The Burmese military government has appointed a deputy minister to begin talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The move is the latest in an apparent bid to forestall condemnation by the U.N. Security Council.

While the crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Burma has grabbed the world's attention in recent weeks, the country's military government is continuing its often forgotten war against ethnic minorities in the country. A missionary working with refugees from the Karen minority group says the Burmese army is killing and raping villagers and forcing them to flee their homes.

Last month, Burma's military government crushed peaceful demonstrations calling for political reforms by ordering troops to fire on protesters. Troops also raided monasteries and took into detention hundreds, possibly thousands of the Buddhist monks who had led the protests. Scores of monks, however, have fled through rugged jungles to cross the border into Thailand.

Burma's state-controlled media say the country's military dictatorship has donated thousands of dollars to Buddhist monasteries across the country, ostensibly to promote reconciliation. The United Nations Security Council is considering a statement condemning the junta's violent crackdown on monks and other protesters over the past two weeks.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the strength of Burmese people for their right in restoration of democracy in Myanmar,has achieved a global political phenomenon after Nelson Mandela and Mahatama Gandhi for propounding their peaceful fight against the regime in their country for people right.

Long-standing human rights concerns in Myanmar, Amnesty International believes that it would be a positive contribution to the UN's consideration of Myanmar, if the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Louise Arbour, were to visit the country.

Monks who fled Burma say they are returning to keep up the pro-democracy fight, as the international community debates its response to government repression.

The British prime minister says he wants tougher sanctions on Burma, following the violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

The U.S. envoy in Rangoon, Shari Villarosa, is expected to meet with Burma's military leaders Friday after they invited her for talks in the country's administrative capital, Naypyidaw.

The sincerity of the Burmese leadership's offer to meet with pro-democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi is being questioned by activist groups. But at least one critic of Burma's military government calls the offer a positive step.

Singapore's elder statesman Lee Kuan Yew has warned that the entire region could be affected by instability in Burma. The former Prime Minister says Burma is a ticking time bomb which must be defused.

Junta chief Than Shwe, 74, hated Suu Kyi so much that he has banned a word about her in his presence.General has now decided to seek a reconciliation and her name has been on everyone's lips in Yangon for weeks.A protest for hike in fuel has fueled en mass emergence of pro democracy movements for which most Burmese crave for.