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The people of Burma will vote in the country’s national elections on Sunday November 8. In the build-up to the election international onlookers were concerned that a National League for Democracy (NLD) candidate was stabbed with a machete at a campaign event in Yangon, many citizens had been removed from voter lists, religious intolerance in Rakhine State and that many…

The people of Burma will go the polls on November 8, 2015. Karen News talked to a wide range of people to get their views on the election and what they hoped it would deliver. Many voters In Burma remain skeptical that the elections will be free and fair. With the 25% reserved for the military in the Parliament, people…

Religion tensions have increased following the building of a Buddhist pagoda in the compound of a Christian church located in Hpa-an Township. Local community and religious leaders are worried that the construction of the pagoda and a temple in the compound of the Baptist church in Mezaing (Mae Sit Hta) village in Hpa-an township, Karen State will lead to increased…

The Burma government’s announced on August 25 that its National Minimum Wage Committee had approved a minimum daily wage of K3,600 (US$2.80) for a standard eight-hour work day across all industries. From 1st September the national minimum wage will apply and workers’ minimum monthly pay would be about $67 based on a six-day week. The state-owned media reported that he…

In August 2011, at Mae Sot General Hospital, a mother found herself facing a choice no parent should have to make. She had given birth three days earlier and walked seven hours from her home in eastern Burma to seek medical treatment for her sick newborn daughter, Naut Naut, leaving her husband and other infant daughter at home. She went…

The Karen National Union has decided to sign the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement, despite the other members of the ethnic armed group’s alliance, having not yet made their positions known. The KNU decision was reached at its Central Committee Emergency meeting held on August 14 and 15 at Lay Wah, Pa-an District, Karen State. Padoh Saw Kwe Htoo Win, general secretary…

Recent fighting between the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army and Government troops displaced more than 1,000 people from their homes, left them stranded and in urgent need of assistance for food, shelter and other basic items. The villagers fled their homes to avoid being caught in the conflict that started on July 2nd on the Myawaddy-Kawkariek Asia Highway. Today, three weeks…

The senior delegation negotiating the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement on behalf of Burma’s ethnic armed organisations said in a statement that its talks with the government’s team got off to a good start. The statement released on Wednesday 22 July, said that the two negotiating teams, the Ethnic Armed Organizations’ Senior Delegation (SD) and the Union Peace-making Work Committee (UPWC) said…

Since coming to power in 2011, President Thein Sein, a former general, has initiated a plan to resolve Burma’s decades-long ethnic conflict as part of broader domestic reform programs. Burma observers, both inside and outside, agree that resolving ethnic conflict is central to the success of political reform and lasting peace in the country. Among other things, President Thein Sein…

Fighting between government troops and soldiers from the Democratic Karen Benevolent Army on the new Myawaddy – Kawkareik Asia Highway this Thursday morning, 2nd July. Karen News is led to understand that the fighting broke out over security for the highway over a planned official visit to the area. The fighting between the Burma Army Infantry Battalion 231 under the…