“We’re starting to see progress in the Bt350billion project,” said Somchet Thinapong, managing director of Dawei Development Co.

The project sprang from a study 10 years ago by the Thai government on a possible alternative route to the Malacca Strait. And in May 2008, Thailand and Burma agreed to launch it. (more…)

Burma’s parliament has voted to join a Southeast Asian parliamentary body whose professed aim is to boost the participation of citizens in regional affairs, despite criticism of the void between civilians and the majority of parliamentarians in Burma. (more…)

Chiang Mai – Bob Kelley, a former weapons inspector with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), says the German government is ‘naïve’ in their claim that exported German equipment sent to Burma has not been used contrary to their stated end use. (more…)

How the Burmese government might exploit last week’s earthquake.

Burma’s political isolation doesn’t make it immune from nature. Thursday’s major earthquake, of 6.8 magnitude, struck the northeast of the country, in Shan State. Preliminary reports put the death toll at more than 150, and there are reports of widespread destruction of buildings, bridges, and roads, including 250 houses and Buddhist monasteries destroyed. (more…)

EarthRights International (ERI) today issued a damning report linking major Chinese and Korean companies to widespread land confiscation, and cases of forced labor, arbitrary arrest, detention and torture, and violations of indigenous rights connected to the Shwe natural gas project and oil transport projects in Burma (Myanmar). The publication, The Burma-China Pipelines: Human Rights Violations, Applicable Law, and Revenue Secrecy, draws primarily on two years of clandestine interviews with affected populations from Arakan State, Magway Division, and Mandalay Division, as well as leaked documents that provide new insight into secretive payments between the oil companies and the military regime, controversial security arrangements, and inadequate corporate due diligence. (more…)

Yangon – Myanmar democracy campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi marked the 66th anniversary of the founding of the country’s resistance movement against Japan Sunday with an appeal for better relations with Myanmar’s military leadership.
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Aid agencies said they feared the death toll from a powerful earthquake in northeastern Myanmar Thursday night could climb after government authorities reported at least 70 people were killed and hundreds of homes destroyed. (more…)

Burma’s parliament has voted against a proposal that would urge the new government to work towards building stronger relations with the country’s marginalised ethnic groups. (more…)

More than half of Burma’s journals and magazines will no longer be forced to go via the country’s draconian censor board prior to publication, according to a new ruling that however maintains a tight clamp on political reporting. (more…)

Chiang Mai– The Burmese Parliament this week will discuss economic sanctions imposed on Burma by the European Union and Western countries. (more…)

Chiang Mai– Retiring Burmese junta leader Senior General Than Shwe has advised outgoing and newly elected cabinet ministers in Naypyidaw to tackle corruption, according to sources close to the government. (more…)

Teknaf, Bangladesh: Rohingya refugees at Leda Camp have been facing problems from unhygienic conditions for more than two weeks since local villagers in the area blocked the drain which carries wastewater from the refugee camp. (more…)

Chiang Mai– As debate begins on a potential softening of European Union (EU) sanctions against Burma, the Austrian Embassy in Bangkok has declined to deny reports that Ambassador Dr. John Peterlik led a delegation of Austrian businessmen to Burma this month. (more…)

Pyongyang – Kim Yong Nam [Kim Yo'ng-nam], president of the Presidium of the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea] Supreme People’s Assembly, Monday sent a message of sympathy to Thein Sein, president of Myanmar [Burma], in connection with earthquake that hit his country, claiming casualties and material losses. (more…)

An American diplomat met with members of Myanmar’s opposition on Monday to discuss economic sanctions but democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was not present, a political party leader said. (more…)

An apocalyptic series of earthquakes, cyclones, tsunamis and floods in the region has spooked everyone. Many people have turned to soothsayers and astrologers for advice about any impending natural disasters. (more…)

Aid workers said Friday that at least 120 people were killed by the magnitude 6.8 earthquake that hit Thursday, rattling high-rises in Bangkok and sending people streaming into the streets of Hanoi. Details of the disaster were slowly seeping out from Shan State in northeastern Burma, a relatively remote region near the border with Laos and Thailand in the heart of the area known as the Golden Triangle. Homes, monasteries and government offices were among the 390 buildings damaged or destroyed, according to Burma’s state-run media. (more…)

Yangon — A powerful earthquake that toppled homes in northeastern Myanmar has killed more than 70 people, and there were fears Friday the toll would mount as conditions in more remote areas became known. (more…)

Tachilek, Myanmar — Aftershocks continued here Friday and residents camped out on streets and in parks, praying at makeshift shrines after a major earthquake the night before killed at least 70 people, injured hundreds more and shattered hundreds of buildings.
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The British author of a biography of Myanmar strongman Than Shwe told on Friday how he was deported from the country after being identified by secret police. (more…)