Chiang Mai – Burmese President Thein Sein on Saturday gave written instructions to the commander-in-chief of the Defence Services to stop military offensives in Kachin State. (more…)

Yangon — Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi’s party said Monday it has chosen the image of a fighting peacock gazing at a white star as its new voting emblem, as it prepares to re-enter the political fray. (more…)

Bangkok — Myanmar has loosened restrictions on dozens of business and crime publications, local media reported, but kept news titles in the grip of strict censorship rules. (more…)

Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Burma in the midst of a massive political thaw. For decades the West has shunned the Asian country, whose ruling generals brutally repressed their own people. But with the government showing signs of a liberalizing shift, Burma is giddy with change. (more…)

UN aid groups have been granted unprecedented access to territory controlled by the rebel Kachin Independence Army (KIA), where thousands of war refugees have been struggling to access food and medicine following a blockade on international aid groups leaving government-controlled areas in the northern state. (more…)

Aung San Suu Kyi, whose story is told in a new film, went from devoted Oxford housewife to champion of Burmese democracy – but not without great personal sacrifice. (more…)

Bangkok – Three Myanmar soldiers were killed during a joint patrol with Lao troops when they clashed with a suspected criminal gang along the Mekong River, a news report said Monday. (more…)

YANGON, Myanmar — Their motors growl, belch and clank. Their fan belts whine. Their doors and steering wheels rattle and squeak. (more…)

Italian-Thai Development expects to allot 40,000 rai of industrial land in Burma’s Dawei project next year, with plans calling for a 300-billion-baht steel mill, says ITD president Premchai Karnasuta. (more…)

Washington – British Foreign Secretary William Hague announced Monday he will travel to military-backed Myanmar next month, after a visit by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton aimed at boosting reform. (more…)

Releasing the roughly 2,000 political prisoners would quell doubts. (more…)

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton with Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The Burmese government has loosened its strictures, but is still to outline real benefits for the impoverished people. (more…)

Knowing that sanctions without engagement are not effective or doomed to failure, the Obama administration adopted conditional engagement – a carrot and stick approach – to pressure the Burmese government towards democratic reform. (more…)

UNITED NATIONS ? With the historic visit of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Myanmar (Burma), the highest profile American diplomatic contact in 50 years, the United States has entered a high stakes geopolitical chess game in Southeast Asia. Myanmar, a political pariah state has long been courted by China, coveted by India, and shunned by Washington and most Western countries. (more…)

During his November trip to Bali to attend the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, US President Barack Obama announced that America was back and sent a clear signal that Uncle Sam would not cede anything to China. (more…)