U.S. Sen. John McCain warned Myanmar’s new military-backed government to make democratic reforms or possibly face the type of revolution that has swept through Arab nations. (more…)

Myanmar has lifted a suspension of visa-on-arrival arranged through travel agencies for visitors from regions where no Myanmar embassy is set up, the local Biweekly Eleven News reported Thursday. (more…)

The British ambassador to Burma, Andrew Heyn, conducted a fact-finding trip to the Thai border to meet with Burmese refugees and leaders of the rebel Karen National Union (KNU) on Thursday afternoon. (more…)

Opposition parties in Burma have told visiting US senator John McCain that western sanctions on the country are retarding social and economic development and should be terminated. (more…)

Yangon – Myanmar is not wealthy enough to acquire nuclear weapons, a top government official told visiting US Senator John McCain, who called on Friday for an end to any military ties with North Korea. (more…)

IT’S a sad fact that every year thousands of Myanmar’s brightest workers and students are lured overseas by the prospect of higher wages and better conditions. (more…)

Jakarta – Myanmar needs to release all political prisoners if it wants approval to chair ASEAN in 2014, say experts. (more…)

Washington – The US on Thursday asked India and China to join hands with it to achieve true democracy in Burma and protection of human rights of its people, saying the two Asian nations “remain important” for engaging the Burmese regime. “We will continue to call on China and India and other neighboring countriess to cooperate with us on this issue,” Joe Yun, Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said at a Congressional hearing. (more…)

Burma’s ethnic groups are quietly preparing for war against the central government. (more…)

This is an installment in the WorldWatch series, “The world’s enduring dictators,” inspired by events in Tunisia and Egypt, in which CBSNews.com takes a look at the men who continue to rule their lands unimpeded by law. See a complete explanation of the series and a list of others profiled here. (more…)

During his 2008 presidential campaign, US Sen John McCain branded himself as a maverick and a straight shooter. It didn’t win him the election, but the image has stuck. And now, as he completes a three-day visit to Burma, his reputation for speaking his own mind has been put to good purpose, bringing a gust of fresh air to a stale debate about how the West should respond to the country’s recent transition to quasi-civilian rule. (more…)

The Burmese authorities must stop forcing prisoners into cells designed for military dogs, Amnesty International said today, after it emerged that the practice is being used as punishment against hunger striking activists.
Seven prisoners, including two Buddhist monks who went on hunger strike at Insein prison in the main city of Yangon, were placed in solitary confinement between 24 and 26 May, in the cells, Amnesty International has learned. (more…)

Yangon — Over 120 officials, development partners and civil society representatives, including high ranking representatives of government and UN met in Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar, to launch the National Strategic Plan (NSP) for AIDS covering the years 2011 to 2015.  The Multi-Sector Workshop, hosted by the Ministry of Health was the first in a series of such workshop to be organized in different state and region in the country to raise awareness of the targets and priority HIV interventions defined in the new plan. (more…)