A moderate earthquake, measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale, was recorded in Magway (Magwe) in central Myanmar at 11 pm on Wednesday night, according to both the Naypyitaw Hydrology and Meteorology Department and the US Geological Survey (USGS). There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage to property, Chinese state media reported. The epicenter of the quake was estimated at a location about 304 km southwest of Mandalay, 78 km southwest of Naypyitaw, and 80 km from Taungdwingyi...

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Suu Kyi heading to Japan

Thursday, 04 April 2013 11:01 AFP Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi will visit Japan from April 13 through 19, according to a Japanese statement released late Wednesday. It will be her first visit to Japan in nearly three decades since her previous stay as a visiting researcher at the prestigious Kyoto University from 1985 to 1986, the foreign ministry said in the statement. She is expected to visit Kyoto, to give speeches at universities, to meet Myanmar nationals living in Japan and to hold talks with Japanese political leaders,...

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Thein Sein to visit China

Thursday, 04 April 2013 10:44 Mizzima News Visiting Myanmar President Thein Sein (R) and his Chinese counterpart Hu Jintao (L) inspect a military honour guard during a welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on May 27, 2011. (AFP) Myanmar’s President Thein Sein will pay a visit to China on April 6-8 at the invitation of newly elected Chinese President Xi Jinping, according...

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Ambassador expects amnesty for Myanmar prisoners

Thursday, 04 April 2013 10:15 Hintharni Myanmar’s Ambassador to Thailand has said he expects some of the Myanmar prisoners in Thai jails will be granted amnesty or penalty reductions on HM Bhumibol’s 86th birthday this coming December. Thailand's King Bhumibol may grant amnesties to many Myanmar prisoners later this year. PHOTO: Government of Thailand Speaking to Mizzima earlier this week,...

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Meiktila: Waiting to return home

Wednesday, 03 April 2013 14:18 Nan Lwin Hnin Pwint In the week after shocking satellite images were released that showed the extent of the devastation in Meiktila following the riots, in which an estimated 41 people were killed and 12,000 displaced, some of the victims who lost their homes have spoken of how immediate aid is being provided, but say that what they really need is the opportunity...

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Investigation team formed to probe Yangon mosque fire

Wednesday, 03 April 2013 11:58 Mizzima News An investigation team has been formed by the Yangon Region Government to find out the exact cause of the fire that resulted in the deaths of 13 boys at the 48th Street Mosque on Tuesday. Yangon security forces pictured outside the 48th Street Mosque on Tuesday. (Photo: Mizzima) Fire services and government authorities initially responded with an...

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Suspicions flare about Yangon mosque fire

Tuesday, 02 April 2013 19:21 Mizzima News The charred, barred windows of the upper storey of the bright blue mosque and school on Yangon's 48th Street tell a horrific tale—here, in the early hours of Tuesday, 13 young boys died in a fire that blazed through their dormitory. The fire services and government authorities have responded quickly: “The fire—caused by the overheating of a transformer...

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Daily newspapers finally hit newsstands

Tuesday, 02 April 2013 19:43 Khaing Khaing Four private daily newspapers were published on Monday in Myanmar—the Voice Daily, Golden Fresh Land, the Union Daily, and San Daw Chein—for the first time since the 1960s. Phoe Thauk Kyar, the editor of Golden Fresh Land, told Mizzima that the launch of private newspapers would help to protect citizens’ rights. “These days, it has become so hard to...

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OIC calls for end to anti-Muslim campaign

Tuesday, 02 April 2013 14:42 Mizzima News The Secretary-General of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), Professor Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, has called on the Myanmar government to put an end to the campaigns of hatred being waged against Muslims in the country. OIC Secretary General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu (Photo: OIC) Speaking at OIC headquarters in the Saudi Arabian port of Jeddah on...

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13 boys killed in fire at Islamic school

Tuesday, 02 April 2013 10:35 Mizzima News Thirteen boys died in Botahtaung Islamic School in central Yangon when a fire broke out in the early hours of Tuesday at the adjoining Yay-Gyaw Mosque. A group of Muslim people pray for the victims of a fire at an Islamic school in Yangon on April 2, 2013. (AFP) Myanmar state media announced on Tuesday morning that the 13 were among some 70 students...

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Security expert warns of pipeline explosion

Monday, 01 April 2013 17:01 Mizzima News Running a pipeline of natural gas through an active conflict zone is highly dangerous, according to a respected security consultant in the UK. KIA front lines Speaking to reporter James Byrne of Russian newswire Interfax’s Natural Gas Daily, Michael Oxlade, senior security consultant at Westminster International, which provides security for oil and gas...

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AP to open Yangon bureau

Monday, 01 April 2013 12:57 Rosie Gogan-Keogh It has been a landmark few days in Myanmar's rapidly developing media scene. On April 1, four of the 16 permitted newspapers launched the first editions of their new daily papers—they are the first privately-owned dailies to be published in the country in more than 50 years. And, on Saturday, the Ministry of Information informed the Associated Press...

