From The Sunday Times :

September 29, 2007
Burma junta blocks UN meeting
A crucial UN mission to meet with detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is facing failure after generals refuse access

Reform talks with the ruling junta - which for the time being appears to have successfully suppressed weeks of pro-democracy demonstrations - are considered vital by the UN
Kenneth Denby in Rangoon

A crucial United Nations mission to Burma is facing failure before it has even begun, after the country's ruling generals refused to allow a meeting with the detained democracy leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.

UN, Chinese and western diplomats are attempting to pressure the Burmese generals to allow Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Secretary General's Special Representative on Burma, to meet Ms Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, who has been held under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years.

Such a meeting is regarded by western governments as crucial in urging reform on the junta, which for the time being at least appears to have successfully suppressed weeks of rising demonstrations by monks and ordinary Burmese. Mr Gambari is coming under pressure to refuse to meet Burma's leading general, Than Shwe, if he is denied a separate meeting with Ms Suu Kyi.

"What Gambari's got to do is be prepared to provoke a crisis," a western diplomat told The Times in Rangoon this afternoon. " [...]

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From nytimes :

Karma Power

What Makes a Monk

By SETH MYDANS

Published: September 30, 2007

BANGKOK

Nic Dunlop/Panos Pictures

BEWARE The Burmese police tote guns, but the monks hold the key to spiritual status. For Buddhist clerics like these, pictured in 2005, that means clout.

Multimedia

David Longstreath/Associated Press

REVERED DISSENTERS Myanmar honors its monks at the Shwedagon Pagoda.

Enlarge This Image

Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Myanmar, a devout society, paid attention when monks led protests.

AS they marched through the streets of Myanmar’s cities last week leading the biggest antigovernment protests in two decades, some barefoot monks held their begging bowls before them. But instead of asking for their daily donations of food, they held the bowls upside down, the black lacquer surfaces reflecting the light.

It was a shocking image in the devoutly Buddhist nation. The monks were refusing to receive alms from the military rulers and their families — effectively excommunicating them from the religion that is at the core of Burmese culture.

That gesture is a key to understanding the power of the rebellion that shook Myanmar last week.

The country — the former Burma — has roughly as many monks as soldiers. The military rules by force, but the monks retain ultimate moral authority. The lowliest soldier depends on them for spiritual approval, and even the highest generals have felt a need to honor the clerical establishment. They claim to rule in its name.

Begging is a ritual that expresses a profound bond between the ordinary Buddhist and the monk. “The people are feeding the monks and the monks are helping the people make merit,” said Josef Silverstein, an expert on Myanmar at Rutgers University. “When you refuse to accept, you have broken the bond that has tied them for centuries together.”

Instead, the monks drew on a different and more fundamental bond with Myanmar’s population, leading huge demonstrations after the government tried to repress protests that began a month ago over a rise in fuel prices. [...]

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From The Times :

September 29, 2007

Exclusive from Rangoon: democracy takes a beating as uneasy calm returns to streets

Something like normality — which means fear — returns to Burma as the junta’s iron grip slowly squeezes the life out of protests

Kenneth Denby in Rangoon

The Burmese democracy movement may have died yesterday. Or it could just be regrouping.

It was a loose, ragged, frustrating day in Rangoon, a day of baton charges, beatings and many rumours of much worse. I saw soldiers levelling guns, firing volleys of hard rubber pellets, as well as chases and arrests.

But something like normality is returning to Burma: which is to say that, just as they have been for much of the past 40 years, people are afraid again.

The democracy leaders have already been arrested, the monks are locked down in their monasteries and, yesterday, it was ordinary people who were the most prominent — by their absence.

On Thursday I saw old people and middle-aged women cheering on the protesters as they stood face to face with the soldiers in the road to the Sule Pagoda. Yesterday, there were just young men, some of them slightly disreputable looking, with an a [ ... ]

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From Boston Herald :

Activists denounce violence in Burma at Harvard march

By Simone Press
Saturday, September 29, 2007 - Updated 3h ago

The crisis in Burma was marked in Harvard Square yesterday when activists marched to condemn attacks on peaceful Buddhist monks by security forces in the uprising against military rule.

