Migrant Boat Still Held off Myanmar
More than 700 migrants found packed aboard an overcrowded boat in the Andaman Sea were still being held offshore by Myanmar's navy on Monday, more than three days after the converted fishing vessel was intercepted off the country's coast. "The government is checking their identity, asking what they want to do and where they want to go," government spokesman Ye Htut told Reuters, without providing further details of the boat's location. Government officials have been tight-lipped about the identities of 727 migrants on the overcrowded fishing boat, found drifting and taking on water early Friday, as well as their eventual destination.
Thailand, Burma, Sign Dawei Port Development Agreement
Presidents of Thailand & Mynamar (Burma) agree on port development for deep-sea port to enable Malacca Strait bypass route. Thailand and Myanmar agree to set up a joint committee to follow up on economic cooperation that includes linking Myanmar's future Dawei deep-sea port with the Thai Eastern Seaboard. The deal came at the end of talks between Myanmar President Thein Sein and Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra at Government House in Bangkok. Dawei, in southern Myanmar, is a key project for Thailand's economy, especially trade, more than for Myanmar, because it would cut travel time to the West for Thai goods (as well as goods from Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam), allowing ships from the Indian Ocean to bypass the Malacca Straits.
