Voters in Burma’s national referendum on 10 May testified about official violations of referendum regulations at a hearing session held at the National League for Democracy headquarters on Friday afternoon. (more…)

According to some reports, military officers went to every house across the country and ordered people to vote “yes” in the May 10 national referendum to adopt the junta-drafted constitution. (more…)

Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has reshuffled its military commanders following the replacement of the country’s navy chief and two ministers last week. (more…)

A Korean journalist was deported from Burma by the ruling military junta on Sunday for visiting the office of opposition political party – the National League for Democracy. (more…)

Zayar Thaw, a member of the popular hip-hop group Acid and leader of the youth activist group Generation Wave, was brought to court on Friday to face charges under the Unlawful Association Act. (more…)

After the fury of Cyclone Nargis, a new disaster looms in Burma: packs of rats that swarm through the hills once every 50 years have consumed everything in their path, reducing thousands of poor farmers to the verge of starvation. (more…)

Rice farmers in cyclone-shattered parts of the Irrawaddy Delta have come up against yet another problem as they try to rebound from the storm – donated oxen and water buffaloes are refusing to work because they are stressed, and planting must be done soon to take advantage of the next crop cycle. (more…)

The bamboo forests and sugarcane fields that once covered the gently sloping hills here have been replaced by hulking government buildings, roads so long and straight they resemble runways and a vast construction site marked by a sign that could be read as a metaphor for the entire project: “Parliament zone. Do not enter.” (more…)

Burmese authorities are stepping up their restrictions on cyclone survivors trying to flee to neighboring Thailand, according to Burmese social organizations helping victims of the disaster. (more…)

The first ever Kuki national unity conference drew to a close on 19 June in the Indian town of Moreh on the border with Burma, according to Baik Pu Lon Lon, one of the event’s organisers. (more…)

Bangladesh authorities seized a haul of medicine from Burma worth an estimated 1,870,400 taka and arrested a smuggler on Friday in Teknaf on Cox’s Bazar highway near the Burmese border, according to a local official report. (more…)

A South Korean-led international consortium said Monday it has reached a deal to sell natural gas from Myanmar to China. (more…)

The Three Pagodas Pass TPP township authorities in Karen State are allowing vehicles carrying timber after being bribed to cross the main gate. Local residents and passengers are not being allowed the same facility. (more…)

Nay Shwe Thway Aung, until now the favorite grandson of Burmese head of state Snr-Gen Than Shwe, is reportedly at the center of a drug scandal in Rangoon. (more…)

The report of the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment team will be used to seek more funds to help victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma, a United Nations spokesperson said on Monday. (more…)

Following the adoption last week of a United Nations Security Council resolution on sexual violence as a weapon of war, women’s rights activists hope it can afford some protection to women in Burma. (more…)

More than six weeks after Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar’s Irrawaddy Delta and the southern parts of Yangon and Bago, killing more than 130,000 people, the junta continues to restrict aid access to some 2.4 million survivors, creating the possibility of a second round of deaths from post-disaster diseases such as dengue fever, malaria and diarrhea. Apart from this tragedy, the people of Myanmar in general face a bleak future under military rule, with few hopes for civil rights, democracy or economic prosperity. The Jakarta Post’s Abdul Khalik visited several cities inside the reclusive country last week. The following is his report: (more…)

The Burmese military government’s recent moves to seal off access to the cyclone survivors in the Irrawaddy delta has proved, once again, how far Burma continues to sink into the sad image of a failed state. (more…)