New Zealander jailed in Burma to be released Friday
Phil Blackwood, a New Zealand national incarcerated in Rangoon’s Insein Prison since December 2014, was released in a Presidential Amnesty on Friday.
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2015 Elections Analysis Lead Story News
NLD majority poses threat to minority politics
“The upsurge of support for the NLD among the indigenous peoples is interesting, considering ethnic politics is concentrated largely in extra-parliamentary politics, that being the armed struggle.”
Kachin Lead Story Natural resources News
The Great Jade Robbery
Burma’s military junta continues to rape the land of its most precious commodity, according to a stinging new report by Global Witness.
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Analysis Ethnic issues Lead Story News Peace Process
Ceasefire signing marks end of the beginning
Thursday’s signatories will hope that the inking of the ceasefire, with its broad but stated points to address localised conflict, will provide the time needed for lengthy discussions to come.
2015 election: State TV to host political adverts, but there’s a catch
Burma’s state-run broadcaster will carry 15-minute party political broadcasts throughout the 60-day campaign period ahead of the general election on 8 November, but authorities have dictated a number of red lines.
Mandalay govt vows crackdown on same-sex couples
Minister Myint Kyu characterised homosexuality as “unacceptable” and threatened to detain and “educate” gay men in particular.
Interview Lead Story News Video
DVB speaks to Karen power broker Naw Zipporah Sein
The Karen National Union vice president told DVB that current fighting in northern and eastern Burma has damaged trust.
Business Foreign Affairs Lead Story News
Tay Za’s wife removed from US blacklist
In a 9 July notice posted on the US Treasury website, Thidar Zaw, 51, was noted as having been removed from the blacklist.
Education Interview Lead Story Video
INTERVIEW: DVB speaks to education reformist Dr Thein Lwin
‘Where to from here for Burma’s education reform movement?’
Interview Lead Story News Peace Process
Interview: Ethnic leader vows to keep Kokang in peace process
DVB speaks to Nationwide Ceasefire Coordination Team member Hkun Okker as 3 ethnic groups threaten to quit the ethnic bloc.
Thingyan violence lays bare 969 hypocrisy
The failure of nationalist hardliners to react to routine cases of violence against women suggests that it is ownership of Buddhist women and girls – rather than their protection – that motivates them.
Culture Feature Lead Story News Travel & Tourism Video
Classic cars on the road to Mandalay
70 antique cars set off from Singapore this month and have passed through Malaysia and Thailand, en route to Mandalay.
Burma’s businesses still lack transparency: MCRB
The Myanmar Centre for Responsible Business has found that the majority of domestic firms are unwilling or unable to disclose information on their own human rights standards.
DVB journalist Zaw Pe freed
Zaw Pe was freed from Thayat prison, Magwe on Friday after a court reduced his sentence from one year to three months.
Zaw Pe to be freed this weekend
Magwe divisional court has reduced the sentence of DVB video-journalist Zaw Pe from one year to three months.
Civil society leaders released from Insein
Nay Myo Zin and Win Cho were released from Insein Prison on Tuesday, having spent 84 days locked up for organising an unauthorised demonstration in downtown Rangoon.
Government, rights groups at odds on third anniversary of Kachin conflict
As a now three year old conflict in northern Burma continues, rights groups are calling on an otherwise ambivalent Burmese government to put a stop to violations.
US aims to boost investment in Burma
US companies remain under the microscope as they navigate sanctions to invest in an opening Burma.
Obama champions US role in Burma reform
In a speech on Wednesday, US President Barack Obama pointed to “American leadership” as a driver of democratic reform in Burma.
World Bank to boost Burma’s education system
The World Bank has announced it will provide US$100 million to expand the Burmese Ministry of Education’s School Grants and School Stipends Programme.
Magwe activists march for press freedom
One month after a court in Magwe handed DVB video journalist Zaw Pe a year-long prison sentence, more than 200 protestors took to the streets of the central Burmese city to stage an unauthorised demonstration in support of press freedom.
Analysis Lead Story Media News
On World Press Freedom Day, how free is the Burmese media?
The Burmese media landscape is blighted by the existence of six imprisoned media workers while the Ministry of Information (MoI) appears driven by an agenda seemingly at odds with a revitalised Burmese media community.
Lead Story News Women's Issues
Rights group calls for international investigation into sexual violence by Burma military
Burma Campaign UK have reopened allegations of the Burmese army’s use of sexual violence as a weapon, calling for an international commission into military abuse.
Lead Story News Politics Suu Kyi
Suu Kyi leaves Europe armed with international support for constitutional change
Aung San Suu Kyi is due to depart France for home on Wednesday, having canvased international support for her agenda of constitutional change in Burma.
Win Tin given ‘50-50 chance’ despite regaining consciousness
The NLD has been told that party elder Win Tin has a 50-50 chance of survival as he remains in a Rangoon ICU following an operation on his large intestine on Saturday.
Burma’s badly needed census may have come too soon
Incomplete demographic data is holding back development efforts in a new Burma, yet counting heads now could cause violence.
Lead Story News Uncategorized Women's Issues
Interfaith marriage law violates Constitution: HRW
Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on Burma’s President Thein Sein and House Speaker Shwe Mann to reject the Emergency Provisions on Marriage Act for Burmese Buddhist Women.
Ethnic issues Interview Lead Story News Society
Building consensus on the census
DVB’s Angus Watson speaks to Janet Jackson, Burma Representative of the United Nations Population Fund, and her assistant Hla Hla Aye, about the international agency’s role in the upcoming census, its significance and the potential pitfalls.
Conflict Ethnic issues Lead Story News
Burmese army tortured Shan civilians, says rights group
The Shan Human Right Foundation has accused the Burmese army of an attack on 11 villages in Shan State, in which civilians were tortured.
HRW slams UN invitation for Burmese peacekeepers
Human Rights Watch has written to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon, heavily criticizing the UN invitation to involve the Burmese army in future international peacekeeping missions.
