Five men who successfully appealed against death sentences for high treason in military-run Myanmar have had their jail terms cut after a new court challenge, a lawyer said on Friday.
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Yangon: A new legal attempt to free Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from more than a year of house arrest has failed, her party said Friday.
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October 18: A Thai criminal court in Bangkok Friday acquitted a suspect in a major heroin trafficking lawsuit, citing public prosecutors of lacking substantial evidence to prove against the accused, a TNA reporter said
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Rising demands on their hard-earned income by the Army that offer little or no decent way out have been blamed by the farmers as the reason for their continued dependency on poppy cultivation, reports Hawkeye from the border:
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The Government has denied a visa to Sein Win, “Prime Minister” of the National Coalition “Government” of the Union of Burma (Myanmar), to attend a three-day international convention for the restoration of democracy in Myanmar, which begins here on Friday.
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October 16: When half the world meets up for a chin-wag, little more than platitudes can usually be expected. Yet the two-yearly ASEM (Asia-Europe Meeting) summit in Vietnam that ended on October 9th was even shorter on real substance than it might have been. (more…)

Brussels: Following the biannual ASEM summit in Hanoi (8-9 October 2004), the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) and the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) are expressing their deep dismay
over the organisation’s decision to admit Burma (also known as Myanmar) as one of its members. (more…)

Two Burmese journalists are among the recipients of the Committee to Protect Journalists  2004 International Press Freedom Awards, which will be given in November, the CPJ announced on its website on Thursday.
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October 14: [Excerpted from the Committee to Protect Journalists, to view complete list of awardees visit
http://www.cpj.org/awards04/awards_release_04.html---Ed.]

New York: The Committee to Protect Journalists will honor four journalists, from Belarus, Burma, Burundi, and the United States, with 2004 International Press Freedom Awards in November.
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