Excited miners celebrated finding a rich vein of gold at a mining pit in Myanmar. Footage shows the workers shovelling dirt from the abundant spot of precious metal in Kachin State on January 1. They collected the soil and rocks into a sack and dug further, hoping to find more. One of the artisanal miners One Mai said: 'The soil was very rich. We could not believe it.' Kachin State, located in northern Myanmar, is rich in natural resources, including gold and jade. It has numerous rivers and streams where alluvial gold deposits are commonly found. However, the mineral-rich territories have fuelled the ongoing civil war, with the army and rebel groups jostling for control. Communist China also has a strong presence in the region. Gold demand has soared in recent years, fueled by inflation, political instability and wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. The price has soared to record highs with central governments - notably China and Russia - buying up large quantities of the precious metal as a hedge against the dollar and the power of the West. Controversial banker JP Morgan famously said: 'Gold is money, everything else is credit.' However, some investors remain cynical of the benefits of gold, which was dubbed the 'barbarous relic' by economist John Maynard Keynes, who believed it had limited uses. Stock market doyen Warren Buffet is similarly dismissive of gold, which he does not hold in his investments. He said: 'Gold gets dug out of the ground in Africa or someplace. Then we melt it down, dig another hole, bury it again and pay people to stand around guarding it.'

A centuries-old partnership between fishermen and critically endangered Irrawaddy dolphins in Myanmar is threatened by environmental destruction and political upheaval.

New Delhi, Dec. 23 -- In the latest episode of HT In-Depth, Sreeparna Banerjee, Associate Research Fellow at the Observer Research Foundation (ORF), delves into the escalating drug problem in Myanmar, which has now become the world's 2nd-largest producer of opium, after Afghanistan. The episode highlights the alarming rise in opium production, which has surged by 36% this year to an estimated 1,080 tonnes, driven by the ongoing civil war and economic turmoil that have pushed many farmers towards this lucrative but illegal crop. With the country ruled by military and shadow of China, how is India handling the sensitive situation on its northeastern border?

The Bulgarian Military service reports an unusual transaction between Russia and Myanmar (formerly Burma). As part of a diplomatic gesture coinciding with the delivery of six Sukhoi Su-30SME fighter jets, Myanmar was to present six elephants to the Kremlin—one for each jet. The elephants were intended as a symbol of goodwill between the countries, aligning with the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Russia and Myanmar, according to the Bulgarian Military. Although the transfer of elephants appears to be a symbolic gesture, some reports suggest that the animals may also be part of the funding agreement for the six Su-30SME aircraft.