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TOKYO - A Japanese envoy flew to Myanmar on Sunday to urge the military government to thoroughly investigate the killing of a Japanese journalist during an anti-government rally and not to use force to end mass protests.

Video journalist Kenji Nagai, 50, was fatally wounded in Yangon on Thursday, apparently shot by a soldier firing at point-blank range.

"One (purpose) is to make sure there is a full investigation into the dreadful incident and to ensure the safety of Japanese nationals," Deputy Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka told reporters at Narita airport.

"The other is to deliver to them the voice of the international community, which hopes for the use of dialogue, not force, in handling pro-democracy movements," Yabunaka said.

Yangon - Internet access was restored briefly in military-ruled Myanmar on Saturday a day after a Web blackout believed to have been imposed to stop reports and pictures of a major crackdown reaching the outside world.

Internet users inside the former Burma were able to see domestic Web pages as well as send e-mails outside the country for a couple of hours before connections failed again.

Pictures and video footage relayed by citizen reporters have played a major role in fuelling diplomatic revulsion at the crackdown against 45 years of military rule and deepening economic hardship.

State media say nine people have been killed, although world leaders including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown say the figure is likely to be far higher.

Kenji Nagai, 50, a video-journalist for Tokyo-based APF News with years of experience covering world hotspots, was the first foreigner killed when the government sent troops to quell protest in Yangon Thursday.

Japan's Deputy Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka is scheduled to visit Myanmar Sunday to deliver the demand to the military regime, the Yomiuri Shimbun said, quoting government sources.

Japan, one of the leading donors to Myanmar, will consider a ban on Japanese investment in Myanmar after receiving its reaction to the demand, the mass-circulation daily said.

Japan in 2003 suspended low-interest loans for major projects, such as infrastructure, to protest the continued detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

But Japan says aid continues for emergencies and humanitarian purposes.

The United States and European nations have decided to tighten sanctions on Myanmar and called for the world to ramp up pressure due to the bloody crackdown on protests.

But Japan, which often jostles for influence with China, Myanmar's main ally, has so far preferred the approach of most regional nations of trying to engage the junta.

Yangon - Myanmar's main Internet link remained shut down Saturday as the country's military regime tried to curb the flow of information on the junta's bloody crackdown on protesters.

"The Internet has not been working since yesterday. My friend also tried to use the Internet, but could not do so," said a Yangon resident.

She said Internet cafes in Yangon remained closed. Over the past week, the net cafes drew tech-savvy citizens who transmitted pictures and video clips of the regime's clampdown taken on mobile phones and digital cameras.

As the government has cracked down on protesters, killing at least 13 people and injuring hundreds more, pressure on the media has soared.

Sein Win, managing editor of Mizzima News, an India-based news group run by exiled dissidents, said he had received nothing via the Internet since Friday.

"The Internet remained shut down. It's very frustrating," Sein Win said.

An editor of the Thai-based opposition publication Irrawaddy News also said the Internet link was down Saturday.

In Yangon, soldiers shot dead a Japanese video-journalist Thursday and beat people found with cell phones or cameras, witnesses said.

Myanmar's military rulers always keep a tight grip on information, heavily censoring newspapers, blocking much of the Internet and rarely allowing foreign journalists into the country.

By Saw Yan Naing

The Web site of The Irrawaddy News Magazine, a Chiang Mai-based Burmese news agency, was infected by a virus beginning on September 27.

The attack of unknown origin tried to spread the so-called “Trojan Horse” virus into the site as well as to Web site visitors.

Rest assured. If you view our Web site, you will not receive a virus. There is no danger to your computer as you view The Irrawaddy Web site. You will be automatically redirected to a safe mirror site addressed as www.irrawaddymedia.com.

A “trojan” virus is a type that usually masquerades as something else—an image, a video file or the like.

A quick investigation by The Irrawaddy’s technical staff revealed that a malicious code had been inserted into the site’s main page. This led to a virtual ‘traffic jam.’

The code caused browsers to download hidden files in the background, eating up all available bandwidth on the server.

It is still not known whether the virus was infected via e-mails or a direct hack to the server. E-mail messages hosting on The Irrawaddy’s server and files inside the server getting infected.

When some readers browsed our site, they got infected. The virus also caused slow internet connections, according to our research. The site had been attacked since Thursday and was totally down for a few hours on Saturday.

The Irrawaddy is an independent and non-profit news organization not affiliated with any political opposition group or government and was established in 1993 by Burmese exile journalists.

