Myanmar’s ruling military junta has invited U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit the country in early July, though it was not clear whether he would accept, Western diplomats said on Wednesday. (more…)

It cannot have pleased Myanmar’s ruling family: the collapse of a 2,300-year-old gold-domed pagoda into a pile of timbers just three weeks after the wife of the junta’s top general helped rededicate it. (more…)

Three Arakanese youth who were traveling to Thailand in search of jobs were arrested by Burmese troops in the border town of Myawaddy in Karen State and conscripted into the Burmese military. (more…)

Myanmar government forces captured three Karen rebel positions on Thursday in the latest fighting that has forced thousands of refugees to flee into neighbouring Thailand, commanders said. (more…)

Ethnic ceasefire groups were upset this year when the Burmese junta announced plans to transform them into a Border Guard Force (BGF). However, one Karen rebel splinter group, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), quickly joined, seeing it as an opportunity to expand its troops and as a road to riches. (more…)

Business stakeholders from Burma, China and Thailand are into discussions for Chinese investors to involve themselves in two huge hydro power dams in Burma, said a Rangoon-based energy expert. (more…)

At least eight people, including five children, have died from an outbreak of cholera in central Burma’s Magwe division, with the father of one deceased girl saying he could not afford her medical treatment. (more…)

Britain wants further targeted international financial sanctions to increase pressure on Myanmar to free opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, a minister said on Thursday. (more…)

Supporters of Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi made preparations around the world Thursday to mark her 64th birthday, with calls for her release from jail as she faces trial by the ruling junta. (more…)

Today is the 64th birthday of Aung San Suu Kyi. The fact that she remains under arrest is tragic for Burma and for all those who believe in democracy. The trial of Ms Suu Kyi is an absurd mockery of justice. The real injustice was not that someone broke into her compound, but that she was imprisoned in the first place. (more…)

Last night, before dinner with Iranian friends, the subject of the most recent example of people power came up-Burma and its failed “Saffron Revolution” of September 2007. What were the differences between Burma and Iran? Are there conditions at work in the massive demonstrations in Iranian cities that give this movement a better chance of success than the peaceful marches of monks and ordinary civilians that were tragically and bloodily put down in Rangoon? No one can be sure that the Iranian nonviolent uprising won’t be snuffed out or manipulated into losing its energy, but we concluded that there are at least these differences working in its favor: (more…)

Can an Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of a Sub-Division permit some foreign organisations to hold a protest rally in a part of India, i.e.in Manipur? (more…)

What might a brick oven, seedlings, Engelbert Humperdinck, icons and a molecular model have in common? They’re all components of various artworks in the latest incarnation of the engaging “Gestures” exhibition series at the Mattress Factory. (more…)

BurmaInfo warmly welcomes a strong statement from Tsutomu Hata, former Prime Minister of Japan, calling for the release of Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. “I strongly protest the extended detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” Hata stated. Hata’s message, submitted in Japanese to the “64ForSuu” campaign website (64ForSuu.org), comes amid dozens of similar messages from other Japanese politicians from all the major parties, as well as from prominent musicians and writers (see list below). (more…)