Myanmar – News Stories About Myanmar - Page 16

Nov 9, 2007 9:41 AM CST

Suu Kyi Sees Hope for Burma Peace

Opposition party says leader is optimistic after meeting with junta rep

(Newser) - Aung San Suu Kyi expressed hope for a peaceful end to Burma's strife today after meeting with her party for the first time in 3 years and with a representative of the ruling junta, AFP reports. Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18...

Suu Kyi:
'I Stand Ready to Cooperate'

Nov 8, 2007 12:07 PM CST

Suu Kyi: 'I Stand Ready to Cooperate'

Imprisoned opposition leader wants 'dialogue' with Burma's junta

(Newser) - Aung San Suu Kyi is ready to cooperate with Burma's military rulers, UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari announced today, reading a statement from the long-imprisoned opposition leader. “I stand ready to cooperate with the government in order to make this process of dialogue a success,” she wrote after the...

Burmese Monks Back in Streets

Oct 31, 2007 8:52 AM CDT

Burmese Monks Back in Streets

More than 100 march as rights group slams junta over recruiting child soldiers

(Newser) - Picking up their quashed demands, more than 100 Burmese monks marched in defiance of the military junta today in the first marches since the government crackdown on pro-democracy protests late last month. "This is very significant... we are very encouraged to see the monks taking up action," one...

Suu Kyi Meets With Junta Liaison

Oct 25, 2007 9:27 AM CDT

Suu Kyi Meets With Junta Liaison

Detained democracy leader talks to Burmese military official

(Newser) - Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi today met with the military junta minister in charge of opposition group relations, a day after marking her twelfth year under house arrest, the Guardian reports. Former general Aung Kyi was appointed earlier this month in an apparent concession to international pressure, and...

Supporters Rally for Suu Kyi

Oct 24, 2007 6:59 AM CDT

Supporters Rally for Suu Kyi

Protests in 12 cities to mark 12th anniversary of her imprisonment

(Newser) - Protests are in progress in front of 12 Chinese embassies around the world today to mark the 12th anniversary of the incarceration of Burmese political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Six fellow female laureates also have written an open letter, published in today's Guardian, asking...

Burma Lifts Curfew, Ban
on Assembly

Oct 20, 2007 3:34 PM CDT

Burma Lifts Curfew, Ban on Assembly

Junta offers talks to jailed leader after Bush levies sanctions

(Newser) - Burma is scrapping a curfew and a ban on assemblies of more than 5 people in Yangon, apparently assured that pro-democracy protests are dead. The junta also gave opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi a fresh invite for compromise talks, the AP reports. Both moves come after Bush imposed a...

Bush Tightens Sanctions
on Burma

Oct 19, 2007 7:14 PM CDT

Bush Tightens Sanctions on Burma

Urges China, India to respond to junta's 'vicious persecution'

(Newser) - President Bush expanded sanctions against Burma today, citing the junta's ongoing "vicious persecution" of protesters. Acknowledging the limits of US influence, he called on India, China and other neighbors to put pressure on the military regime he accused of "ongoing atrocities," Reuters reports. The new sanctions include...

3,000 Detained in Burma, by Junta's Count

Oct 17, 2007 9:01 AM CDT

3,000 Detained in Burma, by Junta's Count

Japan cuts aid, China supports UN diplomat

(Newser) - Burma’s military regime imprisoned roughly 3,000 people in last month’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, the state-run newspaper announced today. Over 500 are still in custody, and more are being arrested each day. “Those who should be released will be,” the paper said. Meanwhile international outrage...

Burma's Blood Rubies Lift Junta

Oct 16, 2007 9:42 PM CDT

Burma's Blood Rubies Lift Junta

Sale of gems supports the junta's brutality

(Newser) - Precious Burmese rubies account for 90% of the world's supply, and fund that nation's brutal military junta, according to Der Spiegel. Though some dealers maintain that ruby sales support the opposition, the German paper reports that profits instead go straight to the junta's coffers. Not only that, but gem miners...

Burma Protests a 'Success,' Says Buddhist Leader

Oct 14, 2007 7:07 PM CDT

Burma Protests a 'Success,' Says Buddhist Leader

Famed anti-Vietnam agitator supports monks on US tour

(Newser) - Revered Buddhist spokesman Thich Nhat Hanh, famed for enlisting Martin Luther King's help against the Vietnam War, is supporting his spiritual brethren in Burma on a US tour. The monks' struggle against Burma is "already a success," he told Time, "because if monks are imprisoned or have...

