( BBC News Website, http :// news. bbc. co. uk / 2 / hi / asia-pacific / 7012158. stm ( Bilal Arif ) Burma's admittance to Least Developed Country status by the UN the following December highlighted its economic bankruptcy.

In December 2008, the United Nations General Assembly voted for a resolution condemning Burma's human rights record ; it was supported by 80 countries, with 25 voting against and 45 abstaining.

** In the Burmese general election, Burma's first multiparty election in 30 years, the National League for Democracy led by Aung San Suu Kyi wins in a landslide, but the State Law and Order Restoration Council nullifies the election results.

* Battle of Ngasaunggyan: Burma's Pagan Empire begins to disintegrate after being defeated by Kublai Khan at Yunnan near the Chinese border.

* 1277 – Burma's Pagan empire begins to disintegrate after being defeated by Kublai Khan at the Battle of Ngasaunggyan, at Yunnan near the Chinese border.

The rest of Burma was to be under Japanese control, On 10 May 1942, the Thai Phayap Army entered Burma's eastern Shan State, which had been claimed by Siamese kingdoms.

Lord Romsey was the courtesy title by which Lady Mountbatten of Burma's eldest son and heir was known until he succeeded his father as 8th Lord Brabourne.

* 1277: Burma's Pagan empire begins to disintegrate after being defeated by Kublai Khan at the Battle of Ngasaunggyan, at Yunnan, near the Chinese border.

The kingdom went into decline in the 13th century as the continuous growth of tax-free religious wealth — by the 1280s, two-thirds of Upper Burma's cultivable land had been alienated to the religion — affected the crown's ability to retain the loyalty of courtiers and military servicemen.

After crossing the Irrawaddy the town of Meiktila was taken, followed by Burma's second city, Mandalay.

To any further invasion of the Burmese empire Dalhousie was firmly opposed, being content to cut off Burma's commercial and political access to the outside world by the annexation.

* The Fiat Lux Agency is the name of Nestor Burma's private detective agency, in the novels written by Léo Malet.

During that time Burma's teak forests were controlled by militant Karen tribals.

The Chinese efforts diverted the attention of Burma's Siam army ; General Taksin, himself the son of a Chinese immigrant, took advantage of the situation by organizing his force and attacking them.

The Andaman Sea off the Tenasserim coast was the subject of keen scrutiny from Burma's regime during the 1990s due to offshore petroleum discoveries by multinational corporations including Unocal, Petronas and others.

Reports from the late 1990s told of forced relocation by Burma's military regime of the ' Sea Gypsies ' to on-land sites.

In Burma ( Myanmar ), which was included in the terms of reference of the Simon Commission, there was strong suspicion either that Burma's unpopular union with India would continue, or that the constitution recommended for Burma by the Simon Commission would be less generous than that chosen for India ; these suspicions resulted in tension and violence in Burma leading to the rebellion of Saya San.

It reports that the violent crackdown came as about 100 monks defied a ban by venturing into a cordoned-off area around the Shwedagon Pagoda, Burma's holiest Buddhist shrine.

After the victory of Arakan on Burma's Pegu kingdom in 1599 AD, the Arakanese king Mong Raja Gree appointed a Prince of Pegu as the governor of newly established Bohmong Htaung ( Circle ) by giving the title of " Bohmong " Raja.

Throughout the 1960s, Burma's foreign exchange reserves ( to $ 50 million by 1971, from $ 214 million in 1964 ) steadily declined, while inflation grew.

His widow, The Dowager Lady Brabourne, was murdered in the 1979 bombing by the Provisional Irish Republican Army bombing of Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma's boat.

In 1961, U Thant, then Burma's Permanent Representative to the United Nations and former Secretary to the Prime Minister, was elected Secretary-General of the United Nations ; he was the first non-Westerner to head any international organization and would serve as UN Secretary-General for ten years.

In September 1987, Burma's de facto ruler U Ne Win suddenly canceled certain currency notes which caused a great down-turn in the economy.

Burma's " Valley of Rubies ", the mountainous Mogok area, north of Mandalay, is noted for its rare pigeon's blood rubies and blue sapphires.

The Corps was responsible for operations in Burma's coastal Arakan province, and had its own separate lines of communication and supply.

He then retired from the military and served as Lord Mountbatten of Burma's Chief of Staff in India, helping to oversee its partition.

On 27 January 1947, Aung San and the British Prime Minister Clement Attlee signed an agreement in London guaranteeing Burma's independence within a year ; Aung San had been responsible for its negotiation.

Burma's first appearance in Olympic archery resulted in a first round loss for its only archer.

On 27 March 2006, more than 12, 000 troops marched in the new capital in its first public event: a massive military parade to mark Armed Forces Day — which is the anniversary of then Burma's 1945 uprising against the Japanese occupation of Burma.

After a short posting at Maymyo, Burma's principal hill station, he was posted to the frontier outpost of Myaungmya in the Irrawaddy Delta at the beginning of 1924.

However, a few harps exist, the most notable being Burma's saung-gauk, which is considered the national instrument in that country.

* Sino-Burma pipelines refers to planned oil and natural gas pipelines linking the Burma's deep-water port of Kyaukphyu ( Sittwe ) in the Bay of Bengal with Kunming in Yunnan province, China.

Furthermore, the reports states that the military government passed guidelines in February 2006, which formalized Burma's restrictive policies.

Historically strained, Burma's foreign relations, particularly with Western nations, have improved in recent months.

While Burma's presence in ASEAN was seen as a test of the organisation's philosophy of constructive engagement, the presence of Burma in ASEAN however has started to be seen as an embarrassment to the organisation, because of Burma's human rights record and lack of democracy.

Burma's U Thant and U Nu lobbied for China's entry as a permanent member into the Security Council, but denounced the invasion of Tibet.

Burma's foreign relations: neutralism in theory and practice.

The human rights group Karen Women Organization documented a case of Tatmadaw forces crucifying several Karen villagers in 2000 in the Dooplaya District in Burma's Kayin State.

According to Human Rights Watch, as many as 70, 000 boys serve in Burma's national army, the Tatmadaw, with children as young as 11 forcibly recruited off the streets.

As of 2009, the population was 925, 000, which makes it Burma's third largest city, behind Yangon and Mandalay.

The Va people ( Va: Vāx, ; ) live mainly in northern Burma, in the northern part of Shan State and the eastern part of Kachin State, near and along Burma's border with China.

Their proportion to Burma's total population is 0. 16.

" The Shore Beyond Good and Evil: A Report from Inside Burma's Opium Kingdom.

As a result Lord Mountbatten of Burma's eldest daughter Patricia succeeded as The Countess Mountbatten of Burma upon the former's death.