Shanti Maung, a Harvard senior who uses a pseudonym to protect the family she still has in Burma, organized the march.

She visited her native country just two weeks ago and is horrified by the violence there in the battle over freedom and democracy.

“It’s incredibly brave of the monks and the people in Burma to rise up,” Maung said. “It’s very uncertain. What we need now is the international community to intervene and to talk to the military or anyone who has influence with the junta to give them more moderate strategies.”

State Rep. Byron Rushing (D-Boston) said, “Massachusetts was one of the first states in 1996 to take a formal stance on democracy in Burma by passing the Massachusetts-Burma Act. People in Burma are so excited that the monks have stood up to the government in Burma and we must support them.”

Man Kuang, a nun at the Boston Buddhist Cultural Center, is from Taiwan, but she sympathizes with the Burmese monks. “It’s a global issue. We must purify our mind and hope for peace,” Kuang said.

Businessman Sai Kyaw, one of the student leaders in the 1988 Burmese revolution, came to the United States in 1993 as a refugee. He believes that change is possible this time.

“We will get what we want,” said Kyaw, who is helping to organize another march at the State House on Thursday.

Kyaw said he is hopeful that the breakthrough will come if China agrees to intervene and convice Burma’s military government to allow reforms.

The uprising was sparked when the repressive government devalued currency and imposed a heavy increase in fuel prices affecting ordinary citizens, even as officials there live luxurious lifestyles.

From The First Post :

Resistance spreads to Mandalay

Popular resistance to the Burmese junta is growing across the country, reports edward loxton Popular resistance to the Burmese junta spread this morning to the country's second city, Mandalay, where troops and riot police raided a leading monastery during the night, dragged about 40 monks from their beds and bundled them into trucks. News of the raid spread rapidly through the city and brought angry residents out on to the streets. Groups were reported to be arming to defend the monasteries. Mandalay is Burma's most important Buddhist centre, and its temples are among the most sacred in the land. About half Burma's 400,000 monks are in residence at Mandalay's 300 monasteries. In Rangoon, the streets were strangely quiet on Friday morning, although the atmosphere was tense. Troops continued to strengthen their positions around the city's monasteries and at key points where demonstrators have massed in recent days. The official death toll from the violence so far is 10, but it may be much higher The death toll from the violence so far has been officially given as 10, although the Australian Ambassador in Rangoon, Bob Davis, said he thought the real number of deaths ran into "multiples of that". Burma's Karen National Union, which has been fighting for independence for the Karen people for the past 60 years, called on its supporters and other ethnic groups, many of whom are armed, to join the uprising. Karen State adjoins south-west Thailand, where Thai forces have upped security. Support was also offered by the Shan State Army-South, a powerful force which has the Burmese army pinned down in areas bordering northern Thailand. The Burmese regime's assault on the opposition movement even spread online. An attempt was made overnight to block the website of Burmese magazine Irrawaddy. The attack was traced back to a Russian source. Burma is closed to foreign reporters. Edward Loxton is reporting for The First Post from Chiang Mai in neighbouring Thailand, talking to eyewitnesses in Rangoon by telephone.

From Alertnet.org :

Burma: End Attacks on Protestors, Account for Monks

28 Sep 2007 23:13:21 GMT

Source: Human Rights Watch

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

UN Envoy to Burma Should Press for Concrete Action During His Visit
In its meetings with visiting United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari, Burma's military government should pledge to end violence against peaceful protestors, account for hundreds of monks arrested this week, and allow access by independent observers to places of detention, Human Rights Watch said. In its meetings with visiting United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari, Burma's military government should pledge to end violence against peaceful protestors, account for hundreds of monks arrested this week, and allow access by independent observers to places of detention, Human Rights Watch said. "Burma's military government has shown contempt for the aspirations of the tens of thousands of people who have bravely taken to the streets demanding change," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "But if the government does not cooperate with an envoy sent by the UN Security Council, it risks unprecedented international isolation."Human Rights Watch urged the government to provide information to Gambari, on the many reported human rights abuses committed during the course of the protests, including:

• An accurate accounting of the number of individuals killed by the security forces. The government has admitted to 10 deaths, but credible reports suggest there have been many more;
• The number of individuals arrested and their whereabouts, including members of the 88 Generation of Students arrested at the beginning of protests in August, members of the opposition National League of Democracy, and other activists; and
• The whereabouts and conditions of the hundreds of monks apparently detained in the morning hours of Thursday, September 27.

Human Rights Watch also called on the government to end its newly imposed restrictions on mobile phones and the internet, which are critical to the dissemination of accurate information about events in Rangoon and elsewhere. Gambari and diplomats should be given access to Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained opposition leader and Nobel laureate. It remains unclear whether she remains under house arrest or has been imprisoned.

[...]

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From Telegraph.co.uk :

Burma's generals refine suppression

By Sebastien Berger

Last Updated: 12:42am BST 29/09/2007

Commentary

Any military dictatorship wanting to crush a popular uprising can look to the Burmese junta's actions in recent days as a textbook example.

It is usually the economy that brings down despots - the protests that toppled Suharto in Indonesia were triggered by increases in the cost of rice.

Faced with demonstrations against fuel price rises, Burma's State Peace and Development Council at first broke them up, but once the country's revered monks became involved, allowed them to continue for several weeks.

Even Aung San Suu Kyi, who is generally adored by the civilian population and loathed by the regime, was permitted to greet a group of protesters.

But instead of appeasing the people's anger, it emboldened them, and the size of the crowds in Rangoon accelerated to 100,000.

Coming within perhaps hours of a critical mass that would have seriously threatened the authorities' hold on power, they moved ruthlessly.

Access to Miss Suu Kyi's compound was cut, depriving the protesters of contact with their political talisman. The monks, who gave them an icon of moral superiority and spiritual protection, were removed from circulation. Hundreds were arrested in midnight raids.

With their line of fire cleared of maroon-robed clerics, the junta's troops shot an unknown number of people. Whether 10, 20 or 200 protesters died is in a sense irrelevant – the effect was to destroy the protests' momentum, as shown by the few demonstrators brave enough to face the soldiers.

The dictatorship even managed to avoid a massacre on the scale of 1988, when an estimated 3,000 were killed, and will soon announce that order has been restored and "internal and external destructive elements" defeated.

Now those seen as ringleaders and organisers will be sentenced to long prison terms and dispatched to remote jails around the country, where conditions are harsh and their families unable to visit.

Miss Suu Kyi will remain under house arrest for the foreseeable future and the vast majority of the downtrodden people will return to their daily struggle to survive, their hopes for freedom dashed.

Every time a revolution fails it is harder to bring people out to try again - these were the biggest protests in almost 20 years – and unless there are dramatic developments in the next days and weeks no repetition is likely soon. Worse, events did not reveal any signs of internal divisions within the regime.

Diplomatic denunciations from the West will have exactly the same effect as years of rhetoric already - none at all - and normal relations will continue with its most important ally China, which has conspicuously failed to condemn the junta's actions.

Burma's generals have long experience of crushing dissent. They have just refined their techniques.

From Telegraph.co.uk :

Burma's generals refine suppression

By Sebastien Berger

Last Updated: 12:42am BST 29/09/2007

Commentary

Any military dictatorship wanting to crush a popular uprising can look to the Burmese junta's actions in recent days as a textbook example.

It is usually the economy that brings down despots - the protests that toppled Suharto in Indonesia were triggered by increases in the cost of rice.

Faced with demonstrations against fuel price rises, Burma's State Peace and Development Council at first broke them up, but once the country's revered monks became involved, allowed them to continue for several weeks.

Even Aung San Suu Kyi, who is generally adored by the civilian population and loathed by the regime, was permitted to greet a group of protesters.

