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…)

Yangon – Myanmar may soon release hundreds more political detainees, a senior government official said on Wednesday, a week after about 200 dissidents were freed in an amnesty welcomed by the West as a step towards reform. (more…)

A human rights activist jailed in 2007 after he was assaulted by a mob alleged to belong to the former junta’s so-called “civic” organisation, the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), says he will file a lawsuit against the perpetrators. (more…)

New Delhi – “The location of a person is not important, only the doctrine the person embraces is important.” That’s the 49th birthday message of 88-generation student leader Min Ko Naing, who is serving a 65-year prison term in Kengtung Prison.  (more…)

Evidence from surveys carried out among the ethnic Rohingya population of northern Arakan state suggest that contrary to pledges made by the new Burmese government, forced labour has not abated. (more…)

Beijing – Chinese police have arrested 17 people for running guns into ethnically Tibetan parts of the country from northern Myanmar, and have seized a small number of guns and bullets, state media said on Wednesday. (more…)

Aizawl, India – Ral Hnin does not want to draw attention to himself, mindful that his status as a political dissident from Myanmar is an uneasy subject for his reluctant hosts in this remote hilly fringe of northeast India. (more…)

A delegation from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) arrived in Burma’s capital, Naypyidaw, on Wednesday to meet with government officials for consultations on reforming the country’s dual exchange rate system. (more…)

New Delhi – British-era buildings as hotels? Khin Shwe, the chairman of the Myanmar Tourism Board (MTB), says Burma needs more hotels and old Colonial-era government buildings might make good conversion projects for businessmen. (more…)

A regional rights group, the Asean Inter-parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC), on Tuesday called on Indonesia, the current chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), to delay making a decision on whether to support Burma’s bid to chair the regional bloc in 2014 until Naypyidaw makes genuine progress toward democratic reform. (more…)