Burma News

Before it began, United Nations officials had described UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon's visit to Burma as a diplomatically risky mission that could end in failure.

UNITED Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon met Burma's junta leader Than Shwe yesterday, but left with no clear answer to his request to see detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has led the drive for democracy for two decades.

Comment about "Myanmar snubs UN chief over Suu Kyi visit" Phone Name Comment 0 Myanmar snubs UN chief over Suu Kyi visit AFP An activist from Myanmar holds a placard during a protest demanding the release of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

A leaked report purportedly drafted by authorities in Myanmar's military government describes a top-secret visit to North Korea late last year by Myanmar's top brass, during which the two sides pledged to significantly expand cooperation in military training and arms production, Radio Free Asia reports.

Burma reported its first case of H1N1 in a 13-year-old girl who recently visited Singapore, state media said Sunday.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says he is "deeply disappointed" after the Burma junta rejected his second and final request to meet jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

NORTH KOREA test-fired three short-range missiles from its east coast yesterday, South Korean media reported, as a US envoy was in Beijing to discuss new sanctions against the reclusive regime.

Myanmar junta supremo Than Shwe smiled briefly but gave nothing away as he listened on Friday to UN chief Ban Ki-moon, at the start of what Ban has called a "tough mission" to promote democratic reform.

**ADVANCE FOR SATURDAY, JULY 4** In this June 3, 2009 photo, a Myanmar woman student passes by a sign of the University of Yangon which can be barely seen due to tree branches that overhang it from outside.

Ban Ki-moon arrived in Burma Friday in a risky bid to break the political stalemate.

Burmaa TMs state-run media reported on Wednesday that Snr-Gen Than Shwe, the head of the Burmese junta, has congratulated the recently re-elected president of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Exile Burmese media have voiced alarm in recent days at reports of growing ties between Burma and nuclear-armed North Korea.

In a high stakes diplomatic mission, the UN secretary general is today due to press Burma's military leaders to release all its political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi even as the widely condemned trial of the imprisoned opposition leader resumes.

YANGON: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to meet senior members of the party of Aung San Suu Kyi when he visits Myanmar this week but has no plans yet to see the opposition leader, a party spokesman said.

North Korea is highly likely to test-fire a barrage of missiles in coming days, a news report said Thursday, a move that would aggravate the already-high tensions following Pyongyang's nuclear test and U.N. sanctions.

Reporters Without Borders Burma Media Association 29 June 2009 /EIN News/ BURMA Arrest, censorship and manipulation amid trial of Aung San Suu Kyi Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association today condemned the military junta for intimidating the press trying to cover recent national and international events, as a journalist was ...

The return this week of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to military-ruled Burma gives the mission an air of a high-stakes gamble.

Securing Myanmar visas for international aid workers is again proving problematic more than a year after Cyclone Nargis killed nearly 140,000 people and affected another 2.4 million.

With the increase in music piracy and ineffective laws governing the illegal reproduction of music, Burma's music industry has witnessed an 80 percent reduction in the release of new albums over the course of the last two years.

" Farmers in Central Burma are worried over the late monsoons, which are hampering the cultivation of monsoon paddy.