The Internet has been a key battleground in the wave of protests that erupted a month ago against Myanmar's repressive regime. Authorities have cut off the country's two Internet service providers in a bid to stop accounts and images of the protests, and the military crackdown, reaching the outside world.

Service providers BaganNet and Myanmar Post and Telecom were shut down Friday, although big companies and embassies hooked up to the Web by satellite remained online.

``The government understood that they were losing the communications battle,'' said Vincent Brossel, who heads the Asia desk at media watchdog group Reporters Without Borders. He said the flow of words and images from inside Myanmar, also known as Burma, had slowed to a trickle.

``Now (Myanmar authorities) are trying to do something like they did in 1988, when the information came out after the massacres.''

A similar uprising in 1988 was crushed in a bloodbath, but few journalists were on hand to witness it.

The Myanmar government's tight media restrictions mean ``citizen journalist'' accounts have been vital for journalists trying to track the events of recent days. Reporters have relied on social networking sites like Facebook and blogs like that of London-based Burmese blogger Ko Htike for firsthand accounts and images.

A shoestring opposition broadcaster called the Democratic Voice of Burma, based in Norway, also has been at the forefront of receiving and broadcasting cyber dispatches by satellite TV and shortwave radio.

Suki Dusanj of Burma Campaign U.K. said new media technologies had been very important.

``The world is watching now, `` she said. ``The culture of mobile phones allows us easy access within the country to what is going on and the 'Support the Monks' group on Facebook means we can reach out to people easier.''

By Friday, more than 110,000 people had joined the Support the Monks' Protest in Burma group, set up on Facebook nine days ago. The group has become a repository of eyewitness accounts, photos and video footage of the protests, and also provides details of demonstrations worldwide.

The group's British organizer, Johnny Chatterton, said that until Internet links to Myanmar were cut, the group had been receiving images, video and reports from sources with contacts in Myanmar. He said much of it _ including the report of a monk killed by soldiers _ had turned out to be accurate.

``I'm passing on the details to my contacts at the papers and the BBC,'' said Chatterton, 23.

``Usually the norm is that ordinary people watch the news. Now it's the opposite.''

The group on Friday posted an estimate from sources inside Myanmar that 200 people had been killed in the crackdown. The government says 10 people have died, although Western officials and diplomats have said the toll is likely much higher.

Chatterton said the group's goal was ``to show the world's eyes are on Burma'' and to coordinate protests, including a global day of action planned for Oct. 6.

Chatterton learned the power of Facebook this summer when he led a successful campaign on the site to force the HSBC bank to drop high interest charges on recent university grads' accounts.

Brossel welcomed the role played by sites like Facebook, which has grown rapidly since it was founded 3 1/2 years ago. But he cautioned that Western Internet companies have cooperated with governments to restrict the flow of information on the 'Net in the past.

Bangkok - The military regime controlling Myanmar, where the main link to the Internet was cut Friday, is trying to operate "behind closed doors", media rights group Reporters Without Borders said.

"As the repression of demonstrations continues, the junta is intensifying its strategy of isolating Myanmar, trying to return to the days of 1988 when news of a massacre only reached the outside world much later," it said.

The Paris-based RSF said that media repression was accelerating, "the flow of information is drying up" and "there is an urgent need to help the Myanmar and foreign journalists so that they can continue to provide information."

The organization said that all cybercafes in the main city of Yangon were closed and that the military was persecuting journalists who continued to try to work.

It also said that the measures ensured there were far fewer new images of the conflict available Friday than in previous days.

Kenji Nagai, 50, was among at least nine people killed Thursday when soldiers fired automatic weapons into a crowd of pro-democracy demonstrators.

Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura protested Nagai's death, calling it ``extremely regrettable,'' in a meeting with Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win at U.N. headquarters in New York on Friday, according to a Foreign Ministry official who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.

Nyan Win said he was ``extremely sorry'' for the death, and added that the Myanmar government hopes to exercise self-restraint, the official said.

Tokyo has so far ruled out immediate sanctions against Myanmar. Komura suggested that tougher steps could be taken.

``We want to keep an eye on developments in terms of what measures Myanmar will take to improve the situation, while looking at whether we should take tougher steps,'' he told reporters in New York.

Kyodo News agency reported that Japan is considering recalling its ambassador from Myanmar and cutting back or freezing technical assistance to the impoverished country.

But the Foreign Ministry official said no concrete decisions had been made.

Officials have said Nagai, who was carrying a video camera and worked for Japan's APF News agency, was believed to have been shot in the chest. A video broadcast by Japan's Fuji Television Network appeared to show a soldier shooting him directly in the front.