Burma Nabs Top Dissidents

Oct 13, 2007 10:02 AM CDT

Burma Nabs Top Dissidents

(Newser) - Myanmar’s rulers have arrested just about every major dissident at large, the BBC reports. The junta rounded up three more prominent figures, among them Htay Kywe, who had been in hiding. He was a leader not only of the recent protests but of the 1988 uprising as well. Amnesty...

Council Upbraids Myanmar Junta

Oct 11, 2007 4:50 PM CDT

Council Upbraids Myanmar Junta

China doesn't block UN panel's stance

(Newser) - The UN Security Council unanimously condemned the Myanmar junta's violent suppression of pro-democracy protests in an official policy statement today, demanding the prompt release of all political prisoners and serious negotiations with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The council's first official action on Myanmar highlights a shift by China,...

Myanmar Junta: 'You Are No Longer Monks'

Oct 11, 2007 12:09 PM CDT

Myanmar Junta: 'You Are No Longer Monks'

Prisoners recount abject conditions after peaceful protests

(Newser) - Buddhist monks rounded up in protests in Myanmar faced torturous conditions, a recent detainee told Reuters. During days of interrogation, monks were beaten and denied medical treatment, water, and toilets. Prisoners were stripped of their iconic robes. “You are no longer a monk,” a guard told the prisoner,...

First Lady to Junta: Free Burma

Oct 10, 2007 12:23 PM CDT

First Lady to Junta: Free Burma

Laura Bush blasts 'friendless regime' in Journal piece

(Newser) - The recent violent crackdown on peaceful protests in Burma have left the military regime friendless in the international community and reviled by its people, Laura Bush writes in the Wall Street Journal. The junta “must immediately stop their terror campaigns against their own people,” she writes, and then...

Suu Kyi Rejects Conditions, Won't Meet Junta

Oct 9, 2007 1:19 PM CDT

Suu Kyi Rejects Conditions, Won't Meet Junta

Opposition leader rejects talk conditions

(Newser) - Aung San Suu Kyi will not meet with Burma's ruling junta, which insists that she soften her anti-regime position as a condition of scheduling talks. The opposition leader said in a statement today she will accept no conditions, the Guardian reports: “The success of a dialogue is based on...

Burma Confiscates Phones, Computers to Silence News

Oct 9, 2007 4:06 AM CDT

Burma Confiscates Phones, Computers to Silence News

Authorities move to shut down last lines of communication to outside world

(Newser) - The Burmese government is cutting the last lines of communication with the outside world, confiscating satellite phones and computers that reporters and bloggers were using to spread news of the violent repression of pro-democracy protests. Officials even demanded to see permits for satellite phones at a United Nations office. Authorities...

Junta Cremates Protesters

Oct 7, 2007 5:05 PM CDT

Junta Cremates Protesters

Crackdown carries on, as soldiers arrest more activists and the wounded are refused treatment

(Newser) - Burma's army is burning the bodies of activists in secret cremations, hiding their true death count forever, the Sunday Times reports. Locals near Rangoon report trucks are driving by a crematorium at night as smoke rises constantly from its chimneys. Rumors of victims burnt alive have swept the city, but...

How the World Dropped the Ball on Burma

Oct 7, 2007 11:33 AM CDT

How the World Dropped the Ball on Burma

And how we can pick it back up

(Newser) - International policy on Myanmar is at an impasse because the world went two different ways on the military junta—the US chose isolation while its neighbors chose constructive engagement—and both strategies failed. The country has gone from “antidemocratic embarrassment and humanitarian disaster” to “serious threat” to security,...

World Pressure Bears Down
on Burma

Oct 6, 2007 10:36 AM CDT

World Pressure Bears Down on Burma

Protesters around globe stage protests as US weighs sanctions

(Newser) - Protesters around the world staged a series of rallies today to protest Burma's crackdown on dissent and show support for the nation's monks. The protests began in New Zealand and were to continue in big cities throughout the world at noon local time, the BBC reported. The US and other...

UN Envoy Sees Hopeful Signs
in Burma

Oct 5, 2007 6:56 PM CDT

UN Envoy Sees Hopeful Signs in Burma

Junta's overtures to dissident Suu Kyi 'historic opportunity'

(Newser) - The UN's envoy to Burma told the Security Council today that a proposed meeting between the country's military leader and detained activist Aung San Suu Kyi was a "historic opportunity"—but only a first step toward ending mistrust that contributed to the government's recent crackdown. The US ambassador...