Oct 22-28: Increased pressure from the EU and United States won’t take the shine off Myanmar gems, traders said last week, claiming the unsurpassed quality of the country’s precious stones would continue to lure buyers. Kyaw Thu and Htin Kyaw look into the forces driving sales ahead of another massive gem and jade emporium next month. (more…)

A member of the National League for Democracy in Arakan who had been reported missing by his family members has been found dead, said his colleagues.
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U Par Par Lay goes to India to have his toothache treated. The Indian dentist wonders why the Burmese man has come all the way to India.
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Ethnic leaders based inside Burma have told The Irrawaddy that they supported the recent monk-led protests. This comes in response to reports suggesting that exiled ethnic groups shied away from the protests and largely ignored the uprising.
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Two women held in Insein prison were pressured to testify against monks, according to a National League for Democracy member who was detained with the women.
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The Burmese military government held pro-constitution draft rallies in nine townships of Rangoon on Monday morning for the first time, while authorities forced residents onto the streets to join the rallies, according to sources.
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Continuing diffusion of Internet-enabled devices has profound implications for the possibilities of critical public debate and discussion, even in repressive countries such as Myanmar, where less than 1% of the population has access to the Internet. The speed at which news of the pro-democracy demonstrations (and the ruling junta’s response) reached the outside world is in stark contrast to previous mass demonstrations, such as those that took place in 1988, when news of over 3,000 deaths took days to reach diplomats and international news agencies. (more…)

Burma’s military government stepped up its propaganda campaign against the United States on Sunday, accusing Washington of inciting last month’s pro-democracy demonstrations in hopes of installing a puppet government.
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A Burmese exile media organization in Bangkok has dropped its Web site news service “temporarily,” amid reports of a crackdown on such operations on Thai territory that carry material critical of Burma’s junta.
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A well-known Kachin jade tycoon, Sutdu Yup Zau Hkawng, a sycophant of Commander Maj-Gen Ohn Myint, has been forced to flee the country unable to cope with the demands of the junta official.
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Chevron Corp., the second-largest U.S. energy company, will keep its stake in a natural gas project in Myanmar, defying calls to leave following a crackdown on protesters by the country’s ruling junta.
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The military government’s censorship board in Burma has banned some media from publishing news about a new bird flu outbreak which was confirmed on October 20, according to a journalist who requested anonymity.
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ASEAN and the European Union will work to strengthen the UN special envoy’s mission to bring about democratic changes in Myanmar, the Singaporean and French foreign ministers said Monday.
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Singapore has reaffirmed that its priorities in Burma, in alignment with those of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), are stability and policy change, and not the ousting of the military regime.
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Taiwan will establish a task force under its representative office in Thailand to provide help to the people of Burma in their striving for democracy, according to the Taipei Times.
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In a revealing letter to the US Chargé d’Affaires in Rangoon, a group of Burmese Americans have urged the United States to investigate how despite the sanctions imposed on Burmese generals, several of their family members and close associates are travelling freely to the US.
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Sanctions against Myanmar’s junta for cracking down on democracy protesters should be coupled with incentives to encourage the regime to work for national reconciliation, France’s foreign minister said Monday.
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The international community, including ASEAN, must press for a contact group and a truth commission
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Burma’s current situation presents an unambiguous demand for structural political change to save its people from the economic whirlpool.
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The Burmese crisis coupled with increased international pressure and UN efforts have shaken Thailand’s policy towards Burma to the core.
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