Burma’s Union Election Commission published the technical regulations for political parties on Thursday, which favor wealthy candidates. (more…)

In response to the military regime’s new election laws, Burma’s Movement for Democracy and Rights of Ethnic Nationalities is holding a press conference to present their analysis of the election laws, perspectives on the 2010 elections based on the experience of the 1990 elections, and the position of ethnic nationalities. The Movement will also launch a global campaign calling for genuine democracy and national reconciliation. (more…)

The Burmese junta released prisoner of conscience Nyi Nyi Aung from prison on Thursday, March 18, 2010; he will be arriving in the United States late Friday afternoon. (more…)

Manila — Myanmar on Wednesday pledged to promote a culture of tolerance, despite international outrage over an appalling human rights record that includes its crackdown on Buddhist monks. (more…)

Burma’s main opposition party, faced with a choice of registering for this year’s election without its leader Aung San Suu Kyi or disbanding, is showing signs of internal division, according to senior party members. (more…)

More than 12 ministers in Burma’s junta are reportedly preparing to resign and to run for seats in parliament in the 2010 election, according to military sources. (more…)

Nay Pyi Taw, 16 March -As a gesture of taking heed of the request of the US Embassy, Consul Mr. Colin P. Furst and a member of the US Embassy were allowed to hold a consular meeting with prisoner Nyi Nyi Aung (a) Kyaw Zaw Lwin who was naturalized as a US citizen at the office of the in-charge of Pyay Jail in Pyay at 12.55 p.m. on 12 March. – MNA

Bangkok – After surviving 60 years of war, Mu Haw is close to giving up. “I’m too old to keep on running for my life,” she says. “If no one helps us, I will die here.” (more…)

Chaing Rai – In the mountains of Myanmar’s strife-torn Shan state, the colourful blossom of opium poppies has become a more frequent sight of late. A businessman based in the Shan state notes that the flowers now bloom more freely in areas under the control of the ruling junta than in the shrinking zones held by local rebels. (more…)

Hundreds of Myanmarese activists took out a rally in New Delhi on Wednesday to protest against the military junta’s new election laws in Myanmar. (more…)

The Burmese junta is using the 2010 elections to smother the opposition and its democratic activities to cement and legitimize military rule in the guise of elections and democracy, said Dr Sein Win, Prime Minister of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma in  exile. (more…)

The Burmese regime announced its anticipated election laws last week and will definitely hold its promised election this year. (more…)

United Nations – Amid criticism of the election laws propounded by Burmese military leader Than Shwe, at the UN on March 25 the Group of Friends of the Secretary General on Myanmar will meet, Inner City Press has learned. (more…)

So far, March has been a bad month for those countries and so-called Burma experts who advocate for a softer line with Burma’s generals.  First were the admissions by the US that its engagement policy was going nowhere; then came the publication of election laws in Burma that don’t give the slightest concession to calls that elections this year be free and fair; and finally the recommendations by the UN special rapporteur on Burma that there be a UN Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity being committed by the dictatorship. The true nature of Than Shwe and the general’s around him has been revealed again. (more…)

New York – The United Nations should not delay the setting up of an international inquiry to address possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma, Human Rights Watch said today. On March 15, the UN special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, presented his progress report on human rights in Burma for debate at the Human Rights Council in Geneva. (more…)

The availability of the national identity card has become easy from this month with the immigration department of the Burmese military junta issuing them without the usual fuss in Kalemyo, Sagaing division western Burma. (more…)

Hundreds of men, women and children thronged the sand bank of Salween river in the boat-stop area of E-tu Hta temporary Karen Refugee Camp. They came together on March 14 to observe the International Day of Action for Rivers and to protest against dam projects on the Salween. (more…)

Nay Pyi Taw – Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Than Shwe received Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of the Kingdom of Thailand who was on a goodwill private visit in Nay Pyi Taw at Zeyathiri Beikman here at 12.30 p.m. today. (more…)

DOHA — Demand in China is stoking a black market in neighbouring Myanmar in tiger-bone wine, leopard skins, bear bile and other products made from endangered species, a report released on Tuesday said. (more…)

Chiang Mai – A section of Members of Parliament of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, appalled at the anti-democratic nature of the Burmese junta’s electoral laws, have urged their respective governments not to accept it. (more…)