Myanmar Monitor Weekly

Than Htut Aung, CEO of the Eleven Media Group, is escorted by police from the court in Yangon on Friday. He and his chief editor will spend the next two weeks in Insein prison while defamation allegations against them are investigated. (AFP Photo)
Politics
Myanmar jails top media chiefs
Police detained Than Htut Aung, the chief executive of Eleven Media Group and the newspaper’s chief editor Wai Phyo, on 11 November, after the Yangon regional government sued them for defamation over a social media post alleging corruption. The pair have been charged under Myanmar’s controversial telecommunication law and will be behind bars for at least two weeks while police continue their investigation.
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Three Rohingya villages burned in Myanmar: HRW
Satellite images show that several Rohingya village in Myanmar’s Rakhine State have been burned to the ground in recent weeks, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said on 12 November, urging authorities to invite United Nations investigators to look into the destruction. A total of 430 buildings in three villages in the northern Maungdaw district have been destroyed between 22 October and 10 November.
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New report highlights land confiscation in Myanmar’s Karen State
The Human Rights Watch launched a report called “‘The Farmer Becomes the Criminal’: Land Confiscation in Burma’s Karen State” on 3 November, documenting how government officials, military personnel, local militia members, and businessmen have used intimidation, coercion, and force to seize land from local people in Karen State. Human Rights Watch has also called on Myanmar’s new government to release all land rights activists detained for peaceful protests, investigate allegations of unlawful land seizures, and ensure the return of land taken improperly.
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Economy
Telenor shifts Myanmar focus to data services
Norwegian telecoms company Telenor will focus on improving data services in Myanmar, the head of the local business has said. Following the sector’s liberalisation Telenor quickly establishing itself as the No. 2 in the market with 18 million subscribers. After a period of astonishing growth in a country which had one of the world’s lowest mobile penetration rates, the fight over customers is shifting to more-lucrative internet services, fuelled by Myanmar’s near-ubiquitous use of Facebook.
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Foreign Affairs
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi congratulates Trump on election win
Myanmar State Counsellor and Foreign Minister Aung San Suu Kyi on 9 November offered congratulations to US President-elect Donald Trump. “I am confident that the trust placed in you by the American people will inspire you to promote progress, peace and prosperity in the United States of America and beyond, as you lead your great nation into the future,” Suu Kyi wrote.
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