The opposition Karen National Union is due to meet with high-level government officials this week following the formation of a committee aimed at negotiating an end to one of the world’s most protracted conflicts. (more…)

Five Buddhist monks held a protest in Myanmar’s second-biggest city on Tuesday, calling for peace in the country and the release of political prisoners in a rare demonstration that drew scores of onlookers, witnesses said. Wearing maroon-coloured robes, the monks put up banners opposing conflict between government troops and ethnic rebels and the detention of hundreds of political activists, a bold show of dissent in a country where authorities have a history of crushing protests. (more…)

Yangon – An explosion in Myanmar’s insurgency-ridden Kachin State killed 10 and injured 23 people, state media reports said Tuesday. (more…)

Samut Sakorn, Thailand — The mammoth flooding that has deluged much of Thailand, killing hundreds, appears to be subsiding.

But steep challenges remain for displaced residents and migrant workers abandoned by their employers.

The heavily industrial Samut Sakorn province employs hundreds of thousands of migrant workers from Myanmar, according to estimates from Thai and Myanmar officials.

But when floodwaters overtook numerous factories in the area, some business owners simply fled — leaving employees without their documents or pay.

“During the flood … Myanmar workers are the second class, so the priority goes to the Thai workers,” said Naing Tan, Myanmar’s deputy ambassador to Thailand.

One migrant worker, 20-year-old Nun Nwee Hlaing, painted toys at a toy factory in Samut Sakorn. She said she kept working when floodwaters covered her ankles, but when the water got chest-high, her boss took off without saying a word.

Hlaing is now taking refuge at a temple in the town of Mahathai.

On Monday, a Thai provincial official, the Myanmar diplomat and a priest at the temple met to discuss the refugees’ plight and agreed to let migrant workers working legally in the country stay.

Dechar Teuktattanaruk, head of the provincial employment office, said the government will try to find temporary work for them.

But undocumented workers like Hlaing would have to go back to Myanmar.

Elsewhere, in Pathum Thani province, dozens of area residents established makeshift homes in prefabricated cement shells intended for use in the construction of Bangkok’s elevated skyway.

The company that owns the forms has told their new occupants they can stay, and it’s letting them tap into electric lines for light.

Most of the forms’ new residents are from the same flood-ravaged community a short boat ride away. Some floated with their most prized possessions with them.

“I own a small shop and when it started to flood, I moved all my goods to my house,” said a woman named Jaew, who lives in a concrete form with her family of five. “Then, a few days later, my house got flooded. And when the water was up to my neck, we moved here.”

The deluge has killed 537 people, and 22 provinces remain affected, according to the Thai department of disaster prevention and mitigation.

“The latest flood situation has improved, (and the) water level in general has receded,” Yingluck Shinawatra said on her Facebook page Monday. “Diverting water into the sea can be done at (a) faster manner in the eastern part of Bangkok. In the west of Bangkok, draining water is slow, but the government has dredged canals to speed up draining water.”

Bangkok’s main airport, Suvarnabhumi Airport, is operating normally.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will visit Thailand on Wednesday during a three-day trip to southeast Asia and plans to visit flood-stricken areas in Bangkok, the U.N. said Monday.

The Myanmar Tourism Board (MTB) chairman Khin Shwe says the Burmese media, which opposed his idea to transform the historic Ministers’ Office building where Burmese martyrs were assassinated into a hotel, displays a pessimistic attitude. The Ministers’ Office building is located in Kyauktada Township in Rangoon. (more…)

While chairman of company, Hu bought stock using online account of a woman he met through a dating service (more…)

Nu Sa Dua, Indonesia — Southeast Asian ministers said Tuesday they would approve Myanmar’s bid to chair their 10-member bloc in 2014, in a major boost for its new government after a series of reform gestures. (more…)

Britain demanded the release of leading Burmese political prisoners on Tuesday, as Andrew Mitchell, the International Development secretary became the first senior figure to meet with the regime president and top leaders. (more…)

Human rights groups are expressing skepticism over claims by Burma’s new human rights commission that as few as 300 of the nation’s suspected 2,000 political prisoners are still incarcerated. (more…)