Obama expected to lift sanctions on Myanmar as Suu Kyi visits

The White House is lifting economic sanctions and restoring trade benefits to former pariah state Myanmar, officials said Wednesday, as Aung San Suu Kyi, a former political prisoner and now the nation's de facto leader, met with President Obama. Suu Kyi's party swept historic elections last November, and the visit by the 71-year-old Nobel peace laureate, deeply respected in Washington, is a crowning occasion in the Obama administration's support for Myanmar's shift to democracy, which the administration views as a major foreign policy achievement. The U.S. has eased broad economic sanctions since political reforms began five years ago but has retained more targeted restrictions on military-owned companies and dozens of officials and associates of the former ruling junta in Myanmar, also known as Burma. U.S. companies and banks have remained leery of involvement in one of Asia's last untapped markets. Human rights groups, however, say there are powerful reasons for retaining sanctions.