Myanmar

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Asian Leaders Condemn Suu Kyi Trial

Nobel Peace Prize-winners label pro-democracy leader's trial 'a mockery'

(Newser) - The trial of Aung San Suu Kyi drew unusually strong condemnation from Asian leaders as it entered its second day today, the BBC reports. A statement from the ASEAN bloc urged Burma's ruling military junta to ensure the ailing 63-year-old was given proper medical care, repeated a call for her...

Suu Kyi on Trial Today to Answer for American

Yank 'well-wisher' breached terms of Suu Kyi's house arrest, say officials

(Newser) - Myanmar democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi is on trial today for breaking the conditions of her house arrest because an American "well wisher" entered her home. She planned to plead not guilty because the intruder was not invited, her attorney told the BBC. Suu Kyi has already spent...

Suu Kyi Lawyer Banned
Suu Kyi
Lawyer Banned

Suu Kyi Lawyer Banned

Burma disbars activist attorney, files charges against intruding American

(Newser) - Burma has disbarred a high-profile activist lawyer who was meant to be part of Aung San Suu Kyi’s defense team, Reuters reports. Aung Thein said he visited the prison yesterday where the Noble Peace laureate is being held ahead of a Monday trial on charges she violated her house...

Suu Kyi Stalker 'Not Crazy,' Relatives Say

Grief-stricken American dad landed Burmese activist back in prison

(Newser) - The daughter of the man who jeopardized Aung San Suu Kyi's freedom by swimming to visit her while she was under house arrest insist that John William Yettaw is "not crazy" and had "no ill intention," the Telegraph reports. The Vietnam veteran's strange plan may have been...

'American Idiot' Blamed for Suu Kyi's Jailing

Pro-democracy leader faces years in jail because of Mormon's swim to her home

(Newser) - Blame for Aung San Suu Kyi's imprisonment has fallen squarely on a bizarre American who swam a lake to intrude into the pro-democracy's leader's home, CNN reports. John William Yettaw—a Mormon and a Vietnam veteran, according to his Missouri neighbors—is believed to have wanted to speak to Suu...

Suu Kyi Moved to Prison for Trial

Pro-democracy leader faces charges over Yank's intrusion in home

(Newser) - Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from her home to a Rangoon prison, the BBC reports. The country's military junta plans to put Suu Kyi—who has suffered ill health in recent days—on trial for allegedly violating the terms of her house arrest after an...

Myanmar Gov't, Rebels on Collision Course

(Newser) - The tense peace between Myanmar’s military rulers and various armed ethnic groups may fracture into war next year when the government implements a controversial new constitution, the New York Times reports. The constitution requires the rebels to disarm, without granting them the de facto autonomy they currently enjoy in...

Yank 'Stalker' Busted Outside Suu Kyi's House

Authorities baffled by American who swam lake to hide in activist's home

(Newser) - Burmese police have arrested an American man they fished out of a lake near the home of detained democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi's Rangoon home, the Guardian reports. Authorities believe the man dodged security around the compound by swimming through the lake and then hid inside Suu Kyi's home...

UN Calls on Burma Junta to Release Suu Kyi

Rare critical report labels detention illegal under country's laws

(Newser) - Burma's continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi violates both international law and the country's own criminal code, according to a UN report obtained by the AP. The pro-democracy leader has been under house arrest for 13 of last 19 years since her party won a landslide victory in the...

Indonesia Rescues 200 Boat People Thais 'Left to Die'

Refugees say Thai military towed them to sea, set them adrift

(Newser) - The Indonesian navy has rescued 200 more Burmese refugees who say the Thai military abandoned them to die at sea three weeks ago, the Daily Telegraph reports. The refugees, from Burma's persecuted Muslim Rohingya minority, say their motorless wooden boat was part of a flotilla of nine, containing more than...

