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During US President Obama’s  Asian tour from 13th  to 19th  of November most attention will be given on issues regarding North Korea, Iran, the economy, climate change, energy, human rights, Afghanistan and Pakistan, according to Jeffrey Bader, senior director for East Asian affairs on the National Security Council.

    Today’s Mae Sot is a bustling border town, a center for trade, manufacturing, and migration, as people continue to flee Burma, coming to Thailand for work or refuge.  While many find such in the nearby refugee camps, primarily housing ethnic Karen refugees, many others live around Mae Sot without official recognition. 

First of all, we would like to thank you for taking the initiative to engage with the State Peace and Development council (SPDC) to further reconciliation and democratisation process in our deeply divided society.

Kurt Campbell, the US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, together with Scot Marciel, the US special envoy to Southeast Asia, will be in Burma from 3rd to 4th November on a fact-finding mission. It is the highest level diplomatic engagement between US and Burma within 14 years.

In a landmark rights victory in Thailand, the Department of Transport (DoT) has announced that migrants from Burma, Laos and Cambodia, as well as a number of other minority groups, can now register ownership of vehicles and will soon be able to apply for driving licenses.

This is a call for papers for the 2010 United Nations Day of Vesak Conference to be hosted by the Mahachulalongkornrajavidyalaya University along with some patronage from the ITRI of Japan, during the celebrations for the 7th United Nations Day of Vesak (UNDV) held in Bangkok, Thailand from 23-25 May 2010.

The Thai Government recently reiterated its policy to formalise the status of around 2 million migrants from Burma working here - nationality verification (NV).