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Several major rivers across Myanmar have risen above their danger levels, prompting authorities to warn residents in riverbank and low-lying areas to take precautionary measures. According to the Flood Bulletin issued at
Five schools have been temporarily closed since August 16 due to the intrusion of Ayeyawady River water following the collapse of an embankment in Hmawbi Town, Taikkyi Township, according to the Ministry of Information.
It is known that a school in Mawbin Township, Ayeyarwady Region, has been temporarily closed since August 15 due to heavy rains and overflow from the Twinn River. The closed school is the Basic Education Primary School (
It is known that after the breach of the Le Myat Na dam, the waterlogged area has further expanded to Ye Kyi and Kyunpyaw townships, and additional evacuation camps are being opened. Due to the dam breach, flood victims
Regime forces are pressing forward with a counteroffensive to secure the 120-mile (193 km) Kalewa–Monywa highway in Sagaing Region, following its recapture of key strongholds along the adjacent Kalay–Tamu highway on July
According to the new reference price released by the Committee for Supervising the Import, Storage and Distribution of Fuel Oil on August 14, fuel prices in Mon State have slightly decreased, but still remain higher than
Pro-democracy activist Thinzar Shunlei Yi addressed the harsh prison sentences facing nine youth activists, the ethics of revolutionary warfare, and her personal transformation from a military family background in an exc
A CCORDING to reports, outbreaks of diarrhoeal disease in some densely populated downtown townships of Yangon resulted in a total of 182 hospitalized patients over the four days from 9 to 12 August. Of these, 93 were fou
THIS week’s top pick for readers will help one transform into a calmer, happier and more chilled-out version of oneself in a chaotic world by offering practical and easy-to-follow lifestyle tips on how to find peace and contentment. This book is a Myanmar translation of Dr Tony Fernando’s original work, Life Hacks from the Buddha, by the writer Zaw Win Kyu (Pyinmana). ‘The Buddha already outlined the best ways to handle the challenges we face today over 2,500 years ago. The Buddha’s teachings reveal that human stress, anxiety, and suffering are nothing new. The life hacks from the Buddha will help you find the stability and contentment you need to calm your mind, create more peaceful living environments, and enable you to work at your best,’ the author stated. The book highlights 50 practical life hacks. It is not purely a religious text but a self-development book combined with modern science. This book explains to the reader how to quieten the mind with methods of mindfulness to focus on the present and reduce anxiety, create peaceful environments with guidance on lifestyles that bring peace to one’s surroundings, sleep better (as a psychiatrist, how to deal with sleep deprivation), and cultivate compassion and contentment through simple mental exercises. Although the book cover features an image of the Buddha, its unique point is that it combines the Buddha’s ancient wisdom with modern science, making it accessible even to non-Buddhists. In Chapter 1 titled Chasing Happiness, the book begins with this passage: We live on a beautiful blue and green planet called Earth. This planet revolves around a star called the Sun, which is located in the Milky Way galaxy – one of perhaps one hundred or two hundred billion galaxies in the universe. Everything in that universe is made of matter and energy, and those things never settle as they are always changing, moving and active.’ “Think as honestly as you can about a time in your life when everything seemed to be at its best. That time might be your wedding day (or your divorce day), an unforgettable day, the best meal you’ve ever had, the day you received your first paycheck, the day you owned your first home, or the day your sick child is discharged from the hospital. Now, think about how long that wonderful feeling lasted. Did it last minutes, hours, or days? How long did it last before your mind shifted its focus to something else that needed to be done?
