On a packed dancefloor, gay clubbers show hope for a freer life in Burma: TV show and other cultural gains suggest decades of repression may be ending (more…)

The United Nationalities Federal Council (UNFC), an umbrella group that represents 12 ethnic groups in Burma, has issued the Burmese army with a deadline to end the ongoing fighting in Kachin State. (more…)

Washington — Key Republican Senator John McCain called Monday on the United States to suspend most sanctions on Myanmar, saying the administration must go further than planned to encourage the country’s reforms. (more…)

CONSTRUCTION company Zaykabar last week defied government instructions to stop destroying embankments on farmland at the centre of an ownership dispute in Mingalardon township, one day after farmers were prevented from ploughing the fields. (more…)

WORKERS at a South Korean-owned wig factory in Hlaing Tharyar have secured a significant pay increase following a two-day strike. (more…)

Mae Sai, Thailand — The news coming out of Myanmar these days is of hope and reconciliation as the country moves from military dictatorship to fledgling democracy. But what is actually coming across Myanmar’s border here is a surge of illicit drugs. (more…)

BANGKOK—The Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR) will hold its next meeting in Rangoon this June in another transitional landmark for Burma’s reformist government that nonetheless stands accused of ongoing human rights abuses. (more…)

New Delhi — Twenty-seven-yearold Amina (name changed) is in the eighth month of her pregnancy. But this immigrant from the Rohingya community from Myanmar is more worried about getting a shelter over her head than the bundle of joy she would be holding in her arms very soon. (more…)

The new and supposedly progressive government of Myanmar faces many challenges in throwing off the sordid past of 48 years of military tyranny. One deeply troubling heritage is the drug trade. Neighbours including Thailand have given President Thein Sein a long rope, but all agree that the long years of Myanmar drug trafficking must end. (more…)

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has joined Parliament. Ok. I understand her reasons, even if I think the move was ill-advised. What I don’t get, though, is why she agreed to end the sanctions, to put development before freedom and peace. Why is she supporting the inroads into Burma by corporate labor exploiters, land thieves, and environmental rapists? There wasn’t any rush. It would have been much better to postpone economic development until there was real, irreversible, democratic change. To me, this is a monumental mistake. (more…)

After half a century of having its currency traded on gray and black markets, Burma wants to free up its kyat by the end of next year. (more…)

The  Women’s  League  of  Burma  welcomes  the  inclusion  of  two  women  parliamentarians  in  the newly formed union level Peace Committee. However, the WLB urges U Thein Sein’s government to consider a much greater increase in women’s participation as a start towards a genuine process of talks for sustainable and lasting peace.  (more…)

Fighting in northern Burma’s Kachin state between the Kachin Independence Army and government forces intensified this month, according to the rebels.

La Nan, spokesperson from the Kachin Independence Organisation — the KIA’s political wing — said 52 clashes have taken place this month inside the group’s territories on the eastern banks of the Irrawaddy River.
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Zay Kabar, a Burmese company that has been accused of illegally confiscating more than 800 acres of land from farmers in Shwenanthar, a village in Rangoon’s Mingaladon Township, has continued clearing the land despite being told to stop by local authorities.
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A farmer from Nipukhan Vilage in Rathidaung Township, who is going to court for alleged trespassing, said that farmers are still being oppressed despite the new government.
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Chiang Mai– Burmese President Thein Sein’s website said on Friday he gave instructions to officials that the government needs a “second-level strategy” that is “citizen-centered.”

According to the website, the president said he wanted officials to give high priority to helping and protecting citizens and to avoid bribery and corruption. (more…)

Border affairs ministers visited the Wa capital Panghsang yesterday and are due to arrive in Mongla, the main base of the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) today, according to sources from the Sino-Burmese border. (more…)

Kohima, May 10 2012: Exactly a month after signing a ceasefire agreement with the Myanmarese authority, the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) has said it will open a “truce supervisory” office in the neighbouring country.

The sub-office NSCN (K) at Khamti town in Myanmar would be for preserving peace and tranquility ‘within its jurisdiction’, a statement by its information and publicity wing said today.
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United Nations unit says the country is vulnerable to corruption, commodity prices

The economic prospects of Myanmar, formerly Burma, could be undermined by volatile commodity prices, according to the United Nations, which says that reliance on the now-lucrative oil and gas sectors could hinder fiscal modernization.
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Reports this week that Lower House MP Aung Thaung, a former general who served as Burma’s industry minister in the previous military junta, will no longer head efforts to reach a peace agreement with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) are just the latest twist in the long career of a man regarded as one of the country’s most corrupt officials.
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