Myanmar leader frees prisoners ahead of US visit |

Myanmar leader frees prisoners ahead of US visit

Myanmar political prisoners who were released from Insein prison walk away from the facility Friday, May 17, 2013 in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar’s President Thein Sein pardoned political prisoners Friday, just ahead of a state visit to the United States, maintaining the momentum of warming ties between the countries. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)

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Myanmar leader f... Myanmar political prisoners who were released from Insein prison walk away from the facility Friday, May 17, 2013 in Yangon, Myanmar. Myanmar’s President Thein Sein pardoned political prisoners Friday, just ahead of a state visit to the United States, maintaining the momentum of warming ties between the countries. (AP Photo/Khin Maung Win)
More controversy... Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, right, a founder and co-leader of the Japan Restoration Party, speaks to journalists in Osaka, Japan, Thursday, May 16, 2013. The emerging Japanese nationalist political party became embroiled in more controversy Friday when a party lawmaker accused ethnic Koreans of involvement in prostitution. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT
Cyclone Mahasen ... Internally displaced Rohingya people load rickshaws with children and belongings to leave their camp in Sittwe, northwestern Rakhine State, Myanmar, Thursday, May 16, 2013. Tens of thousands of displaced Rohingya people live in the plastic-roofed tents and huts made of reeds, and they distrust nearly any order from a government that barely acknowledges they exist. Even as rain and wind from the edges of Cyclone Mahasen began to pelt the coast near the city on Thursday morning, most people camped there appeared to be staying put. Some, however, were taking down their tents and hauling their belongings away in cycle-rickshaws, or carrying them in bags balanced on their heads. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
Residents shout ... Chinese demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against a planned refinery project in downtown Kunming in southwest China's Yunnan province, Thursday, May 16, 2013. About 2,000 demonstrators concerned about pollution took to the streets in southern China to protest plans for a planned refinery on the outskirts of Kunming. Placards and T-shirts read: "The placards read: "No to Kunming PX, (paraxylene)." (AP Photo/Aritz Parra)
Slower Chinese g... In this Tuesday, May 14, 2013 photo, workers are silhouetted at a construction site of a residential project in Rizhao city in east China's Shandong province. President Xi Jinping and other leaders have pledged to make the economy more productive but have yet to make clear how far they will go in curbing the dominance of state industry and making other changes reform advocates say are required. It is a politically thorny challenge but reform might be driven by slowing growth and concern about tensions due to a lack of new jobs. (AP Photo) CHINA OUT
World stocks str... A woman watches an electronic stock board of a securities firm in Tokyo, Thursday, May 16, 2013. Asian stock markets were mixed Thursday following dour European economic data that dampened hopes of a recovery there anytime soon. However, losses were limited by another record session on Wall Street. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Japan envoy leav... Isao Iijima, an adviser to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo, is mobbed by journalists on his arrival from Pyongyang at Beijing International Airport in Beijing Friday, May 17, 2013. Iijima ended a three-day visit to North Korea on Friday but would not give details of his talks with leaders in Pyongyang. (AP Photo/Kyodo News) JAPAN OUT, MANDATORY CREDIT
Afghanistan: Bom... Afghan and U.S. soldiers arrive to the scene where a suicide car bomber attacked a NATO convoy in Kabul, Afghanistan, Thursday, May 16, 2013. A Muslim militant group, Hizb-e-Islami, claimed responsibility for the early morning attack, killing at least six people in the explosion and wounding more than 30, police and hospital officials said. The powerful explosion rattled buildings on the other side of Kabul and sent a pillar of white smoke into the sky in the city's east. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)