Two people were arrested after shops were destroyed in northern Kachin State, agencies reported over the weekend. Burma is in the grip of acute religious tension after a deadly wave of unrest in March that saw mobs attack Muslim areas in violence that has edged towards the country’s main city Rangoon. But it is the [...]
Heavy rains in eastern Burma killed at least 11 people on Thursday. The deaths occurred in the township of Kalaw, about 400km north of the main city, Rangoon, police said. In one incident, eight gold mine workers were killed and seven injured when a huge tree fell on their living quarters, AFP reported. In another [...]
Hours after Indonesia announced it had foiled an alleged plot to bomb the Burmese Embassy in Jakarta, hundreds of hardline Muslims gathered outside the mission on Friday calling for jihad in that country to fight against persecution of their Islamic brothers. Two suspected militants were arrested the night before, and five homemade bombs were seized [...]
Following anti-Muslim violence in Okkan, unidentified persons allegedly attempt to instigate unrest between Buddhists and Muslims in Mandalay, but security forces prevent any ensuing clashes.
Burma’s journalism scene is opening up, but after speaking with reporters in Rangoon, media watchdog Shawn Crispin sees cause for concern.
Famed exile Kachin singer and songwriter Mun Awng longs to perform before a home audience, but isn’t convinced he can do so freely just yet.
A minister says Burma will amend its Constitution so the democracy icon can run in the next election, but the ruling political party suggests otherwise.
Burma’s top peace negotiator for ethnic conflicts meets with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair and British Foreign Secretary William Hague in London.
Rangoon’s Hindus gathered last week for the annual ‘fire-walking ceremony’ to honor the Goddess Kali. Devotees braved heat and pains to show their faith.
President Thein Sein vows to complete efforts to rebuild areas of Arakan State hit by last year’s violence before the start of the rainy season.
Reports that thirteen soldiers were killed recently by unidentified attackers on the Thai-Burma border were untrue, the Burmese government told the media. According to the government, they were lost on patrol in the forest on the border in southern Ranong Province, the same place where 92 Thais were arrested last year, according to The Nation. [...]
Fire is the top natural disaster in Burma, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) told Eleven Media on Sunday. Let Let Aye, a programme analyst with the UNDP, told Eleven Media there had been 45 fires in Rangoon in the first two months of the year, which displaced 725 people and destroyed 42 buildings. In [...]
Former comrades of the Burma Communist Party and their offspring are locking horns over a plot of land granted to them more than 55 years ago, the Bangkok Post reported on Sunday. The disputed plot of land, in Dekkhinathiri Township in Naypyidaw, was part of a settlement area the Burmese government granted the Communist Party [...]
Burma Campaign UK, in a statement posted on its website, said the European Union (EU) should reconsider lifting sanctions against Burma citing the deteriorating security situation in Shan State. The London-based advocacy group said in the statement the EU was ignoring the negatives of Burma’s reform process. “There is no doubt that there have been [...]
After a blaze killed 13 boys at an Islamic boarding school, Burmese authorities hoping to quell religious tensions are urged to conduct a careful inquiry.
Burmese officials hastened on Tuesday to dispel rumors that an early morning fire that killed 13 students at an Islamic school had been deliberately set.
Buddhist monk U Wirathu runs a Burmese nationalist “969” campaign that has fanned anti-Islamic sentiments. But he denies his ideas are spurring the current unrest.
Burma’s president blames riots in central Burma on “political opportunists and religious extremists” and warns he “will not hesitate to use force” to restore order.
Anti-Muslim riots continued to spread in central Burma for the seventh consecutive day as mobs attacked Islamic neighborhoods in two more towns Pegu Division towns.
Mobs rampage through Muslim neighborhoods in two more townships in Pegu Division a day after similar attacks in other communities in the same area.
