Myanmar morning news for March 13, 2019

Myanmar Government seeks airline mergers
The Myanmar government wants its local airlines to merge in an effort to mitigate competition for a shrinking market after five airlines—Asian Wings Airways, FMI Air, Apex Airlines, Air Mandalay, and Air Bagan—suspended operations over the past 15 months, AINonline reported.
— Mizzima

Lower imports drag maritime trade down $197 mln
The value of Myanmar’s maritime trade for the period from 1 October, 2018 to 1 March, 2019 in the current fiscal year totalled US$10 billion, a decrease of $197.9 million compared with the corresponding period of the previous FY, according to data provided by the Ministry of Commerce.
— Global Newlight of Myanmar

Over 500 displaced Shan people flee from danger
Due to flash Shan battles, over 500 displaced people had fled to safer places in Kyethi Township, causing two refugee camps in Kyethi Township, southern Shan State to open, according to the sources from refugee camps.
— Eleven Myanmar

NLD vows to amend Myanmar charter despite opposition
Buoyed by grassroots support and protests in cities like Yangon, Mandalay, Pathein and Magway in February, factions within Myanmar’s ruling National League for Democracy (NLD) are lobbying to change the country’s constitution.
— UCA News

German wholesale company launches operations In Myanmar
METRO today officially announced the market entry into Myanmar which has become the 36th country in the German wholesale company’s international portfolio, according to a company statement.
— Mizzima

Yangon facility reports rise in TB hearing problems
The number of patients who have lost their hearing due to tuberculosis or drug-resistant TB has increased, said a doctor at the Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery Specialist Hospital in Yangon.
— Myanmar Times

Myanmar woman widowed in Rakhine attack pleads for peace
A woman widowed in the latest deadly attack by ethnic Rakhine rebels called on the army and insurgents to lay down arms and talk, as violence rips through the troubled western Myanmar state.
— Mizzima

Buyers in Singapore snap up US$6 million worth of Myanmar property
Myanmar citizens based in Singapore snapped up US$6 million worth of apartments and condominium units in Yangon at a two-day real estate fair held in the city state earlier this month.
— Myanmar Times

Govt panel takes ‘informal’ path to advance peace talks
The government’s Peace Commission has focused on informal talks with armed ethnic groups to move the peace process forward, amid a lack of substantive progress since the National League for Democracy (NLD) came to power in 2016.
— Myanmar Times

Myanmar’s regional chief minister relieved of duty on corruption charge
Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region Chief Minister Lae Lae Maw has been relieved of her duty on Monday, according to an order of the President’s Office.
— Xinhua

Feel International brings Myanmar cuisine into Thailand
Myanmar restaurant chain Feel International is set to open in Thailand. Opening in the popular Bangkok tourist area of Pratunam on Thursday (January 24), the group intends to introduce Myanmar cuisine to Thai consumers and foreigners.
— Retail News

Adrift in Malaysia, Burmese Muslim refugees in desperate cry for recognition
Four years ago, mother-of-three Thuzar Maung put on jeans and a T-shirt rather than her customary Muslim garb and slipped aboard a flight to Malaysia.
— FMT

Rohingya crisis: Myanmar will ‘not be a hindrance to ICC in anyway’
Myanmar will not be a hindrance to the International Criminal Court (ICC) “in anyway” for investigation into the Rohingya atrocities and prosecution of individuals responsible, if the legal criteria are met, the delegation from The Hague-based court’s prosecutor said.
— BD news 24

North chokes on toxic haze largely from Myanmar fires
THE NORTH was once again choking under dangerous levels of PM2.5 dust particles yesterday. For instance, tambon Wiang Phang Kham in Chiang Rai’s Mae Sai district cited the day’s peak at 128 micrograms (mcg) per cubic metre of air, more than double the Thai safety limit of 50mcg.
— The Nation (very annoying popup)

Myanmar, Bangladesh conduct coordinated border patrols
Border guard forces of Myanmar and Bangladesh conducted a coordinated patrols in the Naf River and along the border between nautical mile 15 and 18 on 10 March.
— Global Newlight of Myanmar

Thailand offers loans for Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam entrepreneurs
The government’s Peace Commission has focused on informal talks with armed ethnic groups to move the peace process forward, amid a lack of substantive progress since the National League for Democracy (NLD) came to power in 2016.
— Myanmar Times

Mount Popa attracts over 2,000 tourists in Jan-Feb
The number of tourists visiting Mount Popa in the last two months touched over 2,000, according to the site’s board of trustees. In addition, several locals also visited the pilgrimage site in Mandalay Region in central Myanmar. Mount Popa is situated about 50 kms southeast of Bagan.
— Global Newlight of Myanmar

Vietnam-Myanmar relations increasingly substantive: officials
The Vietnam-Myanmar Joint Committee for Bilateral Cooperation held its ninth meeting in Hanoi on March 12, during which its members shared the view that the countries’ comprehensive cooperative partnership is becoming increasingly substantive.
— VietnamPlus

Border guard police force and AA encounter in Mayu River
Skirmish occurred between border guard police force and Arakan Army (AA) occurred in Mayu River in Yathedaung Township, Rakhine State on March 10 and a police corporal was hit by a bullet, according to Ministry of Information.
— Eleven Myanmar

U.S. military retrieves possible World War Two remains from Myanmar
The United States on Tuesday retrieved the possible remains of service members who went missing in Myanmar during the Second World War, marking the first such mission to Myanmar carried out by U.S. military aircraft, American officials said.
— Reuters

The death penalty paradox in Buddhist Myanmar
On my recent visit to Myanmar, I attended the commemoration ceremony of U Ko Ni, the former lawyer and legal advisor to the National League for Democracy. He was among the most vocal of advocates for constitutional change in Myanmar.
— lowy Institute

Kachin Independence Army Releases 57 Captive Villagers in Myanmar’s Shan State
The Kachin Independence Army’s (KIA) has released nearly 60 Ta’ang and Lahu ethnic minorities it had detained in a village in in Myanmar’s northern Shan state in early March, according to an official from the ethnic army.
— Radio Free Asia

The time is now: Why you should see Southern Myanmar’s seldom-visited beaches and trading towns
The recent opening up of southern Myanmar means intrepid travelers can now venture south, where quaint trading towns are untouched by tourism and sandy beaches are local secrets, as Keith Lyons discovers.
— Coconuts

Trends in small-scale fishery in Myanmar: Tenure rights and gender in Mon State and Tanintharyi Division
“Fish is the world’s most traded food commodity, and Myanmar is on the cusp of becoming a major international source.”
— TNI

MYANMAR BURNS $1.15 MILLION WORTH OF ILLEGAL IVORY
Myanmar burnt $1.15 million worth of ivory and other seized illegal wildlife parts in a symbolic stand against the trade.
— Live Kindly

PM receives Myanmar minister of int’l cooperation
Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc hosted a reception in Hanoi on March 12 for Myanmar’s Minister of International Cooperation U Kyaw Tin, who is in Vietnam for the ninth meeting of the two countries’ Joint Committee for Bilateral Cooperation.
— Nhan Dan Online

Day temperatures may increase in two days in six states and regions: DMH
Day temperatures in six states and regions including Nay Pyi Taw and Yangon may increase in two days, according to Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH).
— Eleven Myanmar

Individuals responsible for Rohingya atrocities will face justice: ICC
The people responsible for the atrocities that forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to flee from Myanmar’s Rakhine State will be held to account, an International Criminal Court official said on Monday.
— Frontier Myanmar

Feature photo Yoshitaka Ando

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Myanmar morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Myanmar news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies not politics.