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…)

Myanmar’s highest court said Wednesday it will allow a final appeal by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s defense lawyers for the reinstatement of two key witnesses at her trial, her lawyer said. (more…)

Burma has the world’s third largest population of stateless persons according to the UN refugee agency, while at the same time Burmese refugees were last year the main beneficiaries of UN resettlement programmes. (more…)

The Burmese military junta plans to resettle 200,000 Burman people in ethnic Kachin’s Hukawng Valley (also called Hugawng in Kachin) in the country’s northern Kachin State before 2010, said regime insiders. (more…)

Myanmar government forces have overrun three Karen rebel positions in an offensive that has forced thousands of refugees across the Thai border, an aid group said Wednesday, even as the rebels claimed to have killed or wounded scores of government soldiers. (more…)

Bangladesh will formally complain to the United Nations against claims of India and Myanmar in a row over maritime waters in the Bay of Bengal, the country’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wazed said Wednesday. (more…)

Singapore’s “no new investment without reform” message to the Burmese generals is more than just a tough response to the widely condemned trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, say regional analysts. (more…)

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao has told the Burma’s No 2 leader, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, on Tuesday in Beijing that China hopes the military junta will promote democracy in Burma. (more…)

About 3.5 million Myanmars have fled the country and are now living in refugee camps or have sought employment abroad, including an estimated 150,000 in Malaysia, the Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG) said Tuesday. (more…)

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his envoy to Myanmar have received a petition from over 670,000 people worldwide urging them to press Myanmar’s military junta to release all political prisoners. (more…)

Military-ruled Myanmar is ready to host a visit by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon next month, foreign diplomats said Wednesday. (more…)

It is time to treat Than Shwe as the war criminal that he is, and hold a commission of inquiry into crimes against humanity, writes Benedict Rogers. (more…)