Kenya just made its first appearance on this big international competitiveness ranking and somehow landed at number 56 out of 69 countries while grabbing the top spot in Africa. The IMD World Competitiveness survey puts them ahead of places like South Africa and Nigeria, which is pretty wild considering Kenya's dealing with protests, flooding, political drama with their deputy president getting impeached, and mounting debt problems.
The country scored well on stuff like trade and government reforms, but still struggles with education, tech infrastructure, and science development. Switzerland, Singapore, and Hong Kong took the top three spots globally, and the whole ranking looks at things like economic performance and business...
Myanmar's military chief, Min Aung Hlaing, rolled through some training facilities in Mandalay Region and told everyone that government workers need to stay disciplined and politically neutral. He checked out a civil service academy, a cop training depot, and a firefighter school that all of which had taken some damage from that earthquake.
The Senior General said basic military drills help bureaucrats learn how to follow orders and work as a team, while law classes make sure everyone understands the rulebook. He pushed for better livestock operations at the academy to feed trainees properly and told police instructors they need to teach officers about the Constitution and other laws since cops deal with regular people all the time...
Yangon brought back its inter-school marching band throwdown after the pandemic basically killed it off for a couple of years. The regional chief minister showed up to hand out some cash for the event and watch 24 schools duke it out over three days at the national indoor arena.
The competition got way more popular since they restarted it back in the 2022-2023 school year, when barely 11 teams bothered showing up. Each squad rolls with 62 members and gets sorted into different tiers based on skill level. Winners get prizes for their hustle and teamwork, plus there's a special award for whoever's got the best mace twirling.
Myanmar's press council kicked off another batch of election reporting training, with 80 journalists signed up to learn the ropes. The three-day session is happening at some government media building in Yangon, and they're covering everything from basic election coverage to legal stuff and how to write for online audiences.
The course has a bunch of instructors lined up to teach different angles, like a Japanese newspaper correspondent and some local media analysts. They're drilling reporters on election-day coverage, compiling vote tallies, and navigating press laws around political reporting.
Myanmar's top military guy, Min Aung Hlaing, gave a pep talk to civil service trainees and told them government workers stick around no matter which political crew is running things. He said the trainees need to step up their game instead of being mediocre bureaucrats, and they should study past mistakes to help build something better down the road.
The Senior General went on about how the country needs to pump out more stuff domestically to cut down on imports and stop bleeding foreign cash. He reminded everyone that elections matter and voters should pick candidates who vibe with the military and actually help the nation. The whole speech happened at a training academy in Mandalay Region with police and firefighter trainees in the crowd.
Myanmar's electric power minister checked out a major substation built in Toungoo and got updates on damage from that Mandalay earthquake. The quake messed up some reactor equipment that needs fixing fast, and the minister told workers to stay safe while wrapping things up on schedule.
The Sapakywe substation project is sitting at about 81 percent done, and crews are pushing to finish the transformer installations and switchgear setup. Minister U Nyan Tun also peeked at the control building and made sure everything's moving along at another substation site.
Myanmar's health ministry threw an event for World AIDS Day, and Deputy Minister Prof Dr Aye Tun said they're getting preventive meds out to high-risk groups while running community HIV tests to catch cases faster. He said the goal is making sure everyone can actually access treatment and prevention stuff equally, which lines up with the whole "transform the AIDS response" theme this year.
The deputy minister handed out prizes for some essay and art contests before meeting with people from The Global Fund out of Switzerland. They talked about keeping TB meds, HIV treatments, and malaria drugs flowing in 2026 through their partnership programs.
Myanmar's deputy information minister swung by a high school in Chauk Township and told students they need to hit the books hard while they're young. He pushed them to develop five key skills and study their subjects properly so they can make it to university and become professionals who actually do something for the country.
The minister also told parents and teachers to get students reading more, build up the school libraries, and make sure everyone votes in the upcoming election. He said people should pick candidates who will actually help the region instead of the insurgents. The ministry dropped off some books for the libraries before the deputy minister headed to another office to check on their reading promotion plans.
Myanmar's social welfare minister sat down with the UN population fund rep to hash out some aid stuff for earthquake zones and women dealing with violence. They talked about getting dignity kits distributed and making sure international staff can actually get into the country with proper visas.
The minister and the UNFPA guy also went over plans to keep their partnership going with a focus on helping women get more equality and empowerment. A bunch of department heads and UN office people joined the meeting to work out the details.
