MYANMAR and Thailand have agreed to work together to investigate the financial proceeds from transnational organised crime, said an official from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

THE Education Minister, U Than Aung, was replaced in a cabinet reshuffle by the State Peace and Development Council which took effect on August 10. A Deputy Minister of Science and Technology, Dr Chan Nyein, was appointed as the new Education Minister.

THE cooperation and support of family members plays a crucial role in helping to prevent former drug addicts from relapsing, said the heads of two drug rehabilitation centres.

A SENIOR official from the Irrigation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation said it had decided to build big hydropower plants in addition to its main task of constructing irrigation projects.

THE United Nations said early this month that 23 sea-level monitoring stations were expected to be established in Myanmar and other Indian Ocean rim countries by the end of the year as part of a tsunami early warning system.

THE newly-appointed German ambassador, Mr Dietrich Andreas, presented his credentials to the Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Senior General Than Shwe, on August 9.

A SENIOR official with the National Commission of Environmental Affairs said early this month that industrial zones in Mandalay need to develop more awareness of environmental issues.

AN official from the Government’s National AIDS Program has rejected a report by a think tank in the United States that accused Myanmar of spreading the virus that causes AIDS to other Asian countries.

THE GOVERNMENT has restricted the hiring or selling of publishing licenses from August 1 in a decision which has coincided with the issuing of new publishing licenses.

THE Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation is planning a series of agricultural extension programs to be broadcast weekly on Myawaddy Television.

A SENIOR government official and a retired forestry officer have become the first Myanmar to receive conservation awards from a foundation in the United States.

MYANMAR had an opportunity to display its traditional cultural performing arts to the world when it participated in the first International Young People’s Muse Festival held in South Korea late last month.

THE Department of Fine Arts under the Ministry of Culture is seeking entries for a competition aiming at reviving dramatic plays and encouraging the emergence of a new generation of playwrights.