United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Friday made an appeal to the leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to help him move Burma towards genuine democracy.

WASHINGTON — US President Barack Obama on Friday urged the Burmese leadership to embark on a process of national reconciliation by releasing all political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is allowed to vote in the Nov.7 election, according to the voter list posted on Friday in the ward Election Commission (EC) office in Bahan Township where she lives despite the election law that bans detainees from voting.

In an apparent attempt to shed its pro-regime image, the National Unity Party (NUP) announced on Friday that it will try to win the November parliamentary elections without forming an alliance with the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

WASHINGTON—US President Barack Obama will raise the issue of Burma during his meeting on Friday with leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and impress upon them the need for Burma to have a free and fair election, the White House said Thursday.

Burma’s Election Commission (EC) last week rejected without official reason the script for a Democratic Party (Myanmar) campaign ad intended to be broadcast on state-run television and radio, said members of the party's central executive committee.

Some of Burma's armed ethnic groups are seeking the support of the Chinese government in a bid to gain self-autonomy in their regions, a leading think tank disclosed on Tuesday.

Fourteen independent candidates contesting the upcoming election on Nov. 7 formed a coalition in Rangoon on Monday.

Former army generals, who are candidates in this year's election for the Union of Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), have distributed mobile telephones valued at 1.5 million kyat (US $1,570) in order to attract voters in Naypyidaw, according to sources.

The Burmese military junta's proxy party for the November election, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), has recently been distributing about 100,000 copies of its weekly party newsletter free of charge to the general public, according to sources in Burma.