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…)

Today as the world celebrates another international human rights day, people in Burma continue to face a host of serious human rights abuses. (more…)

Former military general Shwe Mann, who is currently the speaker of the Lower House in Burma’s Parliament, has denied accusations that Naypyidaw is engaging in a nuclear program with North Korea. (more…)

Bangladesh will be the first country to move its embassy from Rangoon to Naypyidaw, and marked the event by driving a stake into the ground on the site of its new office on Tuesday. (more…)

Magazines covering business and crime will hit the newsstands on Friday untouched by the redactors in Burma’s notorious censor board, after amendments to media laws that allow certain publications to bypass official scrutiny. (more…)

Chiang Mai – U Lwin, 87, one of the founders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and a former Burmese military officer, died of natural causes on Tuesday night. (more…)

Yangon, Myanmar — Intensifying clashes between ethnic rebels and Myanmar’s army have forced tens of thousands of villagers into refugee camps near the Chinese border, according to aid workers and members of the clergy. (more…)

Yangon – Just hours after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton left Myanmar last week, property prices began to soar.
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Rangoon – Burma’s political reforms have dominated headlines in the past year, but there is also high anticipation about a series of economic reforms. (more…)

The void left in Thailand’s labour force by the nearly 200,000 migrants that fled the country to escape heavy flooding in recent months will be filled by thousands of Burmese currently being brought into the country. (more…)