Yangon, Myanmar — Amid the towering golden spires of Myanmar’s grandest Buddhist shrine there was talk of politics and hope for the future as thousands came Wednesday for the return of an annual festival that was banned for more than 20 years by the former military regime. (more…)

Yangon – A senior figure in Myanmar’s parliament on Wednesday described recent reforms in the country as “sluggish and unsatisfactory” and urged the civilian government to act faster to push through legislation for the benefit of the public. (more…)

Speaker of Myanmar’s [Burma's] parliamentary House of Representatives (Lower House) U Shwe Mann left Yangon Wednesday [22 February] for Beijing on a five-day official goodwill visit to China. (more…)

Bangkok – A lack of access to healthcare is causing unwanted pregnancies, unsafe abortions and deaths among hundreds of thousands of displaced, migrant and refugee women along Myanmar’s border with Thailand, a U.S-based NGO says. (more…)

Moreh, India – As dusk falls on a lonely police station in the eastern tip of India, a young policeman nervously keeps an eye on the Arakan hills above him, dotted with poppy fields. (more…)

BANGKOK — Some 85,000 HIV-infected people in Myanmar are not getting treatment due to a lack of funding, despite renewed international engagement with the government amid a wave of political reform, a medical aid group said Wednesday. (more…)

Burma is actively preparing to take over the Asean chairmanship role in 2014, marking its emergence as an equal member of the Southeast Asian community of nations. (more…)

Robert H. Lieberman arrived in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, for the first time in December 2008. It was another dark period — after the crushing of popular protests by monks the year before — in the country’s long history of repression and isolation. He could have no idea how serendipitous his timing would turn out to be. (more…)

Assumptions have arisen over the past few months about the existence of reformers and hardliners in nominally democratic Burma. (more…)

Over the past year as Myanmar has launched a shockingly rapid era of reform, foreign investors have descended on the country, convinced it is the next Asian tiger cub economy and that western democracies soon will lift all sanctions. In recent weeks, some of the largest Japanese businesses visited Myanmar to scout for opportunities, as did George Soros, and several large European companies. Many venture capitalists privately have been assessing ways to invest in Myanmar. (more…)

Myanmar’s transformation from pariah state to the next big thing has happened at light speed. Wall Street investment bankers, Big Four accountants, management consultants, corporate lawyers and money managers are flocking to the country. (more…)

When police raided a house in the Burmese border town of Tachilek last week, they discovered a stash of around 8.7 million ecstasy tablets, most likely bound for Thailand. Alongside the pills was a collection of guns – AK47s, M16s and a handgun, as well as drug-making paraphernalia. On the same day, a Chinese official told media that border towns in southwest China, where Yunnan province meets the frontiers of Burma’s Shan and Kachin states, had seen a rise in synthetic drugs like methamphetamine, and even drug-making facilities. Keen to stamp out the scourge that an influx of drugs to towns like Ruili has triggered, Beijing will draw up plans for a crackdown on the trade, the China Daily reported, as media speaks of a “resurgence” in the Golden Triangle’s most derided commodity. (more…)