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Myanmar cyclone shatters homes and dreams of families

By (AP)

As the cyclone raged around him, Ko Zaw Min clung to a tree with one arm while clutching his newborn son with the other.

He managed to hang on for 10 hours despite the howling winds and punishing rains of Cyclone Nargis, which decimated his life.

First the floods washed away his home. Then his newborn son died, unable to breath in the rain-filled 120 mph-winds. Ko Zaw Min's 9-year-old son fell from the tree about 30 minutes later and was swept away by flood waters.

Ko Zaw Min, whose wife and 11-year-old daughter also survived, said he held his dead baby through the...

By (AP)

As the bloated bodies rise and fall with the current, women scrub clothes along the river bank, villagers bathe to cool themselves and a lone child sits on a dock staring aimlessly into the water.

But with little aid getting through to desperate cyclone survivors, the dead have largely been forgotten _ left to decay where the brackish waters carried them or waiting to be pulled out to sea by the rising tides.

"The first few we saw, we were all very shocked," said U Pinyatale, a monk from the area who has prayed for the dead. "After a while, there were just too many."

M...

By Aijaz Rahi (AP)

On the last night of his life, the farmer walked into his dusty fields, choked down pesticide and waited to die.

He owed more than $1,000 to banks and moneylenders and he had told his wife that if the cotton harvest was bad this year, he would kill himself.

Pandurang Chindu Surpam left the near-barren fields he worked with his sons to share a last meal with his family. Hours later, he died. He was 45.

Crushed by debts most Westerners would deem inconsequential, farmers like Surpam killed themselves at a rate of 48 a day between 2002 and 2006 _ more than 17,500 a year,...

By SERGEY PONOMAREV (AP)

In the impoverished Ferghana Valley in Kyrgyzstan, illegal coal mining is a dirty, dangerous part of the underground economy.

After the huge Soviet mines in the region closed in the 1990s, jobless men and boys started their own small operations, using picks and shovels to claw coal out of the mountains. Some are as young as 11, miners say.

Today, hundreds _ perhaps thousands _ of miners earn an average they say of about $50 a week in the mines. They haul the coal out one 150-pound sack at a time, and sell them in markets for about $3 each.

"We work for bread," shrugged...

By Binod Joshi (AP)

Police detained more than 600 female Tibetan protesters, including many Buddhist nuns, on Sunday after breaking up several demonstrations against China's recent crackdown in Tibet.

It was the largest number of protesters detained on a single day since Tibetan exiles began almost daily protests in March against Chinese policies in Tibet and the first time that only women demonstrated.

The protesters held three separate rallies in Katmandu but were quickly stopped by police. More than 600 protesters were being held in detention centers in Katmandu, said police official R.P....

By Apichart Weerawong (AP)

A Red Cross boat carrying rice and drinking water for cyclone victims sank Sunday, while the death toll jumped to more than 28,000 and aid groups warned of a humanitarian catastrophe.

The double-decker boat that sank was carrying supplies for more than 1,000 people and was the first Red Cross shipment to the disaster area, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said. All four relief workers on board were safe, it said.

"This is a great loss for the Myanmar Red Cross and for the people who need aid so urgently," said Aung Kyaw Htut, the...

By Apichart Weerawong (AP)

Myanmar's state television says the death toll in last week's cyclone has jumped by about 5,000 to 28,458.

It said Sunday that the number of missing now stands at 33,416.

International aid groups, however, say the death toll could eventually top 100,000 as conditions worsen.

Though international aid has started to trickle in, almost all foreign relief workers have been barred entry into the isolated nation. The junta says it wants to hand out all donated supplies on its own.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier stor...

By Apichart Weerawong (AP)

A cargo ship carrying relief supplies for more than 1,000 cyclone victims in Myanmar has sunk.

International Red Cross spokesman Michael Annear called the accident a big blow to the already slow relief work.

The IFRC says the boat was traveling from Yangon to Mawlamyinegyun when it hit a submerged tree trunk and sank early Sunday.