Groups Say Thailand Sends Refugees to Sea

Hundreds missing after being left with little food or water

(Newser) - Human rights groups say the Thai military is effectively sentencing refugees to death by herding them out to sea on boats with little food or water. Hundreds of Muslim refugees from Burma are missing, they say. Last month, 1,000 were detained on a remote island, then towed to sea...

Suu Kyi's Silence Troubles Followers
 Suu Kyi's Silence 
 Troubles Followers 
ANALYSIS

Suu Kyi's Silence Troubles Followers

Nobel peace prize winner doing nothing as country slides further into squalor

(Newser) - Aung San Suu Kyi, who’s spent 20 years under house arrest, is an almost sainted symbol of democracy to the people of Burma, the Guardian writes. But since 2003, the Nobel Peace Prize winner has  offered no practical leadership for her party, the National League for Democracy, and has...

Secret Court Sentences Burmese Activists to 65 Years

(Newser) - A closed-door court in Burma has sentenced 14 members of a noted pro-democracy organization to 65 years each. Family members and defense lawyers were not permitted at the trial, and relatives only heard of the sentence from prison officials. The activists were members of 88 Generation Students, a group formed...

Burma Still Cleaning Up 6 Months Later

Cyclone killed more than 80,000, with more than 50,000 others listed as missing

(Newser) - Six months after Cyclone Nargis smashed into Burma's coastline, killing tens of thousands of people, aid groups say once-lagging relief efforts have picked up pace but the task of rebuilding and recovery is far from finished, the AP reports. Foreign aid staffers were initially barred from cyclone-affected areas and the...

Young Burmese Monks Ready to Take Up Arms

Buddhist movement gets bolder; some suggest stockpiling weapons

(Newser) - After seeing nonviolent protesters killed or detained in last year’s protests against the ruling junta, younger segments of Burma’s Buddhist monks are becoming more radical, embracing armed resistance and overt dissent, the Christian Science Monitor reports. "We need weapons,” one young monk said. “That is...

Suu Kyi Rejects Food Deliveries, Sparks Rumors of Hunger Strike

Burma leader frustrated with UN, aides say

(Newser) - Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has refused food deliveries to her house for two weeks, prompting speculation that she is on a hunger strike against the government, the AP reports. Supporters say she's grown increasingly frustrated with the UN's failure to intervene in the junta-ruled nation—the...

Out of the Cyclone, Seeds of Change in Burma
Out of the Cyclone, Seeds
of Change in Burma
Glossies

Out of the Cyclone, Seeds of Change in Burma

(Newser) - In the wake of the ruling junta's efforts to waylay foreign aid following May's Cyclone Nargis, Burmese citizens—including former political prisoners—created a grass-roots relief effort to help the embattled populace. In doing so, writes George Packer in the New Yorker, they may have created the catalyst for long-awaited...

Burma Indicts Dissident Comedian
Burma Indicts Dissident Comedian

Burma Indicts Dissident Comedian

Leading opposition figure faces prison for aiding cyclone victims

(Newser) - A popular comedian who became one of the most prominent critics of Burma's military government has been formally charged with several political offenses. Zarganar, who had been leading a citizen effort to aid victims of Cyclone Nargis, has been indicted on five counts, including unlawful association and creating public unrest.

Burma Aid Delays Less Deadly Than Feared

Villagers tough it out through cyclone's aftermath

(Newser) - Delays in getting help to cyclone survivors in Burma's Irrawaddy Delta have not caused the catastrophe initially feared, according to aid workers. Hardy villagers have managed to survive on fish and coconuts, helped by aid from private Burmese citizens and monks, reports the New York Times. Expected massive outbreaks of...

Albright: Burmese Paying for Bush's Failed Policies

US blunder has weakened the case for global intervention

(Newser) - The Myanmar junta’s shameful cyclone response illustrates some global truths we must face, writes Madeleine Albright in the New York Times. Among them: President Bush's ill-advised attack of Iraq has made it all the more difficult for the international community to intervene in the world's trouble spots. Instead, the...

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