The Burmese army’s use of the infamous “four-cuts” strategy and military build-up are driving many villagers in southern Shan State from their homes and landing them among the country’s many “internally displaced persons,” observers said. (more…)

BURMESE activists are watching with interest as populations in Tunisia, Egypt and now Libya throw off their dictators’ yokes. (more…)

Reports are emerging from northern Arakan state that Burmese troops and border security forces have rounded up and tortured villagers following alleged talks over the formation of an armed anti-government group. (more…)

Mae Sot, Thailand – Saw Htoo, a 60-year-old ethnic Karen resident of the Mae La refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border, does not want to go to Texas. (more…)

Frustration and fury have been expressed by representatives of Burmese IT companies, including the semi-governmental Yatanarpon Teleport Company, after it emerged that FTTx (Fiber Transfer to X) contracts previously agreed with the military government were to be suspended in favor of a deal with tycoon Tay Za and an IT firm run by the junta’s proxy party to establish a dual-monopoly of Burma’s broadband networks. (more…)

Last September, I had a telephone call from Pier Luigi Loro Piana. He heads the family business that bears his surname – an Italian textile group with 135 stores in prime addresses, including London’s Bond Street and Avenue Montaigne in Paris. One of its coats can cost £5,000, a sweater £500. (more…)

YANGON, Myanmar – Authorities in Myanmar said they have eradicated about one-sixth of the country’s opium growing fields in the most recent growing season as part of a plan by the ruling junta to eliminate the illicit drug. (more…)

Myanmar is reportedly developing SCUD ballistic missiles with the technical assistance of North Korean engineers. (more…)

Bangkok — Two decades of Western sanctions against Myanmar have failed to achieve their goal and need to be urgently overhauled, an influential international think tank has said. (more…)

Chiang Mai – Countries around the world are continuing to offer new homes to Burmese refugees, most of whom are war refugees. (more…)

Moscow – An Antonov plane ordered by the military junta in Myanmar crashed during a test flight in Russia on Saturday, killing all seven people on board, the Interfax news agency reported. (more…)

Why did Snr-Gen Than Shwe insert a self-amnesty clause into Burma’s 2008 Constitution that was never discussed by the regime-sponsored National Convention, the body that drafted the charter? Why did he compel retired director-general Thaung Nyunt, his legal adviser, to write this section alone in his office without consulting others? (more…)

Burma’s most hated dictator, Than Shwe, has adopted the Singapore President Model with regards to budget. He has granted the commander-in-chief of the military—who is currently himself—the absolute authority to use unlimited “Special Funds”. These funds are supposedly to help him in performing his duties of protecting the Constitution and preserving national sovereignty. What is interesting is that this was enacted as a law but it was done secretly. (more…)

With The Myanmar Times in the middle of a serious threat to its very existence, one might be forgiven for thinking the exile media would relish the prospect of the newspaper’s demise, such is the level of animosity between Burmese news organisations inside and outside the country. But whatever feelings people have towards its former publisher, Ross Dunkley, surely the end of the paper would be a major setback for Burma’s news media and the flow of information in the country, in the same way that the demise of The Irrawaddy print edition was a major setback. (more…)

Around 10.000 refugees from Burma, mainly from Chin State, reside currently in Delhi, among them around 3.000 children, 3.000 men and 4.000 women. Health care, education, water supply, shelter and access to humanitarian aid are insufficient. Women in particular suffer from treatable gynecological diseases, lack of proteins and vitamins, undernourishment, etc. all the issues affect directly their children, their families and the society as a whole as well. Additionally they face sexual and gender based violence in public and at work places which leads again to domestic violence, divorces, illiterate children and extreme poverty. (more…)