ASHIN Nyanavara (Parami) is a young monk who writes and compiles Buddhist literature. Among the books he published before this one are The Art of Living in Light of the 11 Great Paritta Suttas and The Art of Living in Li
RICE bean price remains stable, tracking robust demand from the Yangon market and purchasing power from China, according to the Department of Consumer Affairs in Magway Region. Rice bean from Pakokku commodity depot is s
MYANMAR micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) have been invited to participate in the “Reverse Buyer-Seller Meet (RBSM)” trade promotion event in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh State, India, from 6 to 8 September 2026,
MYANMAR’S rice and broken rice exports through maritime transport reached 699,730 tonnes in the past four months of the current financial year 2026-2027 beginning 1 April, bagging US$232 million, according to Myanmar Ric
THE regulated fuel price caps declined to K3,650 for Octane 92 and K3,770 for Octane 95, K4,020 for diesel and K4,870 for premium diesel this week from 14 to 20 August compared to those of last week. The price index set
CENTRAL and public hospitals in Yangon, including Yangon General Hospital (YGH), are fully prepared to treat patients with diarrhoea following a recent surge in cases, according to the Ministry of Health. Patients presen
MORE than 1,000 youths, including university students, attended “Youth Talk 2026” held at the National Theatre in Dagon Township, Yangon Region, yesterday. The event, organized by the Yangon Region Young Entrepreneurs As
THE Department of Water Resources and Rivers Development is carrying out conservation works to mitigate bank erosion near the Myanaung embankment between Mileposts 6/7 and 7/0 in Myanaung Township. Deputy Minister for Ag
FLOOD relief and rescue efforts are continuing in Laymyethna, Hinthada, Yekyi, Ngathainggyoung, Kyonpyaw and Kyaunggon townships and surrounding villages in Ayeyawady Region. On the night of 30 July 2026, heavy rainfall
OFFICIALS from the Mon State Office of Region 8, Department of Water Resources and Improvement of River System, are carrying out emergency bank erosion protection works between bridge piers K12 and K13 of Thanlwin Bridge
AS flood protection works are underway in Letpadan Township, Bago Region Chief Minister U Myo Swe Win, accompanied by the Speaker of the Region Hluttaw and regional ministers, inspected flood protection works being carri
A total of 11 foreign nationals linked to online gambling, telecommunications fraud and other criminal activities in the Myawady-Shwe Kokko area have been handed over to their respective countries. The 11 nationals – fou
DEPARTMENTAL staff in Falam, Chin State, jointly cleared debris and cleaned Central School Road in Valai Ward yesterday, where buildings and infrastructure had been damaged during violent incidents. Deputy Minister for B
A two-day training course on Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Countering the Financing of Terrorism (CFT) and Countering Proliferation Financing (CPF) for legal professionals opened at Hotel Max in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday unde
CHIN State Chief Minister Dr Vung Suan Thang has urged people to adopt healthy lifestyles from school age through adulthood, stressing that good health is essential for both education and work. He made the remarks at a c
THE ceremonies to present certificates of completion of People’s Military Service Training 4/2024 and to award the People’s Military Service Badge were held at various regional military commands on 12 August, and they we
DAW KYU KYU HLA, wife of the President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and Honorary Patron of the Myanmar Women and Children Development Foundation, graced the ceremony to mark the 13th Anniversary of the Myanmar
A total of 250 additional CCTV cameras will be installed around the Shwedagon Pagoda, bringing the total to 650, to strengthen security and maintain discipline. Plans are also being explored to improve parking facilities
A total of 3,000 saplings will be planted at the third tree-planting ceremony as part of efforts to achieve the national target of 50 per cent forest cover. A total of 21.37 million trees, including State-owned Forest pl
The international community must act to free those in jail and deny the junta legitimacy until they are released Benedict Rogers for UCA News Earlier this month, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) announced that Myanmar photojournalist Sai Zaw Thaike would receive one of its International Press Freedom Awards, alongside journalists from five other countries. This is the second time this year that this courageous reporter with the independent news outlet Myanmar Now has been honored, having been awarded Reporters Without Borders’ (RSF) Courage Prize in June. The tragedy is that Sai Zaw Thaike will not be in New York to receive the CPJ award, just as he could not be in Marseille to receive RSF’s prize. Why? Because he is serving a 20-year prison sentence in a Myanmar jail. Sai Zaw Thaike was arrested on May 23, 2023, while covering the aftermath of Cyclone Mocha in Sittwe, where many members of the persecuted Rohingya minority were killed in the storm. Four months later, he was sentenced to 20 years with hard labor — among the longest known sentences imposed on any journalist in Myanmar since the 2021 coup. In jail, Sai Zaw Thaike has been beaten, tortured and physically abused, and denied medical treatment. Three years after his arrest and sentencing, it is right that he should be honored by groups like the CPJ and RSF. But the international community should do much more to secure his release, and the release of other political prisoners like him. Sai Zaw Thaike is far from alone. According to the CPJ, he is one of at least 30 journalists in jail in Myanmar, making the country the world’s second-worst imprisoner of journalists. Moreover, he is among more than 30,000 people arrested by the military regime since the coup, and one of more than 14,000 political prisoners still in prison in Myanmar today, according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners. As a human rights defender, I care about every political prisoner. One political prisoner is one too many. But as a writer and journalist, I have a special affinity with those who have been jailed for what they have