Rebecca interviews Suu Kyi

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Disappearing line between confiscating land, and stealing it

Friday, 29 July 2011 12:20 U Myo (Commentary) - For generations, Burma’s land-holding patterns have been riddled with inequalities and injustices. In the feudal era, the King possessed most lands and serfs were forced to work his estates. In the colonial era, large landowners exploited class and ethnic inequities in order to advance British interests. Burmese farmers are frequent victims of unfair...

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NLD classes on political science successfully completed

Thursday, 28 July 2011 21:28 Ko Pauk New Delhi (Mizzima) – A one-week series of political science classes for members of the Burmese National League for Democracy (NLD) were successfully completed on Thursday. The classes were conducted from July 22 to July 28, without incident, NLD spokesman Ohn Kyaing told Mizzima. Senior NLD leaders Win Tin, left, and Secretary-General Aung San Suu Kyi at...

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Hooliganism by Burmese soccer fans ends World Cup qualifying match

Thursday, 28 July 2011 20:58 Myo Thant Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Burma versus Oman match in a World Cup qualifying game in Rangoon had to be stopped after 39 minutes because of hooliganism by Burmese soccer fans, resulting in a 2-0 defeat of the Burmese team. Burmese soccer fans threw stones, umbrellas, footwear and drinking bottles onto the pitch. Dozens of police were not able to control the...

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SSA-S troops ambush government convoys

Thursday, 28 July 2011 20:44 Kun Chan Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A government reinforcement convoy to be deployed against the besieged Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) headquarters at Wan Hai was ambushed by Shan State Army (South) (SSA-S) troops, said spokesman Major Sai Lao Sai. SSA-S troops line up for review. Photo: Mizzima “This was a mutual-help military operation even though we cannot help...

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Suu Kyi’s ‘Open Letter’ calls for immediate cease-fire in ethnic areas

Thursday, 28 July 2011 20:03 Tun Tun Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday made her first open entreaty, urging Burmese government troops and ethnic armed groups to stop fighting as soon as possible and to solve problems by using peaceful ways. Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaks at the National League for Democracy headquarters in Rangoon....

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Suu Kyi to spend three days in meditation centre in Rangoon

Thursday, 28 July 2011 17:53 Myo Thant Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – National League for Democracy (NLD) General-Secretary Aung San Suu Kyi will go on a three-day retreat in a Rangoon meditation centre from Friday to Sunday, according to Win Htein, the NLD office chief. National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi donates robes to a Buddhist monk outside NLD headquarters in Rangoon in...

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Suu Kyi to visit Bago Region to open libraries dedicated to her

Thursday, 28 July 2011 10:08 Myo Thant Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – In August, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will travel to Bago for the opening of two libraries dedicated to her, according to Myat Hla, a branch leader of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). No date has been set for the openings. Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Photo: Mizzima The libraries ...

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EC chairman urges all political parties to oppose Western sanctions

Wednesday, 27 July 2011 21:21 Phanida Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Union Election Commission (UEC) chairman Tin Aye urged all 37 registered political parties to take part in working for the lifting of sanctions imposed on Burma by foreign countries at a meeting held in Naypyitaw on Wednesday. Union Election Commission chairman Tin Aye. Photo: Mizzima He said that the sanctions did not have an impact...

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Highest US diplomat in Burma to retire

Wednesday, 27 July 2011 20:04 Aye Lae Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The highest US diplomat in Burma, Charge d'Affaires Ad Interim Larry Dinger, will retire in August after completing a three-year tenure, the US embassy in Rangoon said. Highest US diplomat in Rangoon, Larry Dinger, left, with US Senator John McCain to retire in August. Photo: Mizzima Dinger, 65, is a strong supporter of US sanctions,...

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President Thein Sein visits flood areas

Wednesday, 27 July 2011 18:45 Mizzima News Chaing Mai (Mizzima) – The Burmese president toured Hinthada in Irrawaddy Region on Wednesday, an area hit by heavy flooding during the past week. President Thein Sein spent about three hours in the area including a ceremony in which businessmen donated 40 million kyat (about US$ 50,000), and rice, cooking oil, salt, medicine and household appliances. President...

