Myanmar

YANGON, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar government has been planning to send youth volunteers to help combat COVID-19 in Rakhine state, where number of infections are rocketing recently, according to a release from the Information Ministry on Tuesday.

The volunteers will be assigned in shifts to take part in fight against the COVID-19 in the state, the release said.

On Sunday, a total of 24 volunteer healthcare professionals, along with medical equipment were sent to provide medical assistance in Rakhine state, the Health and Sports Ministry's release said.

NAY PYI TAW, Aug 19 (NNN-Xinhua) — The fourth meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference of Myanmar kicked off in Nay Pyi Taw on Wednesday, with the aims to unite all ethnic nationalities and build a democratic federal union through dialogue.

YANGON, Aug 2 (NNN-MNA) – Myanmar postponed the fourth meeting of the 21st Century Panglong Peace Conference, to the third week of this month, a senior official told media on Saturday.

“The peace conference will be held on Aug 19, 20 and 21. We can’t postpone the date anymore, as there will be a campaign period of political parties for the upcoming general election soon,” said U Zaw Htay, spokesperson of the President’s Office.

YANGON, July 27 (NNN-MNA) – Myanmar authorities seized 7.7 kilograms of heroin in Sagaing Region, according to a release from the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control (CCDAC) on Sunday.

Acting on a tip-off, the joint police force made a seizure during their operation in Salingyi township, on Saturday.

Heroin worth 770 million kyats (550,000 U.S. dollars) were confiscated from a car.

YANGON, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The death toll of a massive jade mine landslide in Myanmar's northernmost Kachin state has risen to 146, the Information Ministry said.

The number of injured people reached 31, said a statement from Office of the Commander-in-Chief of the Defense Services.

Caused by the monsoon rains, the landslide hit a jade mining site in Sate Mu village tract of Hpakant township at 8:00 a.m. local time.

YANGON, July 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The death toll from a mud slide at a jade mine in northern Myanmar surged to over 100 on Thursday, authorities said, in one of the worst accidents ever to hit the perilous industry.

“A total of 113 have bodies been found so far,” Myanmar Fire Service said in a Facebook post.

A local police officer said search and rescue efforts had been suspended due to heavy monsoon rains.

YANGON, July 2 (NNN-MNA) – Bodies of at least 50 jade scavengers have been recovered, while many others are still missing, in a landslide in Myanmar’s Kachin state today, U Dollar, an official from the local village administration office, said.

Caused by monsoon rains, the landslide occurred at a jade mining site, in Sate Mu village tract of Hpakant township at 8:00 a.m. local time, said a release from the Fire Services Department.

YANGON, July 2 (Xinhua) -- Bodies of at least 50 jade scavengers have been recovered so far after a massive landslide in Myanmar's Kachin state on Thursday morning, according to a press release from the Fire Services Department.

Caused by the monsoon rains, the landslide occurred at a jade mining site in Sate Mu village tract of Hpakant township at 08:00 a.m. local time, the release said.

(Reuters) - Myanmar state media on Wednesday announced Nov. 8 as the date for a parliamentary election set to serve as a test of the country’s first democratic government in half a century.

A statement attributed to union election commission chairman Hla Thein and read out on state television said a “multi-party general election for the parliament” would be held on that day.

The polls are seen by analysts as an important test of the Myanmar’s transition away from direct military rule.

(Reuters) - Thousands of villagers have fled their homes in Myanmar’s Rakhine state after a local administrator warned dozens of village leaders that the army planned “clearance operations” against insurgents, a lawmaker and a humanitarian group said.

But a government spokesman said late on Saturday an evacuation order issued by border-affairs officials had been revoked. Border affairs acknowledged issuing the order through the local administrator but said it affected fewer villages.