Highway to intensify ties with Bangladesh: The MoU for building the 133-kilometre highway, which will help to expand bilateral trade, was signed in Dhaka on April 4, the first day of the three-day visit by General Khin Nyunt.The MoU followed the signing of a letter of intent to build the highway during a visit to Dhaka in 2002 by the Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Senior General Than Shwe.The highway will link Buthidaung in Rakhine State and Ramu in Bangladesh?s Chittagong Province, where a ceremony was held on April 5 to lay a foundation stone for the project... Boom for beach resort operators: Most of the bookings were from Myanmar, though many expatriates and foreign visitors have taken the opportunity to spend the holiday at the beach.One of the most popular beach resorts for Myanmar is Chaungtha, about 200 kilometres west of Yangon...Thinking Aloud talks to the Thai ambassador, Mr Suphot Dhirakaosal... Millions gather to revel, throw water and party on: Pandals erected for concerts and water throwing will be focus of much of the fun for the festival, from April 12 to 16.Many revellers will spend the festival getting a drenching as they travel from pandal to pandal in cars, pick-ups and trucks... For some, a time to make merit, meditate: Many men enter the monkhood during Thingyan to cultivate their minds by studying the Buddha?s teachings and by living austerely according to the rules which apply to the Sangha, or the community of monks. Ordaing as a monk is also a means of earning merit for oneself or one?s parents... Tourists? search for inner peace draws them to mediation centres; Le Planteur clinches Gold Plate Awards; Once upon a time in Myanmar; First complete DVD made... Myanmar women?s soccer team get ready for Japan: THE 25-member Myanmar national women?s soccer team leaves for Japan this week to compete in the Asia zone qualifying games for the Olympic Games in Athens in August.The qualifying round will be played at Yokohama from April 18 to 22... National NGOs urged to expand activities: ?The greater involvement of local NGOs is necessary since they represent great potential resources to improve human development in Myanmar,” said Mr Brian Heidel, the program director in Yangon for Save the Children (UK)... Auditor General?s office signs MoU with China: The MoU is the first to be signed by the Office of the Auditor General with a foreign country. It was signed in Beijing on March 26 by Myanmar?s Auditor-General, Major-General Lun Maung, and China?s Deputy Auditor-General, Mr Linghu Ann.The MoU is for the exchange of information on auditing methods and technologies, said U Thein Myint, the director of the Myanmar Office of the Auditor General... Private banks plan merger for May, the first of its kind in Myanmar: Myanmar banks were nationalised in 1963 as the then-government sought to take control of the private sector, but after the government reverted to a market-oriented system in 1989, private banks were again permitted to operate... Pork consumption on rise, show YCDC figures: Daw Nu Nu, a pork retailer at Than Market in Chinatown, said sales have climbed slowly since she started her business about eight years ago. However, sales had risen sharply since the start of the year because of concerns about the bird flu outbreak that affected other countries in Asia... Brisk sales at Central Tower: ?We began selling the units some months ago, but things have really picked up over the past few weeks,” said U Win Myint, chairman of Shwe Naga Min Company which is building the tower.?In the beginning, we sold only about two apartments a month but we sold ten in March,” he said... New Condominium on Maha Bandoola Rd: BUILDING work has begun on Yathar Condominium, a 12-storey commercial and residential building on the corner of Maha Bandoola Road and 31st Street, the developer said last week.Asia Express Construction began work on the 10,500-square-foot site at the beginning of April and expects to finish building by June 2005.