The Philippines Embassy is seeking the release of 14 Filipinos detained last week for allegedly fishing illegally in Burmese waters.

Although Burma's military regime has announced no election law nor declared the date of the poll it plans to hold in 2010, preparations appear to have begun in Naypyidaw.

International non-governmental organizations operating in Burma are likely to suspend their activities next May, according to NGO sources in Burma.

By P.Vijian NEW DELHI, Nov 24 -- A Buddhist monk who opened the emergency exit of an airplane just before take off because he wanted some fresh air forced the plane to delay its flight for almost seven hours at Kolkata airport on Monday morning.

An Air India flight bound for Myanmar's Yangon Monday morning was delayed for several hours at Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose International airport after a technical snag accidentally caused by a Buddhist monk passenger, an official said.

A renewed US push seems destined to fail as the junta pursues self-interest. ONE of the few predictable aspects of Burmese politics is how the ruling military regime responds to outside attempts to influence the direction of the country's internal affairs.

If a shocking documentary about the fate of Myanmar's cyclone orphans wins a video-journalism award in London tomorrow, it will be some time before one of the men who shot it gets a chance to celebrate.

An information center related to climate change will be opened in Myanmar's biggest city of Yangon at the end of this month to serve as a base for planning preventive measures against climate change and disasters, sources with the Meteorology and Hydrology Department said on Thursday.

If a shocking documentary about the fate of Myanmar's cyclone orphans wins a prestigious video-journalism award in London tomorrow night, it will be some time before one of the men who shot it gets a chance to celebrate.

A 73-year-old mother broke into tears when she heard the message from her son, Tun Tun Oo, who is in Meik-Hitla Prison, one of thousands of political prisoners in Burmese jails.

At least 50 people are believed to have drowned in Myanmar when a wooden ferry packed with 178 people collided with a tugboat on a river in the southern Irrawaddy delta region, officials said on Tuesday.

RANGOON, Burma - A ferry carrying nearly 200 passengers sank after colliding with an oil barge in a river in Burma , killing at least eight and leaving more than three dozen missing, officials said Monday.

Nyan Win, lawyer for Myanmar's pro democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, talks to journalists during at her party's headquarters on Monday, Nov.

The motorized ferry "Nay Win Tun" carrying 176 people sank in the Ngawun River after the collision, 84 miles west of Yangon.

President Barack Obama on Sunday told Myanmar's junta to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during an unusual face-to-face interaction with a top leader of the ruling military.

YANGON a ' Lawyers for Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said on Friday they had lodged an appeal against her house arrest with the Supreme Court but expected no rapid decision.

Lawyers for detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi filed a new appeal Friday against her 18-month house arrest sentence, asking the court to lift an order that would keep her in detention during elections next year.

" The Burmese currency - Kyat'A touched a record high in seven years with the black market exchange rate prevailing below Kyat 1,000 against the US dollar.

Pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi appealed to Myanmar's top court Friday against her extended house arrest, days ahead of a likely meeting involving the junta's premier and US President Barack Obama.

A Korean language speech contest will be held in Myanmar's former capital of Yangon next month to boost language communication between peoples of Myanmar and Korea, according to the Embassy of South Korea here Wednesday.