But instead of appeasing the people's anger, it emboldened them, and the size of the crowds in Rangoon accelerated to 100,000.

Coming within perhaps hours of a critical mass that would have seriously threatened the authorities' hold on power, they moved ruthlessly.

Access to Miss Suu Kyi's compound was cut, depriving the protesters of contact with their political talisman. The monks, who gave them an icon of moral superiority and spiritual protection, were removed from circulation. Hundreds were arrested in midnight raids.

With their line of fire cleared of maroon-robed clerics, the junta's troops shot an unknown number of people. Whether 10, 20 or 200 protesters died is in a sense irrelevant – the effect was to destroy the protests' momentum, as shown by the few demonstrators brave enough to face the soldiers.

The dictatorship even managed to avoid a massacre on the scale of 1988, when an estimated 3,000 were killed, and will soon announce that order has been restored and "internal and external destructive elements" defeated.

Now those seen as ringleaders and organisers will be sentenced to long prison terms and dispatched to remote jails around the country, where conditions are harsh and their families unable to visit.

Miss Suu Kyi will remain under house arrest for the foreseeable future and the vast majority of the downtrodden people will return to their daily struggle to survive, their hopes for freedom dashed.

Every time a revolution fails it is harder to bring people out to try again - these were the biggest protests in almost 20 years – and unless there are dramatic developments in the next days and weeks no repetition is likely soon. Worse, events did not reveal any signs of internal divisions within the regime.

Diplomatic denunciations from the West will have exactly the same effect as years of rhetoric already - none at all - and normal relations will continue with its most important ally China, which has conspicuously failed to condemn the junta's actions.

Burma's generals have long experience of crushing dissent. They have just refined their techniques.

From afp.google.com :

Facebookers assail Myanmar junta

5 hours ago

HONG KONG (AFP) — The battle for Myanmar is also being waged through the popular online social networking site Facebook, where users are rallying support against the military junta.

Reports of Myanmar forces shooting into crowds of protesters, arresting monks and beating dissidents have fuelled anger in cyberspace.

But the thousands of messages posted by Facebookers also capture the frustration of a virtual network struggling to bring about meaningful change in the real world.

"I've been glued to the Wall (where people can file video, photos and messages) for the last two days and seen how helpless and impotent people are feeling while these atrocities are being carried out," wrote Chantal Guevara.

"Somehow, there's some way we can make this happen between us, between all the contacts and skills we have!" she added.

A search on Facebook turns up some 340 groups linked to the Southeast Asian nation such as "Burma: Saffron Revolution" and "drop-kick the junta!!!," which offer video, photos, messages, petitions and news about what is happening in Myanmar.

The largest of these groups, "Support the Monks protest in Burma," has 73,000 members and tells people how to help: join protests, write to elected officials, e-mail companies operating in Myanmar, and wear red shirts on Friday in support of the monks leading the anti-government protests.

Other resources and news updates are also posted.

One girl, a Taylor W, said she started a school club to raise awareness, while San San Aye, said her school would rally at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Facebook user Natasha Lutes said two people posting accounts from Myanmar now seemed to be having difficulty with the Internet. Though she did not specify what the trouble was, she did offer help.

"One of the most important things we can do is get the news out," she wrote. "If they agree to e-mail me their posts, I'm going to start posting up the news while I'm at work."

Facebook has become the online phenomenon of 2007.

It reportedly has nearly 40 million members and is adding up to 200,000 new members every day. The explosion in popularity has seen the site courted by Internet giants Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft over the past year.

The site is where people from around the globe can join forces.

"I have people telling me that the Internet is down in all of Burma," Nyantha Maw Lin wrote. "Will others please verify?"

The response came from Rob Huff: "Media is confirming that internet is down, or in the process of being shut down."

It's not the first time Facebook has been used to support causes since the site debuted in 2004. And like with any Internet network, there is opportunity for unsubstantiated rumours to take hold.

Vanessa Gartner said her media company got a call from a man living in Singapore who had spoken with his sister in Myanmar on Thursday.

