The popular uprisings in the Arab world and air strikes by international forces on Libya have spurred an increase in the sale of satellite dishes and receivers in Rangoon and other major cities in Burma, according to sources. (more…)

Figures released last week by the Norwegian government show that investments in oil and gas companies operating in Burma stand at close to $US5 billion, despite heavy opposition from rights groups. (more…)

Images of fighter jets and Tomahawk missiles streaking across the skies of Libya have quickly become popular viewing in military-ruled Burma. (more…)

The voice on the end of a crackling phone line is soft and conspiratorial: “So you have arrived in Rangoon? Come at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. The Lady will see you then.” (more…)

Chiang Mai – Burma’s reported program to manufacture Scud-type ballistic missiles could tilt the balance of power in Southeast Asia and provoke a regional arms race, warns author and Burma expert Bertil Lintner. (more…)

Berlin — Myanmar’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Wednesday that sanctions against the military junta in her country should remain, as the European Union prepares to decide whether to lift the action. (more…)

Burma’s ruling regime has signaled once again that it is in no hurry to free the country’s more than 2,000 political prisoners, despite repeated calls from the opposition and the international community to meet this key demand as a step toward national reconciliation. (more…)

Both the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) had questioned junta officials yesterday on the Burma Army offensive against their ally Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’ that began on 13 March, according to reports coming from Sino-Burma border. (more…)

New Delhi – Private petrol stations in Burma must now ration petrol to customers at six gallons per car a day at a fixed price, according to the Ministry of Energy. (more…)

Karen refugees in Thailand have spoken of their anger at claims made by Burma’s information minister that the majority of those living in Thai camps are insurgents or subversives. (more…)

State-owned properties being auctioned off as part of Burma’s ongoing privatization drive are attracting some big bidders—thanks largely to the abundance of businessmen in the country with money to hide, according to local business sources. (more…)

Narongchai Akrasanee, a former commerce minister and director of the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), said there was more opportunity for Thai companies to invest in Burma than in Thailand. (more…)

A freshly elected parliamentarian woke up at 6:30 am one recent morning in the remote and newly built capital city of military-run Myanmar. He had planned to take a shower but the water dripping from the pipe was reddish and dirty. Instead, he used water from a drinking bottle to wash his face and brush his teeth. Then he prepared his documents, put them in a suitcase and left the Municipal Guest House where he was staying with other members of parliament from small minority parties. (more…)

Four years ago a World Bank report landed on the desk of the Chinese health ministry containing shocking statistics on pollution-related deaths in the country, so much so that Beijing promptly engineered the removal of a third of it over fears that the findings, if they went public, could spark “social unrest”. Around 750,000 people die each year of pollution-related illnesses, the report said, many of whom fall victim to China’s distinction as the world’s leading coal consumer. The findings were smothered for years, with the final report, “Cost of Pollution in China”, resorting to abstract gauges such as the economic burden of premature deaths, rather than the cold, hard figures. (more…)

Leaders of the United Wa State Army (UWSA)—Burma’s largest ethnic armed group—said on Sunday that they will not give up “an inch” of their land and called on Wa people to fight  against their common enemies. The statement comes amid strained tensions between the Burmese junta and minority groups near the Sino-Burmese border. (more…)

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA) warned the Burmese Army to stop any movement in areas controlled by the KIA in Northern Shan State, after a recent offensive against the Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) was launched by Burmese troops, said local military sources close to the KIA. (more…)

A charity set up by a prominent Burmese film star to provide free funerals for hard-up families yesterday held its 100,000th ceremony in Rangoon. (more…)

Chiang Mai – Social networking is coming to the farm. That’s the newest tactical tool for organizing farmers and developing a sense of community, say officials of  the National League for Democracy (NLD). (more…)

Yangon – A decades-old insurgency in Myanmar’s east could be curbed with the help of neighboring Thailand, an official in the military-run nation said in a state media report published Tuesday. (more…)

Salt prices have jumped due to unusual heavy rainfall during the summer season and the increase in buying by China in the hopes of staving off radiation from Japan’s nuclear power plant. (more…)