Quote on Empowerment

Poverty has been a big blow to our people's freedom…
A person who has no home, no education, who has nothing to eat,
and no clean water to drink can never say
he is empowered in his own country.
— Reynato Puno, chief justice of the Philippine Supreme Court

Burma Gives 'Cronies' Slice of Storm Relief

On Magazine's List of Junta's Chosen Tycoons Are Some Facing U.S. Sanctions

Just seven days after Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma last month, the ruling military junta parceled out key sections of the affected Irrawaddy Delta to favored tycoons and companies, including several facing sanctions from the U.S. Treasury, according to a Burmese magazine with close ties to the government.

--Read More: here

In Myanmar, a Times reporter worked in secret to cover the story

From the far side of a murky brown river, the only moving thing visible on the ravaged landscape was a tattered maroon cloth, fluttering listlessly atop a tree stripped of its branches.

Two Buddhist monks had torn it from the only material they had, one of their own coarse robes. Its message was just as plain: "Alive! Please help."

--Read More: here