Mandalay central court lawyer Myint Thwin is hoping to appeal the lengthy prison sentences given to 11 university students from Mandalay in November last year before the 24 January deadline. (more…)

For the first time this year, students in Kachin state in northern Burma pasted and distributed 600 posters against the ruling Burmese junta in the venue of the 61st Kachin State Day celebrations and four major townships, today before dawn, said student activists. (more…)

Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) soldiers along the Thanbyuzayat (Thanpyuzayart) to Three Pagodas Pass motor road have seized at least 100 sacks of rice from civilian drivers forced to transport the cargo for the Burmese army. Drivers are being made to pay for the loss, say sources close to the drivers. (more…)

The Burmese military junta has intervened and imposed curfew in an oilfield, after the dispute between a private oil company and local oil producers in Myaing Township, Magwe Division in central Burma. (more…)

Burma’s foremost exiled educator Dr Thein Lwin received a standing ovation by the participants at the 2-day seminar held in Chiangmai which ended yesterday (11 January). (more…)

Despite fertilizer prices recently coming down in Burma, Bangladeshi traders continue to export fertilizer products to Burma illegally through the sea route. (more…)

Experiencing increased pains related to the global financial crisis, Burma’s military government is struggling to maintain a solvent state budget, seemingly exploiting every option available to them, such as the introduction of a pre-paid phone system and further state-run auctions. (more…)

Myanmar will grant four more blocks in three states and division for local investors to carry out gem mining, according to the Ministry of Mines Sunday. (more…)

Local private companies in Myanmar have proposed to the government to cultivate 81,000 hectares more of timber in two division and state for the development of the sector, the Voice weekly reported Sunday, quoting the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry. (more…)

Tens of thousands of people in remote northwestern Myanmar faced a food crisis after their farmlands were destroyed by a rat infestation, a non-governmental organisation said Monday. (more…)

Police Monday arrested two Singaporean activists for staging a protest in support of Myanmar nationals allegedly being forced to leave the city-state for involvement in political activities. (more…)

Thailand will vote on Sunday in the biggest set of by-elections ever in what amounts to major test for the new government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, both in Bangkok and in the provinces. (more…)

The US and European Union should review their policy of imposing economic sanctions on Burma as the country’s pariah military regime is key to the future stability of any elected government, East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta said Sunday. (more…)

Nigeria is making a “big mistake” by giving a donation of half a million US dollars to Burma’s military government in aid of cyclone victims, as the donation is unlikely to reach the targeted population, according to a UK-based campaign group. (more…)

THE Philippines missed out on a gilt-edged chance to make a principled stand on the burning question of Myanmar-or Burma as the civilized world remembers this beautiful country and its gentle people before both were brutalized by the pariah generals, led by Senior Pariah Than Shwe, who have turned the country into their personal fiefdom. (more…)

For most Burmese, 2008 will be remembered for “an apocalypse by the name of Cyclone Nargis” that devastated the country, “and the year the international community headed by the United Nations thoroughly failed” in the face of the emergency and the drama of the refugees, incapable of touching the power of a military dictatorship that “represses any voice contrary to the regime” in blood. The charge comes from Pascal Khoo Thwe, a Burmese activist of Padaung ethnicity, exiled in London, in an editorial published on the website of the dissident newspaper Democratic Voice of Burma. (more…)

The sharp fall in oil prices on world markets has created a unique situation in Burma, where the cost of fuel on the black market is now lower than at government-controlled pumps. (more…)

Fear follows Burmese artists even when they venture abroad, according to the leading painter Chaw Ei Thein. (more…)