The crew members, including four staff from the Myanmar Red Cross, managed to get to safety.

Though international aid has started to trickle in, almost all foreign relief workers have been barred entry into the isolated nation. The junta...

By Binod Joshi (AP)

Police detained more than 600 female Tibetan protesters, including many Buddhist nuns, on Sunday after breaking up several demonstrations in Nepal's capital against China's recent crackdown in Tibet.

The protesters held three separate rallies in Katmandu but were quickly stopped by police.

Police official R.P. Dhamala said more than 600 protesters were being held in detention centers in Katmandu.

It was the largest number of protesters detained on a single day since Tibetan exiles began almost daily protests in March against Chinese policies in Tibet. It was also the...

By Channi Anand (AP)

Indian forces and suspected Islamic militants clashed Sunday in two separate incidents in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing six people, including two civilians and a news photographer, the army said.

A soldier and two gunmen were also killed in the fighting, and one of the gunbattles continued to rage hours later with six suspected militants holed up in a house, Indian army spokesman Lt. Col. S.D. Goswami said.

In the first clash, soldiers confronted a group of gunmen who had apparently infiltrated into the area from across the de facto border with Pakistan, Goswami...

By EMILIO MORENATTI (AP)

With a self-imposed deadline looming, Pakistani leaders had yet to clinch a deal Sunday on restoring judges sacked by President Pervez Musharraf, an issue that has threatened to break up the ruling coalition.

U.S.-backed Musharraf removed dozens of judges and declared emergency rule in November to halt legal challenges to his presidency.

Anti-Musharraf parties won February parliamentary elections, putting together a coalition government that has promised to reinstate the judges _ a move that could increase pressure on Musharraf to resign if the courts revisit his eligibility...

By Anja Niedringhaus (AP)

A Chinese man was arrested for saying on the Internet that he planned to grab the Olympic torch during its relay through eastern China, police said Sunday.

The 28-year-old man, identified only as Tang, was detained in Zhenjiang in Jiangsu province in eastern China for alledgedly spreading rumors online and disturbing public order, said an official in the local public security bureau who would give only his surname, Zhang.

Tang is accused of writing in an Internet chat room that he wanted to organize a group to grab the torch when it arrives in Nanjing, near Zhenjiang, on May...

By Channi Anand (AP)

Indian forces and suspected Islamic militants clashed in separate incidents in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sunday, leaving six people dead, including two civilians and a news photographer, the army said.

A soldier and two gunmen were also killed in Sunday's fighting and in one of the gunbattles six suspected militants holed up in a house, said Indian army spokesman Lt. Col. S.D. Goswami.

In the first clash, soldiers confronted a group of gunmen who had apparently infiltrated into the area across the de-facto border with Pakistan, said Goswami.

The militants were found...

By Gemunu Amarasinghe (AP)

Sri Lanka's ruling party won control of the country's tense Eastern Province on Sunday after an election that monitors said was marred by voter intimidation and fraud.

The election commission said the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance coalition won 52 percent of Saturday's vote, giving it 18 seats _ plus two bonus seats given to the winner _ on the province's 37-member council.

The opposition United National Party won 42 percent of the vote and captured 15 seats, while two smaller parties won one seat each, the commission said.

The opposition condemned the resul...

By Gemunu Amarasinghe (AP)

Sri Lanka state television says the ruling party has won a disputed election in the country's Eastern Province.

Results announced Sunday show the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance coalition winning 20 seats on the 37-member provincial council, while the United National Party captured 15 seats.

Two smaller parties have won one seat each.

Monitors and the opposition say the election Saturday was marred by fraud and voter intimidation.

...

By (AP)

Food and water reached cyclone victims in greater amounts Sunday after many roads were cleared, but there was no sign Myanmar's military rulers would allow foreign experts to handle the distribution, international aid groups said.

The junta says it only wants international relief material and money but not the people to manage it. It wants to hand out all donated supplies on its own to an estimated 2 million people who are without food or shelter, facing the threat of diseases, after the May 3 Cyclone Nargis.