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Two monks approach the Shan State Army-North with a cease-fire offer

Wednesday, 27 July 2011 18:23 Kun Chan Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP) said on Wednesday the government apparently sent two local monks to talk about a cease-fire, but they could offer no other details or guarantees, according to Shan State Army-North (SSA-N) spokesman Major Sai Hla. The names of the monks were not available. Troops of the Shan State Army-South Photo:...

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Major general’s sacking example of clean government?

Wednesday, 27 July 2011 17:13 Ko Pauk Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The sacking of former Major General Tin Ngwe, a chief of Bureau of Special Operations, by the new Burmese government is being viewed by some as an example to encourage clean government, say Burma observers. Although the reason to dismiss Major General Tin Ngwe was not publically disclosed, he was believed to be in line to become commander in chief of Defense Services. Rumours said that he was dismissed because he was involved in land corruption deals in Aung Pinle in Mandalay when...

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Abbot will not hand over ancient Mrauk-U Buddha statues

Wednesday, 27 July 2011 16:32 Zwe Khant New Delhi (Mizzima) – Thirty-six ancient Buddha statues unearthed at Lawka Myinzu pagoda in Yadana Theinkha in Mrauk-U in western Burma will not be handed over to the state archeology department, according to reidents. A visitor to Mrauk-U, an ancient city in northern Arakan State, enters Sakya Manaung Pagoda. Three pagodas at the national heritage site...

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Rangoon court to hold first hearing on Hot News journal suit

Wednesday, 27 July 2011 11:18 Te Te New Delhi (Mizzima) – The defamation suit against the Hot News journal and its Chief Editor Hay Mar will begin on Friday, according to Ye Myint, the lawyer for the plaintiff, the Shwegondine Specialist Center (SSC) hospital in Rangoon. Hot News editor Hay Mar Photo: Mizzima The SSC suit, filed with the Rangoon Region Court, seeks 2 billion kyat as compensation....

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Presidential adviser undergoes head surgery

Tuesday, 26 July 2011 19:48 Mizzima News (Mizzima) – A Burmese presidential political adviser, Ye Tint, 69, has undergone head surgery at Rangoon General Hospital (RGH) for a blood clot. Sources said he slipped and fell in his home about one month ago. 21st Century Geopolitics, a book by Presidential Adviser Ye Tint. “After learning of his appointment as a presidential adviser, he returned to...

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Meiktila Muslims stop bulldozing of Sunni cemetery

Tuesday, 26 July 2011 18:15 Salai Han Thar San New Delhi (Mizzima) – A construction company in Meiktila bulldozed a 100-year-old Muslim cemetery on Monday, knocking down walls and tombstones before residents forced the company to stop, sources said. Apparently, plans to bulldoze the cemetery have been longstanding. In 2008 and in March and May 2011, Islamic religious leaders reportedly sent letters to the authorities, urging them not to bulldoze the cemetery, but the authorities did not reply, sources said.  At around 2 a.m. on Monday,...

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Heavy flooding in Bago and Karen states reported

Tuesday, 26 July 2011 12:48 Kyaw Kha Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – New areas in Rakhine and Karen states and Bago are flooded now as unseasonably heavy rains have passed over parts of Burma. Twenty villages in Kawa Township and 18 blocks in Bago have had to use boats to get around in the city after the Bago River overran its banks. Similarly five blocks in Hpa-an city near the Thalyin River were flooded...

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Burma organizes committee to host Asean Summit

Monday, 25 July 2011 21:17 Nyi Thit Rangoon (Mizzima)  – In anticipation of hosting a 2014 Asean Summit meeting in Naypyitaw, the Burmese government has made plans to  form committees, prepare buildings and other contingencies. A general view of foreign ministers attending the East Asia Summit Plenary Session held on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ministerial meetings...

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Suu Kyi satisfied with meeting with gov’t minister; more to follow

Monday, 25 July 2011 18:10 Ko Pauk New Delhi (Mizzima) – Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi told reporters on Monday that her one-hour meeting with Union level Minister Aung Kyi was constructive and she felt satisfied with the meeting. “Whatever I talk with whoever, I do it for the sake of the people and the country,” Suu Kyi said. Aung San Suu Kyi and Burmese government Minister Aung...

