It doesn’t take a trip to Myanmar to see that measures taken by the international community against the Burmese junta are not working. Recent headlines and the trial of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi indicate that Myanmar continues to be mired in repression. (more…)

GOVERNMENT troops advance. Terrorised villagers flee. Rebels fight back. For six decades this has been the rhythm of warfare in eastern Myanmar, where ethnic-Karen insurgents fight the ruling junta. The latest offensive by Myanmar’s army began in June and is unusual not in its ferocity but in its timing, in the wet season. The army, backed by a breakaway Karen militia, has managed to overrun several bases of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA). Since June 2nd some 4,000 civilians have fled the fighting and crossed the border into Thailand. There is talk of the rebels’ Alamo moment. (more…)

Lawyers for democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi have urged Myanmar’s top court to allow two key aides to testify at her trial, despite efforts by the ruling junta to bar them from the witness box. (more…)

Myanmar’s state media said Wednesday it was expecting the arrival of a rice-earing North Korean ship but had no news about a vessel being tracked by a US Navy destroyer under new UN sanctions. (more…)

The Burmese Army has significantly increased its military presence in northern and eastern Burma, where ethnic ceasefire armed groups are based, following their widespread rejection of the junta’s proposal to transform to a border guard force. (more…)

The Burmese army is still recruiting under-age soldiers in contravention of a United Nations call to stop the practice, according to child labor activists in Burma. (more…)

The Burmese military junta is secretly deploying more combat troops in Kachin State at a time when negotiations are on with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) over the transformation of its armed-wing into a battalion of a “Border Guard Force”, said local sources. (more…)

U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown reiterated Wednesday that his government would tighten sanctions against Myanmar over what he called the “sham trial” of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (more…)

A special Burmese gems emporium organized by the state-run Myanmar Gems Enterprise (MGE) is taking place at the Myanmar Convention Center (MCC). The sale started on 22 June and ends on July 4. (more…)

Malaysian authorities might deport up to 14 Myanmar nationals who were arrested at a demonstration to mark jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday, human rights activists said Wednesday. (more…)

If Burma’s State Peace Development Council (SPDC) holds a successful election in 2010, the Burmese people will lose all hope of freedom and the generals who now rule the country will retain their power. (more…)

Relations between Thailand and Burma are set to deteriorate dramatically following Bangkok’s warning that the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi could all but destroy Burma’s already fragile credibility. (more…)

Burma’s burning ambition to acquire modern missile technology and to upgrade its conventional weapons is no longer a secret, and if left unchecked, could pose a destabilizing threat to regional stability. (more…)

The United Nations’ special envoy to Burma is due to visit the country this week to pave the way for a possible visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, a diplomat said Monday. (more…)

Burma’s military junta has sacked the head of one of the key government departments involved in the Cyclone Nargis relief and recovery effort following allegations that he stole money donated for survivors of the disaster, according to reliable sources in Rangoon. (more…)

Even as the Burmese military junta ignores the needs of the Chin people, the people of Chin state are engaged in construction of roads, with money from their own pockets to meet their needs of transportation. (more…)

Bangladeshi police released 21 Arakanese protesters from custody yesterday after they spent 10 hours in the police lockup, said Ko Aung Naing, one of the detained protesters. (more…)

The Burmese government’s agricultural bank is skimming money from agricultural loans for farmers and using it in their own loan sharking ventures, say the opposition National League for Democracy party. (more…)

The United Wa State Army (UWSA) leaders reportedly on their way from Panghsang in 18 four-wheel cars arrived in Mongton township, opposite Chiangmai province yesterday to hold meetings with their officers and men to discuss its deteriorating relations with the Burmese Army, according to sources on the Thai-Burma border. (more…)

An American destroyer tailed a North Korean ship Tuesday as it sailed along China’s coast, U.S. officials said, amid concerns the vessel is carrying illicit arms destined for Myanmar. (more…)