"She says hundreds of people have been killed," Gartner wrote. "How many people do you really think have been shot?"

Facebooker, Jason Newton, wrote: "I've heard General Shwe (the military leader) is now directing soldiers because some commanders refused to use force ... not sure if it is true or not though."

Some believe the Facebook mobilisation is a start but question the impact users can have. The red shirt day idea was called a "stupid Internet protest" by user Vincent Modica.

"Stop being a slacktivist and go do some useful protesting," he wrote.

From afp.google.com :

Facebookers assail Myanmar junta

5 hours ago

HONG KONG (AFP) — The battle for Myanmar is also being waged through the popular online social networking site Facebook, where users are rallying support against the military junta.

Reports of Myanmar forces shooting into crowds of protesters, arresting monks and beating dissidents have fuelled anger in cyberspace.

But the thousands of messages posted by Facebookers also capture the frustration of a virtual network struggling to bring about meaningful change in the real world.

"I've been glued to the Wall (where people can file video, photos and messages) for the last two days and seen how helpless and impotent people are feeling while these atrocities are being carried out," wrote Chantal Guevara.

"Somehow, there's some way we can make this happen between us, between all the contacts and skills we have!" she added.

A search on Facebook turns up some 340 groups linked to the Southeast Asian nation such as "Burma: Saffron Revolution" and "drop-kick the junta!!!," which offer video, photos, messages, petitions and news about what is happening in Myanmar.

The largest of these groups, "Support the Monks protest in Burma," has 73,000 members and tells people how to help: join protests, write to elected officials, e-mail companies operating in Myanmar, and wear red shirts on Friday in support of the monks leading the anti-government protests.

Other resources and news updates are also posted.

One girl, a Taylor W, said she started a school club to raise awareness, while San San Aye, said her school would rally at the United Nations headquarters in New York.

Facebook user Natasha Lutes said two people posting accounts from Myanmar now seemed to be having difficulty with the Internet. Though she did not specify what the trouble was, she did offer help.

"One of the most important things we can do is get the news out," she wrote. "If they agree to e-mail me their posts, I'm going to start posting up the news while I'm at work."

Facebook has become the online phenomenon of 2007.

It reportedly has nearly 40 million members and is adding up to 200,000 new members every day. The explosion in popularity has seen the site courted by Internet giants Google, Yahoo! and Microsoft over the past year.

The site is where people from around the globe can join forces.

"I have people telling me that the Internet is down in all of Burma," Nyantha Maw Lin wrote. "Will others please verify?"

The response came from Rob Huff: "Media is confirming that internet is down, or in the process of being shut down."

It's not the first time Facebook has been used to support causes since the site debuted in 2004. And like with any Internet network, there is opportunity for unsubstantiated rumours to take hold.

Vanessa Gartner said her media company got a call from a man living in Singapore who had spoken with his sister in Myanmar on Thursday.

"She says hundreds of people have been killed," Gartner wrote. "How many people do you really think have been shot?"

Facebooker, Jason Newton, wrote: "I've heard General Shwe (the military leader) is now directing soldiers because some commanders refused to use force ... not sure if it is true or not though."

Some believe the Facebook mobilisation is a start but question the impact users can have. The red shirt day idea was called a "stupid Internet protest" by user Vincent Modica.

"Stop being a slacktivist and go do some useful protesting," he wrote.

From Telegraph.co.uk :

'My terror at the hands of the Burmese junta'

By James Mawdsley

Last Updated: 1:18am BST 28/09/2007

James Mawdsley, 34, spent more than a year in a Burmese prison during 2000 and 2001 after taking part in protests in Rangoon

	James Mawdsley was tortured

The most terrifying moment I ever experienced was being pushed barefoot and blindfolded through the gates of a Burmese prison with a major of the Tatmadaw [(Burmese military] laughing at the prospect of torture. It was a deranged laugh.

His superior in the military intelligence gloated that they had been given the go-ahead to do "anything they liked" to me.

