Yangon – At least 50 people are feared drowned after a packed passenger ferry crashed into an oil barge in an area of Myanmar hit by a devastating cyclone last year, local officials said Tuesday. (more…)

International coverage of state-backed human rights abuses in Burma does not adequately address the subtler forms of abuse that are beginning to erode and distort ethnic cultures, a Shan group has warned. (more…)

Rangoon — A 73-year-old mother broke into tears when she heard the message from her son, Tun Tun Oo, who is in Meik-Hitla Prison, one of thousands of political prisoners in Burmese jails. (more…)

Chiang Mai – Thai authorities have increased surveillance in the National Park on the Thailand–Burma border in Chumporn Province because of severe deforestation and hunting of wildlife. (more…)

Unb, Dhaka – Further action by the UN commission concerned on Myanmar’s claim on the outer-limits of the continental shelf in the Bay of Bengal has been suspended. (more…)

Rangoon — The value of the Burmese national currency, kyat, has suddenly appreciated as millions of US dollars flow into the local market in earnings from the opium and amphetamine trade at the Sino-Burmese border. (more…)

Nay Pyi Taw – Prime Minister of the Union of Myanmar General Thein Sein attended the 1st ASEANUS Leaders Meeting at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, the Republic of Singapore at 3.20 pm yesterday. (more…)

Berlin — An international watchdog says Canada is tied for eighth place in a survey that examined levels of corruption in 180 countries. (more…)

Calls from the French foreign ministry to release Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi have been welcomed by campaigners in France who say that Western engagement with the regime is long overdue. (more…)

Yangon – Detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has requested a meeting with the military regime’s top leader, adding to signs that lines of communication are opening up between her and the junta. (more…)

Yangon, Myanmar — A ferry carrying nearly 200 passengers sank after colliding with an oil barge in a river in Myanmar, killing at least eight and leaving more than three dozen missing, officials said Monday. (more…)

Burmese troops have razed huts and infrastructure belonging to illegal Burmese settlers on an island on the Thaung Yin (or Moei) river, which separates Burma’s eastern Karen state from Thailand. (more…)

More than 200 Buddhist monks and nuns asked for alms donations in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on Monday to send to Burmese refugees who live in camps along the Thailand-Burma border. (more…)

Yangon – The Global Fund has agreed to provide Myanmar with 110 million dollars to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, after pulling out of the country four years ago, media reports said Sunday. (more…)

Thai authorities seized about 300,000 amphetamine tablets in Mae Sai near Tachilek Township on the Burmese-Thai border on Sunday. (more…)

SINGAPORE — President Barack Obama’s historic meeting with a top Myanmar leader Sunday raises the stakes on both sides to show progress in their recent diplomatic thaw. (more…)

Barack Obama arrives in Singapore tonight, beginning a policy of engagement with regional bodies which is intended to draw a line under the George W. Bush years, write Kevin Brown in Singapore and Edward Luce in Tokyo. (more…)

Tokyo — In his speech Saturday to an audience of invited Americans and Japanese officials, President Obama discussed a wide range of U.S.-Asian issues. Among them was his administration’s evolving approach to dealing with East Asia’s two troublesome military dictatorships: North Korea and Burma. (more…)

Colombo – There has been a demonstration in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, against the visit of the Burmese head of state, General Than Shwe. (more…)

Washington, D.C. – Supporters of Myanmar’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi voiced guarded hope after US President Barack Obama raised her case directly with the junta, but some accused Southeast Asian leaders of undercutting his message. (more…)