The Indian Express,
13 May 2008
When Burmese offer helping hand, junta slaps it
MA NGAY GYI, MAY 12: When one of Myanmar's best-known movie stars, Kyaw Dhyu, traveled through the Irrawaddy Delta in recent days to deliver aid to the victims of the May 3 cyclone, a military patrol stopped him as he was handing out bags of rice. "The officer told him, 'You cannot give directly to the people,'" said Tin Win, the village headman of the stricken city of Dedaye, who had been counting on the rice to feed 260 refugees who sleep in a large Buddhist prayer hall.
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The Indian Express,
13 May 2008
UN chief slams Myanmar junta for slow response
UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon criticized Myanmar's military junta Monday for what he called its "unacceptably slow response" to helping cyclone victims. Three of the U.N. Security Council's five veto-wielding members - France, Britain and the United States - remain interested in possible action to require Myanmar's government to open its doors to more aid, U.S. and other council diplomats said.
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The Indian Express,
13 May 2008
Monks back on front lines to aid cyclone victims
KYI BUI KHAW, Myanmar (AP) -- The saffron-robed monks who spearheaded a bloody uprising last fall against Myanmar's military rulers are back on the front lines, this time providing food, shelter and spiritual solace to cyclone victims. The military regime has moved to curb the Buddhist clerics' efforts, even as it fails to deliver adequate aid itself. Authorities have given some monasteries deadlines to clear out refugees, many of whom have no homes to return to, monks and survivors say.
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The Times of India,
13 May 2008
'Disease may up toll in Myanmar 15-fold'
BANGKOK: Oxfam says the initial estimated death toll of 100,000 in Myanmar as a result of Cyclone Nargis may multiply by up to 15 times if clean water and sanitation are not urgently provided. Oxfam's regional director for east Asia, Sarah Ireland, said in the coming weeks the lives of up to 1.5 million people are in danger because of the risk of diseases and a public health catastrophe.
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The Times of India,
13 May 2008
US announces two more aid flights to Myanmar
BANGKOK: The United States will send two more relief flights into cyclone-hit Myanmar on Tuesday, an aid official said, hours after the first US flight of emergency supplies landed in the country. "We will send two flights of relief supplies in on Tuesday, and we will take it one day at a time," said Henrietta Fore, an administrator with the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
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