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Local people protest coal mining in eastern Shan State

Monday, 25 July 2011 12:16 Phanida Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Environment groups and local villagers in Burma and Thailand launched a protest against the Mong Koke coal-mining project in eastern Shan State last week. Anti-coal mine campaign coordinator Montree Chantawong Terra. The project is a joint operation by the Dawei deep sea port project developer, the Italian-Thai Company, ITD, and Thailand’s...

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A brief history of the Pa-O road to revolution

Friday, 22 July 2011 21:19 Colonel Khun Okkar, PNLO chairman (Mizzima) – The Pa-O revolution was born along with the Karen National Union (KNU) revolution in 1949. Pa-O national leader Hla Pe was then the vice-chairman of the KNU. Khun Okkar, the chairman of the PNLO. Photo: Mizzima After chairman Saw Ba Oo Gyi was killed in action, Hla Pe was given the chairman post but he turned it down. Then...

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High-ranking former intelligence officer remains in Burmese prison

Friday, 22 July 2011 18:55 Myo Thant Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A former military intelligence officer, ex-Col San Pwint, who was imprisoned by the Burmese military government in 2004, remained in prison on Friday, according to a family member. A file photo of ex-Col San Pwint. Photo: S.H.A.N An article in The Irrawaddy on Tuesday mistakenly said San Pwint, a key player in ethnic affairs and former...

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Seven townships in Arakan State flooded by record heavy rain

Friday, 22 July 2011 18:38 Kyaw Kha Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Because of record-breaking rainfall in seven townships in Arakan State, farms are flooded, roads are impassable and schools and markets are closed, residents said. Heavy rain since Tuesday in Mrauk-U, Kyauktaw, Thandwe, Toungup, Gwa, Buthidaung and Maungdaw have left the area flooded, residents said. Many residents and livestock are finding access to food difficult. The state-run newspaper New Light of Myanmar said that Mrauk-U on Tuesday broke a 33-year rainfall record of 8.90 inches...

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Government troops open artillery barrage near Myawaddy

Thursday, 21 July 2011 21:22 Phanida Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Artillery attacks by Burmese government troops moved close to Myawaddy on the Thai-Burmese border as they fired heavy weapons into the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) area in Karen State on Tuesday and Wednesday. DKBA troops stand for inspection. Photo: Mizzima A total of 60 Burmese soldiers from the government’s Infantry Unit No....

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Thai Black Hawk helicopter found near Myeik in Burma

Wednesday, 20 July 2011 22:08 Myo Thant Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Thai Army Black Hawk helicopter that crashed in bad weather in a forest in Burma near the Thai border on Tuesday afternoon has been found near Myeik in Burma. A Thai Black Hawk helicopter like the one that crashed in Burma on Tuesday. Photo: AFP The Thai Rath news agency said the helicopter was found near the Burmese battalion...

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SCC hospital, Hot News suit set to go to trial

Wednesday, 20 July 2011 20:03 Te Te New Delhi (Mizzima) – The lawyer for SCC hospital in Rangoon said he has not received word to withdraw the suit against the Hot News journal and the case could go to trial on Friday. Hot News weekly chief editor Hay Mar aka Ma Ma, right, at a press conference. Photo: Mizzima SCC lawyer Ye Myint said he has no instructions to settle out of court, in spite of...

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Massive backlog of civil suits in Rangoon Region

Wednesday, 20 July 2011 11:37 Salai Han Thar San New Delhi (Mizzima) – Under the new government, the Rangoon Region Court has transferred hundreds of civil suits to district and township courts, delaying civil trials in Rangoon, according to lawyers. The Kamayut Township Court in Rangoon Photo: Mizzima Each district court in Rangoon Region has received at least 600 civil cases from the Rangoon...

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Suu Kyi ‘thanks’ Burmese gov’t for cooperation on Martyrs’ Day

Tuesday, 19 July 2011 22:15 Ko Pauk New Delhi (Mizzima) – After leading a 3,000-person march to the Martyrs’ Mausoleum in Rangoon on Tuesday, Aung San Suu Kyi said thanks to the Burmese government for its cooperation on Martyrs’ Day, according to NLD spokesman Nyan Win. NLD leaders Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo, right, prepare to go to the Martyrs' Mausoleum in Rangoon to honour fallen independence...

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