When US President Barack Obama hosts a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders in California this week, his Burmese counterpart Thein Sein will be notably absent.

When US President Barack Obama hosts a meeting of Southeast Asian leaders in California this week, his Burmese counterpart Thein Sein will be notably absent.
Leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will meet Obama at a summit in the Californian resort of Sunnylands between 15 and 16 February.
The party of Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi has instructed its lawmakers not to leave the capital.
Even as the NLD government takes office, the army keeps control of the civil service through the ubiquitous General Administration Department.
The son-in-law of Burma’s former junta chief has been selected among the military appointed representatives that will sit in next month’s new-look legislatures.
Aung San Suu Kyi met American diplomats on Monday as Burma transitions to a new government after her party’s sweeping election victory last November.