Myanmar Monitor Weekly

National

Eight killed as ‘golf ball’ hailstones, storms lash Myanmar
Violent storms which saw hailstones the size of golf balls rain down across Myanmar have killed at least eight people and destroyed at least 7,500 houses, Phyu Lei Lei Tun, director of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement said on 24 April. The freak storms struck across five states on 22-23 April after weeks of heat wave temperatures regularly topping 40C.
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Politics

Myanmar’s USDP Expels 17, Including Former Assembly Speaker
Myanmar’s opposition Union Solidarity and Development Party has expelled former party chairman and parliamentary speaker Shwe Mann and 16 of his allies in the military-affiliated party, Tint Zaw, a member of the USDP’s Central Committee said on 23 April. “About 17 members who are not obeying party rules and disciplines were allowed to leave from the party,” he said, adding that the decision was taken at a meeting of senior party leaders to plan for upcoming by-elections.
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Myanmar media still repressed: Reporters Without Borders
Myanmar remains one of the most repressive media environments in the world, according to the 2016 World Press Freedom Index, prepared by international media watchdog Reporters without Borders. Myanmar was ranked 143 out of 180 countries included, and the overall score for the country worsened last year despite ongoing political changes.
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Myanmar or Burma? Take your choice, Suu Kyi tells diplomats
Myanmar’s State Counsellor and Foreign Minister, Aung San Suu Kyi, has made it clear to foreign diplomats that doesn’t matter if they call the country Myanmar or Burma. Suu Kyi made the comments on 22 April during a speech to the foreign diplomatic corps. “I use Burma very often because I am used to using it. But it does not mean that I require other people to do that as well. And I’ll make an effort to say Myanmar from time to time so you all feel comfortable,” she told her audibly amused audience.
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Business and Investment

Myanmar approves oil refinery project
Myanmar has approved a US$2.6 billion investment by Longwin Global Petrochemical Co Ltd, a joint venture company, to set up a five million MT oil refinery along with related logistics facilities in Tanintharyi region in the south. China’s Guangdong Zehenrong Energy Co Ltd (GDZR), Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEHL) and an energy company under the Htoo Group of Companies form part of the consortium.
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Business and Investment

Myanmar signs climate deal
Myanmar along with 174 other countries signed the landmark Paris climate change accord at United Nations Headquarters in New York on 22 April in the largest ever one-day signing of an international agreement. The Paris deal aims to limit global warming through cuts to carbon emissions and comes into effect after 55 countries responsible for 55% of the global greenhouse gas emissions have ratified the document. “Myanmar is one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the adverse effects of climate change … such as cyclones, severe droughts and floods,” Minister for Natural Resources and Environmental Conservation U Ohn Win said at the signing.
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