Members of Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) who recently visited the border have confirmed that Hkun Htoon Oo, their leader who is being detained in Kachin State’s Putao prison, is firmly opposed to the ceasefire group’s further attendance of the junta-organized National Convention. (more…)

Local residents in Myitkyina, the capital of Kachin State, have recently urged the Burmese military government to stop its planned hydropower project o­n the Irrawaddy River confluence.
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The Burmese military regime has issued a directive to 8th and 9th standard students, who failed in the 2006-2007 academic year, to sit for an examination again because the government plans to have a new curriculum for the 9th grade.
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Ten Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who arrived in Karenni refugee camp I were arrested on the morning of June 15 by local Thai authorities who are going to deport them.
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Noisy timber factories in Three Pagoda Pass o­n the Thailand-Burma border have been quiet since the border was closed in March. Residents in the town have anxiously been waiting for the day when the border re-opens, and they can go back to work.
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The Myanmar fishery authorities have warned against misconduct of injecting water into fishes for export and preventive measures are being taken against such malpractice to ensure a sound export market, a local news journal reported Friday.
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Poorly managed garbage collection in Rangoon and an aging sewer system have made a mess of some townships and created possible health hazards, according to residents of the former capital.
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My chest is very painful when I breathe” said Paw Baw, clutching her chest while lying o­n a wood bed at a clinic in Mae Sot, Thailand’s border town with Burma.
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Myanmar, the world’s second-largest opium producer after Afghanistan, arrested 352 suspected drug dealers and seized more than 90 kilograms (200 pounds) of opium in May, state media said Friday.
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A report that Thailand is not looking to Burma for energy needs is receiving skeptical reactions from Salween Watch activists, who assert that companies from Thailand have already signed agreements with Burma for the joint development of a 7,110 MW dam at Tasang, which carries grave implications for peoples of Shan State.
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June 19 was the 62nd birthday of Burmese democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi, and many in the international community demanded that she be freed this year.
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The U.S. State Department says Burma’s military regime and its policies may pose increasing risks to the region if it fails to make genuine progress toward democracy and national reconciliation.
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In the debates on human rights and democracy which wound up the plenary session, Parliament urged EU Member States to stick to their agreed line on Cuba, called on Ethiopia to release 38 opposition leaders who may face the death penalty and highlighted once again the continuing repression of the Burmese people.
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Christian rights workers warned Wednesday, June 20, that the military government in Burma is preparing a major assault on individual believers, missionary workers and church leaders by compiling a list of Christians in the country and threatening a publisher with years of imprisonment.
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June 21, A humanitarian crisis is imminent in Myanmar unless efforts are taken to tackle specific areas of “acute humanitarian need,” including a response to HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, Charles Petrie, head of the United Nations Development Programme in the country, said on Tuesday, the AP/International Herald Tribune reports (AP/International Herald Tribune, 6/20). (more…)

June 21, An irrefutable fact about armed conflicts is that it is the unarmed civilians who bear the brunt and suffer the most.  It is in this light that the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) welcomes the debate on the protection of civilians in armed conflict which will be taking place at the UN Security Council on 22 June. (more…)