Yangon, Aug 3:  Myanmar and India are stepping up bilateral cooperation in the health sector, a media report said.

Talks have taken place between the Myanmar Union Health Minister Pe Thet Khin and Indian Ambassador to Myanmar Villur Sundararajan Seshadri in Nay Pyi Taw, Xinhua reported Wednesday.

According to the official reports, the National League for Democracy, the major opposition party in Myanmar, dissolved itself Friday in an apparent protest against upcoming elections.

The New York Times has reported that the party, whose best-known member is its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, refused to register to run candidates. It has criticized the elections as a sham.

Dhaka, Jan 9 : Bangladesh and Myanmar Saturday agreed to compromise to resolve a long-standing maritime border dispute in the Bay of Bengal, officials said.

The lack of a clear boundary has caused tensions between the two neighbours over offshore hydrocarbon exploration in the bay in 2008.

"We have decided to demarcate maritime boundary in a process combining the principle of equity and principle of equal distance," Bangladesh Foreign Secretary Khurshid Alam told reporters at the end of a two-day talks between Dhaka and Yangon over sea boundary demarcation.

Yangon, Jan 8 : A court in Insein Prison sentenced two officials to death and a businessman to 15 years in jail for revealing state secrets, officials said Friday.

Army Major Win Naing Kyaw and Foreign Ministry official Thura Kyaw were sentenced to death by the prison court Thursday for leaking information last year about a trip to Pyongyang by a senior general, said the source who asked anonymity.

Myanmar businessman Pyan Sein was sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment for his involvement in the case.

Yangon, Jan 3 - Myanmar's junta raised the salaries of civil servants and military staff Jan 1, ahead of a general election planned this year, official sources confirmed Sunday.

"We have obtained information for the raise of our salaries from Nay Pyi Taw (the military's capital) and I think we can draw the new salary at the end of January," a senior official who requested anonymity told DPA.

For most civil servants, special increments of 20,000 kyats (about $20) will be added to their monthly salaries.

Yangon, Dec 20 - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's legal team Monday asked the Supreme Court to accept her appeal against an 18-month sentence of house detention that would make it impossible for the democracy icon to participate in next year's planned election.

"My client Daw (Madame) Aung San Suu Kyi is not guilty," Nyan Win, one of Suu Kyi's attorneys, said before he entered the court.

Yangon, Dec 14 - Nobel laureate and former chief economist at the World Bank Joseph Stiglitz is due to visit Myanmar this week to advise the government on its development policies, media reports said Monday.

On Tuesday the renowned economist is to attend a seminar in Nay Pyi Taw, the military's new capital, which will also be attended by Myanmar Minister for National Planning and Economic Development Soe Tha and Minister of Agriculture and Irrigation U Htay Oo, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia Pacific (UNESCAP) said in a statement.

Onboard, special aircraft, Dec. 12 : External Affairs Minister S M Krishna revealed on Friday that India raised the issue of insurgents groups operating from Myanmarese soil with the Government of Myanmar on the sidelines of the BIMSTEC meet.

"We discussed the issue of insurgent groups working against India from the soil of Myanmar. He assured me of full cooperation in this regard," Krishna told the media onboard his aircraft.

Nay Pyi Taw (Myanmar)/On board, Dec 12 : The seven-nation Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) grouping adopted a convention to combat terrorism and insurgency at its ministerial meeting in Myanmar on Friday.

Foreign Ministers of BIMSTEC countries signed the Convention on Cooperation in Combating International Terrorism, Trans-National Organised Crime and Illicit Drug Trafficking at the 12th ministerial meeting at Nay Pyi Taw.

Nay Pyi Taw (Myanmar), Dec 11 : The inaugural session of the 12th ministerial meet of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) nations has begun in Nay Pyi Taw, the capital city of Myanmar.

The Prime Minister of Myanmar, General Thein Sein, addressed the inaugural session.

On the sidelines of the Inaugural Session of BIMSTEC, External Affairs Minister S M Krishna had informal talks with General Thein Sein.