Hours later, my spirit broken, I was locked in a suffocating cell which they assured me would be my home for five years. To intensify my isolation they emptied that entire ward of the prison of other inmates.

I had no strength left. But unexpected people brought it back. The first was a prison guard who crept to my cell after midnight. He whispered: "I am sorry for what my country is doing to you."

What a pulse of hope to see this humanity in an officer of the regime. And how tragic that he felt ashamed for his country, which in truth is glorious, and of such gentle people who are not to blame for the military regime.

Later that night he brought me warm coffee and dry toast. I was too sick with fear to eat, yet he risked everything to bring it to me.

Another who helped, probably unwittingly, was one of the interrogators.

"The BBC broadcast about you," he remarked. Now I knew I was not cut off: the regime could not make me disappear without the world realising it. It was an immense relief. The torture stopped. I was transferred to Rangoon.

But the greatest help came from Christ. The Crucifixion makes sense of suffering. Jesus turned my misery into joy, even in that earthly hell, Insein prison.

Burma has many reasons to hope. First, there is humanity in the military regime; there are many soldiers in the Burmese army who do not want to shoot peaceful demonstrators.

In the right circumstances, the army could desert the generals. Second, the international community is watching as never before. This must give an enormous boost to morale.

We must pray for the Burmese people. What we are seeing now, though it may take many months, is a fight to the end.

From blogs.usatoday.com

Satellite images of the conflict in Burma

Scientists announced today that they've used satellite images to verify human-rights abuses in Burma. The top photo was taken Jan. 14, 2000. The bottom one, taken Feb. 1, 2007, shows that 17 structures disappeared. This corresponds with reports that villages in this part of Shan were attacked between mid-2005 and mid-2006, the American Association for the Advancement of Science says in its report.

Lars Bromley says the group is buying satellite imagery of Burma's cities in hopes of tracking the impact of the government's crackdown on protesters who have been demonstrating for more than a week. He says they'll be able to see gatherings of monks and any military vehicles that are posted outside the monasteries.

[...]

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From vnunet.com :

Spammers exploit protests in Burma

Users fooled by 'letter from the Dalai Lama'
Iain Thomson, vnunet.com 28 Sep 2007
ADVERTISEMENT

Spammers are exploiting the fight for democracy in Burma to spread malware, according to recent reports.

The surge of media interest in Burma, or Myanmar as the ruling generals prefer, has led spammers to attempt to build up botnets.

Emails have been spammed out purportedly from the Dalai Lama containing 'information' about the protests, in which Buddhist monks have been killed for requesting the right to democracy in their own country.

'Dear Friends & Colleagues, Please find enclosed a massage [sic] from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in support of the recent pro democracy demonstrations taking place in Burma. This is for your information and can be distributed as you see fit,' the email states.

The message contains an attachment that looks like a Microsoft Word document but in fact harbours a Trojan that will give the hacker full access to the user's computer.

[...]

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From Herald Sun :

Shots fired at new Burma protest

From correspondents in Rangoon

September 28, 2007 08:36pm

BURMESE security forces have fired warning shots and launched baton charges on protesters again, trying to quell the biggest demonstrations against the junta in 20 years.

With at least 13 people killed since the crackdown began on Wednesday, the regime appeared to have cut the main Internet link to block the images and reports of the violence that have galvanised world opinion.

The bloodshed has triggered intense international criticism of the country's ruling generals, who have been trying to reassert their control and stifle the outpouring of public anger and frustration.

In the main city of Rangoon, protesters played cat-and-mouse with security forces, moving as close as possible before being confronted by advancing police and soldiers - and then regrouping to advance again.

"This is a non-violent mass movement," one student leader shouted as demonstrators clapped and shouted while trying to move towards the Sule Pagoda, one of the focal points of the street demonstrations.

"The monks have done their job and now we must carry on with the movement," he said.

With many monks now behind bars, the protests have been taken up by thousands of civilians who have taunted security forces and sometimes pelted them with rocks.

[...]

