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Sources

Independent Newspapers Return To Burma For First Time In 50 Years

REUTERS, AP

Worldcrunch

RANGOON – On Monday, Burmese readers had a choice of daily newspapers for the first time in 50 years, as a state monopoly on newspapers ended.

Sixteen publishing licenses were granted by Burmese authorities, but only four privately owned newspapers managed to hit the stands today, reports Reuters. The other newspapers failed to appear due to financing problems, outdated printing equipment and a dearth of journalists.

“All four newspapers sold out quickly today,” Kyi Kyi, a roadside vendor told Reuters. The new Burmese dailies are called Union Daily, Voice Daily, Golden Fresh Land and The Standard Time Daily.

For many in Burma, the Asian nation whose military leaders renamed Myanmar, daily newspapers are a novelty, reports the AP: entire generations weren’t born when the late dictator Ne Win imposed a state monopoly on the press in the 1960s.

The chief editor of Golden Fresh Land, Khin Maung Lay, 81, told the AP he had been “waiting half a century for this day.” His paper’s initial print run of 80,000 copies was sold out before lunch.

“I foresee several hurdles along the way,” said Khin. “However, I am ready to run the paper in the spirit of freedom and professionalism taught by my peers during the good old days.”

Among the hurdles, the 1962 Printing and Registration act, that allows the government to revoke publishing licenses at any time.

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Economy

First It Was Poland's Farmers — Now Truckers Are Protesting Ukraine's Special Status

For the past month, Poland has been blocking off its border checkpoints to Ukrainian trucks, leaving many in days-long lines. It's a commercial and economic showdown, but it's about much more.

Photogrqph of a line of trucks queued in the  Korczowa - border crossing​

November 27, 2023, Medyka: Trucks stand in a queue to cross the border in Korczowa as Polish farmers strike and block truck transport in Korczowa - border crossing

Dominika Zarzycka/ZUMA
Katarzyna Skiba

Since November 6, Polish truckers have blocked border crossing points with Ukraine, citing unfair advantages given to the Ukrainian market, and demanding greater support from the European Union.

With lines that now stretch for up to 40 kilometers (25 miles), thousands of Ukrainian truckers must now wait an average of about four days in ever colder weather to cross the border, sometimes with the help of the Polish police. At least two Ukrainian truck drivers have died while waiting for passage into Poland.

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The round-the-clock blockade is being manned by Polish trucking unions who claim that Ukrainian trucking companies, which offer a cheaper rate, have been transporting goods across Europe, rather than between Poland and Ukraine. Since the beginning of Russia’s invasion, Ukrainian truckers have been exempt from the permits once required to cross the border.

Now, Polish truckers are demanding that their government reintroduce entry permits for Ukrainian lorries, with exceptions for military and humanitarian aid from Europe. For the moment, those trucks are being let through the blockade, which currently affects four out of Ukraine’s eight border crossings with Poland.

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