AP

UNITED NATIONS

A group of Western and Asian governments are lauding Myanmar’s progress toward democracy but warning outbreaks of communal violence could undermine the reforms.

Foreign ministers meeting Thursday on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly said in a statement that Myanmar urgently needs to address the political and economic grievances of the Rohingyas, including the question of their citizenship.

The Rohingyas are a minority Muslim group that has suffered badly in sectarian clashes over the past year with majority Buddhists. Oftentimes, security forces have stood by.

VOA News

RANGOON — A joint American-Burmese expedition has become the first to summit a mountain peak that the climbers believe is the highest point in southeast Asia: Gamlang Razi in Burma’s Kachin State.

But not everyone is ready to revise the record books because Hkakabo Razi has long been believed to be the highest mountain in southeast Asia. Located in Burma’s north, near the Chinese and Indian border, the remote mountain is part of an eastern range of the Himalayas.
 
However, this week a group of American and Burmese climbers became the first to climb the peak of nearby Gamlang Razi, and they say measurements show it is in fact higher.  

By NYEIN NYEIN / THE IRRAWADDY

Burma’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said Friday it has found high levels of urea in a sample of fish paste, or Ngapi, which is a staple of the Burmese diet.

Last month, Myanmar’s only consumer rights group—the Consumer Protection Association—claimed that urea-based fertilizer is being widely used in the production of fish paste and is putting the health of consumers at risk. The association sent three samples of fish paste sold in Burma to the FDA department of the Health Ministry on Aug. 28.

“Sample No. 2 is found to contain more urea than it should have,” Professor Dr Myint Han, the director general of the FDA, told The Irrawaddy.

By SIMON ROUGHNEEN / THE IRRAWADDY

RANGOON — Eight months after the global money transfer giant started operations in Burma, Western Union says people in 107 countries have sent money to the previously sanctioned Southeast Asian country.

With eight local banks onboard as in-country partners, the company has 280 agents across Burma, covering all of the country’s states and regions, bar the hard-to-access Chin State in the northwest. There is even an online money transfer option, emblazoned with a smiling, thanaka-adorned young woman atop the web page.

MoneyGram is a more recent arrival to Burma, announcing in late August that its services would be provided through partnerships with three Burmese banks: Asia Green Development Bank run—by Tay Za, a long black-listed businessman—Myanmar Citizens Bank and Tun Foundation Bank.

By Michaela Pontellini

They Call it Myanmar – A Netflix Review.

Ask the average person what they know about Burma, and chances are that they won’t be able to tell you much. Once one of Asia’s most advanced countries, Burma has been struggling under the iron grips of a military regime for nearly 50 years. The 2012 documentary, They Call it Myanmar, sheds some light on one of the most secluded countries in the world. The film dives into its history, past occupations and the current issues that affect the populace. Filmmaker Robert H. Lieberman draws from his passion for the customs and people of Burma to send his audience on an educational journey into this oft-overlooked country.

By SIMON ROUGHNEEN / THE IRRAWADDY

RANGOON — Ko Ko Aung cannot forget the day six years ago when he spoke to his friend and colleague Kenji Nagai for the last time.

“It was around 11.30 Rangoon time when he called,” recalls the former Japan-based Burmese exile. It was Sept. 27, 2007. It was to be the last time the Japanese cameraman called his editors at the APF News office, where Ko Ko Aung was working at the time.

Later that afternoon, Kenji Nagai was shot dead in downtown Rangoon while filming an army crackdown on protests against military rule, demonstrations that were becoming known worldwide as “the Saffron Revolution.”

By – Zin Linn

Burma/Myanmar remains one of the world’s least developed countries, and was ranked 138 out of 182 countries in the 2010 UN’s Human Development Index.

Burma is one of Asia’s poorest countries, reflected in its health indicators. It had the 44th highest infant mortality rate of the 193 countries listed by the UNICEF in its 2011 State of the World’s Children report.

Burma is regularly along with the most corrupt countries in the world by Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perceptions Index – in 2012, it was ranked 172 out of 174 countries, third from the bottom after Afghanistan and Somalia.

By AYE AYE WIN  Associated Press

YANGON, Myanmar — Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has sharpened her criticism of her country’s incomplete transition to democracy, saying the next general election in 2015 cannot be fair unless the army-imposed constitution is amended.

Speaking to reporters Friday at a ceremony marking the 25th anniversary of the founding of her National League for Democracy party, Suu Kyi said an unfair election would have consequences, but did not elaborate.

Her party considers the current constitution undemocratic because of clauses giving the military a substantial percentage of parliamentary seats and disqualifying Suu Kyi from running for president.

Kyodo News International

Myanmar’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, said Saturday it has failed to reach a consensus with ethnic political parties over whether to amend the Constitution or rewrite the entire charter, and they will seek public opinion on the matter.

The NLD has been meeting this month with 12 ethnic political parties, including the Arakan League for Democracy and the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, at its headquarters in Yangon.

In a statement issued Saturday after the last day of talks, the NLD said there has been no consensus on what to do with the military-crafted Constitution.

Critics say the current Constitution, which was adopted in 2008 while the country was under military rule, was written to favor the military.