Burma News

KFC and a host of other American icons are finally coming to Burma as the army-ruled nation known officially as Myanmar ends five decades of isolation.

A once-fearsome cyclone that was threatening Bangladesh and Myanmar dissipated quickly, causing some deaths but largely relieving authorities who had told more than 1 million people to leave vulnerable coastal areas in preparation for a far worse storm.

Myanmar president Thein Sein prepares to leave for a state visit to the US, the first by a Myanmar head of state in almost 47 years, at Yangon International airport, Myanmar, on Friday, May 17, 2013.

A Myanma Airways Xian MA-60, registration XY-AIQ performing a flight from Heho to Monghsat with 55 passengers, overran the end of the runway while landing on Monghsat's runway 30 at about 11:50L by about 240 meters and stopped at the airport perimeter fence.

A Rohingya man pushes a rickshaw leaving a camp for displaced Rohingya people in Sittwe, northwestern Rakhine State, Myanmar, Thursday, May 16, 2013.

Displaced people in Khaung Doke Khar, Myanmar, were moved out of tents to nearby government shelters outside Sittwe, Rakhine state ahead of Cyclone Mahasen.

YANGON: President Thein Sein's historic invitation to the White House is an endorsement of 'Myanmar's Spring' and a further sign that the former pariah's reforms are irreversible, a senior Myanmar official said.

Celebrate Asian Pacific American Heritage Month at the 9th Annual Asian Heritage Street Celebration on Saturday, May 18th from 11a.m. to 6 p.m. in San Francisco's Civic Center.

Patrick Boehler has written for Time, Bloomberg, Le Monde Diplomatique and the Chinese weekly Shidai Zhoubao.

Burma has freed at least 21 political prisoners in the country's latest amnesty that comes just days before President Thein Sein makes a landmark visit to the United States.

In a 2011 file photo, birds fly as a porter pushes his cart at Yangon's river port.

Some Muslims say Buddhist monks have been inciting followers during recent violence in Myanmar.

International oil and gas companies have called for transparent in the governance of Myanmar's energy sector as they desire to make investments in the resource-rich country, a local businessman who has insight of the industry said.

Myanmar will exhibit a wide variety of rice for the first time at Kunming Trade Fair in China as a bid to boost the market shares, according to Myanmar Rice and Paddy Traders Association.

Minister Aung Min addresses an audience of diplomatic officials, NGOs and media at the Myanmar Peace Center on Wednesday in Rangoon.

A child uses a World Food Program bag to shelter from the rain at Bawdupha camp for internally displaced Rohingya Muslims, near Sittwe, Arakan State.

COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh - Cyclone Mahasan weakened Thursday afternoon into a tropical storm, causing far less damage than had been feared as it passed over coastal Bangladesh and spared Myanmar almost entirely.

RANGOON, Burma - Thomas Tun, a retired government official, takes a daily stroll down his Rangoon street to buy up to five newspapers from a sidewalk vendor.

A 16-year-old Muslim boy lay dying on a thin metal table. Bitten by a rabid dog a month ago, he convulsed and drooled as his parents wedged a stick between his teeth to stop him from biting off his tongue.

"I feel peace now, but I wanted to experience it more," Burma's former spymaster, one of the most feared men in Burma under the previous military regime, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.