The grandson of Burma’s former military dictator, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, reportedly traveled to Europe late last month after being granted a visa by the French Embassy in Rangoon, according to sources in the former Burmese capital. (more…)

When President Obama sees his counterparts among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations this week in Bali, he is expected to advance a number of major initiatives. Washington has made clear the Asia-Pacific region’s importance to the 21st century and its dedication to an enduring U.S. presence there. (more…)

As Burma’s independence dawned in 1948, the country’s sizeable ethnic populations found themselves released from the clutch of the British Raj into the grip of the dominant Burmese nationalists. The latter had promised them equality and autonomy, but instead they were forced to accept a new state and constitution that for all intents and purposes was unitary. Successive regimes have since been on a mission to revive the local imperial vision of Burma, carried through today by President Thein Sein’s pseudo-parliamentary government that has in its crosshairs the resource-rich lands currently under the feet of defiant ethnic groups. That vision is being aided by an international consortium of business-hungry vultures, from Wall Street to the Asian Development Bank who, knowingly or not, are fuelling the pacification of minority communities. (more…)

Exactly one year after her release from nearly two decades of house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi seems be on the threshold of a new role in Myanmar, still in opposition to the military-backed civilian regime, but no more standing outside the political system that it has set up. Earlier this month, the government changed the rule that required political parties to “preserve” the military-drafted 2008 Constitution; they are now expected to “respect and obey” it. This change has paved the way for Ms Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy to register as a political party. NLD leaders are likely to meet later this month to take the call. Indications are that the regime is thinking of setting some 600 political prisoners free. If it does so, it will make the decision easier for the NLD. The party boycotted last year’s elections, but it is now widely expected that Ms Suu Kyi will contest an election in December, and thus enter Parliament. On the first anniversary of her release on Monday, the Nobel laureate told journalists that the Myanmar regime had taken some steps towards political reform. She described recent developments in the country as “eventful, energising and, to a certain extent, encouraging.” One of these was a statement by the Speaker of the Parliament’s Upper House, Aung Khin Myint, that he recognised the results of the 1990 election. The NLD swept the 1990 polls, and it was following that victory the junta put Ms Suu Kyi in what turned out to be the first of long spells of detention for the next two decades. (more…)

After an 18-year absence, Shell may return to Burma’s booming oil and gas sector, according to a report published last week in the Bangkok-based Nation newspaper.  (more…)

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…)

Yangon — Myanmar’s army-backed government delayed an expected release of political prisoners on Monday, as democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi marked a year since the end of her house arrest. (more…)

A spokesman for Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she is likely to run in a by-election in coming months, following a change to party registration laws. (more…)

Win Tin, one of the most influential members of Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has vowed to throw his support behind party leader Aung San Suu Kyi when the NLD makes a decision later this week about whether to run in upcoming by-elections. (more…)

Rangoon – Burma’s judicial system is not independent and it is distorted and unfair, National League for Democracy (NLD) General-Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi told a press conference at NLD headquarters in Rangoon on Monday. (more…)

ASEAN MPs and members of the ASEAN Inter-parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) will speak in Jakarta Monday to call on leading ASEAN delegates to place the unresolved ethnic conflict and outstanding questions on political and human rights in Myanmar high up on the agenda at the 19th ASEAN Summit in Bali this week. (more…)

Bangkok — Myanmar has long been an international pariah but the country’s new regime now appears keen to break out of isolation and convert a surprising string of gestures into diplomatic victories. (more…)