Yangoon, Dec. 4 : The Burmese Supreme Court has decided to hear detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal against the 18-month extension of her house arrest.

The Nobel peace prize laureate was found guilty of violating the terms of her house arrest after she allowed an American citizen to stay when he swam across a lake to her villa.

Imphal, Nov 27 - A 15-member cultural troupe from Myanmar will visit India's northeastern region Saturday to showcase their country's traditional art and culture, officials said here Friday.

"During their 10-day (Nov 28 to Dec 7) visit to three northeastern states --- Nagaland, Manipur and Assam -- the Myanmar cultural troupe will perform various traditional dances in Kohima, Imphal and Guwahati," a Manipur government official said.

Bangkok  - Thai civil society leaders representing 189 organizations demanded Monday the government withdraw from the controversial Hutgyi dam project in Myanmar or face dire consequences.

The group delivered a letter to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva saying that international talk of engagement with Myanmar's military regime in no way negated the many objections to the Hutgyi dam and others along the Salween River that are designed to supply power to Thailand.

"We are extremely worried that local people will be devastated if dams like the Hutgyi go ahead because outsiders mistakenly think there has been a political breakthrough of some kind," said Pianporn Deetes, coordinator of the Living River Siam-Southeast Asia Rivers Network.

Yangon  - Myanmar and Laos strengthened relations with the signing of visa-exemption treaty for their respective citizens and a double-taxation avoidance agreement, state media reported Saturday.

The two agreements were signed Friday in the military's capital of Naypyitaw, 350 kilometres north of the old capital Yangon, The New Light of Myanmar reported.

Myanmar Prime Minister General Thein Sein received the visiting delegation led by Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Thongloun Sisoulith.

Yangon  - The National Geographic Channel is due in Myanmar this month to shoot a documentary on the country's hard-working elephants, sources close to the project said Thursday.

"They will come here this month to document the state of Myanmar's domesticated elephants - how to catch wild elephants, how to tame and train them," said an official from the politically well-connected Htoo Trading Company, which will facilitate the production.

Yangon  - Myanmar has opened discussions on building a railway link between its north-eastern Shan State and China's Yunnan province, media reports said Wednesday.

"The Myanmar-China railway link will connect Lashio, capital of Shan state in the north, and Jiegao town of Yunnan province, China," The Yangon Times weekly reported.

Officials from China's Railways Ministry recently visited Myanmar to discuss the proposed link, the Burmese-language weekly said.

Yangon - A wooden river ferry carrying 176 passengers sank after colliding with a barge over the weekend in Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta, leaving about 50 people dead or missing, officials said Tuesday.

The single-deck Nay Myo Tun Gyi ferry sank on Sunday evening after leaving from Pathein, capital of the Irrawaddy division, provincial officials said.

It went down in the Ngawun river, 190 kilometres west of Yangon, after colliding with an oil barge near Shan Su village in the Pathein area.

Yangon  - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has asked to meet the leader of the ruling military junta in a possible sign of easing political tension.

Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, told General Than Shwe that she would like to meet the senior generals with the aim of working together to help the country. The message was conveyed in a letter seen Monday by the German Press Agency dpa.

She also asked to meet the executive committee of her National League for Democracy in her own house. The letter did not mention the possibility of political talks, but stressed the need to "cooperate."

Yangon - Myanmar earned 588.7 million dollars off natural gas exports to neighbouring Thailand in August, media reports said Sunday.

In August, 92,000 million cubic feet of natural gas was piped overland to Thailand from the Myanmar's Yadana and Yetagun reserves in the Gulf of Martaban, according to the National Planning and Economic Development, The Myanmar Times reported.

Yangon - The Global Fund has agreed to provide Myanmar with 110 million dollars to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis, after pulling out of the country four years ago, media reports said Sunday.

Total funding for Myanmar could rise to almost 290 million dollars if the grants are extended to the maximum five-year period, The Myanmar Times reported, citing documents provided by The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.