Vietnam’s prime minister arrived in Myanmar on Tuesday for a two-day official visit that will include talks with the nation’s secretive junta leader Than Shwe, officials said.
(more…)

A former Burma’s goalkeeper Ko Aung Kyaw Kyaw who worked for the Customs Department is sentenced to 14 years on corruption charges.
(more…)

Soldiers of the United Wa State Army and the Burmese army have begun preparing for armed conflict after several weeks of political tension, according to sources close to the ethnic and government armies.
(more…)

The Burmese military has reportedly launched fresh recruitment drives in a number of Kachin townships, forcing civilians to sign up at random, residents said yesterday.
(more…)

In Myanmar, Christians comprise only five to seven percent of the population, with Anglicans representing about two percent. Earning an average of 40 cents per day, a priest often serves six or more parishes, sometimes wandering the mountains looking for parishioners displaced by military and resistance fighting. Bishops worry about malfunctioning trucks and malaria in their travels throughout the dioceses.
(more…)

Forty illegal immigrants from Myanmar have been arrested near the Thai border in June and last month.
(more…)

High rice prices in Rangoon have reportedly forced many residents to rely on handouts from donation centres opened by activists and politicians such as Amyotharyay Win Naing.
(more…)

Myanmar is planning to establish six special economic zones (SEZ) to attract direct foreign investment into the country in a bid to promote its economic development, local Weekly Eleven News reported Tuesday.
(more…)

Ironically, despite significant contribution through hard labour to Malaysia’s burgeoning economy, Burmese refugees and migrant workers remain unrecognized, unwelcome and live in constant fear, said a new report.
(more…)

Text of report in English by Burmese newspaper The Myanmar Times website on 6 August
(more…)

The United Nations is now working towards evolving a multi-prong strategy towards restoration of democracy in Burma, the release of political prisoners and protection of human rights. (more…)

On nearly all counts, India-Myanmar bilateral relations are on the upswing, with fast-growing military, trade and investment links. All, that is, but on one count: the unsettling revelations emerging from a case being heard in an Indian court about the infamous 1998 Operation Leech sting.
(more…)

Khun Kya Nu, prominent ethnic Shan leader and pro-democracy fighter, died in exile on Monday in Chiang Mai, Northern Thailand, at the age of 72.
(more…)