Bangkok – Three years after Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, thousands still need shelter assistance, officials and aid workers say. (more…)

New Delhi – Prominent writer Dagon Taryar and journalist Ludu Sein Win are among 10,000 people who have signed a letter urging Burmese President Thein Sein to release all political prisoners in order to achieve national reconciliation. (more…)

Rangoon—Gen Min Aung Hlaing, Burma’s new commander-in-chief of the armed forces, has formed a national intelligence unit and begun to function as the unit head, according to sources. (more…)

Burma’s most powerful armed ethnic group has said it will push for talks with the new Burmese government after months of tension and stand off over its refusal to become a Border Guard Force. (more…)

Jakarta – Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of Burma’s Democracy Movement, called for Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) member nations to help Burmese people’s struggle for democracy in their country. (more…)

Berlin – Germany is launching an international campaign on Tuesday to develop a logo signifying human rights, with a competition in which anybody is encouraged to submit proposals. (more…)

Bangkok – With the preliminary results of Canada’s general election showing that Conservatives are apparently set to hold on to power, a series of recently-released US diplomatic cables has shed light on aspects of the foreign policy of prime minister Stephen Harper’s administration since it took office in 2006. (more…)

Seventeen journalists for the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) are serving lengthy prison sentences, some more than 60 years, in Burma for their work documenting atrocities committed by the military and government. (more…)

It will be interesting to see how the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) react to Burma’s request to assume the group’s chair in 2014 when they meet for their annual summit in Jakarta from May 4-8. (more…)

In his public speeches and early policy signals, newly appointed President Thein Sein has raised questions about Myanmar’s political direction after last year’s democratic election. While invoking the need for good governance and anti-corruption measures, words rarely if ever heard from previous military leaders, indications are Thein Sein will serve more as a figurehead for the country’s former military supremo, Senior General Than Shwe, than a genuine democratic reformer. (more…)

The Vice-Chair of the Indonesian National Human Rights Commission, Mr. Nurkholis, today called on the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to support a UN investigation into business and human rights violations in Burma. Mr. Nurkholis made his statement as a member of the experts panel at regional civil society’s first Public Hearing on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Human Rights in ASEAN held in Jakarta today. (more…)