The recent armed conflict between the Kachin Independent Organization (KIO) and the Burmese army is predictable– it has been a long time in the making. (more…)

Eighteen cases of gang-rape of Kachin women by Burmese troops have been confirmed by a Thailand-based rights group in the past three weeks, but it says the total could be nearer to 30. (more…)

Chiang Mai – The latest bombing of a bridge in Kachin State on Tuesday destroyed the Panechaung Bridge on the Myitkyina-Mandalay railway near Namtee Village in Kachin State, residents said. It is the only rail link to Myitkyina. (more…)

In the first high-level Indian contact with Myanmar’s pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao met the Nobel laureate here and both expressed a desire for the bilateral relationship to ‘blossom and grow’. (more…)

Troops from four Border Guard Force units in a Karen state region have mutinied as Burmese army battalions are deployed in preparation for a retaliatory offensive. (more…)

Rangoon—Around 20 marine-product processing plants in Burma have temporarily suspended their operations, as the US dollar’s decline against the kyat begins to eat into the value of overseas earnings, according to industry sources. (more…)

A LEADING businessman has urged the government to legalise rural finance programs, after announcing he would disburse K2.4 billion (about US$3 million) in low-interest loans to paddy farmers in two Ayeyarwady Region townships. (more…)

Teknaf, Bangladesh: Refugees from official camps in Bangladesh celebrated World Refugee Day on June 20 in their camps, said a refugee committee member from the camp. (more…)

Washington — Myanmar’s pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, speaking Wednesday to the US Congress for the first time in a video message, urged support for a UN-led inquiry into human rights in her country. (more…)

Chiang Mai – The Swedish government has confirmed that several members of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) traveled to Sweden in May as part of Swedish initiative to promote sustainable development and corporate social responsibility. (more…)

Tunisia…Egypt…Libya…Yemen…Syria…the spread of the Arab Spring has breathed new life into the domino theory of political upheaval. But is this unrest and revolution confined to the Arab world? Could the ‘winds of change’, as alluded to by US Senator John McCain on a recent visit to Burma, sweep east and envelop the Burmese hills and plains? (more…)

The debate about whether it is appropriate to visit Burma is over. It ended when pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), changed their policy from calling for a tourism boycott, which they had done since 1996, to calling for “responsible tourism.” (more…)

Around 2,000 Kachin war refugees who have fled recent fighting between Burmese government troops and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) are now in need of food, shelter and medical assistance, according to relief groups. (more…)

Gunfire was exchanged between the Shan State Army and the Burma Army this morning as soon as reinforcement of the Burma Army troops arrived near SSA controlled territory this week, according to local and SSA sources (more…)

Yangon — An Australian newspaper boss on trial in Myanmar asked to be acquitted Tuesday in closing arguments of a case that some observers say highlights the risks of doing business in the military-dominated country. (more…)

Bangkok, Thailand – Deadly clashes between Burmese troops and ethnic rebels at a Chinese-run hydropower dam for nearly two weeks shine a spotlight on China’s growing energy interests in Burma’s strife-torn borderlands. (more…)

Three years ago, on an October morning, David Siang and his wife and two children fled their native town of Falam in Myanmar’s western Chin state. After walking for three and a half days, Mr. Siang says they reached the northeastern Indian state of Mizoram from where they took a train to New Delhi. The journey took a total of eight days. (more…)

Bangkok – India’s foreign minister is in Burma for meetings with top leaders that are expected to focus on security and trade. New Delhi says the trip, the first since a civilian government took office, is an opportunity to “further vitalize” the relationship. (more…)

Rangoon – In an effort to clean up corrupt primary schools in Burma, the government has published a list of the ‘corrupt’ schools. (more…)

The Nobel peace laureate and human rights campaigner Aung San Suu Kyi spoke yesterday in a BBC lecture of the vital role played by communications technology in modern democratic uprisings and said she was not morally opposed to the use of violence in exceptional circumstances. (more…)