Report outlines regime’s post-Nargis ‘failure’

Thomas Maung Shwe, Mizzima News, April 29, 2010.

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – A report just issued by New York-based Human Rights Watch sharply counters claims made by some that following Cyclone Nargis there was a general opening of space across Burma.

Human Rights Watch notes in its extensive research that despite making some significant gains in fixing areas severely affected by the cyclone the “Burmese government continues to deny basic freedoms and place undue restrictions on aid.”

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Myanmar calls fatal blasts a terror attack

By the CNN Wire Staff, April 15, 2010 -- Updated 1448 GMT.

Photo:People wait Thursday for word of relatives outside the emergency department of Yangon Hospital in Myanmar.

Yangon, Myanmar (CNN) -- The government of Myanmar said three bombs caused the deadly blasts that ripped through Yangon on Thursday, an action it calls a terrorist attack.

At least 20 people have died and more than 70 others were wounded, a staff member at Yangon Hospital said. But the government says only eight have died and more than 90 others were wounded.

The blasts occurred at 3 p.m. local time during a water festival, part of the New Year's celebration taking place in Myanmar and other southeastern Asian countries. People toss water on each other as part of a cleansing ritual during the celebration.

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bomb blast photos in Burma during water festival

Photos Credit: http://blog.nyilynnseck.com

Change Comes to Myanmar, but Only on the Junta’s Terms

By THE NEW YORK TIMES, March 17, 2010.

PYAPON, Myanmar — In the dried mud of the Irrawaddy Delta, workers are welding together the final pieces of a natural-gas pipeline that the country’s ruling generals say will keep the lights on in Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, after years of debilitating blackouts.

Residents who for years were lucky to get eight hours of power a day may soon have the luxury of refrigerators that stay cold and televisions that stay on.

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Junta Should Go Before ICC, Nobel Laureates Tell Ban

By LAWI WENG, Irrawaddy News, March 6, 2010.

In a meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in New York on Thursday, three activists, including two Nobel Peace Prize winners, called on the UN Security Council to refer Burma's junta to the International Criminal Court for its abuses against women.

Thin Thin Aung, a presidium board member of the Women's League of Burma (WLB), and Nobel laureates Shirin Ebadi and Jody Williams told Ban that sexual violence and other abuses against women in Burma are widespread and systematic, and can only be addressed by referring the matter to the ICC.

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