"Visas for international humanitarian personnel remain a critical...

By (AP)

Food and water reached cyclone victims in greater amounts Sunday after many roads were cleared, but there was no sign Myanmar's military rulers would allow foreign experts to handle the distribution, international aid groups said.

The junta says it only wants international relief material and money but not the people to manage it. It wants to hand out all donated supplies on its own to an estimated 2 million people who are without food or shelter, facing the threat of diseases, after the May 3 Cyclone Nargis.

"Visas for international humanitarian personnel remain a critical...

By Pete Santilli (AP)

Preventing a disease disaster in Myanmar is now a "race against time," as many impoverished victims still await help a week after the brutal cyclone, experts warned Saturday.

Reports of diarrhea and skin problems already have surfaced, and health officials fear waterborne illnesses will emerge because of a lack of clean water, along with highly contagious diseases such as measles.

Children, especially those orphaned by the storm, face some of the greatest risks.

Cyclone Nargis left more than 60,000 people dead or missing. The U.N. estimates that at least 1.5 million...

By Gemunu Amarasinghe (AP)

Allegations of fraud, voter intimidation and sporadic violence marred elections in Sri Lanka's east Saturday despite the government's claims they would be a celebration of democracy for the region recently liberated from the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The vote was intended to show that a "new dawn" was coming to the impoverished area, to give minority communities a degree of self-rule and to counter rebel demands for an independent state.

Many voters said the new provincial government should focus on ending the chaos and violence in the east, which is divided among Tamil, Sinhalese...

By (AP)

Apart from the sound of children crying, the town of Labutta is strangely silent.

Traumatized by the ordeal of surviving Cyclone Nargis, few people have anything to say. But it is also fear bred by 46 years of repression by military regimes that keeps them quiet.

Although overwhelmed by the worst disaster in Myanmar's recent history, the junta has turned down foreign help and insists on using its ragtag infrastructure and poorly equipped military to conduct a grossly mismanaged relief operation for some 2 million people in distress.

And no one dares to protest. Few...

By (AP)

Myanmar's military rulers held a referendum Saturday aimed at solidifying their hold on power while brazenly turning cyclone relief efforts into a propaganda campaign. In some cases, generals' names were scribbled onto boxes of foreign aid before being distributed.

Human rights organizations and dissident groups have bitterly accused the junta of neglecting disaster victims in going ahead with the vote, which seeks public approval of a new constitution.

The referendum came just one week after Cyclone Nargis pounded the Irrawaddy delta, leaving more than 65,000 people dead or...

By (AP)

Military-ruled Myanmar, among the globe's poorest and most authoritarian nations, is reeling from a natural disaster of such magnitude that both the people's suffering and political aftershocks are certain to persist long after the last emergency aid has been doled out.

As bloated bodies are counted and survivors face disease and hunger in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, dramatic scenarios are foreseen in a country that has changed little since an army coup 46 years ago.

These range from a revolt led by disenchanted army officers to the specter of the entrenched, xenophobic junta...

By (AP)

Dozens of protesters blocked a road Saturday in eastern Afghanistan, claiming U.S.-led coalition forces killed three civilians, and a local official said police fatally shot one of the protesters and injured three of them.

Villagers from the area carried three bodies to a major highway during the protest. Police allegedly opened fire, killing one and wounding three.

The coalition said its troops were attacked Friday while searching compounds in the Shinwar district of Nangarhar province.

"Several militants were killed" and nine insurgents were arrested, the coalition...

By Bae Jae-man (AP)

South Korea says it will double its stockpile of the antiviral drug Tamiflu as bird flu spreads among poultry across the country.

The office of President Lee Myung-bak said Saturday the government plans to store enough Tamiflu by the end of this year to treat 2.5 million people. Currently, South Korea has enough Tamiflu only for 1.23 million people. The country's population is 48 million.

South Korea has reported no human cases of bird flu, but fears about human infection have risen following the first outbreak of the disease in the capital a few days ago.

The viral...

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