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Thai police continue to dispute cause of refugee camp fire

Saturaday, 30 March 2013 20:53 The Bangkok Post Several clues indicate that the cause of the fire that killed 37 people at Mae Surin refugee camp was arson, the district police chief insists. Mae Surin refugee camp after the fire on Friday, March 22, 2013. (PHOTO: TBC) Khun Yuam district police chief Pol Col Nitinart Wittayawuthikul says he stands by his remarks despite the fact that authorities...

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President’s Office refutes UN envoy allegations

Saturday, 30 March 2013 20:22 AFP Myanmar on Friday strongly rejected comments by a senior United Nations official linking the state with recent anti-Muslim riots that have left at least 40 people dead and seen mosques razed in several towns. Ye Htut The UN's special rapporteur on Myanmar human rights Tomas Ojea Quintana on Thursday said he had "received reports of state involvement in some...

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UK priest in bizarre blood ritual for Burma

Saturday, 30 March 2013 13:40 Mizzima News In one of the more bizarre protests against oil and gas investment in Myanmar in recent times, an English priest commemorated the Christian festival of Good Friday on March 29 by pouring his own blood over the floor of a petrol station before lying down to block the entrance. English vicars Fathers David Fudger and Keith Hebden outside Total petrol...

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Jimmy Carter to visit Myanmar

Friday, 29 March 2013 17:10 Mizzima News [Photo: The Carter Center] Former US President Jimmy Carter will come to Myanmar next week to explore ways to support the country's ongoing democratic transition. Jimmy Carter is leading members of the Carter Center, an NGO that he founded with his wife, around the world to encourage democracy and human rights. He is visiting Nepal ahead of his trip...

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Myanmar must take ‘bold steps’ to tackle unrest: UN envoy

Friday, 29 March 2013 16:03 Mizzima News Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana. UN Photo/Pierre-Michel Virot The UN’s Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Myanmar, Tomás Ojea Quintana, on Friday issued a statement from Geneva expressing his “serious concerns” about the spread of violence between Muslim and Buddhist communities in Myanmar and urged the Thein Sein...

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Kachin human rights issues must be addressed

Friday, 29 March 2013 14:57 Rosie Gogan-Keogh As peace talks continue in the Kachin State, the Myanmar National Human Rights Commission (MNHRC) has recommended immediate de-mining; no forced recruitment of soldiers; and easy access for humanitarian aid to the conflict-stricken region. The makeshift shelter of a Kachin family displaced by war. (PHOTO Partners Relief and Development) The calls...

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Thein Sein warns: ‘I will not hesitate to use force’

Thursday, 28 March 2013 19:22 Mizzima News In a televised address to the nation on Thursday at 6 pm local time, Myanmar President Thein Sein said he was saddened by the religious violence that has taken part in central Myanmar in recent days, and warned instigators that he had the power to deploy security forces to protect his fellow citizens. “In general, I do not endorse the use of force...

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Mae Surin fire was accident, says Thai security chief

Thursday, 28 March 2013 16:05  The Bangkok Post The blaze that raged through the Mae Surin refugee camp in Mae Hong Son's Khun Yuam district on Friday was probably an accident, [Thailand’s] National Security Council secretary-general Paradorn Pattanatabut said. The aftermath of Friday's fire at Mae Surin refugee camp in which at least 37 people were killed. Photo: TBC He said there seemed...

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CPJ condemns threats against journalists in Meiktila

Thursday, 28 March 2013 16:55 Rosie Gogan-Keogh Following severe violence and intimidation against reporters covering the inter-communal riots that erupted in Central Myanmar on March 20, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) has called on authorities to ensure the security of journalists. Journalists at a Myanmar presidential press conference. (Photo: Ye Min / Mizzima) “We condemn the...

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Mob violence spreads in Bago

Thursday, 28 March 2013 15:37 Khaing Khaing and Saw Zin Nyi Anti-Muslim mob violence broke out on Wednesday afternoon in Minhla and Zigon villages in the Bago Region, local residents told Mizzima. At about 1 pm on Wednesday afternoon, about 1,000 people from Minhla and nearby villages destroyed mosques and property owned by Muslims, said Hla Hla Moe, a local resident. “The mob destroyed some houses and some mosques. We heard that either two or three mosques were seriously damaged. But the mob did not harm anyone,” he said. At around 4 pm,...

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Security beefs up in Bago

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 20:31 Saw Zin Nyi             View Larger Map Rumors of impending riots in the town of Nattalin, about 50 km south of Pyay, have led to an increase in police and military presence in the area on the evening of March 27. The deputy police officer for the area told Mizzima that the increase in security was due to reports that mobs were planning to riot, following incidents the night before when a mosque and several houses were destroyed in the village. “We have stretched our...

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Rohingya face ongoing humanitarian crisis

Wednesday, 27 March 2013 17:59 Rosie Gogan-Keogh Human Rights Watch (HRW) has accused the Myanmar government of restricting humanitarian aid to Rakhine State and discriminating against Muslim Rohingyas in a report released on March 27. Displaced people in one section of Ah Nauk Ywe makeshift camp in Rakhine state. (PHOTO: UNHCR/V.Tan) “Burmese [Myanmar] government restrictions on aid to Rohingya...

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