National News

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• Hundreds gather for ’88 anniversary ceremony
• UEC will consider extending campaigning period
• Mandalay’s curfew scares off Taungbyone festival-goers
• Thousands flee flooding in Bago
• Memories of ’88 live on for activist-turned-businessman
• Yangon people protested PR system
• Speaker gives govt another chance on SKorea farm machinery loan
• Fresh attempt to raise Dhammazedi bell
• Rakhine court keeps Muslim activist behind bars

Hundreds gather for ’88 anniversary ceremony Posted: 07 Aug 2014 10:35 PM PDT About 200 politicians, pro-democracy activists, students and monks gathered at two sites in Yangon on August 8 to mark the 26th anniversary of the 1988 uprising.

UEC will consider extending campaigning period Posted: 07 Aug 2014 10:28 PM PDT Electoral authorities say they are still considering extending the election campaign period from 30 to 60 days at the request of opposition parties, which are concerned about the difficulty of campaigning in remote parts of the country.

Mandalay’s curfew scares off Taungbyone festival-goers Posted: 07 Aug 2014 04:09 PM PDT Stall owners at the Taungbyone nat festival have complained that Mandalay's night-time curfew has been hitting their hip pockets, with some predicting they'll make a loss on the festival.

Thousands flee flooding in Bago Posted: 07 Aug 2014 03:53 PM PDT Flooding caused by intense rain has driven about 2000 people from their homes in Bago, township officials said there on August 6. Local administrator U Khin Thein Maung said water levels had risen significantly in Kyun Tharyar, Kalyarni, Mazin, Kyauk Kyi Su and South Zine Kanine areas of the town.

Memories of ’88 live on for activist-turned-businessman Posted: 07 Aug 2014 03:45 PM PDT There is little indication that the successful, soft-spoken and thoughtful businessman sitting on a couch in his home on 86th Street in Mandalay Chan Aye Thar San township was a hardened political activist who spent five years on death row.

Yangon people protested PR system Posted: 07 Aug 2014 03:28 PM PDT Debate on proportional representation has left the halls of parliament and emerged onto the streets of Yangon, with more than 100 people protesting against a proposed change to the voting system last week.

Speaker gives govt another chance on SKorea farm machinery loan Posted: 07 Aug 2014 03:21 PM PDT Pyidaungsu Hluttaw speaker Thura U Shwe Mann has stepped in to head off a potentially embarrassing rift with South Korea, after MPs rejected a proposal to buy Korean-made farming machinery. The proposal was put forward following an agreement between President U Thein Sein and South Korea's leader Park Geun-hye.

Fresh attempt to raise Dhammazedi bell Posted: 07 Aug 2014 02:49 PM PDT A local team said last week it would begin an attempt to raise the fabled Dhammazedi Bell from the depths of the Yangon River over the weekend.

Rakhine court keeps Muslim activist behind bars Posted: 07 Aug 2014 02:06 PM PDT Rights groups have condemned the recent court ruling to extend the trial and detention of the Muslim lawyer and activist U Kyaw Hla Aung as "an affront to the rule of law." Sittwe Distrct Court handed down the ruling on August 4 to the 74-year-old, who is a senior figure in the Sittwe Rohingya community and has been held without bail since July 15, 2013.

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