Mizzima News has found out the following facts in today while voting is in progress in many parts of the country.

* Voters were asked to leave the polling booths as the counting began but some of the junta’s supporters were allowed to remain.
* Residents are forced to vote only ‘Yes’ (tick) votes (more…)

Burma’s constitutional referendum went ahead as planned on Saturday in areas not affected by Cyclone Nargis, amid accusations of massive cheating at the polling stations and reports of a very low turnout.
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The military junta forged ahead on Saturday with a constitutional referendum intended to cement its power after a campaign of arm-twisting and intimidation, even as it continued to restrict foreign aid shipments to survivors of last week’s devastating cyclone. (more…)

A Burmese police officer guarding a polling station in Taguntaing village in Mudon township, Mon State, was shot dead by an unknown gunman today at around 10am local time. (more…)

(The correspondent has returned from Kungyangone Township after interviewing several survivors of Cyclone Nargis.)

Thirty-five miles from Rangoon, the air smells of death. Dead bodies and the rotting cadavers of buffaloes lie in the gutters of this town, so near Burma’s largest city and the country’s once proud capital. (more…)

Myanmar’s military regime distributed international aid Saturday but plastered the boxes with the names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week’s devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.
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A CNN reporter who left Myanmar Friday was chased by authorities as he reported on the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis but escaped primarily because of the incompetence of the people after him.
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Getting supplies to survivors suffering from a brutal cyclone in Myanmar is now a “race against time” to prevent a disease disaster as some impoverished victims continue to wait for help a week after the storm, experts warned Saturday.
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The United Nations was seeking $187 million (euro120.97 million) from donor nations to help cyclone survivors in Myanmar.
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President Bush plans to call Chinese President Hu Jintao in coming days to seek his help pressing the Burmese government to accept more disaster assistance, U.S. officials said yesterday, after a lower-level diplomatic push this week yielded Burmese permission for one U.S. relief plane, which is scheduled to land Monday.
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Since security is all about preventing any major threat to human life, the effect of the deadly cyclone that hit Burma last Saturday must be seen from a serious human security perspective. However, the Burmese military junta is far from comprehending such a humane concept.
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The ruling junta denies lifesaving aid to its own people.

A horrific crime is being carried out by the clique of generals that rules Burma, with the world as witness. According to the United Nations, some 1.5 million people near the country’s southern coast are in desperate need of humanitarian assistance following Cyclone Nargis last weekend. Tens of thousands are dead, and 1 million or more are homeless. The few reports reaching the outside world from the Irrawaddy Delta region, where 2,000 square miles are underwater, speak of thousands of refugees camped in the open without food, medicine or clean water amid the stench of rotting bodies. (more…)

China, India, Thailand and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should work to convince Burma’s government to lift restrictions on international assistance so aid can reach survivors of Cyclone Nargis, Human Rights Watch said today. (more…)