Officials from Myanmar’s two state-run internet service providers (ISP) Myanmar Posts and Telecommunication (MPT) and Myanmar Teleport confirmed that partial service had been restored on October 9 while full access returned last Sunday.

“We have to increase our monitoring of the unusual weather patterns hitting the country because I think what we have seen is just the beginning,” he said. He cited as an example the unusually high number of tornadoes that occurred in Myanmar this year.

HONG KONG Express Airways will launch direct service between Hong Kong and Yangon on November 2, a spokesperson from the airline’s authorised ticket agent in Yangon said last week.

The 18-member delegation – consisting of two media representatives from each of the nine ASEAN countries aside from Myanmar – will visit under the arrangement of the ASEAN Journalist Program Phase IV (2006-2007).

“We used to have 15 on-call taxis in Nay Pyi Taw. Now there are 20 taxis and five are running as ordinary taxis under the name Taw Win Taxi,” he said. He said fares for the taxis, which went into service on October 1, are the same as for tuk tuks.

Speaking at the opening of the ceremony, the minister of Agriculture and Irrigation, Major General Htay Oo, said Myanmar was cooperating with the international community in pursuit of the Millennium Development Goal to reduce its population of hungry citizens by half by 2015.

ALTHOUGH Bangladesh has said it would try to entice international airlines to add Dhaka to their list of destinations through an “open skies” initiative starting this month, carriers in Myanmar said they had no immediate plans to start flying there.

“Fairy light sales have increased by six times since September because of the Thadingyut Festival,” said Soe Yarzar, the owner of Yarzar electric shop on Shwebontha Street in downtown Yangon.

In October a 10-day vacation to celebrate the Festival of Light is held and the streets fill with vendors selling toys, fireworks and lanterns in the lead-up to the festival itself, a three-day celebration that this year occurs from October 25 to 27.

“We will start the season with a tour to Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda (in Mon State) on October 19 and another to Phaung Daw Oo Pagoda Festival at Inle Lake (in Shan State) on October 25,” said U Kyi Win, the manager of Sein Win and Associates Travel and Tours.

SEVERAL hotels in Yangon have introduced special room rates aimed at attracting locals and expatriates with hopes of filling in gaps in occupancy left by a lack of foreign travellers to Myanmar in recent weeks.

MYANMA Insurance has seen a 30 percent increase since 2005 in the number of insurance policies taken out by property and factory owners to cover damage from natural disasters such as storms, floods and earthquakes, said an official from the state-run company.

“In past years some local students have gone to England to attend private schools that are advertised as grand institutions but have found them to consist of a single small classroom,”

The insurance has been introduced on two boat trips run by the company, with US$2 of the one-way fares for the Mandalay-Bagan ($28) and Sittwe-Taungup ($42) trips going towards traveler’s insurance.

“We are now caring for 50 people with HIV in the Thaton area, providing them with food and medicine with help from the (Australia-based international non-government organisation) Burnet Institute,”

“I am very happy to be recognised for my honesty,” said U Aye Thwin, 50, who has been working at airports for 30 years, including those at Nyaung Oo, Myitkyina and Mandalay Chan Mya Thazi.

“This activity not only harms the image of the country’s products but also harms the health of consumers,” U Khin Maung Aye, the director general of the department, said at the workshop, held October 9 at the Myanmar Fisheries Federation’s headquarters on Bayintnaung Road.

To be eligible for the scholarship, students must take one year of English-language training at the centre for a fee of K300,000, including examination fees for Test of English Language as Foreign Language (TOEFL) and International English Language Testing System (IELTS).

Each box contained seven traditional medicines manufactured by factories under the Ministry of Health to treat ailments related to digestion, heart, eyes, fever, fever with attendant delirium, malaria and nerves.

“We are expanding the number of public phones at existing public call offices (PCOs) and we are also opening new PCOs in areas of Yangon where there were none before,” the official said.

Ngapali Beach Hotel’s Thadingyut package is available until the end of October. The price of $155 a person for foreign residents and K150,000 for locals includes roundtrip airfare, two nights of accommodation, breakfast and airport transfer.

“They should refer patients suffering from diseases beyond their knowledge and practice to hospitals,” he said. “But they do have the right to provide basic treatment that relieves the patient from discomfort before referring them elsewhere.”

“I’m not opening the nursery because I have to but because I want to share some of the responsibility taken by monasteries in caring for these children,” he said, adding that the number of children he can care for will depend on his budget and the amount of donations he receives.