A new draft law intended to replace one of Burma’s most draconian publishing acts has been slammed for retaining a series of restrictive provisions, including a ban on printing material that “violates” the country’s military-backed constitution, and imposing prison sentences of up to six months. (more…)

Ma-Ubin residents said riot police incited the violence that led to rioting in the Irrawaddy Delta township on Tuesday night, while a government media outlet blamed protestors for attacking police officers. (more…)

In the past five months nine civilians were killed and fourteen injured in Kachin State as a result of Burmese military artillery fire, a Kachin human rights group alleges. It said army units also torched hundreds of homes and committed acts of sexual violence against local women and girls. (more…)

“We need to adopt a new style of budgeting,” said an eminent economist and member of the council of economic advisors to the president, while speaking at a roundtable discussion on Myanmar’s budget process on Thursday. (more…)

Nineteen farmers and several policemen remain in hospital in Burma after clashes at a land protest in which one policeman was killed. (more…)

?A boatload of 121 Muslim Rohingya fleeing Burma arrived off the Indonesian coast of Aceh this week. They are just some of thousands of Rohingya fleeing Burma by sea, in a deadly exodus that the United Nations plans to discuss at a conference in Jakarta next month. Human rights groups worry the situation could lead to more sectarian violence.  (more…)

You know that a country’s tourism industry is really taking off when a Hilton hotel moves in – particularly when that country has faced years of US sanctions. The buzz on the sidelines of Myanmar’s first tourism industry conference this week in Yangon was about Hilton Worldwide’s landmark deal to manage a 300-room hotel in the tallest building in central Yangon: Centrepoint Towers. (more…)

The notorious Shan drug trafficker Naw Kham will be executed by lethal injection in southern China on Friday, according to reports in the Chinese press. (more…)

Andy Hall, who has worked with the Burmese Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, has been charged with broadcasting false statements under Thailand’s Computer Crime Act, a charge that carries a maximum jail term of two years. (more…)

Last week’s media reports that the Chinese army was involved in intense training in the hills of Yunnan Province near the Myanmar border raised few eyebrows. (more…)

Concerns have been raised over financial aid provided by the Indian government for development as it will be channeled through the Ministry for Border Affairs. (more…)

Set up more market-based economy to attract investments, promote sustainable growth, says top IMF economist (more…)

Local charities and philanthropists are pushing into Myanmar to help with the country’s development, but experts warn that people should learn from the mainland and Hong Kong’s experience to avoid doing more harm than good. (more…)

Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing and for the Commission’s sustained concern about Burma over the years. I am particularly grateful to the late Tom Lantos himself, who played a critical role in shaping U.S. policy. I appreciate the opportunity to outline for the Commission the administration’s views on human rights and democracy in Burma. (more…)

“Human Rights in Burma” (more…)

Despite Burma’s ongoing reforms and new political freedoms, political prisoners in Mandalay Division’s Ohbo Prison say they are still being ill-treated and forced to carry out hard labor. (more…)

When angry villagers clashed with security forces on Tuesday over land seizures in Myanmar, the police apparently got the worst of it. (more…)

Police used only four rubber bullets and one lead bullet in yesterday’s clashes with local farmers over land dispute between them and a fish-farm operator in Maletto village, Maubin Township, Ayeyawady Region, the deputy chief of the Region Police Force told the Eleven Media Group this morning. (more…)

South African peace activist Desmond Tutu called on Burma’s leaders to embrace the idea that “freedom is cheaper than oppression” during his first visit to the country, and pressed them to end violence against Rohingyas and other minorities. (more…)

A team of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is visiting the Kachin rebel-held town of Laiza in order to deliver medical aid and inspect the needs of thousands of villagers displaced by the conflict in northern Burma. (more…)