Just as relief efforts were beginning to take hold in Laputta-although serious problems still exist-the Burmese authorities have forced tens of thousands of refugees to return to their home villages. (more…)

More than 800 monks prayed for the victims of Cyclone Nargis on Tuesday at a Rangoon ceremony in which one senior cleric criticized the regime’s response to the catastrophe. (more…)

Four American navy ships, laden with relief supplies, are steaming away from the Burmese coast because the military junta will not allow them to help starving cyclone victims. (more…)

The Myanmar authorities ordered schools around Yangon to open on Monday after a long holiday, despite the affects of Cyclone Nargis, which left 133,600 dead or missing, with 2.4 million people in need of food, shelter and medicine. (more…)

The New York based Human Rights Watch said it does not endorse the Burmese junta’s referendum results as it falls short of any form of existing standards and urged the international community including the United Nations to reject it. (more…)

Local authorities in Zee Gone township, Bago division, have demanded that farmers give them money, rice and buffalo, which they say will go to help cyclone victims. (more…)

Thu Zar Nwe’s rice store on a dusty street in Rangoon has done roaring trade since last month’s cyclone and sea surge engulfed more than one million acres of arable land in Burma’s key food bowl. (more…)

Aid workers on the ground in Irrawaddy division have reported continuing health and sanitation problems, while some cyclone victims in some remote areas are still waiting for assistance. (more…)

While Myanmar’s ruling military fails its people suffering after a devastating cyclone, it is committing crimes against humanity in a brutal campaign against ethnic Karen civilians, an international human rights group said Wednesday. (more…)

The United Kingdom is continuing to express its concerns over the distribution of aid to the devastated areas of Burma. (more…)

A month after the storm that wrought havoc on Burma (Myanmar) and killed over 130,000 people, over 2 million Burmese citizens remain at risk. The international community had responded readily, offering both rescue teams and relief aid. But in the first three weeks of the deepening humanitarian crisis, the military dictatorship that has controlled Burma since 1962 spurned all forms of foreign assistance. It changed its mind only after United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited Burma and personally negotiated the terms of access with junta leader Than Shwe. (more…)

Tin Soe knows how difficult it is to be a minority Burmese Muslim — suffering discrimination and insecurity — as well as a journalist working in an authoritarian country like Myanmar. (more…)

The United States is committed to bringing relief assistance to the victims of Cyclone Nargis, and to work with ASEAN countries, the United Nations, and non-governmental organizations to do so. To date, the United States has provided more than $26 million in humanitarian assistance to the people of Burma, and the United States Agency for International Development and the Department of Defense, as part of the ongoing airlift, have completed a total of 106 airlifts of emergency relief commodities that will benefit at least 417,000 people. (more…)

A month after Cyclone Nargis devastated parts of Burma, the few British aid workers allowed in by the ruling military junta have begun returning home. (more…)

Not much has changed since Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar’s coast a little more than a month ago with tidal surges as high as 12 feet. (more…)