Tag: Myanmar
Among Myanmar's large Buddhist population, monks, monasteries play important role
Most young Buddhist boys are expected to spend some time in monasteries as they grow up. It has a religious purpose, for them and their families, but also a practical one -- with monasteries making sure they are educated and fed while they're there. But choosing whether to remain a monk is a difficult choice....
Yangon Muslims watch nervously as violence spreads in Myanmar
Myanmar is lurching through its transition from military dictatorship to almost-democracy. As it does, tensions between religious groups are increasing. After two Muslim boys died in a fire at their school, the country is on edge....
Myanmar opposition already showing itself in young democracy's parliament
Myanmar's National League for Democracy is a small piece of the country's parliament. But already its flexing its muscle as the nascent parliament begins to deal with real issue that will shape the country's future....
Myanmar protests test government commitment to political reforms
A Chinese company is moving to begin a large copper mining project in rural Myanmar, but its running into stiff resistance from monks and local farmers who say they're being taken advantage of. Police moved in with water cannons and fire bombs -- but the national government says that won't happen again....
Preservationists worry economic growth may endanger Myanmar's historic buildings
Because of Myanmar's economic stagnation over the past decades, very little development has taken place -- which has allowed the country's historic colonial buildings to endure. But as the country loosens up, some preservationists are worried it may lead to destruction of relatively rundown, but still historic, buildings....
Burmese activist Aung San Suu Kyi's U.S. visit marked with delicate diplomatic dance
Aung San Suu Kyi has emerged from the shadows of protest in Myanmar and taking a seat in the country's government. That's enabled her to travel the world, finally, and to the United States this week. But her visit comes shortly before the visit of the president who implemented reforms that freed her, which has forced the U.S., and her, into difficult balancing act....
Myanmar's Taung Byone festival brings some acceptance for LGBT community
In Myanmar, the only time the country's gay community can find acceptance is during the annual Taung Byone festival. At other times of year they're forced to the edges of society, but during Taung Byone they are the gatekeepers to the spirit world....
VIDEO: U.S. takes tentative steps to ease sanctions on Myanmar
In the wake of successful election in Myanmar over the weekend, the United States is taking action to relax some of the sanctions it has imposed on the country, also known as Burma, for more than two decades....
Activists say Myanmar elections are cause for west to revise sanctions
Officials and advocates say that Europe and the United States should use the seemingly successful Myanmar elections as a reason to justify a broad rollback of the sanctions that have been levied against the southeast Asian nation for decades....
Myanmar government opponents face new reality in wake of parliamentary elections
Sunday's elections in Myanmar mark the end of the beginning of a time of fundamental change for that nation's democratic activists. No longer confined to the margins, some organizations are wondering there's still a rationale for their existence....
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