Lt-Gen Yawdserk, leader of the anti-Naypyitaw Shan State Army (SSA), says so far no party concerned has approached him though there has been a lot of false accusations leveled against him and his movement, since 4 Chinese engineers from Tasang hydropower dam project were abducted by an unknown armed group on 17 May. (more…)

Burmese army troops and local militias in southern Shan state are reportedly taking bribes from local farmers in return for allowing the continued cultivation of opium, despite government assertions that it is stamping out the trade. (more…)

Paramilitary guards look on as Burmese President Thein Sein disembarks his plane after arriving in Beijing

Burma’s president Thein Sein arrived in China on Thursday for a visit aimed at improving his impoverished country’s commercial ties with its key ally, the world’s second-largest economy. (more…)

The problems facing Burma are complex, and it is only natural that there will be different opinions on how the international community should respond. Debate is healthy and essential, and should help lead to better policy making. (more…)

Seven of the 22 political prisoners who have been on a hunger strike at Rangoon’s Insein Prison since last week have been placed in special punishment cells for demanding better conditions, according to the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP). (more…)

An 18 years-old technological university student died after shot by the Burmese troops on his waist while driving his motorbike in Loikaw, the capital of the Karenni(Kayah) State. (more…)

Chiang Mai– In a conference held by the Nobel Women’s Initiative, Burma’s own Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi condemned sexual violence against women in conflicts around the globe. (more…)

Chiang Mai – A number of journalists were released from prisons under the one-year commutation ordered by Burmese President Thein Sein, according to their families and friends.

Poet and writer Lu Tin Win, 44, an 88-generation student member and Thaung Win Bo, 65, a former journalist on the state-run New Light of Myanmar were released on May 17. (more…)

All frontline KIA troops have been placed on alert in Kachin State and Northern Shan State, in the country’s north. The KIA is waiting to see how the central Burmese government will respond to the KIA warning to withdraw Burmese troops near KIA military bases by tomorrow. (more…)

Rangoon – In Burma, there is a state censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), under the Information Ministry. All kinds of books, cartoons and journals need to pass their manuscripts or stories through the censorship board prior to publication. (more…)

Shan Nationalities Democratic Party (SNDP), better known as the White Tiger party, the second winning party in Shan State at the 2010 elections, is planning to work together with some Thai companies in mining projects in Shan State  as well as others business projects, according to party’s finance chief Sao Than Myint. (more…)

8 days after they made their vanishing act on May 17, there is still no news of the 4 Chinese engineers and a local interpreter from the Chinese firm working at the Tasang hydropower dam site, on both their whereabouts and whether they are still alive, according to local sources. (more…)

Beijing — Visits to Beijing this week by top officials from North Korea, Myanmar, and Iran are spotlighting China’s cozy ties with nations widely shunned for human rights abuses and threatening behavior. (more…)

Two major players within the Swedish aid sector are in dispute over responsibility for inviting a Burmese delegation to Stockholm, which is all (more…)

Canberra’s controversial plan to send asylum seekers detained on Australian soil to Malaysia as part of a “refugee swap” is illegal, according to the head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). (more…)

The new Burmese government of President Thein Sein could make such a big difference to the future of the country and its peoples if it was honest about bringing positive changes. A few things would suffice to demonstrate to the international community that, as the new leader in Naypyidaw, he is not a puppet of the military strongman General Than Shwe and cronies in the former junta. Such action would include addressing human rights and corruption issues. After all, Thein Sein has been described as a new pragmatist leader who can bring changes and transformation to a much-loathed administration. (more…)

On Thursday, Burma’s new president, ex-Gen Thein Sein, will pay his first official state visit to China. Although Thein Sein will for the first time be playing a leading role in Sino-Burmese diplomacy, what will happen in the future between these two neighboring countries may be predicted based on their present and past relationship. (more…)

Zeya Thaw is one of Burma’s best-known hip-hop musicians. His band ACID is credited with bringing this hard-hitting musical genre to a country where creative edginess can still get artists into a lot of trouble.
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AAPP has learnt that 7 of the 22 political prisoners who have been on a hunger strike in Insein Prison have been placed in solitary confinement. They have a list of six demands regarding basic prisoner rights and have been undergoing a hunger strike until their demands are met. The prison authorities responded by sending them to the Military Dog Cell, a notoriously famous cell for brutal torture and extreme punishment. They were transferred on 24 May in the afternoon.
AAPP has also learnt that the other political prisoners who have been on hunger strike were told to gather their belongings, a likely indication that they will be transferred to remote prisons as a punishment. (more…)

Prison authorities at Rangoon’s Insein Prison have launched a crackdown on more than 20 political prisoners who have gone on a hunger strike to demand better conditions and to protest a recent amnesty that included only a handful of political detainees. (more…)