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09 Jan 2012 23:03

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World: Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi plans to run for parliamentary seat

  • Good for her! The longtime peace activist will run in April’s parliamentary elections, representing the Kawhmu Township area of Yangon. It’s likely she’d be able to win this seat, and if she does, she’d be in a position to lead her party in parliament, leading to some major committee assignments for the long-imprisoned political figure. Fingers crossed! (photo by edenpictures on Flickr) source

05 Jan 2012 10:38

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World: Myanmar: Aung San Suu Kyi’s opposition party can run in elections

Suu Kyi, shown with British Foreign Secretary William Hague, spent most of the past two decades under house arrest. It’s not clear if she will run in the highly-anticipated elections herself, however. source

28 Dec 2011 21:08

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World: Large, unexplained explosion hits near Myanmar’s largest city

  • 17+ killed in a blast in a suburb of Yangon, the country’s largest city, early Thursday morning local time
  • 80+ injured in the blast; witnesses said several smaller blasts followed the main explosion source
  • » Details still limited: Local officials have as of yet not explained what caused the blast. “There are many casualties. We are not in a position to give you further information. We are still looking into it,” said a police officer from Mingalar Taungnyunt Township Police Station.

01 Dec 2011 20:38

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World: Hillary Clinton offers Myanmar incentive to reform itself

The Secretary of State has been in Myanmar for the past day or so. “I came to assess whether the time is right for a new chapter in our shared history,” she says. The U.S. is willing to reward Myanmar for implementing reforms. source

30 Nov 2011 14:06

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World: Secretary of State Clinton arrives in Myanmar today

  • 56 years since a U.S. official had last visited Myanmar source
  • » When preparing to fly into the isolated South Asian country, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was forced to depart early from a stop in South Korea, because the airfield in Myanmar’s capitol lacks runway lights to facilitate nighttime landings. On her schedule for the next three days: a meeting with Thein Sein, the General-turned-President, who despite being viewed as a moderate reformer (compared to the norms under decades of brutal military rule) still has the familiar trappings of a leader wrapped in a fraudulent democratic process — he won the last election with over 90% of the vote. She’ll also be visiting opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a dissident who’s been jailed or under house arrest for most of the last twenty years.

14 Jun 2011 15:57

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World: Suspicious North Korean ship turned back by U.S. Navy

  • U.S. interrupts suspected missile parts shipment: A North Korean ship suspected to have had an illegal shipment of missile parts aboard was turned back by the U.S. Navy nearly two weeks ago. They requested to inspect the ship, but the North Koreans refused and ended up returning home amidst considerable diplomatic pressure. A U.N. resolution passed last year permits member nations to conduct such inspections of North Korean cargo, as a means to enforce a ban on them trading nuclear and/or missile technology. In this case, the ship was bound for Burma (Myanmar). source

25 Mar 2011 11:49

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World: Yesterday’s Myanmar earthquake: By the numbers

  • 6.8 the magnitude of the quake that hit Myanmar about a day ago
  • 74+ people have been killed by the quake, which was just over 6 miles deep
  • 111+ people have been injured … landslides are still a major risk source
 

15 Nov 2010 10:25

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World: Aung San Suu Kyi pushing hard for democracy in Myanmar

  • I don’t want to see the military falling. I want to see the military rising to dignified heights of professionalism and true patriotism. I think it’s quite obvious what the people want; the people just want better lives based on security and on freedom.
  • Recently-freed dissident Aung San Suu Kyi • Revealing her hopes for bringing democracy to Myanmar (also known as Burma), which has been led by a military junta for the last two generations. She wants military leadership to end, though. “I think we also have to try to make this thing happen,” she said “Velvet revolution sounds a little strange in the context of the military, but a non-violent revolution. Let’s put it that way.” As you might guess by what she’s saying, she had no conditions set on her freedom. source

13 Nov 2010 14:14

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World: Finally set free, the first thing Aung San Suu Kyi has to say

“People must work in unison. Only then can we achieve our goal. … When the time comes to talk, do not be quiet.” source

13 Nov 2010 11:23

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World: Aung San Suu Kyi freed, but she’s really the tip of the iceberg

  • one Nobel Peace Prize-winning activist (Aung San Suu Kyi) freed after 15 straight years under house arrest
  • 2,000 other political activists imprisoned in Myanmar without quite the same pedigree source