More India companies are to invest in Myanmar’s information technology (IT) and education sectors this year, a local weekly The Myanmar Post reported Thursday. (more…)

A spokesman for the Burmese government in exile has urged Washington not to hastily ease sanctions against Burma’s military government. The exile government and rights groups support U.S. engagement with Burma, but they also want pressure for change. (more…)

AN American jailed and later freed by Burma’s military junta for swimming to the home of pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi says he had “wept every day” while in prison. (more…)

US Sen Jim Webb recently traveled to Burma to lean not on Burma’s military regime, but to pressure my country’s democracy movement into giving up economic sanctions—the most important tool in our struggle for freedom. (more…)

It’s no secret that the regime in Burma wants to repair its frosty relationship with America. It would especially like to see the lifting of US sanctions, which have an impact not only on the general population, but are also hampering the junta leaders’ ambition to build a modern armed forces. (more…)

BANGKOK – Long-awaited elections are set for next year, the final destination on Myanmar’s “road map” to democracy, but it is far from clear what civilian rule will look like after almost 50 years of army rule. (more…)

BANGKOK – Tension between Myanmar government troops and an armed ethnic group has sparked an exodus of thousands of people into China from northeastern Myanmar, activists and witnesses said on Wednesday. (more…)

A military government Web site, “kyaymon” [meaning “the mirror”], which operates as an online daily newspaper in Burmese, on Wednesday criticized two well-known Buddhist monks’ organizations and warned that the Burmese military authorities will take action against them. (more…)

Chiang Mai –The incident of flash floods near the Thai-Burmese border last week points to the ineffectiveness of the authorities in addition to its blatant blacking out of information, environmentalists have pointed out. (more…)

Dhaka – Two foreign firms – Conoco Philips and Tullow Bangladesh – will explore for gas in the deep sea in Bangladesh near disputed waters between Burma and Bangladesh. (more…)

BEIJING – A senior Chinese legislator said Wednesday that China will promote social exchanges with Myanmar to boost bilateral ties. (more…)

YANGON, Myanmar — Police in Myanmar seized more than 100 blocks of heroin and nearly 3 million methamphetamine tablets near the border with Thailand in one of the military-ruled country’s largest drug seizures, a state-run newspaper said Wednesday. (more…)

ASEAN countries must consider forming a regional human rights court if they are truly committed to protecting the basic rights of their citizens, a coalition of 70 Asian NGOs said Tuesday. (more…)

Washington – EIGHT years ago I visited Myanmar as a private citizen, traveling freely in the capital city of Yangon and around the countryside. This lush, breathtakingly beautiful nation was even then showing the strain of its severance from the outside world. I was a guest of an American businessman, and I understood the frustration and disappointment that he and others felt, knowing even then that tighter sanctions would soon drive them out of the country. (more…)

Tension between the Burmese military and the ethnic ceasefire militias has been rising along the Sino-Burmese border in recent months. (more…)

BANGKOK – The debate over United States and European Union-led sanctions against doing business in Myanmar is set to intensify in the wake of US Senator Jim Webb’s recent high-profile meeting with Senior General Than Shwe and detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (more…)

Yangon, Myanmar – The conditions of Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s detention have gotten “worse” since her conviction this month for violating terms of her previous house arrest, her lawyer said Tuesday. (more…)

New Delhi – Unless Burma’s military regime releases political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and amends the 2008 constitution, the 2010 general elections will be meaningless and will not usher in any kind of change, the National League for Democracy has said. (more…)

Burma’s armed ethnic groups will increase cooperation with ceasefire groups in an effort to strengthen resistance against government army forces, following a meeting of eight opposition groups. (more…)

Yangon – The World Food Program (WFP) of the United Nations has ended its helicopter transportation services of aid supplies in Myanmar’s cyclone-hit Ayayawaddy division this month as emergency phase has passed, a local weekly reported Tuesday. (more…)