Myanmar's multi-billion-dollar jade mines risk becoming a "slush fund" for military repression, Global Witness said Tuesday, urging consumers to boycott purchasing any jade and gemstones from the coup-wracked nation.The country has been in turmoil since the military toppled the government of Aung San Suu Kyi, with more than 880 killed in a junta crackdown on dissent, according to a local monitoring group.Myanmar is one of the world's biggest sources of jadeite and the indu

A torrent of water, rock and heavy sludge spun Sai Ko as he clung to a corpse to survive - a memory that still traumatises the young "jade-picker" three months after Myanmar's worst-ever mine disaster.Heavy rainfall in July triggered a massive landslide in Hpakant - the green heart of Myanmar's jade trade in northern Kachin state - that entombed nearly 300 miners.Today, Sai Ko is still recovering from head injuries sustained when the unstable mountain of waste collapsed be

As if human rights abuses, corruption charges and deadly landslides haven’t hurt the industry enough, Myanmar’s multi-billion-dollar jade and gemstone industry now has to deal with the challenges of e-commerce.Myanmar produces 90 percent of the world’s jade and is a major player in the global gem economy, but poor regulations mean up to two-third of the country’s production is possibly not subjected to tax according to a report by the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI) in March.The

At least 13 jade mine workers and security guards in northern Myanmar were killed in a landslide Sunday, authorities said, as rescuers frantically searched for more victims.Dozens die each year in landslides caused by jade mining, a dangerous and poorly regulated industry in Kachin state between the country's borders with China and India.Myanmar's fire services department said in a Facebook post the accident happened in the early morning in Hpakant township."We have sent two in