Maungdaw, Arakan State: Burmese security forces did not pay any respect to the UN representative Mr. Quintana who visited northern Arakan on July 31 and August 1. The security forces arrested and looted Rohingya people continuously though the UN representatives are still now staying  in Burma, said a youths from Maungdaw. (more…)

The UN special human rights reporter for Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, met with five detained UN staff members on Wednesday in Burthidaung Prison in Rakhine State. (more…)

Burmese Vice-President Sai Mauk Kham traveled to the predominantly Muslim township of Maungdaw in northern Arakan State on Friday amid growing international criticism of the government’s handling of recent communal conflicts between Arakanese Buddhists and Muslim Rohingyas. (more…)

Phyo Wai Aung, an engineer who was sentenced to death in May for allegedly carrying out a bombing during Burma’s Thingyan water festival in 2010, has been released from custody after receiving a pardon from President Thein Sein. (more…)

A Kachin man who was arrested by the Burmese military Battalion 125 is now being forced to work as a porter, according to a Chinese man who was also detained. (more…)

THE face towel was scented with lemon grass, and the welcome drink was fresh lemonade poured over crushed ice. Sultry breezes filtered through the open-air lobby decorated in colonial style, with wicker chairs, spinning ceiling fans, faux Southeast Asian antiques and pillars of solid teak. Footpaths wound past date palms, jasmine and frangipani; a swimming pool extended toward an artificial lake clotted with hyacinths. Beyond the lake lay one of the wonders of Southeast Asia: an arid plain speckled with 2,000 Buddhist temples. (more…)

SINGAPORE – Despite the wave of political and economic reforms that Myanmar is undergoing, scepticism remains over whether its government might return to its rogue ways. (more…)

Jailed Islamist cleric Abu Bakar Bashir threatened to wage war if Myanmar continues to harm Muslim Rohingyas, in a letter to Myanmar President Thein Sein seen on a website on Friday.

The 74-year-old is widely regarded as a spiritual leader of radical Islam in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, and is currently serving a 15-year-jail term for funding terror. (more…)

New Delhi – Chief of Defence Services of Myanmar, General Min Aung Hlaing arrived here on Friday to strengthen defence ties between two countries. (more…)

Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan hailed Friday the progress made by both South Korea and Myanmar in improving bilateral relations, saying he believes that ties with the Southeast Asian country “have been strengthened almost every day.” (more…)

In 1988, after the student uprising, thousands of Burmese University students fled to the Thai border jungles. The impact of this on expatriate Burmese in Thailand was enormous, as daily news was aired on Thai TV and newspapers. News was blacked out in Burma at the time. (more…)

Ethnic violence has been occurring in Myanmar between Muslim Rohingya and the junta-backed Rakhine community. According to UN report (July 2012), at least 650 ethnic Rohingya people have been killed, with 1,200 missing, and more than 80,000 people displaced. The exact number could be higher. (more…)

U.S. investors cautioned to take care

International economic sanctions have been eased and American businesses are leading the charge to set up shop in Burma. But the Obama administration wants the business leaders to consider more than just making money as a more open Burma risks exposing more of its population to human trafficking and exploitation. (more…)