Word: rangoons
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...have been scrutinized by astrologers, who divine a relationship between celestial irregularities and earthly mayhem. So when a tropical cyclone tore across the country May 2-3, killing more than 22,000 people and leaving hundreds of thousands more homeless in the Irrawaddy Delta and the commercial capital of Rangoon, Burmese couldn't help but note the curious timing: On May 10, the country's thuggish ruling junta was set to hold a constitutional referendum, the first step toward what the military has called a "discipline-flourishing democracy." Critics dismissed the plebiscite - which has been postponed because of the natural...
...from the rest of the world for decades, the residents of Rangoon were surely not expecting cavalcades of foreign aid workers to descend in the wake of the cyclone. But what must seem particularly galling is the absence of Burmese military troops participating in the clean-up effort. In September, when thousands of monks led country-wide protests against rising commodity prices, soldiers from the 450,000-strong army responded with chilling brutality, sending rounds of live ammunition into the burgundy-robed demonstrators. The official government death toll was 31, although international observers believe the actual figure was far higher...
...NOTE: The junta that runs the country imposed a systematic name change several years ago, decreeing that Burma was to be called Myanmar and the capital Rangoon was to be Yangon. The opposition has never accepted these changes; neither has the U.S. government. TIME continues to use Burma and Rangoon...
...Farrow have called for a boycott because of China's Sudan links. "I find that my conscience will not allow me to continue business as usual [with the Olympics]," Spielberg said in February. Burmese activists have echoed the Darfur protesters, trying to shame Beijing for its close ties to Rangoon. Even many top athletes are now mulling a boycott...
...Apart from in Tibet, China has clearly contributed to suffering in Darfur and Burma; it is the main diplomatic protector of Khartoum and Rangoon, and the major consumer of Sudanese oil. The Games are also hurting the human-rights climate in China - Beijing has been rounding up prominent activists before the Olympiad...