Opposition groups across Burma repeated calls for an inclusive constitution drafting process today as delegates arrived at the secure Nyaunghnapin compound for the final session of the widely condemned National Convention. (more…)

In keeping with the paranoia of the Burmese military junta, foreign correspondents based in Rangoon invited by the convening committee to attend the National Convention, have been told not to carry tape recorders and mobile phones.
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A woman sacked from her job at the Myanma Textile Industries after her son and husband were arrested for causing community unrest, has sent a letter to senior general Than Shwe asking for reinstatement.
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The Karen National Union released a statement today demanding that Burma’s military government allow all ethnic and political groups in the country to participate in the constitution-drafting process.
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The volume of the illegal cross-border rice trade into China’s Yunnan Province is estimated at thousands of Burmese rice sacks daily, according to border sources.
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Gold mining and logging in Kachin state, in northern Burma has been totally banned by Burma Army Commander in Kachin State, Maj-Gen Ohn Myint. The announcement came last weekend, local sources said.
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Military-run Myanmar has wrapped up its biggest-ever gems auction, state media said Tuesday, with sales expected to reach millions of dollars for the cash-strapped junta.
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Dhaka and Yangon have agreed to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to build a large hydropower plant in Myanmar to feed Bangladesh’s power-hungry national grid, reports UNB.
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Indian arms sales to Burma’s military junta — including the provision of attack helicopters — will continue, despite fierce condemnation from the human rights group Amnesty International, officials in New Delhi indicated yesterday. (more…)

Burmese activists today called on Russia to back off from its plan to build a nuclear reactor in the Southeast Asian country, during a protest staged outside the Russian embassy in Kuala Lumpur.
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Myanmar has been active in cooperation with member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), joining in sharing the duty of the leading country in cooperation sectorwise.
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Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Secretary-General’s special adviser on Burma, will brief the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, this week on his meetings with top officials of China, India and Japan on the issue of Burma.
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The United Nations has a track record of coddling brutal regimes from Iraq to North Korea. Now add another to the list: Burma.
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Work continues on upgrading and widening the Ledo Road that will link India and China through Burma. A forthcoming Trans-Asia rail line will likely follow the course of famed World War II highway, creating two major arteries for investment and the overland flow of trade to Burma and throughout the region.
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ASEAN-based activists have condemned the Burmese regime’s constitution-drafting process as “part of the problem and not the solution to Burma’s troubles”.
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