Sein Kyaw Hlaing, a veteran Burmese journalist working in exile for the BBC Burmese Service (BBC Burmese) and Radio Free Asia (RFA), was reportedly detained and interrogated in Rangoon after accepting President Thein Sein’s offer to exiles to return home. (more…)

Burmese human rights groups have greeted news of the creation of a “Myanmar National Human Rights Commission” (MNHRC) with doubts about how independent the new body will be and questions about key members, who include past defenders of the country’s human rights record. (more…)

New Delhi – Political dissidents including families of political prisoners held a prayer ceremony on Sunday at Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, praying for freedom for all political prisoners in Burma. (more…)

New Delhi – A group of politicians will ask the Burmese Supreme Court to issue an injunction to stop work on the Myitsone Dam project on the Irrawaddy River and to reveal more information about the dam project. (more…)

Chiang Mai – An article written by Burma’s opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi about her recent personal pilgrimage to Bagan, the ancient temple site, will appear uncensored in the Rangoon-based People’s Era journal on Tuesday. (more…)

Burmese political exiles in Thailand, including members of the National League for Democracy, had regular communication with Chinese officials, including one close to the Prime Minister’s office, according to a leaked US cable from 2007. (more…)

Dhaka – Foreign Minister Dr Dipu Moni on Monday urged Myanmar for quick repatriation of the remaining Rohingya refugees from Nayapara and Kutupalong camps in Cox’s Bazar. (more…)

The human face of the landmine tragedy: this former Karen National Liberation Army soldier had his arms partially amputated in an explosion. (more…)

ABA WAS 12 when she left her hometown of Muse in Burma to visit Yunnan Province in China’s far south-west. When she crossed the border, she was expecting to spend only a few hours away from home. (more…)

Bangkok – Myanmar’s regime has allegedly exported rice and other agricultural commodities to North Korea in exchange for arms, according to a US diplomatic cable released by anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. (more…)

BANGKOK — Europe’s “wait and see” approach to army-dominated Myanmar is “irresponsible”, Amnesty International has said, urging the EU to back an inquiry into crimes against humanity in the country. (more…)

Chiang Mai – The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and NGO groups plan to discuss the call for a Commission of Inquiry (COI) into war crimes in Burma with European Union (EU) diplomats ahead of a European Council meeting on human rights in Brussels on Monday. (more…)

The meeting between Burma’s President Thein Sein and pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on August 19 was delightful news for the Burmese people—it brought them hope that this initial move would eventually lead to their troubled country being re-accepted by the international community. But with history in mind, it also brought suspicions that the meeting was just another political game orchestrated by the government. (more…)

Comparisons are often made between Indonesia and Burma; two Southeast Asian nations where the militarisation of politics, democracy struggles, their achievements and transitional phases, have defined their people’s recent histories.
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A report released today reveals the disturbing extent to which China has advanced construction of a trans-Burma oil and gas pipelines project despite raging conflict and associated abuses. (more…)

Mr. Ram Jethmalani, Convener and other honourable members of the Indian Parliamentarians’ Forum for Democracy in Burma (IPFDB) will hold a press conference to support the call by Burmese democratic leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for the release of Burma’s Political Prisoners and will announce sending of the signed letter to President Thein Sein. (more…)

IN AN exclusive interview with The Straits Times, US special representative and policy coordinator for Myanmar Derek Mitchell (right) lays out his goals and addresses some of the difficult questions surrounding the South-east Asian country. (more…)