Burma’s censorship authorities have found new tools to monitor submitted written manuscripts before approval-mirrors and magnifying glasses.
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Despite the Burmese government’s effort to ban the recently released Hollywood film Rambo, local residents in Rangoon say a downloaded version of the movie is making its way among a circle of friends.
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U Ohn Than, a solo demonstrator currently detained in Insein prison, has been placed in solitary confinement and denied family visits after writing a letter about poor living conditions inside the prison.
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The Free Funeral Service Society’s announcements in the weekly Ray of Light journal have been banned by the government censor board, a donor to the charity said.
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Debate over the need for Burma’s government-in-exile to reform has become louder, as elected leaders living in exile prepare to meet for a conference of the Members of Parliament Union (MPU), scheduled to be held soon on the Thai-Burma border.
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At least one woman was drowned and two others were missing after a boat packed with refugees from Burma drowned in a river in Bangladesh on Sunday, a police officer said. “The boat sank due to overloading by refugees crossing into Bangladesh illegally,” he told Reuters from Teknaf border town, 500 km (312 miles) from the capital Dhaka. Most of the refugees swam to safety or were rescued by fishing boats after their boat sank in the river Naf. Despite tightening of security along the border with Burma, Muslim refugees from its mainly Buddhist neighbour continue to sneak into Bangladesh. More 17,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees have entered Bangladesh’s southeastern Cox’s Bazar district from military-ruled Burma over the past one year. (more…)

Tourist arrivals in Burma almost halved in the last three months of 2007 after the military junta crushed popular monk-led protests, killing at least 31 people, a weekly journal reported on Monday.
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Agents in Burma making passports in Rangoon are into a thriving business as more and more people continue to migrate to other countries seeking jobs.
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Maungdaw: Three yaba dealers were sentenced by a district court in northern Arakan’s Maungdaw Township on Thursday to 20 years in prison for attempting to smuggle yaba tablets to Bangladesh, reports a lawyer from the district court on condition of anonymity.
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More than 600 Burmese in Singapore gathered yesterday to see Rambo movie.
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The United Nations (UN) special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, has said that India, as a member of the group of friends, has been playing a constructive role in persuading Myanmar towards national reconciliation.
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New Zealand’s opposition National Party said Prime Minister Helen Clark’s claim that telecommunications company Kordia’s work on cell phone towers in Burma contributes to democracy is unrealistic and fanciful.
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Fresh international pressure is necessary to push Myanmar’s military rulers toward reform because the momentum for change after last year’s demonstrations has been lost, the top U.S. diplomat in the country said Friday (1 Feb).
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Not satisfied with slugging it out with Myanmar’s military government on celluloid in his latest “Rambo” film, Sylvester Stallone wants to go there and confront the junta face-to-face over human rights. (more…)

“We did not reach final victory. We were defeated in the middle of our struggle,” says the young Burmese monk sitting in front of me. “It will be very hard to have another demonstration.”
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It’s been four months since Burma’s military government brutally suppressed peaceful democracy protests, and one thing is clear: There’s no incentive for change. This sentiment was most poignantly expressed Wednesday by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who told supporters to “hope for the best and prepare for the worst.”
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Non violent and peaceful demonstrations by monks and laymen that occurred in August and September of 2007 resulted from the colossal increase in the price of fuel imposed on the people by the authorities causing a great leap in the cost of every commodity and the cost of transport.  The people have been stretched to breaking point.
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