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NEWS ABOUT: Myanmar

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Burma Frees Political Prisoners

Famous dissidents, ethnic leaders released

(Newser) - Burma is continuing to move toward meeting the West's demands with surprising speed. Dozens of its best known political prisoners were freed today in the country's most sweeping prisoner release yet, reports the New York Times . Those freed include leaders of 1988's failed pro-democracy uprising, ethnic minority... More »

Burma Finally Signs Key Cease-Fire With Rebels

Move meets a key condition for establishing better ties with West

(AP) - Burma's government signed a cease-fire today with ethnic Karen rebels in a major step toward ending one of the world's longest-running insurgencies and meeting a key condition for better ties with the West. The Karen group has been fighting for greater autonomy for more than 60 years in... More »

Suu Kyi Running for Office

Burma's democracy leader will seek Parliament seat in April 1 elections

(Newser) - None other than Aung San Suu Kyi will run for a Parliament seat in April, standing for election for the first time since her National League for Democracy swept to victory in a 1990 vote that was quickly quashed by Burma's military junta. The democracy icon had expressed reservations... More »

Unlikely Tourist Hotspots for 2012

Panama, Finland, and Myanmar top the list

(Newser) - If you like cool design, upscale safaris, or a forbidden communist island, the New York Times can recommend 45 locales to visit in 2012. Among them:
  • Panama. See the world-famous canal before its expansion, then stay for Panama City's economic boom and Frank Gehry's first design in Latin
... More »

Burma: Suu Kyi's Party Can Run

Opposition leader planning to run herself, says spokesperson

(Newser) - Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy will officially return to mainstream politics in Burma after a two-decade absence, as the government today approved the NLD to run in upcoming elections. And, though Suu Kyi would not confirm it, a party rep says the opposition leader is herself... More »

17 Killed in Burma Blast

Explosion was caused by warehouse fire, not bomb, officials say

(Newser) - A fire and a massive explosion killed at least 17 people in Rangoon today. More than 100 others, including dozens of firefighters, were injured by the pre-dawn blast in the former Burmese capital, the BBC reports. The blast in a warehouse compound is not thought to have been caused by... More »

Suu Kyi's Party Registers to Run

National League for Democracy to take part in Burma elections

(Newser) - More than 20 years after it overwhelmingly won a general election—which the ruling military junta then ignored—Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy is poised to take part in elections in Burma. The party has been formally registered for any upcoming elections, and Suu Kyi herself... More »

Clinton Dines With Suu Kyi

Meeting highlights secretary of state's trip to Burma

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton may have met with Burma's president earlier today, but the real highlight of her trip to the reclusive nation came at dinner time: She ate with longtime opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, notes the AP . The two women spoke of matters... More »

Clinton Dangles Aid to Burma

Will meet with Aung San Suu Kyi today

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton had what she described as a “candid, productive” meeting with Burma President Thein Sein and other officials in Naypyitaw today, offering support for more aid to the country, and dangling the possibility that the US might lift sanctions and station an ambassador there for the first time... More »

Hillary Clinton Starts Historic Burma Visit

Landmark visit to be first in more than 50 years

(Newser) - Hillary Clinton arrived in Burma’s capital of Naypyidaw today, kicking off the first visit by a US secretary of state to the country in more than 50 years. Clinton says her goal is to see for herself how serious Burma’s junta is about its halting steps toward democratic... More »

Suu Kyi Running for Parliament

Pro-democracy leader will seek seat in Burma

(Newser) - As expected, Aung San Suu Kyi will run for parliament in Burma’s upcoming by-elections, a spokesperson for her National League for Democracy said today. The move was anticipated when the pro-democracy leader on Friday announced her party would rejoin politics and register for future elections, the AP reports. Suu... More »

Clinton to Make Historic Visit to Burma

In other big news, Aung San Suu Kyi to rejoin politics

(Newser) - Next month, Hillary Clinton will become the first American secretary of state to visit Burma in more than 50 years. President Obama, who is on a diplomatic mission to southeast Asia, announced the historic visit today, citing "flickers of progress in these last several weeks" in the long-shunned nation,... More »

Burma's Thaw Now Extends to Media

Journalists can criticize gov't, but still many limits

(Newser) - The political thawing of tropical Burma seems to be continuing, as the second-least-free country in the world for journalism (after North Korea) has begun to relax its tight controls over the media. As the Wall Street Journal reports, pictures of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi have appeared in newspapers... More »

Burma Releases 155 Political Prisoners

Prominent activist Zarganar among them

(Newser) - Burma today began releasing the 6,300 prisoners who will be granted amnesty, but so far the number of political detainees released does not come close to the estimated 2,000 who are in jail. The Telegraph puts the number of political prisoners released at 120, while the AP reports... More »

Burma Grants Amnesty to 6,300

Democracy advocates hope the group includes political prisoners

(Newser) - The ice might be breaking in Burma: The nation's rulers today announced that they will grant amnesty to 6,359 prisoners beginning tomorrow, sparking hopes among democracy advocates that the 2,000-some political prisoners being held will be among them. The government didn't explicitly say political prisoners would... More »

Elephant Wounded by Land Mine

Pa Hae Po is being treated in Thailand

(Newser) - Bad: A 22-year-old male elephant stepped on a land mine in Myanmar and mangled its left foot, reports AP . Worse: He joins three other elephants being treated for the same thing at a facility in Thailand. The Friends of the Asian Elephant group has named the new patient Pa Hae... More »

Burma's Suu Kyi Makes First Trip Outside Capital

Security tight as she calls for unity, thousands turn out

(Newser) - Testing the limits of her newfound freedom and perhaps the patience of Burma's military junta, Aung San Suu Kyi ventured today outside Rangoon in her first political trip since being released from house arrest last November. Thousands gathered to see the Nobel laureate, who used the trip to Bago,... More »

UN: Burma Uses Convicts as Shields, Slaves

Human Rights Watch demands war crimes investigation

(Newser) - Human Rights Watch is out with harrowing accusations about Burma's army and potential war crimes abuses, reports Reuters . The UN group accuses the military of forcing inmates from the nation's jails to act as human "pack mules" for the army on long marches, without adequate food or... More »

Burma Bans Suu Kyi Actress

Starring role in The Lady earns Yeoh place on blacklist

(Newser) - Former Bond girl Michelle Yeoh, who plays pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an upcoming movie, has been booted out of Burma and told not to come back. The Malaysian-born actress, who met the activist after her release from house arrest late last year, was deported on the next... More »

Suu Kyi: In Arab Spring, Burma's Revolution

Previous BBC lecturers; Bertrand Russel, J. Robert Oppenheimer

(AP) - Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has delivered a prestigious annual BBC radio lecture, telling an international audience that her compatriots are envious of people in Tunisia and Egypt, where long-serving dictators have been toppled. On recordings smuggled out of Myanmar, also known as Burma, and broadcast today,... More »

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