YANGON, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - Four villagers were killed and another two injured when lightning struck a shop in Myanmar's administrative capital Naypyidaw, state media reported Sunday.

YANGON, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - Myanmar authorities have urged people not to use Chinese milk and dairy products in the wake of the contamination scandal, state media reported Sunday.

YANGON, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - With the colour fading from his hair and lines wrinkling his face, Myanmar's newly freed political prisoner, Win Tin, still manages to defy his 79 years.

Despite suffering numerous serious ailments while locked away for 19 years in Yangon's notorious Insein prison, the former journalist remains spry and said he has never regretted his move into politics.

BANGKOK, Oct 5, 2008 (AFP) - Human rights groups said Sunday that the number of dissidents in Myanmar jails has nearly doubled to more than 2,100 over the past year and called on the United Nations to act to free the prisoners.

A report says there are now at least 2,123 political prisoners in the country -- up 78 percent on the UN's figure of 1,192 in June 2007.

YANGON, Oct 3, 2008 (AFP) - An eye doctor has visited Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her home, where she has been detained for most of the past two decades, her party said Friday.

The specialist accompanied the Nobel peace laureate's general physician and his assistant on a rare visit to her lakeside home in the main city Yangon on Thursday.

GENEVA, Oct 2, 2008 (AFP) - The new UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called for the release of Myanmar's political prisoners Thursday as she launched a 'justice and dignity' week for detainees around the world.

'We believe that there are still 2,000 political prisoners in Myanmar,' said Pilaly in her first press conference since taking office.

WASHINGTON, Oct 1, 2008 (AFP) - An independent US group is to carry out unprecedented studies to determine whether Myanmar's military rulers, accused of rampant human rights abuses, have committed international crimes.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - Myanmar's foreign minister Foreign Minister Nyan Win on Monday called for the lifting of what he called 'unwarranted' and 'counter-productive' Western sanctions against his country.

'These sanctions are unwarranted,' he told the UN General Assembly, referring to 'unilateral' sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 27, 2008 (AFP) - World powers on Saturday called on Myanmar's military rulers to make 'tangible' progress on political reforms ahead of a planned visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to the country.

UNITED NATIONS, Sept 26, 2008 (AFP) - Ministers from UN Security Council permanent member states and mostly Asian nations are to hold their first meeting Saturday aimed at pushing for reforms in military-ruled Myanmar.