ZIMBABWEAN playwright Cont Mhlanga, who has challenged President Robert Mugabe’s rule throughout his career, has been awarded a new prize celebrating the role the arts can play in promoting human rights.

A Burmese journalist has been sentenced to two years in prison for her coverage of a protest over the lack of junta relief for victims of a devastating cyclone.

IT is an absolute travesty that while the PR coup that is the Beijing Olympics continues, thousands of Burmese children remain abandoned and alone.

BURMA needs at least €630 million ($1 billion) over the next three years to put the survivors of Cyclone Nargis back on their feet, a UN-led report said yesterday in the first comprehensive assessment of damage caused by the disaster that killed more than 84,000 people.

Hundreds of riot police and soldiers ringed a monument in central Rangoon today as officials gathered to commemorate the shooting death 61 years ago of Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi’s father.

At least 38 people have died after a motorised ferry sank in a river in Burma’s cyclone-battered Irrawaddy delta.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice praised China’s post-earthquake recovery efforts during a visit to the disaster zone today, saying it contrasted with Burma’s reluctance to allow in aid after a devastating cyclone.

The Minister for Overseas Development has voiced concerns that Irish aid being sent to Burma might not reach the correct people.

A state-controlled newspaper said today Burma’s military rulers were breaking no laws by holding pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for a sixth straight year.

UN helicopters fanned out across Burma’s devastated Irrawaddy Delta for the first time today, ferrying critical supplies to villages which have been struggling to survive since the May 2-3 cyclone, an official said.

MORE people will perish in Burma’s cyclone disaster zone unless the regime lifts restrictions on foreign aid, US Defence Secretary Robert Gates warned yesterday, accusing it of “criminal neglect”.

Burma’s cyclone victims are being forced from refugee camps and dumped near their wrecked homes without aid or supplies, the UN said today.

International aid workers today finally began entering Burma’s cyclone-devastated delta after being blocked for more than three weeks by the country’s military junta.

Burma’s military regime, already under fire for blocking international aid to cyclone victims, is expected to decide today whether to extend the detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi or set her free.

A 50-nation conference is preparing to pledge funds for survivors of Burma’s cyclone after the country’s xenophobic junta promised to open their doors to critically needed foreign assistance.

More than 45 countries and regional organisations have signed up to attend a donors conference in Burma tomorrow to mobilise funds for immediate humanitarian assistance for the survivors of Cyclone Nargis.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today welcomed the Burmese junta's decision to allow "all aid workers" into the country to help cyclone survivors, after weeks of refusing access to foreign relief experts.

Burma’s ruling junta has agreed to allow “all aid workers” into the country to help cyclone survivors, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon said today.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon met the leader of Burma’s ruling junta today, hoping to persuade him into allowing full international access to 2.5 million cyclone survivors.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon flew over the cyclone-ravaged landscape of Burma’s heartland today, touching down to learn from officials’ briefings and heart-to-heart chats with storm victims of the misery that he hopes more foreign assistance can alleviate.

BURMA’S military junta will set up orphanages for the many hundreds of children whose parents died in the recent cyclone, state media reported yesterday.

Burma’s state media says that the country will not accept relief supplies for cyclone victims carried by US warships and military helicopters.

A World Bank top official said the bank will not give financial aid or a loan to cyclone-hit Burma because of outstanding debts.

A deal may be in the pipeline to allow a US flotilla – and French and British ships in the same situation – to finally join in the relief effort after the devastating Cyclone Nargis.

Burma’s military regime has invited representatives of several countries to visit the cyclone-hit delta in a bid to deflect criticism that it is mismanaging relief operations, diplomats said today.

The leader of Burma’s increasingly isolated ruling junta made his first public visit to a relief camp today as state media lashed out at swelling international criticism that it was closing the door on aid to millions in desperate need following Cyclone Nargis.

Relief supplies pushed into Burma by the international community remain far below the needs of up to 2.5 million victims of the devastating cyclone, the United Nations said.

International aid agencies mustered everything from anti-snake venom kits to plastic roofing today, warning that a second wave of deaths would follow the Burma cyclone disaster unless the military regime let in more aid quickly.

The UN pleaded with Burma’s secretive government today to open its doors to foreign experts who could help up to two million cyclone victims facing disease and starvation.

The United States was launching its first relief airlift to cyclone-hit Burma today after prolonged negotiations with the country’s military rulers.

Aid is reaching Burma’s cyclone victims in greater amounts with many roads being cleared, but there is no sign foreign experts will be allowed in.

Burma’s military regime distributed international aid today but plastered the boxes with names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week’s devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.

Voting began in Burma today as the military government pushed ahead with a referendum on a controversial proposed constitution despite the devastating cyclone that killed tens of thousands.

The UN is preparing to send two planeloads of food and relief items to Burma tomorrow to provide aid in the aftermath of the cyclone that has killed tens of thousands.

Burma's isolationist regime indicated today it wants international relief but not foreign aid workers.

The death toll from the cyclone that ripped through Burma could reach 10,000, the foreign minister said today.