Thailand will shelter the Royingya for six months and seek talks with Myanmar and other countries to settle the fate of the illegal migrants, Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said on Friday. (more…)

For 20 years, they have been given food, water, shelter, health care. But the thing they need most – hope – has proven elusive. And according to the refugee youth in this area bordering western Myanmar, the future is growing dimmer by the day. (more…)

Labor activists in Thailand are welcoming the government’s extension of a deadline for close to two million undocumented migrant workers to become legal. The illegal migrants now have four additional months to register through a new simplified process.  But, activists say the new rules still allow room for exploiting foreign workers mainly from Burma, Cambodia and Laos. (more…)

After more than a month of wrangling, the Thai government agreed to extend the deadline for undocumented migrant workers to register for official work papers until April 15, sources familiar with the process told The Myanmar Times. (more…)

China has sent soldiers to its border with Myanmar amid concern that escalating violence between the Southeast Asian country’s government and ethnic separatists is spilling over, an official Chinese newspaper reported on Friday. (more…)

Thousands of Burmese migrants face unemployment after new minimum wage requirements imposed by the Thai government earlier this month forced several factories and workshops to close down. (more…)

Cross-border trading—which accounts for 85% of Burma-Thailand total bilateral trade—increased by 25% last year, according to an official from the Burmese Ministry of Commerce. (more…)

Businesses in Ranong want the government to rapidly resolve the problem of overlapping claims on islands in the Kraburi River between Thailand and Myanmar. (more…)

The army has been placed on high alert after major clashes between Myanmar troops and Shan rebel soldiers yesterday threatened to spill across the border. (more…)

Outbreaks of illnesses are spreading amongst refugees – mostly children – living in official and unofficial camps in Bangladesh. The most common sicknesses are pneumonia, fever, cough, stomach’s pain and diarrhea, according to a doctor from Teknaf. (more…)

Four people smugglers were sentenced to up to 10 years in prison by a Thai court after 54 illegal workers from Myanmar suffocated to death inside a seafood container, an official said on Friday. (more…)

The National Verification (NV) offices in Chiang Mai and Myawaddy announced on December 18—International Migrants Day—that they will extend their deadline for migrants to register until the end of the year; however other NV centers—including those in Mahachai and Ranong—did not, leaving hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos facing arrest and deportation. (more…)

An estimated 1 million legal and illegal migrant workers from Myanmar who have yet to apply for nationality verification ahead of the Dec 14 deadline could face deportation. (more…)

Two men from Mae La refugee camp were shot dead in mysterious circumstances last week, according to a Karen News report on Monday, November 12. (more…)

The Burmese government’s Union-level peacemaking group, led by President’s Office Minister Aung Min, on Friday arrived in Thailand where it is scheduled to meet members of the exiled All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF), as well as representatives of ethnic armed groups, Hla Maung Shwe, a government peace delegate, told Mizzima. (more…)

Businessmen in Myawaddy, Karen State, opposite Mae Sot in western Thailand, will soon be issued with border trade permission cards to conduct work legally even if they do not have a company license, according to a Burmese government official. (more…)

A boat carrying about 110 Bangladeshis and Rohingya Muslims from neighbouring Myanmar sank in the Bay of Bengal on Wednesday as they were heading to Malaysia and about half of them were missing, a Bangladeshi border force officer said. (more…)

Bangkok – Thousands of Rohingya – whether currently in Myanmar or Bangladesh – may take to the high seas and head to Malaysia after last month’s deadly sectarian violence in Myanmar’s western Rakhine State, activists warn. (more…)

Thailand will meet Myanmar today about relations on the border for the first time in seven years. (more…)

Tak – Thai soldiers on Sunday seized many heavy firearms, including rifles and machine guns, and more than 100,000 rounds of ammunition in Tak’s Mae Sot district, near the Thai-Myanmar border. (more…)