Burma News (7.5.09)

by Danny Fisher

“U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon traveled to Myanmar, also known as Burma, to plea for the release of democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi.” Photo by Mark Garten for the Agence France-Presse/Getty Images.
Here’s the latest news from Burma:

  • The Wall Street Journal reprints in full the speech given by U.N. Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon in Rangoon yesterday. In it, the Secretary-General outlines his vision for a democratic Burma.
  • CNN reports that the junta has denied Secretary-General Ban access to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the country’s Prime Minister-elect and Nobel Peace laureate who is currently standing trial on sham charges of violating the terms of her house arrest.
  • The Los Angeles Times reports on the “low expectations” of the Secretary-General’s visit.
  • Reuters reports that British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called on the junta to halt Suu Kyi’s trial and to release her.
  • Reuters also reports that her trial has been suspended a week.
  • The Associated Press reports on Burma’s “frustrated generation” looking abroad.
  • Louis Charbonneau, Reuters’ U.N. correspondent, reports on Naypyidaw, Burma’s “ghost town capital.”
  • Asia Times Online interviews Burmese writer and historian Thant Myint-U.

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