Yangon — Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi wants the Myanmar people to keep a close watch on upcoming elections and speak out if the vote is not free and fair, her lawyer said Tuesday. (more…)

In a major shake-up within the Burmese military leadership, several high-ranking senior officers have reportedly resigned in order to join the junta’s proxy political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP). (more…)

The Myanmar government is planning to move some of the Yangon region administrative offices from a combined building in the downtown area to the former parliament house in the city built during the tenure of the previous Ne Win government, local media reported Tuesday. (more…)

New Delhi – State-owned oil companies Indian Oil and Oil India are in talks with the Essar group to pick up 20% stake each in a gas block in Myanmar that is estimated to have even bigger reserves than Reliance Industries’ KG-D6 fields. (more…)

Despite an independent assessment of a $100 million United Nations Development Program aid effort in Burma that calls it “disappointing” and suggests that major portions be discontinued, the director of UNDP intends to keep it alive with as-yet unspecified fixes. (more…)

Last week, the U.S. indicated it would back a special United Nations investigation into allegations that the Burmese junta has committed crimes against humanity and war crimes. While it might seem obvious to most observers that the junta has committed these crimes and more, an effective Commission of Inquiry (COI) would be an important step toward justice for the junta’s victims and a potential game-changer for Burma’s disastrous internal politics. (more…)

Human Rights Council – Fifteenth session, Agenda Item 4, General Debate

A written statement submitted by the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC), a non-governmental organisation with general consultative status. (more…)

Bangkok – Myanmar’s government has announced democratic elections will be held on November 7 and Western pundits are busy speculating whether the polls will lead to a new, more open era in the troubled country’s modern history. A far more important and potentially sinister plan is unfolding as the country’s military rulers seek to consolidate a vision of empire that affords them a permanent grip on the country and its many nationalities. (more…)

Chiang Mai, Thailand: The Chin Human Rights Organization (CHRO) strongly condemns the destruction of another Christian cross in Chin State on the orders of Burma’s military regime.  CHRO has learned that the 23-foot high concrete Christian cross in the Mindat Township area, southern Chin State, was forcibly destroyed on 24 July by direct order of the authorities, including the District and Township level Peace and Development Council, the District Religious Affairs Department, and a Mindat abbot from the Hill Region Buddhist Mission. (more…)