Dedicated to the Burmese people Myanmar junta hands out aid boxes with generals’ names Burma: How you can help Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for aid to Burma The cyclone in Burma has killed tens of thousands of people and left up to one million homeless. Aid agencies are appealing for help and say the need is “immediate and vast”. While there are questions over what access the Burmese government is giving to aid agencies, most say they have partners on the ground and they are confident aid will get through. http://news.yahoo.com/fc/World/Myanmar Myanmar’s junta holds referendum despite cyclone crisis Behind the Scenes: Escaping cyclone-ravaged Myanmar (CNN) — Hiding under a blanket in the back of a car at a police checkpoint. Hopping on boats instead of staying on a road. Constantly looking over your shoulder, knowing that at any moment you — and those with you — face the possibility of imprisonment, torture, even death. It sounds like a spy movie. But CNN’s Dan Rivers, who sneaked into storm-ravaged Myanmar without the knowledge of the nation’s secretive ruling junta, says the reality is even more frightening than it appears on the silver screen. Now out of Myanmar, Rivers said Friday that his experience raises a question: If the government is chasing down a journalist reporting on a natural disaster, what kinds of problems are aid workers facing? “The whole country is kind of a basket case,” Rivers said. “Combine that with a disaster on this scale and a government that won’t let anyone in — they’re turning a bad situation into … what really is criminal negligence on a massive scale.” more at http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/09/rivers.btsc/ index.html#cnnSTCText (more) (less)