Maggin monastery in Thingangyun township has been closed by local authorities and its inhabitants forced to leave today, following an order given to the head monk yesterday.
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The intolerance of the Burmese military regime is legion. A member of a comedy troupe was arrested by township authorities in Mrauk U for acting out a scene in which he shoots a monk in a comedy show performed one evening last week in Mrauk U in Arakan state, western Burma, said Ko Hla Htun Pru, a shopkeeper in the city.
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Burma’s most admired female writer, Ludu Daw Amar, celebrated her 92nd birthday on Thursday when hundreds of admirers gathered in her honor to pray and offer food to some 1,000 Buddhist monks in Maha Gandayon Monastery in Amarapura Township in Mandalay.
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Episcopal Relief and Development is providing emergency assistance to refugees from Burma living in refugee camps in Thailand. A low-intensity civil war has been waging in Burma for nearly three decades, with dire consequences for the country’s many ethnic minority groups, including the Karen, Karenni and Mon. Since then thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands have been forcibly displaced.
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The Karen National Union in a letter to the Three Pagoda Pass Township Peace and Development Council authorities has announced that it is not going to work in tandem with the Burmese military authorities to reopen the highway from the Thai-Burma border town of Three Pagoda Pass to Thanpyuzayart, Mon State .
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Myanmar’s booming natural gas industry drew a record 471.5 million dollars in foreign investment last year, accounting for over 60 percent of the total, official statistics showed Thursday.
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Total said it will build a compression platform in Myanmar to support its gas production in the Yadana field.
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The recent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar has rekindled a decades-old debate: Is it morally right to do business in countries with repressive regimes?
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An alarming situation is developing with the deadly avian flu once again surfacing in Burma’s eastern Shan State. Reports are tricking in that the virus is fast spreading in the region while authorities remain silent and inactive, sources said.
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Over 200 monks and local residents in India’s eastern city of Bodhgaya, in Bihar state, today held a protest rally in commemoration of the monk-led protests in Burma in September and to condemn the Burmese junta’s blasphemous act on Buddhism where it killed and arrested monks.
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Myanmar’s ruling military junta should be given incentives to find a democratic solution to its political crisis, Cambodia’s foreign minister said Thursday after meeting a U.N. special envoy to the country.
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China and Myanmar signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) here Thursday on enhancement of bilateral cooperation in the sector of science and technology.
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The shadow of Burma’s woes will blight efforts by Asean and the European Union to develop closer economic ties via a collective free trade agreement, analysts say.
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Republican White House hopeful John McCain warned Wednesday the United States must not adopt the “torture” methods of genocidal Cambodian leader Pol Pot, or Myanmar’s generals.
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The fact that Asean members allowed Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein to dictate the terms of their summit in Singapore last week would have pleased many in Beijing. Party apparatchiks and bureaucrats no doubt breathed a sigh of relief; if the spotlight had been cast more fully on Burma, then China would also have been caught in the glare.
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Aung San Suu Kyi, a Human Rights Activist in Burma, is the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient. On December 14th, Swiss Chris, John Legends Music Director and DJ Johnny Juice, Public Enemy’s Producer will make the world more aware (more…)

A prominent monastery in Rangoon has been ordered to close within one week by the Burmese authorities, according to the 88 Generation Students group.
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Local monks have refused to perform a funeral blessing for a notorious senior Swan Arr Shin member from Phaw Kan ward in Insein township who died recently.
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Popular Burmese musician Win Maw was arrested on Tuesday, along with two friends, Myat San and Aung Aung, as they sat in a Rangoon teashop, sources said on Wednesday.
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Burmese authorities keep a careful watch on the home of Tar Tar and monitor her daily activities when she leaves her house. Pro-junta supporters stand around on the street corners of her neighborhood.
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