Carriage Awaits. A horse-drawn cart similar to the one that transferred us from the bus terminal to Nyaung U is parked outside a temple complex in Bagan.

Parliament today approved a nearly $300 million loan from the Asian Development Bank to upgrade the national power grid in seven states and regions. Minister of Electricity and Energy U Tun Naing told lawmakers that the loan would be used to improve the national grid in Yangon, Irrawaddy, Bago and Tanintharyi regions and in Mon, Karen and Rakhine states.

A group of free speech advocates who conducted a peaceful demonstration in Yangon earlier this week, calling for the release of two detained Reuters journalists in Myanmar, have said they will continue their protests until the pair are released. On Sunday, dozens of demonstrators held a protest in downtown Yangon, where they made speeches, chanted slogans calling for the public's right to information, and released balloons depicting images of Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo, who earlier this month were sentenced to seven years in prison under the colonial-era Official Secrets Act.

A figurative bronze sculpture of Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi will be put up for sale by auction in order to raise money for charity, said Dr Thant Thaw Kaung, executive committee member of the Daw Khin Kyi Foundation. A figurative bronze sculpture of Myanmar's State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi will be put up for sale by auction in order to raise money for charity, said Dr Thant Thaw Kaung, executive committee member of the "At the auction, the sculpture will be sold for Ks50 million, a glassware vase for Ks2 million and a jade beads necklace for Ks10 million.

Police have recaptured two of three detainees who escaped from Myoma Police Station in Irrawaddy Region's Bogale Township early Tuesday. The three escaped at around 3:30 a.m. after using hacksaws to cut through the bars of their cell.

Shortly before nightfall on Sept. 17, 1988, the fortified gate of Yangon's War Office was flung open to allow an Army convoy to stream out.

Pakistan has recently halted agreements reached under China's Belt and Road Initiative, including the Pakistan-China Economic Corridor seeking to connect Asia and Europe along the same route as the ancient Silk Road, because it was found to unfairly benefit Chinese companies. Malaysia has also announced the cancellation of two major infrastructure projects, with a total value of $23 billion, which make up part of the Belt and Road Initiative in order to avoid falling into a debt trap.

Myanmar military commander-in-chief, Senior General Min Aung Hlaing, attends a military exercise at Ayeyarwaddy delta region in Myanmar, February 3 2018. A UN probe is calling for six members of Myanmar's military - including its commander-in-chief - to be investigated for 'genocide' against the Rohingya.

Raids by Rohingya militants on August 25 last year across Myanmar's Rakhine state spurred an army crackdown which the United Nations has likened to "ethnic cleansing" AFP/Phyo Hein KYAW YANGON: Myanmar's powerful army should be removed from politics, UN investigators said Tuesday in the final version of a damning report reiterating calls for top generals to be prosecuted for genocide against the Rohingya Muslim minority. A brutal military crackdown last year forced more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee over the border to Bangladesh.

The KNU Concerned Group, led by the former vice chairperson of the Karen National Union, has endorsed the report of the independent International Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar and its recommendations, including that Myanmar be referred to the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity in Kachin, Shan and Rakhine states. Minority ethnic groups including Kachin and Karen civil society organizations and the Ta'ang National Liberation Army have voiced support for the call by the United Nations Security Council to refer Myanmar to the ICC since the IFFM's report - which was released on Aug. 27 - was submitted to the 39th session of the UN Human Rights Council this month.

Myanmar's oldest international film event, the European Film Festival will be held for the 27th year on September 21 to 30 at Yangon's oldie-but-goodie Nay Pyi Taw Cinema and the newly-renovated Goethe Institute. The festival is organized by the European Union in Myanmar in collaboration with Goethe Institute Myanmar for all film lovers in Yangon and it aims to promote cultural exchange between Myanmar and Europe while showcasing the diversity of European films.

Thousands of people protested in Shan State on Monday to demand that the Ta'ang National Liberation Army release an ethnic Shan woman the armed group abducted last month. About 10,000 locals walking down the main road of Namhkam Township carrying banners and photos of Nang Mo Hom and shouted slogans urging the TNLA to release her immediately.

A local civil society group called Alin Say Taman or Herald of the Light Library and Resource Center conducted the survey in March this year, seeking public opinion on the performance of the Yangon City Development Committee . "We want to highlight the requirements of people and make sure that taxpayers get adequate service for their money," said Ma Ohmar, of the civil society group when explaining the purpose of the survey.

Thirty years ago Tuesday, a coup d'A©tat saw the government of General Ne Win toppled and replaced by General Saw Maung and his deputy General Than Shwe - the man who would go on to orchestrate Myanmar's transition to quasi-civilian rule. In this story, first published in the September 2013 edition of The Irrawaddy magazine, founder Aung Zaw looks at some of the colorful characters in the halls of power at the time.

Myanmar press freedom advocates and youth activists hold a demonstration demanding the freedom of two jailed Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in Yangon, Myanmar September 16, 2018. Photo - Reuters/Ann Wang Myanmar press freedom advocates and youth activists hold a demonstration demanding the freedom of two jailed Reuters journalists Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo in Yangon, Myanmar September 16, 2018.

At least 100 Myanmar youth activists and journalists called for the release of two jailed Reuters journalists on Sunday, warning that the seven-year prison terms handed to the pair this month threaten the public's right to information. Demonstrators including high-school students gathered peacefully in the heart of Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, held signs and chanted slogans denouncing the guilty verdict against the two journalists.

The Hpa-An prison gate in Karen State is seen damaged following prison break on September 16, 2018. YANGON: Myanmar police are hunting dozens of escaped inmates who hijacked a delivery truck and smashed through the gates of their jail in a daring prison break on Sunday , officials said.