Chiang Mai – Cyclone Nargis killed about 300,000 people, but the former military junta’s second most powerful leader insisted that the number would be released to the public “over his dead body,” sources told a U.S. embassy diplomat, according to a leaked U.S. diplomatic cable sent to the State Department. (more…)

Authorities in Pyin Oo Lwin have arrested four more locals in Nyaungon village under suspicion of being involved in the ransacking of a government coffee plantation project, on land that was confiscated from village residents. (more…)

Yangon — A new US envoy to Myanmar kicked off his first trip to the country on Friday as part of Washington’s strategy of engagement with the army-dominated nation. (more…)

Armed Indian separatist group; the United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) claim that their bases over the border in Burma have come under attack from the Burmese military since Tuesday. They have also alleged that the Burmese have been supplied with Indian heavy weaponry since June. (more…)

Yangon – The government of Myanmar plans to revise its foreign investment law for the first time in 24 years to lift restrictions on land ownership by overseas investors. (more…)

Bangkok – Burma’s normally defiant authorities have in recent weeks been welcoming their domestic and international critics for candid discussions. They have also slightly loosened their iron-clad grip on the media, leading observers to speculate on whether authorities could be softening their hard-line position. Analysts and rights activists have welcomed the moves but have dismissed suggestions that it represents any substantive change. (more…)

The recent landmark talks between democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and President Thein Sein may have set the pace for significant reforms but much will depend on the government releasing political prisoners, perhaps in stages. (more…)

It would be difficult to find a stauncher defender of Burma’s human rights record and more ardent promoter of the country’s new, nominally civilian administration than Ye Myint Aung, the middle-aged former army officer who has made quite a name for himself in international diplomatic circles in recent years. (more…)

In its latest effort to bolster its reformist credentials, Burma’s new “civilian” government announced earlier this week that it had created a human rights commission charged with promoting and safeguarding the fundamental rights of citizens in accordance with the 2008 Constitution. (more…)

A Burmese exiled activist cum economist Zaw Oo attended the three-day Economic Forum in Naypyitaw on August 19-21, where he read a paper. President Thein Sein, the former prime minister who now leads the military-dominated, nominally civilian government, also attended. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the general-secretary of the disbanded National League for Democracy, also attended the forum,  after meeting with Thein Sein the day before. (more…)

Burma Campaign UK today publishes a new Briefing Paper:  Political Events In Burma – New Or Recycled?, analysing recent events in Burma, many of which have been hailed as ‘new’, ‘unprecedented’ and ‘progress’. The Briefing Paper finds that most of what has taken place in recent months is not new at all, and that Thein Sein is borrowing ideas from his predecessors, Than Shwe and Ne Win. (more…)