UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced concern at
reports of air strikes in Myanmar's Kachin State, where a
20-month conflict between government troops and rebels has
been escalating.
A train in Myanmar carrying petrol derailed and burst into
flames, killing 25 people and injuring 62, most of them
villagers trying to collect fuel spilled in the accident,
state television said.
Hundreds of homes burned and gunfire rang out as sectarian
violence raged for a fifth day between Rohingya Muslims and
Buddhists in western Myanmar, pushing the death toll to
nearly 60 and testing the country's nascent democracy.
The US Treasury has relaxed sanctions on Myanmar to permit
financial transactions to support certain humanitarian and
development projects in the country as it moves ahead with
democratic reforms after decades of military rule.
The United States will take targeted steps to ease sanctions
banning the export of U.S. financial services and investment
in Myanmar to respond to progress in the Southeast Asian
country's democratic transition, U.S. Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton says.
Myanmar's junta was officially disbanded on Wednesday after
handing over power to a new so-called civilian government,
the latest phase of a transition to democracy that has been
widely criticised as a sham.
