The Burmese junta has reshuffled some ministerial positions in the governing cabinet amid rumors of a major shift within the administration.
An official announcement in The New Light of Myanmar said Culture Minister Maj-Gen Kyi Aung and Maj-Gen Sein Htwa, Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement and of Immigration and Population, had (more…)
While Burma’s state-run media began reporting the country’s latest cabinet reshuffles late last night, the military has kept quiet about several reported changes within the war office.
Burma’s best-known comedian, Zargana, has again been banned from giving public performances or promoting his latest film.
The ban, issued by the Motion Picture and Video Censor Board, follows an interview Zargana did with the BBC during the recent water festival in which he criticized the military regime’s arch-conservative rules on culture. (more…)
Sai Fah, who was forced to resign from his party, Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), last month took up the Buddhist robes following his meeting with the Burmese commander of northern Shan State two weeks ago, reports Tai Touch from the border:
Senior border officers from Thailand and Myanmar met yesterday (May 13) in a meeting to discuss development of border personnel as a way to promote effective solutions to border problems.
Manila: Concerns over human rights in Myanmar were pushed to one side Tuesday as the European Union (EU) discussed a free trade agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Thai labor activists and scholars have claimed that a new plan to include Burmese migrant workers in the country’s social welfare system will face significant obstacles.
May 17: Geneva: Six United Nations human rights experts on Tuesday said that military-ruled Burma must halt an offensive against ethnic minority rebels because of its brutal impact on thousands of civilians.
Bangkok: Protestors in Thailand, Japan, India and elsewhere held rallies Tuesday demanding Myanmar’s (Burma’s) ruling junta end it’s bloody offensive against the country’s ethnic Karen minority.
London: Human rights campaigners planned to demonstrate on Tuesday at the Myanmar embassy to protest against attacks on the nation’s Karen minority.
In a rare admission, Burma’s ruling junta acknowledged on Saturday that it has launched a major military offensive in Karen State, along the Thai border. Although the junta claims it is targeting antigovernment rebels, virtually all of the victims have reportedly been civilians. Thousands are fleeing with gruesome tales of atrocities. Isn’t this enough evidence to convince the United Nations, the European Union and Asean to get serious about Burma?
In 2004, a year after her convoy was attacked by thugs backed by the regime, Aung San Suu Kyi and her captors almost reached a breakthrough. But then junta chairman General Than Shwe changed his mind
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The following statement was issued today by the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro; the Independent Expert on minority issues, Gay McDougall; the Special Rapporteur on torture, Manfred Nowak; the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing, Miloon Kothari; the Special Rapporteur on the right to food, Jean Ziegler; and the Special Rapporteur on the right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Paul Hunt: