Aizawl/Agartala — The Mizoram government has launched a crackdown against Myanmar nationals living in the state without documents, officials said Sunday. (more…)

They are the most expensive gems per carat on Earth  -  and Burma is blessed with an abundance of them. The trade in Burmese rubies is banned, but as a Live investigation discovers, the country’s corrupt military junta is forcing people to mine them in slave-labour conditions to line their own pockets  -  and business is booming (more…)

Bangkok – In the lead-up to Myanmar’s first elections in two decades, flows of narcotics from the country have become a flood as drugs-producing rebels prepare for a showdown with the junta, experts say. (more…)

Pro-democracy activists in Germany and the Burmese opposition have accused the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (also known as Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung—FES), a German NGO associated with Germany’s Social Democratic Party, of having “controversial relations” with Burma’s military governement as it held a round-table discussion about the Burmese election in Berlin on Sept. 17 (more…)

New Delhi – British Foreign Secretary William Hague has condemned the November 7 Burmese election, calling it “a sham” designed to keep the military regime in power, even after the polls. (more…)

U.S. policy ahead of elections isn’t working. (more…)

It is time for the UN to investigate the consistent reports of mass human rights violations in Burma to enable the identification of those responsible. The failure to take this step is unjustifiable. For decades NGOs and UN actors have documented reports of extrajudicial killings, sexual violence, torture, mass internal displacement, sexual violence, the use of child soldiers and forced labour, and the list goes on. The scale and gravity of the violations reported strongly suggests that they amount to war crimes or crimes against humanity. (more…)

The State Peace and Development Council devotes itself to the State’s seven-step Road Map it has adopted for democratization as aspired by the people. Now, the Road Map is in its fifth step: holding election for the formation of hluttaws (parliaments) in accordance with the State Constitution (2008). As groundwork, the government has promulgated Union Election Commission Law, Political Parties Registration Law, and Election Law and Rules. (more…)

September 21, 2010 is International Day of Peace. In 2001, the nations of the world came together at the UN General Assembly and jointly agreed on Resolutions 55/282, marking September 21 as the International Day of Peace. Combined with the objective to strengthen peace between and among nations, this special occasion also recognizes links with other aims of the UN, including development, elimination of poverty and prioritizing equality. (more…)

Myanmar is scrapping voting in swathes of insurgency-plagued ethnic areas in its first election in two decades — a move criticised as excluding millions from a poll already seen as undemocratic. (more…)

Yangon- Several areas of Myanmar will not be able to vote in November’s elections, mostly parts of the country where restive ethnic minorities are dominant, state media reported Thursday. (more…)

An armed clash took place between an ethnic ceasefire group that had rejected the junta’s Border Guard Force proposal and the Burmese Army late on Tuesday, military observers said, without being able to provide casualty figures. (more…)

New Delhi – A cadet reporter for the Weekly Eleven Journal was released on Friday morning after two days’ detention for refusing to sign a pledge that he would stop taking photos of flood damage in Magway Division, central Burma. (more…)

Elections conducted on township basic could put candidates who will be contesting for the 7 November polls in trouble and difficulties for their contestants, according to election observers from the Sino-Burma border. (more…)

The media sector is facing a shortage of well-trained journalists that industry sources say may hinder its ability to cover news properly after this year’s election. (more…)

More than 20 mega-dams are being constructed or planned on Burma’s major rivers, including the Salween and Irrawaddy, by multinationals without consulting local communities, a wide range of NGOs charged in a statement Friday. In addition, the group charged, mining, oil and gas projects are creating severe environmental and social problems. (more…)

New Delhi– The 72-hour blockade by students’ organisations of a national highway in the northeastern Indian state of Manipur since Tuesday evening has all but crippled Namphalong market, across the border in Burma. (more…)

The US official leading dialogue with Burma said Thursday he was thoroughly disappointed with the results but that engagement was the best option as the country prepares for controversial elections. (more…)

Britain’s newly elected Foreign Secretary, William Hague has given a stinging assessment of the upcoming elections in Burma as he responded to the dissolving of the National League for Democracy (NLD), by saying;
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With less than two months to go before Burma is subjected to an election that will be the very antithesis of “free and fair,” it is comforting to know that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has once again found the time to chime in on the country’s current political situation. (more…)