Local communities launch campaign against Thai coal mine and power plant in eastern Shan State

Impacted communities today launched a campaign to oppose plans by Thai investors to develop a coal mine and power plant in conflict-ridden eastern Shan State. (more…)

Yangon – Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi held a rare meeting with a government minister on Monday, raising the prospect of a thaw in relations between the Nobel Peace laureate and the country’s new military-backed leadership. (more…)

Opposition parliamentarians have given the new government a mixed report card four months after it took office and urged U Thein Sein’s administration to go further on political and economic reforms.
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The Burma Army has assembled 42 infantry battalions with 14 of them around the Shan State Army (SSA) headquarters of Wanhai backed by supporting artillery units, but the expected final assault is still yet to come, according to SSA sources. (more…)

A man who stabbed to death a woman last week in Mandalay city claims he was paid a fee by a senior-ranking drugs enforcement officer to kill the victim, allegedly a wife of the police commander. (more…)

In addition to causing large-scale suffering to the Karen people, the continuing warfare in border areas of Karen State is posing an increasing threat to the region’s rare wild life, according to a new environmental study. (more…)

China limited the hours for crossing at its key border gate at Laiza, the capital of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO), beginning July 22, after the Burmese Army fired mortar rounds at KIO positions in the area, residents said.
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Environmental groups called on Monday for an end to foreign investment in projects exploiting Myanmar’s natural resources, accusing such activities of sparking conflict in ethnic minority areas. (more…)

Bangkok – Myanmar’s longest-standing ethnic minority militia, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), has forced a halt to the construction of a key roadway link to the US$8 billion Dawei port and industrial estate mega-project. The blockage comes amid recently intensified fighting between government forces and insurgent groups in areas scheduled for massive foreign investment initiatives. (more…)

Environmentalists have voiced concern over the development of an open-pit lignite coal mine and power plant in Mong Kok, eastern Shan State, to import coal and power to Thailand. (more…)

Nay Pyi Taw – President Mr. Zhang Jialin of China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) and party of the People’s Republic of China called on Union Minister for Energy U Than Htay at his office here this morning. The Union Minister frankly discussed mutual cooperation in energy sector with the former. (more…)

On the back of Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd’s recent trip to Burma and his visit to a Medecins Sans Frontieres HIV/AIDS clinic in Rangoon, the Australian government announced its assistance had increased in the past year by $18.5 million and was on track to reach $50m by next financial year. (more…)

Rangoon– In anticipation of hosting a 2014 Asean Summit meeting in Naypyitaw, the Burmese government has made plans to  form committees, prepare buildings and other contingencies. (more…)

Toronto — Canada has begun a strategic engagement with Myanmar that includes an exchange of ambassadors, but Ottawa has no plans to lift the economic sanctions imposed against the country anytime soon, Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird said Saturday. (more…)

Bali, Indonesia — U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is urging Indonesia to promote democracy in Myanmar and countries in the Middle East and North Africa in the throes of upheaval. She says its successful transition from dictatorship and status as a vibrant Muslim-majority democracy make it an ideal role model for both Myanmar and the Arab world. (more…)

Norway, a bastion of liberal democratic values, has suffered an unimaginable assault. On Friday, a self-described Christian fundamentalist, 32-year-old Anders Behring Breivik, went on a rampage, lashing out against what he saw as the “colonization” of Europe by Muslims. His actions—the cold-blooded murder of 92 people in two separate attacks—have shocked not only this small Nordic nation, but people the world over. (more…)

It has been more than 100 days since President Thein Sein’s new government took office in Burma after a widely criticized “sham” election in November 2010. Many Burma analysts and opposition activists alike have examined the work of a new government by questioning whether the recent changes in Burma demonstrate the beginnings of a process of genuine democratic transition, or whether this is merely “old wine in a new bottle.”
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How long will Asean continue to stand up for its pariah member? At the latest Asean meeting, in Bali this week, Burma’s proposed chairmanship in 2014 was not on the official agenda. Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa has yet to visit Burma to assess first-hand its readiness to head Asean. He does not have to go now, because reports coming out of the country are far from pleasant. (more…)

The Asean centrality has moved up one notch when the Hague-based International Court of Justice mentioned Asean in its decision recently regarding the Thai-Cambodian dispute. No wonder, Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa told his Asean colleagues a few hours later at their closed door meeting in Bali that “Asean is in the equation.” (more…)

Burma Campaign UK today publishes an updated and expanded Briefing Paper – UN General Assembly and Crimes in Burma – highlighting how the UN General Assembly has failed to establish a UN Commission of Inquiry which could help reduce human rights abuses in Burma. The Briefing Paper argues that the European Union, which drafts UN General Assembly Resolutions on Burma,  must ensure that establishing a Commission of Inquiry is included in the next General Assembly Resolution. (more…)