Four months after the junta in Myanmar crushed the biggest pro-democracy protests in nearly 20 years, activists haven’t given up hope of overturning the regime. In the first of a three part series, Graeme Jenkins explores the challenges facing the underground pro-democracy movement. (more…)

Officials from the health ministry of Burma has summoned aid workers from international non-governmental organizations (INGOs) to Naypyidaw, new capital of the country, last week and warned to follow strictly the rules and to report detail of their field trips to the government. (more…)

Sagaing, Myanmar – In one of his most talked-about lectures, Buddhist monk Ashin Nyanissara tells the legend of a king who ruled more than 2,500 years ago. The king believed that spitting on a hermit brought him good fortune. (more…)

The Burmese military government has blocked blogger sites and redirected links on such websites. According to the Niknayman Blog, the military government has recently added more words in their Niknayman blog address. (more…)

U Win Kyaw Oo, the former chief of staff in the Myanmar Times newsroom, has told the BBC Burmese that he had to resign as his boss, Mr Ross Dunkley, asked him to leave the office.The Burmese-language edition of the weekly newspaper was suspended last week by the Press Scrutiny Board (PSB) under the Ministry of Information for flouting censorship rules. (more…)

Food shortages in Chin state following a bad harvest have led around 150 people to leave Burma for India, according to residents of the Indian state of Mizoram. (more…)

Western sanctions which imposes a ban on Burmese gems and jades does not seem to be working out. The recently concluded gems and jade auction in Burma’s former capital Rangoon has proved that the sanctions, particularly a ban on import and export of Burmese gems and jade, have been ineffective, a Burmese economist said. (more…)

Small traders in Twan Tay township, Rangoon division, have complained that local officials have been imposing additional taxes on them which they should not have to pay. (more…)

The Burmese government is set to move the country’s biggest gem market from Mandalay to Rangoon, according to local gem traders in Mandalay. (more…)

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) will not let the actions of its troubled member Burma hamper the group’s regional integration efforts, a senior Singaporean official said on Monday. (more…)

A few weeks after the September protests last year in Burma, a Chinese diplomat approached an influential Burmese advocate in New York and asked why the Burmese dubbed their protest the “Saffron Revolution.” (more…)

India’s “Look East” foreign policy favoring the Burmese regime is not likely to change soon despite appeals by British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari, observers say. (more…)

Formed to highlight the brutal suppression of monks by the Burmese military junta in September, Burmese monks worldwide have set up 14 branches of the Sasana Moli International Burmese Monks Organization. (more…)

A senior U.S. official urged the international community Monday to put more pressure on Myanmar’s military rulers, saying the junta has made no progress in opening a dialogue with the pro-democracy opposition. (more…)

Less than four months after the Burmese junta violently suppressed protests on the streets of Burma, the question of Burma appears only in the background of talks between British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and leaders of India. (more…)

The Burmese government is thinking about allowing private enterprise to import fuel. (more…)

Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo emerged from the last ASEAN Summit as “little Miss Sunshine” for her jibe against the Myanmarese. Other ASEAN leaders including President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono were labeled ‘evil realists’ for their approach to the junta. (more…)

The United Nations pledged to act on Burma. Instead, it has allowed itself to be bullied and shamed. (more…)

The Board of Trustees of the Burma Studies Foundation, the Burma Studies Group and the Center for Burma Studies cordially invite you to participate in the 8th International Burma Studies Conference, at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois from October 3-5, 2008. (more…)