Kyaw Thu, the former actor and chairman of the Free Funeral Service (Rangoon), celebrated the 10th anniversary of the organization at its office in North Dagon Township in Rangoon Division on April 23.  Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi attended the ceremony and donated US$ 15,000 for the social work being performed by the charity organization. During the ceremony, a bust of the late writer and film director, Thu Kha, who helped establish the group, was unveiled. (more…)

Burmese government troops fighting with Shan State Army-North (SSA-North) Brigade 1 near Tangyan and Mongshu townships in Shan State are using local women as human shields and forced porters, according to sources. (more…)

Locals in the Irrawaddy Delta’s Bogalay township have expressed concerns about the environment and their livelihoods due to an alleged increase in deforestation in the region. (more…)

Chiang Mai – The head of the popular Free Funeral Services in Rangoon says the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) is vying to compete in offering free funeral services. (more…)

Nay Pyi Taw – At the meeting 1/2011 of Special Projects Implementation Committee today, Union Minister for Communications, Posts and Telegraphs U Thein Tun explained works to be done by Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications in cooperation with private companies for extended installation of 30 million lines of mobile phone system through a five-year plan for development of communications and information technology of the nation and increasing the numbers of telephone users. (more…)

Bangkok – Zaw Zaw’s story of being a Burmese worker enslaved on a Thai fishing boat is extreme, but not unusual. (more…)

Swarovski among the companies under fire for breaking spirit of renewed EU sanctions. (more…)

Yangon, Myanmar – Myanmar’s state oil firm is set to sign contracts with companies from China, Singapore and South Korea for oil and gas exploration, state media reported Saturday. (more…)

Extensive logging has been happening for four straight years in northern Burma for exporting timber to China, however China banned timber import from the area in late 2005. (more…)

The regional grouping should demand more serious reforms from the pariah state before handing over chairmanship of the organisation. (more…)

It is encouraging that the government is taking another look at Thailand’s major involvement in the proposed Xayaburi dam project on a section of the Mekong River running through northern Laos. On Thursday, the House committee on political development, mass communications and public participation unanimously voted to oppose dam construction and approved a motion calling for the government to explain the project to the public. (more…)

Nay Pyi Taw – Meeting (1/2011) of the Central Committee for Progress of Border Areas and National Races took place at the President Office here at 9.30 am today, with an address by Chairman of the Central Committee President U Thein Sein. (more…)

One of the Burma Army’s objectives in the ongoing Zwe Man Hein campaign against the Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’ is to occupy the border areas between it and the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and it has been successful in that respect, according to a veteran Burma watcher in Thailand. (more…)

Government authorities in western Burma are reportedly blocking MPs from conducting fact-finding missions in the region, drawing the ire of parliamentarians who say their job is “pointless” if they cannot meet with constituents. (more…)

Bangkok – Tens of thousands of stateless Muslim Rohingya women and girls who fled persecution in Myanmar for safety in Bangladesh are facing abuse and sexual violence at the hands of Bangladeshis and members of their own refugee communities with little chance of redress, a human rights group said in its latest report. (more…)

Bangkok – A small army of volunteers from local non-governmental organisations has fanned out across Burma to inoculate 3.4 million children from a rare strain of the polio virus that has re-emerged three years after the country was declared polio free. (more…)

In a rare interview published in ‘The Future’ magazine in Rangoon, Burmese business tycoon Tay Za called the Western economic sanctions on Burma ‘obviously unfair’. (more…)

The United States says it is unwilling to work with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) with Burma as its chair, given its poor track record on human rights and democracy. (more…)

Burma has begun a diplomatic charm offensive in an effort to get international approval for the cosmetic changes the administration has introduced under the guise of a new civilian government. (more…)

Nai Joe is an undocumented migrant from Mon State in Burma. He has lived in Thailand much of his life and has no Burmese ID card. The 21-year-old worked in agriculture on the Thai-Burmese border for years until an easier and better paid job appeared in Bangkok last year. He then travelled to Bangkok from the border in a policeman’s car who for 13,000 baht cleared all checkpoints without hassle. Joe’s employer pays police a hefty sum per month to conduct his business and 500 baht as “protection” for Joe as he is undocumented and not allowed, as a “non-Thai”, to work in a job that is neither “manual labour” nor “domestic work”. (more…)