Yangon: Myanmar’s pro-democracy opposition called Wednesday for a new “supreme leading body” that would bring together the military rulers, political parties and ethnic groups as a prelude to democracy.
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Rangoon: Burma’s military rulers celebrated the 58th anniversary of independence from Britain on Wednesday with a simple flag-hoisting ceremony and a message from the junta chairman accusing big nations of interfering in the affairs of other countries.
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After more than two weeks under siege by Burmese military forces, more than 40 Shan State Army-South soldiers led by commander Khun Kyaw surrendered on Monday morning.
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The Myanmar Times, Burma’s only privately owned English-language weekly, is negotiating with the Burmese military to be awarded a daily publishing license sources close to the newspaper told Mizzima.
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A judge at Rangoon Twante Township court, during a hearing on 2 January, ordered the trial of two local Burmese policemen accused of raping a housewife, with the original charges against them.
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An ex-schoolteacher at Kanthaya Ward, Magwe in central Burma, Kyi Maw was recently sent to prison for writing a letter of complaints to the municipal authority about the erratic and sorry state of water supply system which had been causing untold miseries to the local people for years.
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An ex-schoolteacher at Kanthaya Ward, Magwe in central Burma, Kyi Maw was recently sent to prison for writing a letter of complaints to the municipal authority about the erratic and sorry state of water supply system which had been causing untold miseries to the local people for years.
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Burma has the world’s third least free economy according to the ’2006 Index of Economic Freedom’ released by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal today.
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After being remanded for more than six months in Sungai Buloh prison, two Burmese asylum-seekers were freed today. The Kuala Lumpur Magistrate’s Court ordered their release on grounds that they were recognized refugees when arrested on 16 June 2005. At the time, they were visiting 64 of their Burmese friends who had been detained earlier for illegal assembly, while demonstrating in front of their embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
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Paris: More than 60 journalists were killed in 2005 and 1,300 physically attacked or threatened, making it the deadliest year since 1995, the press freedom watchdog Reporters sans Frontieres (Reporters without Borders – RSF) said Wednesday.
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New York: Since 1945 the world’s top diplomatic job has been held by three Europeans, two Africans, one Latin American, but no women.
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The United Nations Security Council took up the issue of Burma for the first time last month, with the Council’s 15 members receiving a sobering briefing on the growing problems resulting from the military regime’s harsh policies. (more…)

Sanctions and isolation only stymie the emergence of a viable civil society

Today marks the 58th anniversary of Burma’s independence from Britain. Our history since then has been a troubled one. But the current debate over what to do about the country’s military government, and the well-meaning prescriptions proposed in the West, have been generally simplistic and unhelpful. (more…)