Burma’s military government is still one of the most corrupt countries in the world, according to the Global Corruption Report 2009 released by Transparency International (TI) on Thursday. (more…)

Yangon — A senior U.S. official will visit Myanmar next week in line with Washington’s new policy of engaging the military-ruled Southeast Asian nation, a Foreign Ministry official said Thursday. (more…)

Yangon — Myanmar’s authorities have allowed the first mobile phones to be used in its remote capital Naypyidaw after previously banning them for security reasons, residents there said Thursday. (more…)

New Delhi – Leaders of Burma’s National League for Democracy responding to requests on Thursday by party members to call a General Assembly said they are not in a position to call a nation-wide meeting due to the current political restrictions imposed on the party. (more…)

Yangon – Myanmar booth on display at the 6th China-ASEAN trade fair being held in Nanning, capital of Southwest China’ Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, highlights the Muse border town as a town of facilitating trade and cooperation in levying tariff, companies attending the trade fair said on Thursday. (more…)

Hua Hin, Thailand – Southeast Asian governments raised pressure on military-ruled Myanmar on Thursday to hold “free and fair” elections next year, and urged the junta to free pro-democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi. (more…)

Yangon – Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein left Nay Pyi Taw Thursday to attend the 15th Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and related meetings in Hua Hin, Thailand, official sources from the new capital said. (more…)

State President Nguyen Minh Triet has voiced support for the defence ministries of Vietnam and Myanmar to sign a military agreement as a step toward gearing up military cooperation. (more…)

Washington, D.C. — A Republican lawmaker on Wednesday lashed out at US human rights activists, accusing them of going soft on President Barack Obama to curry favor with his social circle. (more…)

Washington, D.C. – The United States has warned that its bid to engage Myanmar will be “slow and painful” as it prepares to send a rare mission to a country a top official said was more mysterious than North Korea. (more…)

In recent days civil society groups have convened in Thailand to thrash out their own version of the official regional summit, starting tomorrow, and plain to see was the frustration at the gulf between the two. (more…)