When Aung San Suu Kyi emerged from her home last week to greet well-wishers during Burma’s New Year water festival, revelers chanted “Happy New Year Aunty Suu” and “Long live Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.” Hundreds stopped their cars and got out to shake her hand. (more…)

Ranong, Thailand—“The latest price of ‘opening a Burmese packing’ here is 13,000 baht,” explained Thidar, a Burmese prostitute in Thailand’s Ranong province bordering southern Burma. (more…)

A member of the opposition National League for Democracy who is serving a 17-year jail term for his role in the 2007 monk-led uprising has been refused crucial medical treatment for heart disease. (more…)

Chiang Mai – The Thai cabinet has approved a budget for hiring a team of expert planners to design a Special Economic Zone at Mae Sot on the northern Thai-Burma border, Thai media reported on Friday. (more…)

Burma’s ministry of energy claims that the country has reserves of some 89.722 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, domestic news reported, contrasting greatly with outside estimates that put the figure much lower. (more…)

Bangkok – Health experts had barely finished one project to contain anti-malarial drug resistance along the Thai-Cambodia border when their attention was drawn to Myanmar, where early warning signs suggest a waning influence of the anti-malarial drug Artemisinin. (more…)

Laos last night agreed to delay construction of a $US3.8 billion hydropower dam because of concerns among neighbouring Mekong River countries that the project would disrupt fish catches and rice production downstream. (more…)

Burma ranked second to last in Internet freedom in a report called “Freedom on the Net 2011,” released on Monday by information watchdog Freedom House. (more…)

Chiang Mai – Thai National Security Council Secretary General Tawin Pleansri recently announced a proposal to repatriate over 140,000 refugees living in camps along Thailand’s border with Myanmar. (more…)

Zoya Phan calls herself “one of the lucky ones.” She escaped from Myanmar and the military regime’s war on its own people without being raped, maimed or killed. She managed to go to school in a refugee camp, and in 2004 reached a university in Britain, where she sought asylum. (more…)

Yangon – Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a surprise move Saturday used the last day of Myanmar’s traditional New Year festival to greet well-wishers outside her home. (more…)

Yangon, Myanmar — Pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi says she hopes that a new U.S. special envoy to Myanmar will be able to help usher in true democratic reforms in her country. (more…)

Yangon — Tin Soe was just four when he realised he was different to other boys in his neighbourhood, but growing up in conservative and army-ruled Myanmar, he struggled to be accepted as gay by his relatives. (more…)

Bangkok – The European Union has announced it is suspending some sanctions against Burma, now that a nominally civilian government has replaced the military one. The move follows calls for western governments to remove the economic and political punishments, altogether, and reports that top military leader Than Shwe has retired. But Burma’s main opposition, led by democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, says sanctions should remain until human rights improve. Analysts say a combination of targeted sanctions and diplomacy may be the best way to engage Burma. (more…)

Bangkok – More than 140,000 refugees will be forced back to war-torn Burma unless Thailand’s Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva shows a rare bit of backbone in dealing with his country’s increasingly powerful security forces. Last week, the nation’s head of security announced its intention to close nine refugee camps along the Thai-Burma border after elections were held in Burma last fall. The announcement drew sharp criticism from human-rights groups and representatives of Burma’s ethnic minorities who said the refugees would face persecution, torture, rape and worse if sent back to Burma under current conditions. “Burma is still a dangerous place — too dangerous for the refugees to return,” says Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch. (more…)

The generals who have run Burma since 1962 are said to be nervous about becoming too dependent on Beijing. Chinese companies are involved in some 20 energy projects including the construction of a 500-mile pipeline to pump oil and gas to landlocked Yunnan province. In border towns and cities such as Mandalay, Chinese money and influence are everywhere. For years, both the US and the European Union – which have imposed varying degrees of sanctions – have been losing sway over Rangoon. (more…)

Can Burma have its cake and eat it too? The answer rests with Asean. Right after the new civilian government was installed at the end of March in Naypyidaw, one of the first important tasks President Thein Sein did was to submit a letter to the Asean Secretariat stating Burma’s readiness to take up the grouping’s chair in 2014. (more…)

Washington, DC – The U. S. Campaign for Burma (USCB), a Washington, DC-based organization campaigning to end crimes against humanity and the culture of impunity in the Southeast Asian country, today welcomes President Obama’s nomination of Derek Mitchell to be the U.S. Special Representative and Policy Coordinator for Burma. This position was created by the United States Congress more than two years ago with the Tom Lantos Block Burma Jade Act of 2008 (the Jade Act). The Senate will have to confirm this nomination. (more…)

EARTHQUAKE-HIT Tarlay and Mong Lin in eastern Shan State were last week still recovering from a strong earthquake on March 24 that left at least 74 dead and more than 3000 homeless. (more…)

Maungdaw, Arakan State: Patients from Arakan State who wish to cross the border into Bangladesh for medical treatment have to spend a large amount of money in order to receive border passes from the concerned authorities of Maungdaw, said a patient who has been to Bangladesh for treatment. (more…)