New Delhi – To meet mounting telecommunication needs, Burmese authorities have decided to provide 150,000 CDMA telephones to residents of Mandalay and Rangoon, the two largest cities in the country. (more…)

Sittwe – The Burmese army stationed in Arakan State has been forcibly recruiting youth from villages to serve in the army, said a retired teacher.

“The system for forced recruitment of soldiers has been missing for a long time, but now it has appeared again. The army authority ordered village councils to recruit five youth from each village to serve in the army,” he said. (more…)

On the two-year anniversary of the monk-led September mass demonstrations, the military junta keeps a close eye on the estimated 400,000 Buddhist monks in Burma with continued surveillance and propaganda in the media. (more…)

New Delhi – Aung San Suu Kyi’s request to the Rangoon Division of the Special Branch of Police to allow her to be present in court, which will hear her appeal against the lower court’s verdict, has been rejected. (more…)

Even before hostilities break out thousands of civilians in Mongla in eastern Shan State of Burma are fleeing to neighbouring China for two reasons, following the Burmese junta breaking a ceasefire pact and capturing the Kokang rebel’s capital Laogai on August 24, said local sources.

Firstly, Mongla residents are really worried about the inhuman act of the Burmese soldiers, who shot dead dozens of innocent children and civilians in Kokang territory during gun battles between the Burmese Army and the Kokang rebels loyal to Peng Jiasheng from August 27 and 29, said residents of Mongla. (more…)

“We used to think whatever happened, China’s our friend,” said a middle-aged officer from one of the ceasefire groups located on the Sino-Burma frontier. “After Kokang, I’m not sure.” (more…)

The education of stateless children along the Thai-Burmese border remains a problem in search of a solution

Tak – There are 580km of border between Thailand and Burma in Tak, a province in northern Thailand. Immigrants, some of whom are refugees, have been settling in Tak for decades. Many generations have since been born on Thai soil. Many of these immigrants, as well as their children, remain stateless – not recognised as a citizen of any country. (more…)

Four government soldiers were killed and eight were injured after an ambush by ethnic Karen troops on Sunday near to the Thai-Burma border, according to Karen officials. (more…)

Geneva – The U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay, says millions of people around the world are denied their human rights because of, what she calls, the “scourge of discrimination”. Pillay told the 47-member U.N. Human Rights Council, that women and ethnic minorities are among those who are most victimized by human-rights abuses. (more…)

Myanmar Diplomacy UN Myanmar prime minister to attend UN General Assembly

Yangon  – Myanmar’s prime minister, General Thein Sein, plans
to attend the United Nations General Assembly in New York during the
last week of September, a government official said Tuesday. (more…)