The Burmese-born US citizen currently detained in a Rangoon prison on charges of fraud is staging a hunger strike, his aunt has said. (more…)

Nay Pyi Taw – The Work Committee for Prevention of Recruiting Minors for Military Service and UNICEF jointly conducted Course No (3/2009) on Prevention of Recruiting Minors for Military Service at the local regiment of Mingaladon Station in Yangon this morning. (more…)

Thousands of new refugees from eastern Burma are expected to seek shelter in Thailand once the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) becomes a border guard force under the Burmese military regime, says the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC), a coalition  that assists refugees on the Thai-Burmese border. (more…)

There is an impasse between the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the Burmese junta on the Border Guard Force (BGF) issue since October, the deadline set by the regime for transforming all ethnic ceasefire groups to the BGF. There has been no high level meeting between the two sides since then, said KIO sources. (more…)

Refugees in the border camps have passed another milestone as the long-running crisis in Burma drags on. Thailand has been hit by the negative impacts from wars and civil strife in neighbouring countries for years, and that pattern shows no sign of ending anytime soon. (more…)

Singapore – Mainboard-listed BH Global Marine has formed a joint venture with two businessmen in Myanmar. (more…)

Keng Tung, Myanmar — Authorities in eastern Myanmar on Tuesday destroyed more than $93 million worth of methamphetamine tablets and other illicit drugs seized over the last six months. (more…)

Jakarta, Indonesia—The strong backing of emerging economic giants China and India of the dictatorship is effectively fending off the demands for democratization of Burma by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean). (more…)

New Delhi – The Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday that the training course conducted by the Burmese military junta to prevent recruitment of children into the military is “one good step in the big problem” but insufficient to tackle the issue. (more…)

As a brand, there is nothing worthwhile left of Chrysler. Why not begin to remake it in the image of what it will become — globalized, sophisticated, European — instead of what it was? (more…)

Elections are due next year in Burma, and they will most probably go exactly according to the plan of the governing military junta. China, meanwhile, eager to exploit Burmese natural resources, has kept on good terms with all factions, national and local by André Boucaud and Louis Boucaud (more…)

Brussels, — The conference “We are Burma – A human response to a human disaster” due to be held in Brussels on 12 December at the KVS Flemish theatre will highlight the appalling human and trade union rights situation in the country. The ITUC, which has been active for many years in tackling the dramatic situation in Burma, will be fully involved in the conference. Guy Ryder, General Secretary of the ITUC, and Rudy de Leeuw, President of the Belgian national trade union centre the FGTB, will speak at the conference to present their organisations’ view. (more…)

The following interview was given by Qiu Shanhe, a Kokang expert close to the leadership that was overthrown by the Burma Army in August. (more…)