RIGHTS-THAILAND: Fears of Mass Deportation of Migrants Rise

Dao, a migrant worker from Burma, is struggling to make a decision that could affect not only her but her family as well. "There are many things to worry about," sighed the Shan state native who works in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai.

RIGHTS-BURMA: When Hard Times Hit, Some Children Go to Factories

Fifteen-year-old Cho Cho Thet knows little about the world outside of the garments factory where she works.

RIGHTS: This Time Around, Thailand Targets Karen Refugees

Thailand’s attempt to repatriate over 3,000 ethnic Karens who fled the conflict in military-ruled Burma last year has triggered strong local and international objections, including from 27 members of the United States Congress.

BURMA: Ethnic Women Expose Opium Fields in Junta Strongholds

A report exposing the spreading opium fields in the north-eastern corner of the military-ruled Burma has brought to light an equally revealing story. It was produced by a team of ethnic women who risked their lives to document the heroin-filled world they inhabit.

BURMA: Junta Turns to Draconian Electronics Law to Silence Critics

A court ruling in military-ruled Burma has brought into sharp focus a law the junta widely uses to go after civilians it wants to silence.

POLITICS: Nobel Laureate’s Burma Visit: ‘Moment of Hope’?

To activists more accustomed to working against Burma’s military junta than with it, any engagement with the recalcitrant regime will amount to nothing. But to 2001 Nobel Prize winner Josepth Stiglitz, it is a window of opportunity for a country that has known only poverty and repression.

BURMA: A Celebration of Life through the Arts under the Junta

The Burmese military spares nothing with its iron grip on power – not even art.

Q&A: ‘Cartoons Are My Way of Protesting against Burmese Junta’

He talks with his hands. They are in constant motion as he expresses a view, makes a joke, mumbles.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Thai Media Trade Fairness for National Security

When it comes to reporting about their neighbouring countries, journalists in Thailand’s mainstream media display a national security bias, often presenting a distorted view of reality and reflecting some prejudices against them.

BURMA: Exiled Media Brace for 2010 Election Challenge

A promised election in military-ruled Burma next year will be held in a vastly different media culture compared to the last general election in 1990, Burmese journalists said at a regional media forum currently underway in this northern Thai city.

BURMA: Nobel Laureate Stiglitz to Advise Junta on Poverty

The list of high-profile foreigners heading to Burma to engage and advise the country’s military regime is about to get longer. The latest due to join that flow is Nobel economics laureate Joseph Stiglitz.

ASIA: Artists Join Forces to Make a Difference in Mekong

Nouv Srey Leab, 24, could not quite contain her excitement about the chance to participate in the just concluded regional arts and media festival held in this capital, believing it was one welcome occasion meet fellow artists from other countries in the Mekong sub-region.

BURMA: Junta under Scrutiny for Concrete Pre-election Signs

In the wake of a meeting attended by the all-powerful military elite, Burma’s military regime is due to come under close scrutiny for concrete signs of change leading up to a promised general elections in 2010.

U.S.: Obama to Meet Asian Leaders as China’s Shadow Lengthens

U.S. President Barack Obama's attendance at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum leaders' meeting in Singapore next week will chart a new direction for U.S. participation in Asian multilateral diplomacy and call attention to the new administration's policy of engagement with the reclusive military-led government in Burma.

BURMA: U.S. Mission’s Meeting with Ethnic Minorities Signals Hope

The United States government’s diplomatic foray into military-ruled Burma made early inroads into an area sealed off to United Nations envoys in recent years—meeting the country’s oppressed ethnic minorities.

POLITICS: U.S. Mission to Burma Heralds Obama’s New Diplomatic Tack

An upcoming mission by senior United States government officials to military- ruled Burma points to Washington’s commitment that engaging with oppressive regimes—than spurning them—is the way forward for change.

RIGHTS: Karen Fear Military Offensive Near Planned Dam in Burma

With the annual monsoon rains ending, there is a growing fear among the Karen ethnic minority living along military-ruled Burma’s eastern border of a dry season offensive. The most vulnerable are villagers residing in the vicinity of the controversial Hat Gyi dam.

SOUTH-EAST ASIA: Civil Society Refuses to Cave in at ASEAN Summit

Civil society representatives from South-east Asia’s developing democracies delivered an unequivocal message to the region’s leaders at a summit held here – they will not succumb to the whims of governments that suppress political and civil liberties at home.

DEVELOPMENT: UNESCAP Steps in to Help Burma’s Debt-ridden Farmers

A regional United Nations body dubbed by its critics as a "talk shop" and with limited concrete achievements to its name appears set to change that image by striking a deal with one of Asia’s recalcitrant regimes – the Burmese military government.

POLITICS: China, Burma Bust Up Over Border Unrest

The border dispute between two close allies, China and Burma, has now been compounded by concerns over the junta’s future relations with the United States.

POLITICS-BURMA: Monks Silent and Simmering Two Years after Revolt

Burma’s monks are silent but seething with anger two years after the brutal state crackdown on their revolution.