Lawyers for Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Tuesday they had asked a court to overturn an earlier ban that prevented three defence witnesses from testifying at her trial. (more…)

A US man who swam to the home of Aung San Suu Kyi was not paid by or taking orders from any outside organisation, his lawyer said ahead of final arguments in the trial of Myanmar’s democracy icon. (more…)

Burma’s warning to its neighbours to respect its sovereignty should only be interpreted as an attempt to guard the security of the Burmese junta and not its citizens, the National League for Democracy said yesterday. (more…)

While the world remains fixated on the trial of National League for Democracy (NLD) Chairman Aung San Suu Kyi, a veteran politician has called on the international community to press equally hard for the release of the party’s Vice-Chairman, Tin Oo, who is being held under house arrest. (more…)

The Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a ceasefire group, has begun forcibly recruiting people to serve as border guards in compliance with orders from Burma’s ruling junta, according to Karen sources. (more…)

The Thai-Burmese border trade in Tak province has affected more from global economic problems than political turbulence in Burma, said Chaiyuth Senitantikul, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries in Tak. (more…)

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak urged Burma to take steps to promote democracy during a meeting with its prime minister on Tuesday, Lee’s office said. (more…)

Political change in military-ruled Myanmar was “very much needed” for regional stability, said Kasit Piromya Foreign Minister of Thailand yesterday. (more…)

Increasing militarization and internal conflict has pushed Burma down to 126th place in the new Global Peace Index, which measures the level of peace in countries across the world. (more…)

The trial of the world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Aung San Suu Kyi, has once again catapulted events in Burma onto the front pages of newspapers around the globe. The leader of Burma’s struggle for human rights and democracy has been charged with violating the terms of her house arrest after an American citizen swam across a lake and broke into her home last month. Heads of state from Asia and the West, celebrities, and U.N. leaders such as human rights chief Navi Pillay have responded strongly, demanding not only an end to the trial in Burma’s kangaroo courts but the immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years. (more…)

“No one is above the law.” The famous prosecution statement is used repeatedly and blissfully by the Burmese junta’s senior officials these days. (more…)

As North Korea’s recent nuclear test raises tensions in Asia, rogue state Myanmar’s nuclear program is ringing alarm bells in the Western world, say Greenpeace and a local expert. (more…)

Khin Ohmar is a secretary of Forum for Democracy in Burma and a spokesperson for a campaign calling for the release of all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The campaign started on March 13, Burma’s Human Rights Day. On May 26, the campaign announced that it collected more than 650,000 signatures from more than 150 countries around the world. Ohmar spoke to The Irrawaddy regarding the trial of Suu Kyi. (more…)