The growing number of displaced people in Kachin State is stretching the capacity of non-government organisations in the region, the groups say.

A flare-up in fighting between the Tatmadaw and Kachin Independence Army in early December has caused thousands to flee their homes for refugee camps in Myitkyina, Bhamo, Waingmaw and Kachin Independence Organisation-controlled areas. (more…)

A monk in Burma has been ordered out of his monastery by Buddhist elders who said he had given an inappropriate speech at an office of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s party, he said Friday.

Ashin Pyinyar Thiha, who recently met US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during her h (more…)

Aung San Suu Kyi has reached out to the Chinese ambassador in Rangoon, according to China’s foreign minister, who said the two met privately, according to a Reuters news agency report. He declined to say when or where the meeting took place.

The meeting would mark the highest-level contact (more…)

 New Delhi– Candidates can start campaigning freely now for the by-election, Union Election Commission (UEC) chairman Tin Aye said on Friday. The date of the election has not been set, but it is expected to be about 90 days after the start of campaigning.

A total of 48 seats at the union or regional level are open. Political parties are free to campaign without informing the EC of their plans, according to sources. There are some constituencies in which there may be no election due to fighting in ethnic areas. (more…)

Naypyidaw’s peace committee, led by government Minister Aung Thaung, has attempted to quell mounting tensions with Kachin rebels by offering to enter peace talks on ongoing conflicts and war refugees.

Sources close to the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) claim that their leadership received a letter signed by Aung Thaung yesterday. The government peace committee said that it wanted to discuss political issues, said the sources. (more…)

Burma’s information minister, ex-Gen Kyaw Hsan, has agreed to air programs produced by Voice of America (VOA) on state-run radio stations, according to the head of the VOA’s Burmese-language service.

Than Lwin Tun, the chief of the Washington-based VOA Burmese Service, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that Kyaw Hsan agreed in principle to broadcast some VOA programs using local FM and medium-wave stations totally or partly run by the Ministry of Information. (more…)

The villagers scattered as machine guns raked the darkness, fleeing from the Burmese troops into the thick of the jungle. When day came they crept from their hiding places to find each other.

Nu La could not see his wife until he followed the wail of their two-week-old baby. Her body lay close to her son, between two large rocks, slumped to the right. The slash wound that killed her ran all the way from one side of her chest to the other. (more…)

Poppy cultivation has doubled in Southeast Asia since 2006, according to a report released by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crimes (UNODC) in Bangkok yesterday.

Burma accounts for most of the opium traded and over the past five years, cultivation in this country has risen remorselessly. The regional cultivation figure for 2011 is 16 per cent higher than in the preceding year, the report says. (more…)

Yangon, Myanmar — Ma Soe Soe Kyi’s skeletal frame is visible above her blanket; she is too weak to keep her eyes open. Her husband waves away the flies and looks on helplessly.

Kyi is HIV positive and finally getting help and medication from a private HIV clinic in Yangon, Myanmar. There are 60 patients here — the oldest is 70 years old, the youngest just three months. (more…)

Yangon—As Myanmar feels its way toward political and economic opening, one of the clearest signs of change is the rush among some of its tycoons to recast themselves as enthusiastic supporters of overhauls. (more…)

Tun Aung knew there were plans for his village to be moved to make way for a multi-billion dollar industrial zone and deep-sea port, but the whole thing was hard to imagine.

Then one day last month he discovered a new road slicing through his family’s cashew tree grove, part of a network that will link to a super-highway across southern Myanmar to Thailand. (more…)

The Naypyitaw International Airport was inaugurated on Monday, the Xinhua news agency reported.

The new international airport was put into operation in a bid to ensure accommodation of what is hoped to be a sharp increase of tourists from around the world in the years ahead, said Xinhua. (more…)

Academics and human rights advocates have urged the public to closely monitor Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s two-day visit to Burma today during which transport and energy development plans will be high on her agenda.

Critics expressed concern over possible conflicts of interest after ousted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is Ms Yingluck’s elder brother, stopped over in Burma while he was on his way to Nepal last week. (more…)

China’s bid to boost security through new multilateral mechanisms and joint patrols along the Mekong River promises to change the region’s strategic dynamic. While the unprecedented move underscores China’s desire to protect its fast expanding trade links with Southeast Asia, continued banditry and violence point towards the challenge Beijing will face in bringing multilateral order to one of the region’s more lawless terrains. (more…)

Myanmar believes “things can change” in North Korea after the death of Kim Jong-Il, a government official said Monday, adding that not much was known about his son and successor Kim Jong-Un.

Allegations of nuclear cooperation between the two isolated nations have been a top concern for the international community, particularly US lawmakers, although Myanmar has recently made assurances it would abide by UN resolutions. (more…)

Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has expressed her sadness at the death of former Czech President Václav Havel who died on Sunday at his home in Prague.

“Suu Kyi expressed her sadness for him [Havel] when she arrived at the party headquarters for the CEC meeting on Monday morning,” said Ohn Kyaing, a spokesman for her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) referring to the Central Executive Committee meeting. “The party will announce an official message of condolences soon.” (more…)

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…)