Suu Kyi to get highest US honour

The United States will present its highest award to Myanmar's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi in September when she makes her first US trip in more than two decades, congressional aides said Tuesday.
Suu Kyi, who was elected to parliament this year in a dramatic sign of Myanmar's reforms, will travel to Washington in September to receive the Congressional Gold Medal, the aides told AFP.
The medal is the top honor bestowed by the US Congress, with the ceremonies often bringing together the president and top lawmakers. Congress voted to give the medal to Suu Kyi in May 2008 when the prospect of her leaving Myanmar looked remote.
It will be the 67-year-old Suu Kyi's first visit to the United States since she was put under house arrest following her party's victory in 1990 elections, the results of which the military junta refused to accept.
Suu Kyi did not travel abroad again until May this year when she went to Thailand. Last month, she made an extensive tour of Europe, where she belatedly accepted her Nobel Peace Prize, and received a rapturous reception.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton invited Suu Kyi to Washington when the top US diplomat paid a landmark visit to Myanmar, also known as Burma, in December.