Among the many hands that Barack Obama will likely shake on his inaugural trip to Asia as U.S. President will be that of a soft-spoken general who happens to represent one of the world’s most repressive regimes. Obama’s planned joint appearance on Nov. 15 with Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein, at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations’ confab on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in Singapore, will mark the first time since the era of Lyndon B. Johnson that an American President has spent any face-time with a member of the Burmese junta that has ruled since 1962. (more…)

Pakistan — President Mahinda Rajapaska, President of The Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka warmly welcomes Head of State of Myanmar Senior General Than Shwe. (more…)

The Tatmadaw government is now working hard to achieve Myanmar’s democratization process. In addition, it has improved infrastructures to a certain degree for peace and regional development, and that is supported by many tangible results. (more…)

YANGON – Lawyers for Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Friday they had lodged an appeal against her house arrest with the Supreme Court but expected no rapid decision. (more…)

Nay Pyi Taw — The Union of Myanmar and the Kingdom of Bahrain, desirous of establishing friendly relations and mutually beneficial cooperation on the basis of the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and norms of International Law in accordance with the Vienna Conventions on Diplomatic Relations and on Consular Relations, decided to establish diplomatic relations between the two countries at Ambassadorial level with effect from 10 November 2009. The Joint Communique on the agreement .to establish diplomatic relations between the Union of Myanmar and the Kingdom of Bahrain was signed by the Permanent Representative of the Union of Myanmar to the United Nations and the Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United Nations in New York on 10 November. (more…)

Chiang Mai – The Burmese currency ‘Kyat’  touched a record high in seven years with the black market exchange rate prevailing below Kyat 1,000 against the US dollar. (more…)

The Bangladesh government has restarted tri-nation talks over a proposed 950-kilometer gas pipeline to run from western Burma to eastern India, through Bangladesh. (more…)

Barack Obama wades into a noodle soup of Asian multilateral groups when he arrives in Singapore late on Friday in a policy of direct engagement with regional bodies that is intended to draw a line under the George W. Bush years. (more…)

Manila – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Friday elections planned in Burma next year will not be seen as legitimate unless the military government engages in dialogue with the country’s opposition and ethnic minorities. Clinton spoke with VOA in Manila in advance of joining President Obama in Singapore for multi-lateral meetings that could include U.S. interaction with Burmese leaders. (more…)

Kandy, Sri Lanka — Dozens of dancers, drummers and three elephants greeted Myanmar’s reclusive junta leader as the elderly general began a pilgrimage in Sri Lanka Friday on a rare foreign outing. (more…)

Burmese monks living in Sri Lanka have said they will enact a boycott of religious services for the visiting Burmese junta chief in protest against mistreatment of monks in Burma. (more…)

A leading human rights group says India should do more to promote democracy in Burma, despite its concerns about China’s growing influence in the Southeast Asian country.   (more…)

The regime in Burma is like climate change—if you don’t contain it now, it could be catastrophic. (more…)

Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo, who ranked No 4 in the junta, voluntarily resigned from the Burmese armed forces in recent weeks, according to sources. (more…)

Detained Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is soon to release a statement reportedly offering constructive guidelines for a better future in Burma, her party spokesperson said. (more…)

Rangoon special branch police have arrested Naw Ohn Hla and three other women who regularly hold Buddhist prayer services for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and charged them in a special court in Insein Prison. (more…)

The Shan State Special Region #4, otherwise the National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS), based in Mongla, opposite China’s Daluo, has been instructed by the Burmese Army to submit its list of manpower and weapons, according to reports filtering to the Thai-Burma border. (more…)

Dhaka – Bangladesh will restart negotiations over a long standing proposal for a pipeline across its territory that would take natural gas from Myanmar to India, a senior energy official said on Thursday. (more…)

Manila – U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she or President Barack Obama might meet Burmese leaders in the context of a U.S.-ASEAN summit Sunday in Singapore. The Obama administration is pressing Burmese military leaders to release detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and hold free, fair and credible elections next year. (more…)

Kandy – Myanmar’s junta leader General Than Shwe said he was “thrilled” to be in Sri Lanka, where he was given a 21-gun salute and an elaborate red-carpet welcome at the start of his four-day state visit Thursday. (more…)