The UN special representative for children and armed conflict, Radhika Coomaraswamy, on a five-day visit to Burma, today met Burma’s Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, and Minister for Planning and Economic Development. (more…)

June 25, Members of the Union Solidarity and Development Association allegedly ventured into an operating theatre in a Mandalay hospital last week to harass bashed National League for Democracy member U Than Lwin while he underwent surgery.
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Burma’s military government could have spent more than US $3 million to fund the constitution-drafting National Convention since its creation in 1993, according to a confidential expense report produced by the convention and obtained by The Irrawaddy.
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In a blatant instance of religious discrimination in Burma, a concrete Kachin Christian Cross was forcibly demolished last month in northern Burma by the ruling military junta, local sources said.
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Four soldiers with the Karenni National Progressive Party were reportedly killed last Thursday when they ran into Burmese military troops while trying to help a group of Shan rebel defectors flee through their territory.
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June 25, The Pwint Phyu branch of the state-run Electric Power Corporation in Magwe Division is reportedly charging local residents extra for the installation of new electricity meters, saying that the money was going to a ‘Naypyidaw charity’.
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10,000 unrecognized Burmese Muslim refugees who are currently living on the bank of the Naff River in Teknaf township opposite the Burmese town Maungdaw, will be moved by Bangladesh authorities to a secure place in the very near future.
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Cheap but illegal Chinese mobile phones are making big inroads in northeastern border areas of Burma, where they cost a small fraction of the price of legally-acquired Burmese models.
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A total of 654,602 foreign tourists visited Myanmar in the fiscal year 2006-07 which ended in March, bringing about an increase of 11.4 percent of the country’s foreign exchange earning compared with the previous year, a local news journal reported Tuesday.
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The family of detained AIDS activist and National League for Democracy member Phyu Phyu Thin said yesterday they feared for her safety after receiving reports that she was staging a hunger strike.
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Burma’s poppy cultivation fell last year by 34 percent, to 21,500 hectares, according to a report issued on Tuesday by the UN Office o­n Drugs and Crime. The report showed that the area of cultivation had dropped dramatically by 83 percent since 1998.
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To mark the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, SHAN is today launching a new publication, the Shan Drug Watch newsletter, which contains articles exposing continuing widespread poppy-growing in Shan State in areas under Burma Army control and critiquing current drug policies in Burma.
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India seems to be going all out to woo the Burmese military junta. It has decided to train officers of the Burmese Army on Indian soil. This comes in the wake of India’s training Burmese air farce pilots in handling sophisticated aircraft in Kerala.
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Malaysia’s government-backed People’s Volunteer Corps, or Rela, arrested more than 200 Burmese citizens in immigration raids early Monday morning in Kuala Lumpur, according to Burmese sources in the country.
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Following testimony and an open debate, the United Nations Security Council appealed for the increased protection of civilian populations threatened by continued violence, including those populations in Burma, calling for the rule of law and judicial redress to be respected and implemented.
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June 25, A U.N. special envoy arrived Monday in Myanmar to set up a program to monitor the use of child soldiers, a practice that human rights advocates say is common among both government and insurgent forces.
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Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD) turned 62 on June 19 while remaining under the house arrest that was recently extended for another year by the Burmese junta.
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