Yangon – Myanmar authorities have slowed recovery programs for areas hit by Cyclone Nargis in the Irrawaddy Delta, by delaying visas and travel permits to aid workers, media reports said Sunday. (more…)

The Thai military on Saturday warned Karen refugees at Tha Song Yang not to speak to the media or the UN’s refugee agency, the UNHCR––or risk arrest and deportation. (more…)

Yangon – Ghana’s rejection last month of 15,000 bags of ‘unwholesome’ rice from Myanmar has sparked calls for improved quality controls for the commodity, one of the country’s key export items, media reports said Sunday. (more…)

Myanmese activist Khin Omar said yesterday businessman Li Ka-shing should either put pressure on the Myanmar junta to democratise or get out of her country. (more…)

Burma is likely to hold elections around September but they are shaping up to be a “farce” with democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi unable to run, Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said Friday. (more…)

The boats that once brought Rohingya to an uncertain fate on Thai shores have stopped sailing. But the poverty and the persecution that spurred their journeys continue, reports Shaikh Azizur Rahman. (more…)

Australia is to increase humanitarian aid to Burma to help the country to be ready for political change, Australia’s foreign minister has said. (more…)

News of Nelson Mandela’s release dominated the radio broadcasts by the BBC and Voice of America on Feb. 11, 1990. I felt I understood why he had resisted so long, because in Burma, as in South Africa at the time Mr. Mandela was in jail, the majority of people were struggling to make their voices heard. Within three months, the military junta would refuse to recognize the results of our national election — and I would be locked up in Rangoon’s Insein Prison for leading a demonstration. (more…)

In the aftermath of Burma’s 2007 “Saffron Revolution” and the military’s subsequent crackdown, China has been increasingly pressured to assume a larger role in helping to resolve Burma’s crisis. (more…)

MAE SOT, Thailand – Trucks packed with goods as high as they are long line up to cross the “Friendship Bridge” between Thailand and Burma. (more…)

Democratic Voice of Burma Reports and images from the anti-government protests in Burma in 2007 brought the plight of citizens, journalists and free speech in the country to the world’s attention. (more…)

The UK Conservative Party’s Human Rights Commission has today released a policy paper calling for increased action on Burma ahead of the regime’s sham elections later in the year. (more…)

The new Ambassador of Myanmar to the Maldives, U Ohn Thwin of Myanmar, presented his Credentials to President Mohamed Nasheed today. (more…)

BANGKOK — At last count there were more than 2,100 political prisoners in Myanmar, according to human rights groups that track the opaque workings of the penal system in the military-run country. Among them is the unusual case of Nyi Nyi Aung, a naturalized U.S. citizen who gave up a 9-to-5 job in the relative comfort of the suburbs of Washington to campaign for democracy in his native Myanmar. (more…)

Electricity supplies in Rangoon have been fickle for the past decade, with the exception of an annual 2 month-long period during rainy season, when Burma is fueled by hydropower. Rangoon citizens say that the power scarcity worsened after Burma’s capital was moved to Naypyidaw in 2005, and many fear the situation will continue to decline. (more…)

Pyongyang — A joint seminar on General Secretary Kim Jong Il’s work “Socialism Is a Science” was held in Guinea and a meeting and a film show in Myanmar on Jan. 27 and 28 to celebrate his birthday. (more…)

The military is beginning the repatriation of 161 Karen refugees from Tak back to Burma as planned, despite a protest by human rights groups, Col Noppadol Vacharachitbovorn said on Friday. (more…)

THOUSANDS of refugees who fled Burma for safety in Thailand after their country’s junta launched a military offensive could be forced to return home where they could face torture or even death, campaigners believe. (more…)

Myanmar’s privatization move has been getting momentum with the Privatization Commission announcing auctioning of 110 more state enterprises this year under its privatization plan laid down 15 years ago. (more…)

Ethnic Kachins and Burmese protested today Burmese junta in Jantar Mantar in New Delhi, India.
Organized by the Kachin National Organization (KNO), over 50 activists, Burmese refugees and Buddhist monks assembled at the Jantar Mantar demanding that the Burmese junta stop abuses and oppression in Kachin State, immediately halt the Irrawaddy Myitsone dam project, and release Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (more…)