Bangkok – Civic groups meeting in Thailand are petitioning regional governments to halt dam construction on two major Southeast Asian rivers. The groups say the dams threaten food supplies for millions and are leading to human-rights abuses in some areas. (more…)

New Delhi – The international community should not support the Burmese military junta’s 2010 elections because it will entrench military rule and a culture of impunity, the International Centre for Transitional Justice said in a new report. (more…)

As the season of the world’s prestigious prize announcements are underway, the circumstances of two renowned Nobel Peace Prize recipients are riveting: the stories of Barack Obama of the United States of America and Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma. (more…)

When the immune deficiency syndrome disease (HIV/AIDS) first appeared in Burma in 1988, it was said that the first case was that of a sailor who was infected with the disease. (more…)

Freelance journalist Myint Shwe recently met Manam Tu Ja in Laiza on the Chinese border, where they discussed possible implications of the volatile situation in Burma and his brand-new Kachin State Progressive Party. (more…)

A delegation of Burma civil society actors organized by the Task Force on ASEAN and Burma (TFAB) are attending the ASEAN People’s Forum/ASEAN Civil Society Conference in Cha-am, Thailand, on October 18-20, days before the ASEAN Summit. The APF/ACSC has been reformatted to create greater opportunities for interaction between civil society and ASEAN senior officials. Burma’s civil society groups are calling on ASEAN to address the SPDC’s violations of the regional body’s Charter. (more…)

Yangon – Myanmar’s detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said her recent meetings about sanctions with diplomats and a junta minister were positive, her lawyer told AFP Friday. (more…)

Yangon – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday agreed to allow defence lawyers to appeal to the Supreme Court against her recent sentence to 18 months under house detention.     (more…)

New Delhi – Two exiled ethnic political organizations have expressed their opposition against the Burmese military junta’s planned 2010 election, saying it is aimed to rubber stamp the junta’s rule and does not guarantee the rights of ethnics. (more…)

Two child soldiers in Burma have been put on death row after being accused of killing another child soldier during a fight, the sister of one of the defendants said. (more…)

Chittagong, Bangladesh — Bangladesh has reinforced its border with Myanmar, sending 3,000 extra troops to the area, military officials said Friday, amid new tensions over a disputed stretch of gas-rich sea. (more…)

Incidents of Thai gangs harassing and robbing Burmese migrant workers in Southern Thailand are on the rise, claim several migrant workers interviewed by IMNA. (more…)

Imprisoned Burmese comedian and satirist Zarganar has been chosen by one of Britain’s top poets to receive the prestigious PEN/Pinter award. (more…)

Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has adopted what it calls a “survival policy” for years. But, ahead of the 2010 election, the issue of whether the party continues to apply that policy is being brought into question within the party’s ranks. (more…)

There is no question about it. Thailand needs to solve the problem of underground migrant workers, now estimated at 3 million strong. The challenge is how to do it right. (more…)

At least 30 monks were arrested in Burma in September and October, the two-year anniversary of the Saffron Revolution, sources said. (more…)

Two senior judges and one legal advisor in Burma’s northeastern Shan state have been sacked after government officials accused them of corruption in a drugs trial, a court official said. (more…)

Land confiscation by the Burmese military junta has left indigenous Kachins in food-rich Hukawng (also spelled Hugawng) valley in northern Kachin State fighting for survival, said local sources. (more…)

Yangon – Myanmar will introduce its first largest ever national web portal in Myanmar language next January, sources with the ICT circle said on Thursday, quoting the Yadanapon Teleport Company. (more…)

Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh – Bangladeshi authorities pushed back over 80 Arakanese Rohingyas to Burma in a week along the Bangladesh-Burma border and Chittagong Hill Tracts.   (more…)