Editor, Writer, Researcher
More than half of those 27 million-plus smartphone owners in Myanmar are regular data users, who check into Facebook daily and the Viber messaging and VOIP app almost as frequently. How can so many people afford phones when the average wage is $3 a day?
Meanwhile, in the past decade the consortium's annual budget has shrunk by half—to US $17.5 million—even while resident numbers declined by only 30 percent during the same period. Much of that drop is due to resettlements in third countries, such as the United States and Australia, but those left behind can no longer apply for such status.
The later parts of this footage are probably from the cremation day. You can see the large urn with the king’s body being transferred from the grounds of the Royal Palace. It was gold exterior encasing a silver urn that contained the king's body.
Estimates that one million people might gather here during the period are probably conservative, says Tongthong Chandransu, a law professor and expert on Thai royal funeral ceremonies. “After all, 500,000 people showed up last year on October 14 to observe when the king’s body was transferred across the river from Siriraj Hospital to the Grand Palace,” he says.
In the beginning, the boats were relatively small and only carried 60 or 70 passengers, Rohingya Society of Malaysia President Sultan Ahmed explained. They soon became larger, squeezing in at least 200 passengers. Women and children began coming in large numbers in 2011. In 2012, large cargo boats were pressed into service; these could accommodate 600 or 700 passengers, as was seen this May in some of the boats set adrift in the Andaman Sea by traffickers.
Susan J Cunningham 