Burma shunned U.S. diplomacy
PRESIDENT OBAMA took office hoping that constructive diplomacy could yield progress on some of the thorniest foreign-policy challenges facing the United States. Among these was Burma, a Southeast Asian nation of 50 million people that has been misruled into poverty, decline and perpetual warfare by a benighted military dictatorship. Mr. Obama did [...]

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Myanmar exiles raise awareness in Berkeley
By Matt O’Brien
Contra Costa Times
BERKELEY — Toe Lwin was riding in the back of a pickup truck through Myanmar’s rural countryside almost seven years ago when a mob of armed thugs surrounded the vehicle.
He jumped out, ran to the cab and guarded the door protecting the truck’s most famous passenger: [...]

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YANGON, Myanmar -Detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said she is surprised but undaunted at the military government’s new election laws that will bar her from running for office or even voting in polls to be held this year.
The Nobel peace laureate described the laws as “repressive” and “unjust” and called for a [...]

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Yangon (Reuters) – Myanmar’s military government has allowed the party of detained Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi to reopen regional branch offices that have been closed since May 2003, a party spokesman said on Thursday.
“So far as we have heard, about 100 branch offices have been reopened across the country, effective Wednesday,” said Nyan [...]

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Law bars Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi from elections
Last Update: 9:44 pm
Aung Sun Suu Kyi is seen in a taped message on a television screen in Manila, Philippines, August 2002. (David Greedy, Getty Images)
Aung Sun Suu Kyi is seen in a taped message on a television screen in Manila, Philippines, August 2002. (David Greedy, Getty [...]

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Law bars Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi from election
AP
YANGON, Myanmar -A new election law issued by Myanmar’s ruling military has barred pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from joining a political party and thus running in upcoming elections, state-run newspapers said Wednesday.
The Political Parties Registration Law, published in official newspapers, excludes anyone convicted by a [...]

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Myanmar provides details of first election law
AP
YANGON, Myanmar -Myanmar’s ruling junta will appoint the commission that will have final say over the country’s first elections in two decades, state-run newspapers announced Tuesday as the country’s military rulers began unveiling the laws that will govern this year’s balloting.
There are growing fears among pro-democracy groups that the [...]

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Reuters – U.N. chief told Myanmar supremo of worries about vote
AFP – Myanmar junta unveils election laws but no date
AFP – Norwegian tanker hijacked off Madagascar: EU
AP – Cameroon footballer sentenced to 9 years in prison for currency forgery in Myanmar
AP – 8 Myanmar police killed on [...]

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BANGKOK -Severe drought has dropped the Mekong River to its lowest level in nearly 20 years, halting some cargo traffic and boat tours on the Asian waterway that is the lifeblood for 65 million people in six countries, a draft report said.
The decrease was caused largely by an early end to the 2009 wet season [...]

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YANGON, Myanmar -A Cameroon football player who sought refuge at the French Embassy in Myanmar’s main city could face life imprisonment on charges of forging currency notes, a newspaper said Monday.
The man, who was not named, fled temporarily to the embassy in Yangon last Tuesday as he was being taken to court by police. He [...]

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YANGON, Myanmar -The highest court in military-ruled Myanmar dismissed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s latest bid for freedom Friday, turning down an appeal to end 14 years of house arrest, her lawyer said.
The Supreme Court’s decision had been expected since legal rulings in Myanmar rarely favor opposition activists.
Defense lawyer Nyan Win told reporters he [...]

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Lawyer for Myanmar’s Suu Kyi optimistic on release
AP
YANGON, Myanmar -A lawyer for detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Thursday he is optimistic that Myanmar’s highest court will accept an appeal to free her.
Others believe the Supreme Court is more likely to reject the appeal Friday as legal rulings in the military controlled [...]

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Report: Myanmar troops commit atrocities
By DENIS D. GRAY, AP
BANGKOK -Myanmar troops have gang-raped, murdered and even crucified Karen women, or those in their charge, who took on the roles of village chiefs in hopes they would be less likely abused than traditional male leaders, a Karen group said Thursday.
The atrocities, which also include beheadings, torture, [...]

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Malaysia mulls allowing refugees to work
AP
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -Malaysia may allow refugees the right to work in an apparent bid to reduce the country’s labor shortage and deflect criticism of ill-treating them, a news report said Monday.
The proposal would mark a major policy shift toward refugees who, as illegal immigrants, have been subject to detention, [...]

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Myanmar gives monk 7 years in jail as envoy visits
A
YANGON, Myanmar -A Buddhist monk in Myanmar was quietly sentenced to seven years in prison during the visit of a United Nations envoy, who had little positive to say about the junta’s progress on human rights, a lawyer said Saturday.
The sentencing of the monk on Wednesday [...]

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Myanmar denies UN envoy a meeting with Suu Kyi
AP
YANGON, Myanmar -A United Nations envoy ended his latest mission in Myanmar on Friday, expressing deep regret that the country’s ruling military denied him a meeting with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana also said that elections planned for this year would not [...]

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YANGON, Myanmar -Military-ruled Myanmar sentenced four activists to prison terms with hard labor on the same day a UN envoy arrived to assess progress on human rights in the country, the opposition said Tuesday.
The four women were arrested last October after being accused of offering Buddhist monks alms that included religious literature, said Nyan Win, [...]

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Freed Suu Kyi deputy urges junta to hold talks with NLD
Web posted at: 2/15/2010 9:58:31
Source ::: AFP
YANGON: Aung San Suu Kyi’s deputy urged Myanmar’s ruling junta yesterday to engage the opposition in dialogue before elections this year, as he took his first steps outside as a free man in seven years.
Tin Oo, 83, vice chairman [...]

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