Yangon — Two prominent Myanmar opposition parties Thursday added their voices to calls for Western powers to lift sanctions, as the country prepares for a new parliament after controversial elections. (more…)

Chiang Mai – If the controversial People’s Military Service Law (PMSL) were to be enacted in Burma, the authorities will be abusing the rights of grassroots people in the name of the state, the National League for Democracy (NLD) said on Wednesday. (more…)

Falling US dollar prices have meant that domestic NGOs in Burma are unable to carry out infrastructural activities vital to peoples’ wellbeing, the head of a Rangoon-based aid group has warned. (more…)

Yangon – Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been officially approved to use the Internet at her home in Yangon, her security chief Win Htein told Kyodo News on Thursday. (more…)

PTT Exploration and Production Plc hopes to secure strategic partners within six months for its five petroleum exploration and production ventures in Burma in order to reduce business risk, according to CEO Anon Sirisangtaksin. (more…)

China Unicom, a major state-owned telecommunications operator in China, has signed an agreement with Myanmar Post and Telecommunications (MPT) in Kunming, the capital of China’s Yunnan Province, to jointly provide GSM international roaming service to China Unicom’s users in Burma, according the China Tech News website. MPT is the only state-owned telecoms company in Burma. Although no details of the agreement have been made available, the agreement would make China Unicom the only operator in China and the first in the world to launch this service in Burma.

The agriculture and health of nearly 12,000 people living within a five-mile radius of Burma’s largest coal mine and coal-fired power plant are threatened with air and water pollution, according to a report titled “Poison Clouds” that was complied by the Pa-Oh Youth Organization (PYO) and the Kyoju Action Network (KAN). (more…)

Nay Pyi Taw – A Myanmar delegation led by Minister for Foreign Affairs U Nyan Win arrived back home by air yesterday afternoon after attending the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Retreat and the Special Meeting of the ASEAN Coordination Council (ACC) in Lombok, the Republic of Indonesia, from 15 to 17 January. (more…)

Kangar – Two soldiers were charged in the Sessions Court here today with trafficking in 16 Myanmar citizens including four women, aged between 15 and 48 years, in December last year. (more…)

Immigration authorities offered to give special resident status to Myanmar nationals in return for withdrawing their lawsuit demanding refugee status, it has emerged. (more…)

After three months of hard work, playing Burmese freedom fighter Aung San Suu Kyi in ‘The Lad’y, Malaysia’s very own Michelle Yeoh could finally take a breather as filming of the biopic was wrapped up on January 18. (more…)

Jakarta – ASEAN’s foreign ministers just completed their two-day retreat in Lombok on Jan. 17, wherein Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa outlined the nation’s agenda and priorities for ASEAN as it assumes the association’s rotating chair. (more…)

There appears to be no end in sight for the Burma sanctions debate: recent appeals by Southeast Asia’s regional bloc and ethnic parties inside Burma to end the blockade have been met with a sharp rebuke from the old guard of Burma’s pro-democracy movement, and observers are feeling a sense of deja vu. Why does the issue remain so divisive, and can the pro-sanctions lobby continue to promote the status quo when any tangible results are so obviously lacking? (more…)