World focus on Burma (24 December 2008)

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88 Generation Students’ member tortured by prison authority
Democratic Voice of Burma, Norway –
… Htay Kywe has been tortured physically and mentally by authorities, according to sources close to Buthidaung prison in northwest Burma. …

Oxfam review of the year: what was HOT and what was NOT in 2008?
Reuters AlertNet, UK –
NOT Burma cyclone renders thousands homeless. Aid agencies face difficulties with access. Oxfam works through partners to help the victims. …

Korea rejects complaint against Daewoo and KOGAS
Mizzima.com, India –
“They [MEK] rejected the complaint about the gas exploration and developing project of two Korean corporations in Burma saying it is in keeping with the …

S. Korean Lawyers Seek to Help North Korean Defectors in Burma
Voice of America –
The South Korean Bar Association of Human Rights lawyers says it will file a petition to a Burma court, in hopes of securing the release of 19 North Korean …

Maternal health-care inadequate in eastern Burma: Report
Mizzima.com, India –
by Mungpi New Delhi – Women in eastern Burma only have limited access to maternal-health care during pregnancy and most women expecting, …

Corrupt officials earning 100 million baht a month from illegal …
Independent Mon News Agency, WA –
The HURFOM report is also careful to highlight the human rights impacts of the border trade and corruption. In an ironic twist, taxation of the border trade …

Year in review: May
InTheNews.co.uk, UK –

Just two days into the month of May further tragedy struck the people of Burma in the form of Cyclone Nargis. Burma, which has suffered under an oppressive …

More International Pressure in 2009: Burmese Diplomat
The Irrawaddy News Magazine, Thailand –
… met with three Burmese diplomats—Kyaw Tint Swe, Than Swe and Tin Maung Naing—to explain the meeting of the “Friend of the Secretary-General on Myanmar. …

Offering Hope for the Year Ahead
The Irrawaddy News Magazine, Thailand –
It is a sad statement on UN efforts to end Burma’s political deadlock that this year, for the first time ever, democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi also saw no …

NMSP Celebrates 50th Anniversary
The Irrawaddy News Magazine, Thailand –
He immediately joined forces with the Karen National Union (KNU) and took up arms to fight to fight the Burmese government for the autonomy of Mon State in …

Political Prisoner Commits Suicide
The Irrawaddy News Magazine, Thailand –
By SAW YAN NAING A Burmese political prisoner, Maung San, committed suicide in Pegu Prison in central Burma on Dec. 19, according to sources in Pegu …

Junta Militants Arrested in Thailand: BBC
The Irrawaddy News Magazine, Thailand –
… the Burmese junta has targeted prominent opposition leaders in exile in the past, as well as leaders of armed ethnic groups, pro-democracy organizations …

US to Fund Afghan Militias
Democracy Now, NY –
A new study by Brazil’s Catholic Land Commission has found that hundreds of Brazilian human rights and environmental activists still face the threat of …

New form to hire migrant workers issued
Shan Herald Agency for News, Thailand –
… to travel to Myanmar National Verification Center at Tachilek, Myawaddy and Kawthawng at the Thai-Burma border, according to SHAN report on 17 November. …

Maternal health problems in Myanmar widespread and unreported
Thaindian.com, Thailand –
Health indicators are poor and human rights violations are widespread in eastern Burma. In conflict-affected regions of Burma, research indicates that …

CRPP call for unity in Burma
Democratic Voice of Burma, Norway –
After initial successes, CRPP’s activities were curtailed by further arrests, including of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and Aye Thar Aung, but after she …

A Week to Reflect and Get Involved!
The Women’s International Perspective, CA –
Natural disasters ravaged innocent victims from Burma to the Caribbean. The world participated in and protested one of the most anticipated Olympics in …

Voice of the Martyrs Alert
Crosswalk.com, VA –
About 70 ethnic Karen from Myanmar began coming to the financially-struggling church earlier this year, and have since helped the church by volunteering to …

What’s your year-end list?
Creative Loafing Atlanta, GA –
Burma’s military junta — When Category 4 Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma in May, the goons who run Burma were not only unprepared but refused to admit …

Inaugural Sao Thusandi Award Given in Chiang Mai
Shan Herald Agency for News, Thailand –
The first awardee, Sai Phu Murng, was one of the founders of the Migrant Justice Program of the Human Rights Development Foundation (HRDF), …

Defectors Awaited Children in South Korea
自由亞洲電臺, Washington DC –
Four children in a group of would-be North Korean defectors arrested in Burma had mothers waiting for them in South Korea. A Thai Navy boat patrols the …

Memorandum for the Secretary of State
Whitehouse.gov (press release), DC –
… conferred upon the President by section 14(b) of the Tom Lantos Block Burmese Junta’s Anti-Democratic Efforts (JADE) Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-286).

MSF’s Top Ten – How Disconnection Affects Public Health
WorldChanging –
This helps explain why Burma, still recovering from Cyclone Nargis, makes MSF’s list. It’s not a surprise that MSF hasn’t been able to send international …

Editorial: Texan of the Year finalist No. 4, Laura Bush
Dallas Morning News, TX –
Along one side lay Burma, whose government the first lady had scolded for its abuses, including the house arrest of democratic activist Aung San Suu Kyi. …

Maternal health problems in Myanmar widespread
Eureka! Science News, Canada –
The maternal health care issues facing women in eastern Burma (also known as Myanmar) are widespread and underreported, according to surveys by researchers …

Where Have All the Neocons Gone?
American Conservative Magazine, VA –
Power declared in Time in 2007 that as abuses mount in Burma and Darfur “a coalition of the concerned must insist that what is manifestly true of the …