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From Globe and Mail :

A vivid cyber window into a violent crackdown

IAIN MARLOW

From Friday's Globe and Mail

September 28, 2007 at 1:10 AM EDT

LONDON — Ko Htike sits in his small northwest London apartment next to an overflowing ashtray. In one hand he holds a cellphone and speaks in sombre tones to the person on the other end. With the other, he types a reply into one of the 23 chat windows open on the laptop he uses to maintain his blog.

These days, the 28-year-old Myanmarese exile sleeps only two hours a night. The rest of the time he's online, overseeing a network of amateur journalists in the capital of Myanmar, also known as Burma, providing news giants such as CNN, the British Broadcasting Corp., al-Jazeera and more than 20 other media outlets with some of the most vivid dispatches depicting firsthand the now 10-day-old anti-government protests.

Mr. Htike, who arrived in Britain seven years ago to study computer science, said his informants sneak around the capital with their cellphones, capture images of the violence, and then cautiously slip into Internet cafés, where they upload their files and send them beyond Myanmar's closed borders.

The blog was never designed to be political, Mr. Htike said from his apartment. The aspiring writer launched it to post some of his short stories, but “one day, I was chatting with my friends and they told me there were a lot of protests outside,” he said.

The first post occurred, Mr. Htike recalled, when a friend said, “ ‘Okay, there are some people marching right in front of my house, so I'm going to take a picture and send it to you.' I said, ‘Yes, go and do it.' … And I put it in my blog.”
[...]

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From thewest.com.au :

Clashes outside Burma's embassy in ACT

28th September 2007, 16:51 WST

Riot police clashed with pro-democracy protesters outside the Burmese embassy in Canberra on Friday, as fears grew that the death toll from days of violence in Burma could be much higher.

Skirmishes broke out in the national capital as police and protesters went head-to-head just hours after foreign affairs officials called in Burma's chief diplomat in Australia to protest against the military junta's crackdown on demonstrators.

[...]

In Canberra, police armed with batons were out in force in the city's quiet diplomatic quarter as protesters tried to march on the Burmese embassy.

Dozens of riot police were mobilised when the protesters tried to move from containment lines about 10 metres from the mission.

About a dozen police, who had been stationed inside and outside the embassy gate, unsuccessfully tried to force the demonstrators back as they edged closer to the embassy but had to call in the busload of reinforcements to maintain the barrier.

The crowd initially tried to stage a sit-in but skirmishes broke out as they tried to get up and move towards the embassy.

Some protesters fell to the ground as they clashed with the police and Nini Win, holding her crying two-year-old daughter Morsa, was pushed back by officers as they held the containment line.

Police were on alert for trouble following a violent protest outside the embassy eight years ago.

On Friday, organisers handed over a letter to a police liaison officer to pass on to Burmese embassy officials.

[...]

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from The Straits Times :

Sep 28, 2007
Myanmar PM in long stay at S'pore hospital

WHILE his country is convulsed by protests and bloodshed, Myanmar's ailing prime minister remains under treatment at a Singapore hospital, an embassy staffer said on Friday.

Soe Win, the suspected mastermind of a deadly attack on opposition forces in Myanmar four years ago, has been at the Singapore General Hospital for three to four months, said the staffer.

Asked about the prime minister's condition, the staffer said, 'According to the doctors, we cannot meet with him.'

Attempts by AFP to locate Soe Win at the hospital were unsuccessful.

But the embassy staffer said: 'He is well. He is on recovery.'

Although Soe Win wields little power in the regime, his health problems highlight the ageing nature of the junta which rules Myanmar.

The junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe, 73, also visited Singapore in January for what an embassy official said were medical checks.

Despite 'a lot of speculation' about the leader's health he was 'very much OK' after the checkup at the Singapore General Hospital, the official said.

Myanmar officials rarely speak on the record for fear of repercussions by the junta, which has drawn international condemnation for a two-day crackdown on mass protests that left at least 13 people dead and hundreds more arrested.

Four years ago the death toll was even higher, dissidents said, after an attack allegedly plotted by Soe Win on the motorcade of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in May 2003.

