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Associated Press
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Sep 30, 07 11:06 AM CDT
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The United Nations' envoy to Burma met briefly today with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to discuss the violent crackdown on anti-government demonstrations, reports AP. The UN representative first met with leaders of the military junta, which continued to lock down the nation's largest cities in the wake of violent reprisals that killed at least 10 protesters.
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Reuters
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Sep 29, 07 6:42 AM CDT
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Troops faced off with several hundred pro-democracy protesters again today in central Yangon as a UN envoy arrived in Myanmar to try to persuade military rulers to negotiate peacefully with demonstrators. There were scattered reports of violence, but no gunfire. With soldiers stationed on every corner and shopping malls, grocery stores, and public parks closed, few residents ventured outside, Reuters reports.
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Reuters
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Sep 28, 07 5:00 PM CDT
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Buddhist monks in Burma aren't the only religious brethren getting the word out on the internet these days: many American monasteries are so wired they not only correspond via email and sell-hand-crafted products over the internet, they use it to recruit new brothers. One web site, VocationsPlacement.org, matches religious communities with individuals drawn to the contemplative life, Reuters reports.
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Guardian (UK)
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Sep 28, 07 4:44 AM CDT
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A brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters continued after a bloody confrontation yesterday when soldiers shot dead at least nine people, including a Japanese news photographer. Troops again opened fire on demonstrators today, cut internet connections and sealed monasteries as crowds defied orders from the ruling military junta to disperse. Five monasteries were sealed with barbed-wire barricades guarded by soldiers.
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Democratic voice of Burma
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Sep 27, 07 2:43 PM CDT
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Eyewitness accounts posted on a Burmese expat site offer rare details of Myanmar's brutal crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. One post today described an early-morning raid on a monastery where soldiers broke down the gate with a truck, and attacked monks, along with women and children in their care, with bamboo sticks, before hauling away 100.
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Reuters
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Sep 27, 07 12:04 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Burmese troop forcibly scattered some 70,000 protesters for a second day today, with gunfire claiming the lives of at least nine—even as leaders around the world called for restraint. One of the dead is reportedly a Japanese photographer, spawning fears that the junta is targeting journalists to prevent news coverage.
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BBC
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Sep 26, 07 10:31 AM CDT
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Five monks are reported dead and many are wounded after riot police fired at pro-democracy demonstrators, beat them with rifle butts and arrested more than 100 today in continuing protests in Yangong, Myanmar. Security forces surrounded six monasteries; as monks approached troops fired tear gas and live rounds over the protesters' heads, and then charged, the CNN and the BBC report.
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CNN
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Sep 26, 07 3:56 AM CDT
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Buddhist monks and pro-democracy activists clashed with riot police today as they continued their protest in defiance of the Myanmar regime's ban on public assembly. Police in Yangon fired warning shots and tear gas, chased and beat monks, dragged protesters into waiting trucks, and beat their shields with batons while shouting orders to disperse, CNN reports.
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BBC
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Sep 25, 07 6:02 PM CDT
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Burma issued a dusk-to-dawn curfew and warned it will crack down on any large meetings, but protesters still marched by the tens of thousands today. The junta also sent out armed troops and declared it time to "take action," raising fears that it will repeat its 1988 crackdown, in which soldiers killed 3,000 people, the BBC reports.
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New York Times
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Sep 25, 07 1:40 PM CDT
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President Bush told the UN General Assembly today that the US will tighten economic sanctions on Burma and impose a travel ban on its military junta leaders. The US has long maintained an embargo against the country, which is now in its eighth day of anti-junta protests. “The people’s desire to freedom is unmistakable,” Bush said.
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Associated Press
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Sep 25, 07 6:30 AM CDT
(Newser) -
Pro-democracy protests in Myanmar continued for an eighth day today, with tens of thousands of Buddhist monks, joined by students, taking to the streets in Yangon in defiance of government orders. The ruling junta threatened Monday night to crack down on the demonstrations, instructing the monks to return to their monasteries, the AP reports.
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BBC
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Sep 24, 07 6:57 AM CDT
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Protests by Buddhist monks in Myanmar continue to surge, with today's the largest against the ruling military junta in 20 years, Reuters reports. Tens of thousands of monks and residents packed the streets of Yangon and other cities. So far, military leaders have been quiet, but fears are growing of a crackdown similar to one in 1988 that killed 3,000, BBC says.
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BBC
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Sep 23, 07 2:41 PM CDT
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Buddhist monks and nuns are at the helm of Burma's 'largest' anti-government protest since the failed student uprising in 1988. An estimated 20,000 took to the streets today in the seventh day of demonstrations for lower prices, an end to the ruling military junta, and release of political prisoners. The mood in Rangoon is euphoric, reports the BBC.
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BBC
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Sep 21, 07 12:15 PM CDT
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Thousands of Buddhist monks are protesting in the streets of Burma, and they’ll continue to do so until they’ve “wiped the military dictatorship from the land,” their leaders said today. This is the first time the monks have explicitly challenged the government, the BBC reports, and though the demonstrations are peaceful, they raise the possibility of rebellion.
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Guardian (UK)
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Sep 7, 07 2:18 PM CDT
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Hundreds of angry monks have released Burmese government officials they held hostage for over 5 hours yesterday, the Guardian reports, in protest of the military regime’s fuel price hikes. Reading Buddhist scriptures, nearly 500 monks burned the officials’ cars, locked them inside a monastery, and surrendered the prisoners only when a senior abbot intervened.
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Reuters
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Sep 7, 07 6:07 AM CDT
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President Bush yesterday called on Chinese officials to demonstrate a commitment to "greater openness and tolerance" before the 2008 Beijing Olympics. In a speech to business executives in Sydney on the eve of the Asia-Pacific summit, Bush emphasized the need for greater freedoms throughout Asia and warned China that the world will watching during the international games.
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Washington Post
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Sep 6, 07 7:35 PM CDT
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As part of her ongoing campaign to raise awareness about strife in military-led Burma, Laura Bush called on the UN to condemn recent arrests of political dissidents. The first lady made her passion clear with a phone call to Secretary General Ban Ki Moon last week, in which she called the junta's arrests a "brutal crackdown," the Washington Post reports.
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