written and published, just as I have a particular solidarity as a person of faith with those persecuted for their religious beliefs. Other cases that stand out alongside Sai Zaw Thaike’s — particularly because of the severity of their sentences — include that of Myo San Soe, a freelance journalist sentenced to 15 years in prison on terrorism charges in December 2022 simply for reporting on anti-coup protests, or writer and anti-coup protest leader Wai Moe Naing, who was initially sentenced to 34 years imprisonment after his arrest following protests against the coup in Monywa, Sagaing Region. In May 2023, he was sentenced to a further 20 years for high treason, and a year later he received another 20-year sentence — taking his total sentence to 74 years. Like so many of Myanmar’s political prisoners, he has reportedly been beaten, tortured, and denied medical treatment. Last week, I wrote here about the case of Dr Linn Htut, the elected chief minister of Shan State and a participant in the 1988 democracy movement. His son, Sai, an artist, is a friend of mine, and has spent the past five years fighting for his father’s freedom. Sai — who earlier this year at the Oslo Freedom Forum received the Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent, presented by the actor Richard Gere — has told me first-hand how soldiers seized his father in the early hours of the morning on Feb. 1, 2021, as they perpetrated their illegal coup. He was later sentenced to 20 years in prison and now faces the real danger of dying in custody, as he is denied proper medical care. Another case of grave concern is Myat Kyaw Thu, a student from Dawei who participated in protests against the coup. In December 2021, he was sentenced to 29 years in prison, and then a year later faced a new charge which led to seven more years, resulting in a 36-year sentence. These cases are just some of the most egregious. There are thousands more people languishing in Myanmar’s jails, enduring torture and mistreatment, whose names and stories are not yet known. Of course, the most well-known political prisoner in Myanmar is the country’s democratically elected leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, who won re-election in November 2020. Earlier this year, if the electoral cycle had been respected and upheld, she would have completed her second term in office and would right now either be beginning her third term or be moving into retirement having passed the baton on to her successors. Instead, she has spent the past five years in jail, serving a prison sentence that was originally 33 years, later commuted to 27 years and further reduced to 18 years. At the age of 81, that means she will die in detention unless international pressure for her release is increased. Earlier this year she was reportedly moved from prison to house arrest, but the conditions and whereabouts of her current detention are still unknown. Even the confirmation that she is still alive, through photographs and video of her meeting the International Committee of the Red Cross released earlier this month, provides no information about the conditions of her continued detention. As Myanmar’s dictator Min Aung Hlaing begins to tour the region and beyond in search of legitimacy, the international community must unite with one voice to deliver a clear message: there can be no legitimacy as long as a single political prisoner remains in jail. Min Aung Hlaing must be pressed to free all 14,000 or more remaining political prisoners — immediately and unconditionally. That starts with Aung San Suu Kyi, but it absolutely must not end there. The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in particular should leverage its trade and business interests to press the regime to free political prisoners. Thailand’s recent seemingly unconditional embrace of Min Aung Hlaing was egregious and disgraceful — Thailand could make amends by leading the way within ASEAN to press for the release of political prisoners. It must lead to people like Sai Zaw Thaike being freed and able to collect his awards in Marseille and New York, Dr Linn Htut being reunited with his son Sai, Wai Moe Naing being able to write again without fear, and Myo San Soe being able to report again without hindrance. Not one inch of credibility should be afforded to Min Aung Hlaing unless and until these and thousands of other brave journalists, activists, lawyers, politicians and human rights defenders are free to speak their minds. And until Myanmar’s people can live in peace without fear of airstrikes. Twenty-six years ago, as a young journalist-activist, I was in East Timor in the immediate aftermath of that tiny, courageous nation’s valiant fight for freedom. As I surveyed the burning villages, the scenes of massacres, the smouldering embers of destroyed homes, schools, hospitals and church
The Ministry of Electricity and Energy announced on August 15 that a digital system will soon be used to test meter users who have not been able to connect to the Smart Meter system and pay the meter fee by themselves. T
The commemoration ceremony for the State-Level School Health Week Activities for the 2026–2027 Academic Year was held on August 14 at the Meeting Hall of the Chin State Government Office in Hakha. Chin State Chief Minist
The Kayah State Government is placing emphasis on implementing measures to make Loikaw, the capital of the state, a green and clean city. In this regard, Kayah State Chief Minister U Ant Maw, accompanied by members of th
With the objectives of further promoting cycling activities, producing more outstanding cyclists capable of bringing honour to the country, contributing to the physical fitness and health of the entire population, raisin
The opening ceremony of the Basic Fish Farming and Freshwater Fish Induced Breeding Training Course No. (2/2026), organized by the Department of Fisheries under the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Irrigation, was
The Academic Group Meeting on Prevention of Hazards from Chemicals and Related Substances was held on the morning of August 14 at Meeting Hall, Office No. (30), Ministry of Industry and MSME Development. Deputy Minister
The 2026 third state-level monsoon tree-planting ceremony was held in Nay Pyi Taw Deckhinathiri Township on Saturday. President U Min Aung Hlaing attended the event and made a speech. He later planted Gantgaw saplings at