Publishers and editors of more than 10 weekly newspapers and Magazines in Rangoon were reportedly summoned to the press scrutiny office late last month and warned over violating censorship guidelines.
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Pro-democracy activists in military-ruled Myanmar yesterday held prayers for the safe release of the remaining 21 South Koreans held captive by the Taliban in Afghanistan, an activist said.
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Ten Burmese migrant workers died after the small ferry boat they were on was overturned by heavy surf off the coast of southern Thailand’s Ranong Province, according to sources in the area.
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In Burma the military junta’s ban on logging of hardwood is being blatantly flouted by army personnel in Chin state with the regime turning a blind eye. Troops are into rampant felling of trees. They then sell the hardwood in the domestic markets for extra revenue for the Burma Army.
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Burma’s fish exports to Bangladesh have decreased since Bangladesh authorities found the chemical formalin in some fish in the country couple months ago.
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Myanmar found its second bird flu outbreak in July on a farm northwest of the commercial capital Yangon, the U.N. food agency said on Wednesday.
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Residents from New Dagon township said yesterday that they had started an awareness campaign on the deadly hemorrhagic dengue fever that has claimed the lives of hundreds of Burmese children in the past month.
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Ten people have been diagnosed with cholera and admitted to the hospital in the Mae La Refugee Camp on the Thailand-Burma border, according to a camp official.
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Caution is needed before celebrating the Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ decision to form a human rights commission.
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U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte today offered strong support and encouragement for pronounced decisions and recommendations toward the ASEAN Charter, reserving special approval for the decision to include a human rights commission along with the continued pursuit and support of democratic principles. (more…)

Over 50,000 inhabitants will become homeless if the Burmese military junta forges ahead with the construction of a series of dams on the confluence of the Maykhah, Malikhah and the Irrawaddy rivers in collaboration with China, ethnic Kachin activists said.
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Burma’s military regime appointed a Burmese ambassador to North Korea for the first time since 1983, according to a state-run newspaper. The ambassador will serve concurrently as ambassador to China.
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New Zealand’s foreign minister has voiced concern about human rights conditions in Burma during a meeting with his Burmese counterpart in Manila.
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The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) was established with the primary objective of restoring democracy and human rights and supporting the democracy movement in Burma.
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