Burma’s new Constitution, approved in a rigged referendum in 2008, is likely to have wide-ranging negative impacts on ethnic people in Burma. These include:
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Headline: We have to strive our utmost to stand as a strong government while conducting changes and amendments in order to catch up with the changing world
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Naypyitaw — Myanmar’s junta was officially disbanded Wednesday after handing over power to a new so-called civilian government, the latest phase of a transition to democracy that has been widely criticized as a sham. (more…)

New Delhi– The National League for Democracy (NLD) says it wants to hold a political dialogue with the new parliamentary government for the sake of national reconciliation. (more…)

Chiang Mai– In his inaugural address to Parliament on Wednesday, President Thein Sein called for a build-up and modernization of Burma’s armed forces, while also coming out against corruption.
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Burma has named its new army chief as General Min Aung Hlaing, apparently replacing the ageing junta supremo Than Shwe who has ruled the country since 1992.
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After a two-decade reign marked by suppression, isolation and a vicious campaign against democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s feared junta chief Than Shwe is receding into the shadows. (more…)

After a 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Burma’s eastern Shan state last week, information about the true scale of the disaster has been slow to emerge, given the region’s mountainous terrain, linguistic barriers and security concerns, according to an aid agency with dozens of volunteer surveyors in affected areas. (more…)

Naypyidaw—The sex industry in the Pyinmanar section of Naypyidaw is still operating as usual two weeks after authority at Naypyidaw has issued regulations intended to curtail the sex trade in the new capital’s karaoke lounges, beauty salons, music bars and massage parlors, local residents told The Irrawaddy. (more…)

Continuing conflict between Burmese government troops and the Shan State Army-North (SSA-North) Brigade 1 in Namsam Township, northern Shan State, is disrupting local Palaung farmers’ attempts to harvest tea. (more…)

Chiang Mai– Thousands of copies of a documentary film recounting the horrors of life in the Burmese army are being downloaded, copied and circulated in Rangoon and other cities in Burma. (more…)

The day we’ve all been waiting for has finally arrived. So why don’t we feel more excited?

Today, Burma’s ruling military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), officially ceased to be. According to the country’s state-controlled media, the SPDC was dissolved to make way for a new civilian government, ending more than 22 years of military rule. (more…)

Ben Rogers is the author of ‘Than Shwe – Unmasking Burma’s Tyrant’. He recently visited Burma for a week on a tourist visa but was subsequently deported by the Burmese authorities. He works for Christian Solidarity Worldwide. Mizzima interviewed him about his deportation, his experience in Burma before he was deported, and his book on Than Shwe. (more…)

Burma will swear in its new president within two days, paving the way for the imminent transfer of power from the ruling junta to a nominally civilian government, officials said Tuesday. (more…)

A Burmese court granted bail Tuesday to an Australian newspaper boss, who said he would continue to fight a prosecution that some have suggested stems from a power struggle. (more…)

Chiang Mai– Burma’s media world may get a little more free starting sometime this week. The junta’s censorship board director Tint Swe said that the new parliamentary government would relax the current press censorship policy in accordance with the new Constitution, the Flower News Journal reported. (more…)

Tarlay, Eastern Shan State—After I left Tachilek and passed through Mae Yan, Mae Hoke and Mong Koe villages, I noticed a kind of traditional Buddhist offering—nine mounds of sand, some cups of water, a small white umbrella and a small banner—in front of every house. (more…)

Manam Tuja, the former vice chairman of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and a leader of the Kachin State Progressive Party (KSPP), applied to become a member of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), according to a  KSPP source. The USDP is the Burmese junta’s proxy party. (more…)

Three officers of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) have been arrested in two different places in Burma’s northern Kachin State by the Burmese Army, KIO sources said. (more…)

A report released on Tuesday by EarthRights International (ERI) claims that the multinational oil companies involved in the Sino-Burmese oil and gas pipeline project are complicit in land confiscation, forced labor, arbitrary arrest and detention, as well as various violations of indigenous rights of the ethnic minorities in the affected regions. (more…)