Yangon – A court in military-ruled Myanmar has sentenced a monk to 15 years in prison for “anti-election” activities, his lawyer said Tuesday. (more…)

Nay Pyi Taw – At the invitation of His Excellency Mr. Choummaly Sayasone, President of the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Senior General Than Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar, and wife Daw Kyaing Kyaing will pay a State visit to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic in the near future. – MNA

Mae Sot — It was a day like any other. Kyaw Kyaw Htun, a 19-year-old university student, lived outside Rangoon, so when he started the day he had heard nothing of the clashes taking place between monk-led demonstrators and troops on the capital’s streets. (more…)

A Thai defence volunteer and two Wa soldiers were killed in a clash on Monday night between a border defence unit of the 3rd Army and an armed unit of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) near the Thai-Burmese border in Doi Lang area in Chiang Mai’s Mae Ai district, Col Somsak Nin-ubon said on Tuesday. (more…)

PRIVATE banks have been ordered to extend credit to rice and beans and pulses exporters to help them sell their products abroad, banking sources say. (more…)

MYANMAR donors should take a more active role in fighting HIV/AIDS and other related diseases, officials from non-government organisations said last week. (more…)

Chiang Mai – Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has called for the Burmese junta to initiate a more “inclusive process” after the nation’s first general elections in 20 years on November 7, according to a report in The Washington Post. (more…)

United Nations – Myanmar’s looming election will not be credible unless the military rulers release Nobel prize-winning opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a UN ministerial group said Monday. (more…)

United Nations – Myanmar’s foreign minister on Tuesday rejected international criticism of the country’s election insisting that the junta is committed to a “free and fair” vote. (more…)

Eighteen Burmese refugees have arrived in Japan from Thailand, marking a new turn in Japan’s asylum policy. (more…)

Gandhi once said, “An ounce of practice is worth more than a ton of preaching.” But in the decades since Gandhi and in an environment premised on India’s towering pursuits of economic development and regional security, I am beginning to wonder if India is doing more preaching than practice when it comes to promoting democracy and freedom – the very things that it fought so hard to win over from the British Raj. (more…)

Three years ago this week, the military authorities in Burma embarked upon a violent crackdown on demonstrations calling for human rights, economic changes, and peaceful democratic reform. (more…)

Burma Campaign UK today welcomed Lithuania’s backing for a UN Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma. (more…)