Myanmar and Nobel Oil of Russia have agreed to explore for oil and gas at two onshore blocks in the military-ruled southeast Asian country, an official newspaper reported.

Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency) ["One Killed in Bomb Blast in Myanmar: Official" - Xinhua headline] YANGON, Jan.

Overview The Burmese media have been strictly controlled (for all but a few weeks in 1988) since a military coup brought an end to democratic rule in 1962.

The hydroelectric power department of Burma's Ministry of Electric Power has signed 4.56m-dollar contract with China's Zhejiang Orient Holdings Group Lt to buy cables and electrical equipment, says a Myanmar News Agency report in The New Light of Myanmar.