Ko Ni, a prominent Muslim lawyer and critic of Myanmar's powerful military, was shot dead on 29 January outside Yangon airport in a murder that sent shockwaves through the country's young civilian government.

More than a dozen Nobel laureates on Thursday urged the United Nations to "end the human crisis" of Myanmar's Rohingya minority group, whose members have been fleeing to Bangladesh to escape a bloody military crackdown.

The UN has urged Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi to visit the north of Rakhine state, where the army is accused of carrying out a brutal crackdown on the Muslim Rohingya minority.

Myanmar cheered a US promise to end sanctions on Thursday, with residents in its commercial capital clamouring for American brands while politicians and business moguls heralded a new era of transparency and trade.

Myanmar's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi expects China to support historic peace talks with armed groups near the countries' troubled joint border, she said Friday during a landmark visit overshadowed by a stalled dam project.

Myanmar's most heavily armed ethnic group held "positive" talks Friday with the country's de facto leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a spokesman for her office said, in a major boost for peace prospects.

Aung San Suu Kyi vowed Friday to work towards bringing home hundreds of thousands of Myanmar people who fled her impoverished and war-torn country under its former military leaders.

Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi arrived Thursday in Thailand where she is expected to be garlanded by her adoring compatriots, hundreds of thousands of whom have sought work and sanctuary from war across the border.