Yangon, Myanmar – Myanmar tightened security for a visit by President Lee Myung-bak on Monday, the first by a South Korean leader since an assassination attempt by North Korean commandos nearly 30 years ago. (more…)

Myanmar’s president has urged the nation’s millions-strong diaspora to return, state media reported Saturday, as the country seeks skilled workers to help smooth the passage of reform. (more…)

On a packed dancefloor, gay clubbers show hope for a freer life in Burma: TV show and other cultural gains suggest decades of repression may be ending (more…)

The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an umbrella group that represents 12 ethnic groups in Burma, has issued the Burmese army with a deadline to end the ongoing fighting in Kachin State. (more…)

Washington — Key Republican Senator John McCain called Monday on the United States to suspend most sanctions on Myanmar, saying the administration must go further than planned to encourage the country’s reforms. (more…)

CONSTRUCTION company Zaykabar last week defied government instructions to stop destroying embankments on farmland at the centre of an ownership dispute in Mingalardon township, one day after farmers were prevented from ploughing the fields. (more…)

WORKERS at a South Korean-owned wig factory in Hlaing Tharyar have secured a significant pay increase following a two-day strike. (more…)

Mae Sai, Thailand — The news coming out of Myanmar these days is of hope and reconciliation as the country moves from military dictatorship to fledgling democracy. But what is actually coming across Myanmar’s border here is a surge of illicit drugs. (more…)

BANGKOK—The Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) will hold its next meeting in Rangoon this June in another transitional landmark for Burma’s reformist government that nonetheless stands accused of ongoing human rights abuses. (more…)

New Delhi — Twenty-seven-yearold Amina (name changed) is in the eighth month of her pregnancy. But this immigrant from the Rohingya community from Myanmar is more worried about getting a shelter over her head than the bundle of joy she would be holding in her arms very soon. (more…)

The new and supposedly progressive government of Myanmar faces many challenges in throwing off the sordid past of 48 years of military tyranny. One deeply troubling heritage is the drug trade. Neighbours including Thailand have given President Thein Sein a long rope, but all agree that the long years of Myanmar drug trafficking must end. (more…)

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has joined Parliament. Ok. I understand her reasons, even if I think the move was ill-advised. What I don’t get, though, is why she agreed to end the sanctions, to put development before freedom and peace. Why is she supporting the inroads into Burma by corporate labor exploiters, land thieves, and environmental rapists? There wasn’t any rush. It would have been much better to postpone economic development until there was real, irreversible, democratic change. To me, this is a monumental mistake. (more…)

After half a century of having its currency traded on gray and black markets, Burma wants to free up its kyat by the end of next year. (more…)

The  Women’s  League  of  Burma  welcomes  the  inclusion  of  two  women  parliamentarians  in  the newly formed union level Peace Committee. However, the WLB urges U Thein Sein’s government to consider a much greater increase in women’s participation as a start towards a genuine process of talks for sustainable and lasting peace.  (more…)