[...]

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From CNN :

Blogs helping expose Myanmar horrors

By Wayne Drash and Phil Black

CNN

LONDON, England (CNN) -- Armed with a laptop, a blogger named Ko Htike has thrust himself into the middle of the violent crackdown against monks and other peaceful demonstrators in his homeland of Myanmar.

Ko Htike runs his Myanmar blog out of his London apartment and says he's trying to stop the violence.

1 of 2

more photos »

more photos »

From more than 5,500 miles away, he's one of the few people getting much needed information out to the world.

He runs the blog out of his London apartment, waking up at 3 a.m. every day to review the latest digitally smuggled photos, video and information that's sent in to him.

With few Western journalists allowed in Myanmar, Htike's blog is one of the main information outlets. He said he has as many as 40 people in Myanmar sending him photos or calling him with information. They often take the photos from windows from their homes, he said. Watch a blogger's fight for Myanmar »

Myanmar's military junta has forbidden such images, and anyone who sends them is risking their lives.

"If they get caught, you will never know their future. Maybe just disappear or maybe life in prison or maybe dead," he told CNN.

Why would they take such risks?

"They thought that this is their duty for the country," he said. "That's why they are doing it. It's like a mission."

Htike, a 28-year-old who left Myanmar seven years ago to study in England, said about 20,000 people visit the site every day.

On Thursday, as soldiers reportedly fired into crowds and beat Buddhist monks in the nation's largest city of Yangon, Htike's site posted photographs of the violence and some messages from the region. One sent at 1500 local time said, "Right now they're using fire engines and hitting people and dragging them onto E2000 trucks and most of them are girls and people are shouting."

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From Bangkokpost :

UN envoy to begin Burma trip Saturday

New York (dpa) - A UN envoy is to begin his trip to Burma Saturday to assess the crisis in that country where military authorities have cracked down on pro-democracy demonstrators, the United Nations said.

Burma's military junta agreed to receive Ibrahim Gambari, a UN spokeswoman said Thursday. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon received Burma's assurance that it would cooperate with Gambari, Marie Okabe said.

The pledge was made by Burma Foreign Minister Nyan Win, who was visiting New York and met with Ban, who called on Burma's government "to engage in a constructive dialogue" with Gambari "and to commit to a path of peaceful and inclusive national reconciliation," Ban's office said.

The United States demanded that Gambari be allowed to meet with all parties in the current turmoil, in which a week and a half of peaceful anti-government protests in Yangon have been met by the military junta with shootings, beatings and arrests.

Among those Gambari must be allowed access to are religious leaders, political detainees, and democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for years, the White House said.

US President George W Bush held an apparently unscheduled meeting Thursday with Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi of China, one of Burma's only allies, and called on Beijing to use its influence with Burma's junta to encourage it to peacefully transition to democracy, the White House said.

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From news.Asiaone.com :

		Fri, Sep 28, 2007 The Straits Times
S'porean man shot and kicked by Myanmar riot police
A Singaporean working in Yangon said he was shot in the legs and kicked by anti-riot police while he and his wife were on their way to the office on Thursday. The man, who did not want to be named for safety reason, emailed STOMP, The Straits Times' online interactive portal for citizen journalism about the shooting incident, and also sent photographs showing the injuries he sustained during the security crackdown, in which nine people were killed, including a Japanese photographer. He gave this account in his email to STOMP: "I was on my way to the office when the riot police block the road. I stopped my car with my wife and walked out. "Suddenly, riot police and soldiers drove the truck around the corner and started firing shots at the crowd. "We quickly ran to the side and squat down. "The soldiers came down and started to shoot at us. I was shot twice but I did not know what hit me. "Both my legs were bruised. The soldiers and police kicked us and the rest of the crowds into the drain and shouted that they would kill us if we look at them. "We were forced to stay in the drain for 15 minutes. I looked at my injuries and found the '40mm riot control munnition'. "We are just ordinary citizens going to work and they just shot at us for no reason."

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