Detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she wants the military regime to negotiatate with ethnic cease-fire groups for a better future in Burma, according to a spokesman who met with her on Saturday. (more…)

Two young men were shot dead in a dispute with soldiers of the Southern Region Military Command in Pegu, some 50 km north of Rangoon.

Local sources identified the victims as Aung Thu Hein, 22, and Soe Paing Zaw, 18.  The sources said they were shot dead execution-style by soldiers from the Command’s Infantry Battalion 59 on Saturday after a dispute between local young men and officers from the battalion near a local restaurant. (more…)

Rangoon — At least 10 businessmen close to Burma’s military regime will be candidates for the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) in the Nov. 7 election, according to sources. (more…)

New Delhi– The junta-backed National Unity Party, which won 10 seats of a possible 492 in Burma’s 1990 general election said the Union Solidarity and Development Party and ethnic parties will be its main rivals in November elections, according to one of its leaders. (more…)

Burmese government workers have been withdrawn from territory in Shan state controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in a possible sign of looming hostilities. (more…)

The real struggle for freedom will begin only after the elections and not before or during the polls, where the ruling junta’s Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is expected to win, said Lt-Gen Yawdserk, leader of the anti-Naypyitaw Shan State Army (SSA) ‘South’. (more…)

The poorest people in Burma are paying more than half their income in hidden taxes, says a human rights report.

The Network for Human Rights Documentation-Burma says interests associated with the ruling military junta spend more than 50 per cent of the national budget on the military and less than 1.3 per cent on health and education. (more…)

Soaring investment from South Korea has pushed it to fifth place in the list of countries pouring money into Burma, Chinese press has reported. (more…)

Bangladesh in Deal to buy Burma Hydro Dam Electricity

Energy starved Burma has reportedly agreed to build two hydroelectric dams in southwestern Arakan State to supply Bangladesh with electricity. (more…)

Myanmar’s reclusive leader, General Than Shwe, arrives in China on Tuesday for a five-day state visit ahead of elections on Nov. 7, at which the ruling junta’s civilian proxies are expected to score a resounding victory. (more…)

Chittagong, Bangladesh: Bangladesh wants to discus 10 major issues during the two-day Burma-Bangladesh fourth Joint Trade Commission (JTC) meeting to be held in Dhaka on September 22, according to a senior official of the Ministry of Commerce (MoC).

MD Ghulam Hussain and Aung Tun, Commerce Secretaries of Bangladesh and Burma respectively, will lead their delegations at the meeting where Bangladesh will have senior officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), the National Board of Revenue (NBR) and the Ministry of Communication and Energy, the official said. (more…)

The founder and editor of The Irrawaddy magazine, Aung Zaw, has been awarded the 2010 Prince Claus Award for journalism along with two journalists from Iran and Cuba.

“Aung Zaw is honored for his active dedication to achieving democratic government in Burma,” said the organization on Monday. “For building such a valuable resource for exposing realities that those in power want to hide, for maintaining the flow of ideas and upholding freedom of information, and for his inspiring role in transgressing the containment of violently enforced political boundaries.” (more…)

Burma’s elections are shaping up to be the detestable sham the dictatorship’s sternest critics have warned. Unlike those held – and then callously ignored – in 1990, no credible opposition is running. Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won the 1990 poll, is a prisoner after spending 15 of the past 21 years under arrest. She is barred from participating. Not satisfied with the quarter of parliamentary seats reserved for the military, dozens of officers retired last week so they could contest “civilian” seats. Philip Crowley, a US assistant secretary of state, accurately said of this mockery: “A dictator in civilian clothing is still a dictator.” (more…)

The last time Burma’s junta tried rigging an election in hopes of putting a civilian face on its military rule, in 1990, it was routed at the polls. The junta responded by annulling the results. Now, with the country’s first vote in 20 years set for Nov. 7, the generals have apparently learned their lesson: this time, the process will be even more tightly controlled. (more…)

Buried deep within secret Burmese army files obtained by DVB is a recording of Senior General Than Shwe in late 2005 speaking to top-level military officials during a four-monthly meeting.

“If we look at the list of fallen people, you will see that 38 people fell, and one person went missing; 59 persons wounded, 21 weapons were lost…” he says on the losses suffered by his army. (more…)

European Union, United States, Canada, and Australia Urged to Make It Happen in the UN General Assembly and Human Rights Council Meetings in September 2010

No. 9/2010(ABMA+88+ABFSU)
Rangoon, Burma

(1) We welcome and support the endorsement of the United States for a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma, as recommended by UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in Burma, Mr. Tomas Ojea Quintana in March 2010. (more…)