Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will probably meet with United Nations Special Envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari during his forthcoming visit to Burma, her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), said on Thursday. (more…)

A group of veteran politicians, some of whom were active in Burmese politics in the late 1940s, has announced plans to found a new national party to contest the 2010 general election. (more…)

A senior Myanmar official on Thursday denied that boat people from the Muslim Rohingya ethnic group, who have washed up in Thailand claiming abuse back home, originate from its shores. (more…)

In a major development the minutes of a leaked secret meeting of Burma’s Army Commanders said the leadership of the main opposition party – the National League for Democracy – is likely to split and that a faction is likely to emerge to contest the ensuing 2010 general elections. (more…)

A look at the Rohingya, a stateless Muslim minority group from Myanmar who are at the center of a controversy over Thailand’s treatment of migrant workers: (more…)

The UN refugee agency said Thursday it had visited 12 teenage migrants from Myanmar after Thai authorities finally granted access to some of the Rohingya boat people washing up on its shores. (more…)

Experts of the European Union (EU) will examine Myanmar’s marine products to help improve quality of export products for the European market, the local Yangon Times quoted the Myanmar Fisheries Products Producers and Exporters Association as reporting Thursday. (more…)

HIV/AIDS patients being treated in Rangoon have alleged that the Health Department has restricted their stay in the former capital Rangoon. (more…)

Sobbing in an Indonesian hospital, a Rohingya migrant from Myanmar said Thursday he faced certain death if forced home, piling more pressure on countries in the region to treat the Muslim minority as refugees. (more…)

The bearded farmer wept in his hospital bed as he recounted a harrowing six-month journey that brought him from the isolated country of Myanmar to this remote island in the Indian Ocean. (more…)

The seventh visit of the United Nations Secretary General’s advisor Ibrahim Gambari, which tentatively is scheduled for Rangoon this Saturday, is yet another attempt to resolve the political crisis in Burma. This is a standing invitation Gambari received from the military junta, although given the junta’s past intractability, little is expected from the visit. (more…)

The ill treatment of Rohingya refugees at the hands of the Thai authorities is horrific and lamentable, but not surprising. I appreciate the action of Prime Minister Abhisit in investigating the situation, but it is time that Thailand and other Asian nations looked at their treatment of migrants. There is a necessity to investigate the overarching blindness and inhumanity of regional politicians towards the people of Burma. It’s not just Thailand. This past week came news about Malaysian involvement in the trafficking of migrants from Burma. (more…)

Reporters Without Borders urges the international community not to forget Nay Phone Latt (http://www.nayphonelatt.net/), a Burmese blogger who was arrested exactly one year ago today and was sentenced on 10 November to 20 years and six months in prison, or Zarganar, one of Burma’s best known comedians, who is serving a 59-year jail sentence in appalling conditions for criticising the military government online. (more…)