By Adrian Croft and Justyna Pawlak BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is expected to lift all sanctions on Myanmar next week, except for an arms embargo, in recognition of the "remarkable process of reform" in the country, a document seen by Reuters showed on Wednesday. The EU agreed a year ago to suspend most of its sanctions against Myanmar for a year, but it is now expected to go further by agreeing "to lift all sanctions with the exception of the embargo on arms", the document said.

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi defended her conciliatory political style Wednesday, saying her focus was on building a more unified society rather than making headlines. Suu Kyi, visiting Japan this week, said many interviewers have asked her why she does not speak more forcefully about the plight of minority groups in her nation. She said she has been addressing those issues, albeit in ways that people may consider "boring".

By Antoni Slodkowski TOKYO (Reuters) - Myanmar's charismatic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi made rare comments on Wednesday on sectarian violence in her nation, but said she was "not a magician" and will not be able to solve long-running ethnic disputes. Speaking to students at Tokyo University while on a visit to Japan, Suu Kyi maintained her stand that the rule of law needs to be established in Buddhist-majority Myanmar and parties involved in the violence have to build an atmosphere of dialogue.

Myanmar's four-day traditional "Thingyan Water Festival" kicked off in Yangon on Saturday morning when the air temperature was still low, with people, young and old, starting to throw water at each other to enjoy coolness. This year's water festival is significant because it was launched in the wake of a series of riots that took place recently in several areas of the country including Meikhtila in northern Mandalay region and in central Bago region where curfew is still in force. With 3,500 police personnel out of a total of 7,000 claimed to be deployed to guard the security o