Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi gets passport
Source: BBC
Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been given a passport for the first time in 24 years.
Ms Suu Kyi has spent much of the past two decades under house arrest in Burma as a political prisoner.
But following recent reforms she and other members of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), have won seats in parliament.
Ms Suu Kyi plans to go to Norway in June to accept the Nobel Peace Prize which she won in 1991.
Read more: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-17995837
Uncle Joe
(58,110 posts)Thanks for the thread, alp.
renate
(13,776 posts)Burmese Vice President Tin Aung Myint Oo, known as a strong hardliner, has submitted his resignation for health reasons, according to media reports.
snip
Citing sources close to the government, The Financial Times said the vice president was one of several officials slated to be moved to different roles or have their responsibilities reduced, perhaps over fears that they could hold up the removal of more western sanctions.
snip
Burma watchers say Tin Aung Myint Oo was considered to be one of the most corrupt of the ex-generals serving in the current administration. The appointment of his replacement could signal important changes in the power structure: if his replacement is known as a more moderate figure, it could mean the Thein Sein government believes it is not necessary to give the hardliners another powerful seat in government. The change comes after the government-backed party's humbling defeat in the by-election by the National League for Democracy.
Tin Aung Myint Oo is one of Burmas two vice presidents and is a leader among a hardline faction that carried over from the former military junta into the year-old military-backed government of Thein Sein, who is viewed as a moderate committed to reforming the former totalitarian regime into a quasi-democratic system.
http://www.mizzima.com/news/inside-burma/7068-vice-president-tin-aung-myint-oo-resigns.html
One less general to stand in the way of lasting reform.