International Relations Lead Story News Politics
US, Burma relations ‘can only get better’ under Trump: Zaw Htay
“[Republicans] passed resolutions to impose sanctions on Burma to push for change. They have always supported our democratic reforms.”
International Relations Lead Story News Politics
“[Republicans] passed resolutions to impose sanctions on Burma to push for change. They have always supported our democratic reforms.”
Ethnic issues Lead Story News Peace Process
A faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland will not be allowed to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement because of the ethnic Naga armed group’s core demand for an independent Naga homeland spanning either side of the Burma-India border, according to government spokesperson Zaw Htay.
Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
“The state counsellor will explain the true situation to the world,” said government spokesman Zaw Htay.
Arakan Lead Story News Rohingya
Zaw Htay said that security forces carried out a clearance operation in the Buthidaung-Maungdaw region of the Mayu mountain range. “That’s where the terrorists were hiding,” he said.
Crime Lead Story News Politics
Zaw Htay told reporters that details of the arrests could not be presently disclosed to avoid compromising the investigation.
Conflict Kokang Lead Story News
“LID 33 did not shoot civilians, but may have shot those pretended to be civilians. They shoot only when there is strong evidence,” said director Zaw Htay.
Lead Story News Politics Rohingya
A Burmese national security advisor told diplomats in Copenhagen that a proposal to review the 1982 Citizenship Law, that effectively renders the Rohingya stateless, could not be implemented.
Lead Story News Politics Rohingya
With 1.2 million refugees originating from Burma and tens of thousands more uprooted inside the country, the Southeast Asian nation was the source of the fourth-largest population of displaced people worldwide at the end of 2017, a new report by the UN refugee agency.
Lead Story News Politics Rohingya
Aung San Suu Kyi has told the UN “time and patience” is needed to resolve divisions between Muslim and Buddhist communities in Arakan State.
A police witness in the case against two Reuters reporters accused of possessing state secrets in Burma is “unreliable,” the reporters’ lawyer said on Monday, because he obtained testimony from previous witnesses, in violation of police code.
Lead Story Media News Politics
A police witness did not turn up to court on Tuesday in the ongoing case against two Reuters reporters.
Lead Story Media News Politics
Rangoon police have denied that the detained Reuters’ reporters have been physically and mentally mistreated during detention.
Lead Story News Politics Rohingya
The Burmese government has signed an agreement with UN agencies to facilitate the voluntary return of Rohingya refugees.
Lead Story Media News Politics
Defence lawyers for detained Reuters journalists argued on Tuesday that information found on their phones was already public by the time they were arrested.
Lead Story Media News Politics
Defence lawyers say data that could support the case of two Reuters in a landmark press freedom case was missing from evidence submitted by the prosecution on Monday.
Anti-war protesters on Wednesday urged government leader Aung San Suu Kyi to take action against police who this month broke up a peace rally and arrested them, and raised new concern about freedom of speech.
Evidence Burmese police say they obtained from the mobile phones of two Reuters reporters accused of possessing secret documents might be “tainted,” a defence lawyer said on Tuesday, because at least one phone was used after it was confiscated.
Police in Burma examined the mobile phones of two Reuters reporters accused of possessing secret documents without a search warrant after their arrests in December, an officer told a court on Monday, in what has become a landmark press freedom case.
Finance Lead Story News Politics
Burma’s president on Monday nominated 80-year-old Soe Win, a well-known financial professional, as the next finance minister after the previous one resigned, amid reports he was being investigated over graft accusations.
The Burmese government is aiming to hold the third round of the Union Peace Conference next month, according to the State Counsellor’s Office.
Campaign group Amnesty International said on Tuesday it had gathered evidence that insurgents from a Rohingya Muslim armed group killed scores of Hindu civilians in August last year, amid a surge in violence in western Burma.
A judge in Yangon on Tuesday allowed the submission of evidence police say they obtained from the mobile phones of two Reuters reporters arrested in December for alleged possession of secret documents, in what has become a landmark press freedom case.
The closure of the Islamic schools and subsequent imprisonment of Muslims involved in their operation has been described as “clear religious discrimination, and blatant violation of freedom of religion” by one human rights advocate.
A Burmese policeman told a court on Wednesday he met two Reuters reporters on the night of their arrest in December, but denied giving them secret documents to incriminate them.
Lead Story News Protest Yangon
Riot police in Yangon used batons on Saturday to break up a protest in support of victims of fighting in Burma’s northernmost Kachin State, arresting several of the organisers.
Ethnic insurgents in Burma killed 19 people, including four members of the security forces, in a major attack near the main border gate with China early on Saturday, a government spokesman said.
A Burmese policeman now serving a prison sentence gave more details to a court on Wednesday about how he says two Reuters reporters were framed by police, in what has become a landmark press freedom case for the Southeast Asian nation.
Journalists in Burma believe their government is failing to defend media freedom despite the transition from harsh military rule to the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi, according to a survey published to mark World Press Freedom Day.
In what defence lawyers said was a key ruling in favour of the two reporters, the judge accepted the testimony of Police Captain Moe Yan Naing.
She told the Security Council members ‘please bring to our notice any infringement of these laws and we will do whatever is necessary to take the action’.