Licences for satellite television receivers are likely to be issued again in Burma following a six-year ban claimed at the time by observers to be an attempt to control the flow of information into the country. (more…)

Imphal: Manipur Governor Gurbachan Jagat said on Wednesday that activities of several militant groups in the valley areas of the state have been checked to a great extent by intensified counter-insurgency operations. (more…)

Halt to construction of a barrage in Myanmar should be an eye-opener for its Chinese builders, but it’s unlikely to give dam boosters pause for thought. (more…)

Sixty-five percent of foreign investment in Myanmar is concentrated in states that are rich in natural resources like Kachin, Rakhine and Shan while only eight percent was invested in the manufacturing sector in Yangon Region. (more…)

Natural gas to be tapped from two new offshore gas projects will be distributed for domestic consumption rather than for export, according to an official from the Ministry of Energy. (more…)

Nay Pyi Taw – Myanmar Vice President U Tin Aung Myint Oo left here Thursday for China’s Nanning to attend the 8th Expo of China and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). (more…)

United Nations — Serious human rights violations persist in Myanmar despite a mass amnesty for more than 6,300 prisoners including some political opponents, the UN rights envoy to the country said Wednesday. (more…)

Among Myanmars detained in Malaysia for immigration related offences are economic migrants as well as political refugees who left their country for fear of persecution and oppression. (more…)

The Arab Spring, the several successful and still ongoing rebellions against authoritarian governments in the Middle East, have a mutual characteristic beyond that of having occurred in Arabic-speaking societies. All originated from below – from populations that have been frustrated by severe political and social constraints often compounded by clear economic injustices. (more…)

In early 2002, when the Chinese authorities were breaking huge boulders to improve the navigational route between China and northern Laos and Thailand on the Mekong River, local residents and environmentalists were half joking when they said they would be standing by with their slingshots to attack the project engineers and crew members. (more…)

Last week, one of Burmese President Thein Sein’s political advisers, Ko Ko Hlaing, told Radio Sweden  that Burma has only around 600 political prisoners—a figure much smaller than the more widely accepted estimate of around 2,000 (of whom some 220 were freed last week). The Irrawaddy contacted Ko Ko Hlaing to ask him about this disparity, and for his response to critics who say that the relatively small number of political prisoners released suggests that recent moves toward reform are losing steam. (more…)

US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell speaks to The Natoin’s editor-in-chief Suthichai Yoon about political reform in Burma. This is the concluding part of a two part interview that began yesterday. (more…)

Tokyo – Japanese officials should press Burma’s visiting foreign minister on the need for genuine reforms to improve human rights in Burma, Human Rights Watch said today. Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin will visit Tokyo from October 20 to 22, 2011. (more…)