Hundreds of thousands of people around the world came together to call for justice in Amnesty International's most successful ever letter-writing campaign, the organization said today

Hundreds of thousands of people around the world came together to call for justice in Amnesty International's most successful ever letter-writing campaign, the organization said today

Japan and Myanmar on Sunday signed an investment treaty to nurture closer business ties as the once secluded Southeast Asian country opens its fast-growing economy to more foreign commerce. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Myanmar President Thein Sein signed the deal in summit talks following a gathering of leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in Tokyo.

Myanmar's president called Thursday for more investment and development assistance from the Philippines, saying his country needs help to catch up with the rest of Southeast Asia after emerging from nearly two decades of economic sanctions. President Thein Sein's visit represents a milestone in relations with the Philippines, one of the harshest critics of Myanmar's former ruling junta.

Despite impressive changes over the past three years, Myanmar (or Burma) now faces growing insecurity and rising disappointment among citizens that reform has not brought higher standards of living. Interethnic and interreligious unrest now threaten to halt reforms altogether, depress much-needed investment, and could even lead to broader regional tensions.

In a surprise visit to Myanmar Thursday, former US President Bill Clinton urged national leaders to defuse the ethnic and religious divisions that have roiled the country, two years into a transition away from military rule. “The whole world has been pulling for Myanmar, even since you opened up,” Mr. Clinton told a group of political, social, and religious leaders in Yangon, the country’s commercial capital. “The whole world cheers every piece of good news and is sick every time they read about sectarian violence.”