Bangkok – After surviving 60 years of war, Mu Haw is close to giving up. “I’m too old to keep on running for my life,” she says. “If no one helps us, I will die here.” (more…)

DOHA — Demand in China is stoking a black market in neighbouring Myanmar in tiger-bone wine, leopard skins, bear bile and other products made from endangered species, a report released on Tuesday said. (more…)

Kutupalong, Bangladesh — Dildar Begum has no country, no job, no food and she is fast running out of hope. (more…)

Yangon—Myanmar’s military is moving large numbers of soldiers to border areas near China and Thailand in anticipation of possible conflicts with ethnic rebels in those areas before elections this year, according to diplomats, intelligence experts and residents who are tracking the activities. (more…)

A U.S.-based rights group says Bangladesh has forced tens of thousands of ethnic Rohingya Muslims from neighboring Burma into makeshift camps where they face starvation. (more…)

The Burmese Constitution’s failure to address “ethnic aspirations” could mean that conflict in the border areas would continue for “many more years to come,” according to the Thailand Burma Border Consortium (TBBC). (more…)

A rights group has called on Thailand to investigate the use of lethal force by Thai soldiers against Burmese migrants, allegedly resulting in the deaths of three children. (more…)

Bangkok – Around 850,000 migrant workers in Thailand have met a deadline to start a registration process, the labour ministry said Thursday, as rights groups made renewed calls for a halt to the policy. (more…)

US naval ships started a three-day training exchange programme with Bangladesh on Tuesday on the Bay of Bengal near Burmese territorial waters, said  an official source. (more…)

The European Union announced Tuesday the allocation of 17.25 million euros (23.4 million dollars) in humanitarian aid for Myanmar’s “vulnerable people” this year. (more…)

Pressure is mounting on Thai authorities to rescind or delay new immigration rules that could cause hundreds of thousands of migrant workers to face deportation and drive up business costs in one of Southeast Asia’s most important economies, human-rights workers say. (more…)

Prosecutors are investigating the deaths of three Burmese – including two young children – who were killed when a pick-up truck they were being smuggled in was sprayed with bullets by Thai soldiers in Ranong on Thursday. (more…)

Though the Thai government has extended the previous deadline of Feb. 28 to March 2 for migrant workers to go to local employment departments and agree to go through the national verification process with their home countries, the system is in chaos, according to Andy Hall, director of the Migrant Justice Programme (MJP). (more…)

Bangkok — Myanmar troops have gang-raped, murdered and even crucified Karen women, or those in their charge, who took on the roles of village chiefs in hopes they would be less likely abused than traditional male leaders, a Karen group said Thursday. (more…)

An internal document of the Thailand’s Ministry of Labor said Burmese migrants will have one more month extension to fill in the nationality verification (NV) forms with his/her biographical information to submit to their home governments if he/she agrees to go through the NV process by the original deadline, 28 February 2010, according to Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF). (more…)

Chiang Mai – American Lisa Nesser moved to northern Thailand six years ago to help refugees from Burma.  Lisa discovered many minority children from Burma were unable to attend regular schools in Thailand so she started giving the children free evening classes and her small group of students soon grew into a unique school.  As we hear from VOA’s Daniel Schearf, Nesser is making a difference in the city of Chiang Mai through her school – Thai Freedom House. (more…)

Bangkok – THEY sew bras, peel shrimps, build blocks of flats and haul fishing-nets. In return, migrant workers in Thailand are paid poorly, if at all, and face exploitation and abuse at the hands of employers and the security forces. Up to 3m migrants, many undocumented and mostly from Myanmar, fall into this category. So a scheme to start registering this workforce and bring it into the legal fold sounds like a step forward. Migrants have been ordered to apply to their home countries for special passports so that they can work legally in Thailand and, in theory, enjoy access to public services, such as health care. (more…)

Chiang Mai – In the wake of the murderous ambush on the Burmese police force on the Mekong River, in the Golden Triangle on February 20, which left 14 policemen dead and missing, the junta has beefed up security in the area and sealed the international border with Laos. (more…)

Mae Sot, Thailand – This year looks set to be a crucial one for Burma. The military government plans to stage the first elections for 20 years and international attention is likely to be focused on the detained pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.  But there is another group working to bring about change in Burma whose methods are less conventional. (more…)

Bangkok – More than 1.3 million mostly Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand are scrambling to file papers by end of this month to register for an exercise to verify their nationality, failing which they may face deportation. (more…)