More than a million people were left homeless and many more in need of humanitarian assistance, with the deadly cyclone devastating large areas of Myanmar and killing at least 22,000, the United Nations said on Thursday. Another 41,000 are still missing. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon urged the Myanmar government to respond to the outpouring of international support and solidarity, by facilitating the arrival of aid workers and the clearance for the relief supplies.
The Irrawaddy delta, which was directly hit by Cyclone Nargis on Friday, remains cut off and it could be days, or even weeks, before aid reached the victims, UN said. Reports from Myanmar said in Yangon, volunteers including Buddhist monks and the army were trying to clear the debris, but in the adjoining areas where most of the more than 22,000 people died and twice the number went missing, the survivors were on their own.
India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp and GAIL (India) Ltd's equity in two gas rich offshore blocks in Myanmar have been cut following Myanmar's national oil company exercising its 'step-in' rights in the fields, gas from where will be sold to China.
Recently, First Lady Laura Bush, during a video teleconference in recognition of International Human Rights Day, said: "India, one of Burma's (Myanmar) closest trading partners, has stopped selling arms to the junta." However, a spokesman for the Indian Embassy in Washington declined to comment on the story.
Aizawl has been cut off from the rest of the country due to a landslide on National Highway 6 at Hunthar.
India should to adopt a more nuanced political approach while continuing the present policy of economic support to the Junta regime in Myanmar, says B Raman
Aiming to further boost bilateral trade ties, India and Myanmar will soon ink a Memorandum of Understanding for the creation of a joint trade committee.
Opening the plenary on Tuesday morning, Singapore premier Lee Hsein Loong said the ASEAN leaders will strive to prevent the Myanmar issue "from obstructing efforts to deepen integration and build an ASEAN Community" after the grouping abruptly withdrew an invitation to UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari to address the summit following Yangaon's objection.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Myanmar later this week where he will meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
At present, in Myanmar, GAIL and IndianOil have a minority stake in a gas pipeline which goes to China, through South East Asia Gas Pipeline Company.
A United States-based human rights watchdog has criticised the Indian government for "offering" a military assistance package to Myanmar, saying that it is likely to be used to attacks civilians in its war against ethnic insurgents.
India is pitted against China, South Korea and Thailand in the race to secure the huge gas found in offshore Myanmar.
Vowing to take revenge over the killing of Burmese Muslims after they refused to convert to Buddhism, the Tehrik-e-Taliban has warned the Pakistan government to close down the Burmese embassy in Islamabad.
The ceasefire agreement between the Naga faction and Myanmar was signed without India being informed. It is likely to have long-term implications not only for the ethnic politics of the Naga-inhabited regions, but also for India's northeast and Myanmar, says Rahul Mishra.
The relief material from India started reaching Myanmar on Wednesday, with two Indian Air Force planes and two Naval ships arriving in the cyclone-hit country with urgently required essential supplies. India is sending another consignment of relief material by an IL-76 aircraft of IAF on Thursday to the neighbouring country, where the death toll has crossed 22,000 and is rising rapidly, revealing the extent of widespread devastation caused by the calamity.
The sources said the Indian side took up the issue of insurgent groups like United Nationalist Liberation Front and People's Liberation Army operating from across the border.
Two years ago, Myanmar was to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) what Bihar was to India: Dogged in its isolation, a region with low development indices and one the West loved to hate -- a state perpetually on the defensive. However, Myanmar's growth has also been as rapid as that seen by Bihar.
After a landslide victory in the bye-elections will Myanmar's pro-democracy icon play the role of a constructive opposition or will she choose to maintain her political independence by not accepting any role under the present government. Senior analyst B Raman raises the big questions
Their policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries is cited as the ostensible reason for their reluctance to exercise pressure on the Myanmar junta.
In line with India's 'Neighbourhood First' policy, the largest share of aid portfolio has been granted to Bhutan with the allocation of Rs 2,068 crore.
Veteran Indian diplomat Vijay Nambiar has been appointed as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's special adviser on Myanmar, the UN chief announced on Thursday
the security sources said the banned group's leadership had shifted many of its cadre based in eastern Assam areas to its camps inside Myanmar.
At the delegation-level talks between the two sides, which followed a brief one-to-one meeting between Ansari and Gen Aye, the Myanmarese side acknowledged India's security concerns but conveyed that the insurgents would not be permitted to use its territory to target India, they said.
The Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to hear in March a plea seeking direction to the government to release Rohingya refugees who have been 'illegally and arbitrarily' detained in jails and detention centres across the country.
The United States and the United Kingdom on Tuesday led global condemnation of the sentencing of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pressing for United Nations sanctions on the country's military junta. A court in Myanmar found Suu Kyi guilty of violating an internal security law and sentenced her to three years in prison with hard labour, but it was commuted to 18 months of house arrest by the country's military supremo.
Bangladesh will protest in the United Nations against Myanmar's claim to a territorial sea in the Bay of Bengal, especially that of the "baseline" which is needed to delimit its maritime border, officials in Dhaka on Thursday.
In Myanmar, the two sides will sign an agreement on evacuation of natural gas from Arakan port of Myanmar, either through a pipeline via North East or Bangladesh.
Caught amid a raging battle between the Myanmar Army and Kachin rebels, the anti-talks faction of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Assam may be in a difficult situation.
OVL had bid for two of the 10 shallow-water blocks that Myanmar had auctioned in December but drew a blank when the fields were awarded on March 26.
Myanmar's reclusive and ailing dictator Than Shwe has resigned from his military post, paving the way for him to become the president after this year's general elections.Shwe, the despot who has brutally ruled Southeast Asia's poorest country as commander-in-chief of the armed forces since 1992, on Friday handed control of the army to his adjutant general. More than a dozen other senior military officers also resigned, in an ominous sign for the country's forthcoming election
Myanmar's former democratically-elected leader has been under house arrest since a military ousted her government in a coup in February 2021.
After stopping the boat, the personnel found that all 11 crew members on board were Myanmarese and none of them were holding valid passports.
Globally, the proportion of people who said they volunteered time fell slightly, to 21.0 per cent from 21.3 per cent.
US President Barack Obama staged a historic meeting with Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as he became the first American president to visit the nation. Here are some candid moments from Obama's landmark visit.
Decades of military rule kept the country closed to foreign investors.
Insurgent groups like ULFA and NSCN-K have been using Myanmar as safe sanctuary and have set up bases there, despite that country's repeated assurances not to allow its territory for activities inimical to India, Government said on Tuesday.
'Any such change should be initiated at the official, governmental, and BCCI levels to have the team officially referred to as the Bharat cricket team.'
At least 62 Myanmar refugees have been killed and over 200 injured when a fire swept through their camp in northern Thailand, with officials fearing that the toll could rise further.
Nine years after making his Asian Tour debut here in Yangon, Indian golfer Rahil Gangjee on Friday celebrated that memory with a superb six-under 66 that carried him up to tied 14th at the midway stage of the Zaykabar Myanmar Open golf tournament in Yangon, Myanmar.
A second successive flawless round of 67 brought India's Rahil Gangjee into contention for his first Asian Tour title since 2004, as he moved within three shots of leader, Thailand's Chawalit Plaphol, at the $300,000 Zaykabar Myanmar Open in Yangon on Saturday.
