Agricultural credit should be made available in order to prevent rural indebtedness and to improve agricultural production in Burma, said Dr. Noeleen Heyzer the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economics and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). (more…)

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) is considering approaching the international community for development funds to assist in the democratization of Burma rather than applying pressure on the Burmese junta, according to the Malaysian foreign minister. (more…)

Thai premier Abhisit Vejjajiva has postponed a visit to Myanmar this Friday at the request of of the ruling junta because of an impending verdict in the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi, the government said. (more…)

Chiang Mai, Thailand – The ministers attending the 27th ASEAN Ministers of Energy Meeting (AMEM) today in Mandalay will enjoy unprecedented access to electricity while the rest of the country faces chronic power shortages. (more…)

The trial of Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi has been suspended for a second time in recent days and will resume tomorrow after the prosecution again failed to wrap up their statement. (more…)

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has again warned the ruling junta in Burma that without national reconciliation prior to next year, the 2010 elections would be futile. (more…)

A court in army-ruled Myanmar heard final arguments on Monday in a case involving opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who faces five years in prison if found guilty of breaching a draconian security law. (more…)

A Myanmar state-run newspaper on Sunday accused U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton of interfering in the affairs of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations after she urged its members to press for more democratic reforms in the country. (more…)

Yangon North District Court heard Criminal Case Nos 47/2009, 48/2009 and 49/2009 filed against US citizen Mr John William Yettaw, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Daw Khin Khin Win and Ma Win Ma Ma this afternoon. (more…)

Shrunken to 30 pounds of skin and bones, Ma Moe could barely walk when she arrived on the doorstep of the clinic nearly two years ago. AIDS had killed her husband three years earlier, and it was slowly killing her. (more…)

An outbreak of dengue fever in Myitkyina, capital of Burma’s Kachin State, has claimed several lives, according to local residents. (more…)

A Malaysian immigration official was charged with selling an illegal immigrant from Myanmar to human traffickers at the country’s border with Thailand, his lawyer said Monday. (more…)

The trial of Aung San Suu Kyi has highlighted the inability of Burma’s neighbours to counter the generals’ stranglehold. (more…)

International gatherings like the ones held on the Thai resort island of Phuket last week are seldom much more than talk shops. The ministers who attended the Asean Ministerial Meeting (AMM) and the Asean Regional Forum (ARF) went there to be seen and heard, not to solve any of the region’s problems. (more…)

The Burma and North Korea issues have been in the spotlight at Asean meetings for more than a decade. The “issues” vary from meeting to meeting, depending on what is happening with these countries at the time. (more…)

In my youth, I once studied geopolitics, and held Sir Halford Mackinder and Alfred Thayer Mahan in ‘great esteem for their beliefs including heartland theories. Later, I also disrespected them simultaneously due to the world wars and Cold War along with the colonial wars that were under their beliefs. Their convictions are, in fact, the nucleus of colonialism. Anyhow, I had interest in Europe, home to those whose convictions conceived colonialism and who introduced colonialism to the world. By good fortune, I was given an opportunity to stay in Brussels, also known as the heart of the Europe, for a few years. Only then could I come to know a lot about Europeans, aggressive and mean peoples, their beliefs, their some habits worthy of emulation, excessive selfishness, and covetousness. In my opinion, these points led to the world wars, and negative attitude towards Myanmar. To write this article, I was inspired by a strong desire to share thy knowledge and experiences which I gained from my stay there, with those Myanmar people who have not been to European countries and those who have not got much knowledge of the continent. (more…)

(Dublin) — Amnesty International today announced that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is being awarded its most prestigious honour – the “Ambassador of Conscience” Award for 2009. (more…)

Rangoon – Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was “absolutely dissatisfied” that her trial was adjourned Friday because it will give the prosecution more time to prepare its case, her lawyer said. (more…)

Chiang Mai – The demand to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners is “nonsense and unreasonable,” said Burma’s state-run newspaper the ‘New Light of Myanmar’ in its issues published today and yesterday. (more…)

THE Three Disease Fund (3DF) is calling for grant proposals from qualified healthcare organisations involved in the fight against malaria, tuberculosis and HIV in Myanmar. (more…)