Komura pressed Nyan Win for an accounting of what happened, the official said.

The ministry also announced Saturday that it will dispatch Deputy Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka to Myanmar on Sunday.

Yabunaka will press the Myanmar government to respond to the concerns of international society and make progress toward democratization, the ministry official said.

Toru Yamaji, a representative of APF News, left for Myanmar on Saturday to receive Nagai's body.

YANGON - The flow of information out of Myanmar was squeezed Friday as the nation's main Internet link went down and several newspapers stopped publishing, amid a deadly crackdown on anti-junta protests.

Myanmar's military rulers always keep a tight grip on information, heavily censoring newspapers, blocking much of the Internet and rarely allowing foreign journalists into the country. As the government has cracked down on protesters, pressure on the media has soared.

People found with cell phones or cameras were beaten by soldiers on Thursday, witnesses said, while a Japanese photojournalist died after being shot.

Media rights group Reporters Without Borders said the regime was trying to establish a media blackout so it can operate "behind closed doors."

"As the repression of demonstrations continues, the junta is intensifying its strategy of isolating Myanmar, trying to return to the days of 1988 when news of a massacre only reached the outside world much later," it said.

The Paris-based RSF said that media repression was accelerating, "the flow of information is drying up" and "there is an urgent need to help the Myanmar and foreign journalists so that they can continue to provide information".

The organisation said that all cybercafes in the main city of Yangon were closed and that the military was persecuting journalists who continued to try to work despite the difficult conditions. The effects of the censorship are compounded by the nation's crumbling infrastructure. Power outages routinely last through most of the day, and telephone service is often unreliable. But a telecom official said Friday that the nation's main link to the Internet was down, blaming the problem on a damaged cable.

"The Internet is not working because the underwater cable is damaged," an official with Myanmar Post and Telecoms told AFP on condition of anonymity. Most businesses in downtown Yangon, including the Internet cafes, were
closed Friday, in the third day of a crackdown on anti-government protests that has left at least 13 dead and hundreds more behind bars.

The Internet blockage severely reduced the number of photos and videos of the crackdown that have been transmitted by journalists, activists and bloggers.

Anonymous bloggers have helped send a flood of photos to the rest of the world documenting the violence, and the military government has repeatedly accused foreign media of instigating the protests.

"I think that they're very frustrated that all these pictures and video footage are getting out, so they're doing their best to try to cut wherever they can," one western diplomat said. "Literally, they're trying to stamp it out."

Several of the nation's tightly controlled private newspapers have stopped publishing due to government pressure and unrest in the streets, an industry leader said.

"Some publications may have been forced to close down because they refused to carry the government's propaganda," he said on condition of anonymity.

The newspapers were also struggling to operate because unrest in the streets over the last two days made it impossible for vendors to sell papers, the source added.

"Their people can't get out there selling them because of the problems," he said.

Myanmar's authorities have also cut phone service to some local and foreign journalists, and warned local reporters not to join the protests.


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28.09.2007: Jiji Press - Burma Apologizes for Death of Japanese Journalist

New York - Myanmar's [Burma's] Foreign Minister Nyan Win on Friday apologized for the killing of a Japanese journalist who was covering antigovernment demonstrations in Yangon [Rangoon].  

YANGON - Government pressure and unrest in the streets of Yangon have forced several of Myanmar's private newspapers to stop publishing, an industry leader said Friday.

 

"Some publications may have been forced to close down because they refused to carry the government's propaganda," he said on condition of anonymity.

 

Myanmar's censors always exert tight controls over the media to limit their reporting, but pressure has become unusually high.

 

People found with cell phones or cameras were beaten by soldiers on Thursday, witnesses said, while a Japanese photojournalist died after being shot.

 

The newspapers were also struggling to operate because unrest in the streets over the last two days made it impossible for vendors to sell papers, the source added.

 

"Their people can't get out there selling them because of the problems," he said.

 

Four weekly newspapers printed by the Eleven Media group, two weeklies by Yangon Media, and three weeklies titled Kamudra, Voice and Market have all stopped publishing, he said.

 

Another newspaper group, Pyi Myanmar, was planing to completely shut down, he added.

 

The Myanmar Times newspaper indicated it would continue publishing.

 

Myanmar's authorities have tightened their grip over the nation's media, cutting phone service to some local and foreign journalists, and warning local reporters not to join the protests.


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28.09.2007: Reuters - Myanmar appears to cut public Internet access

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's generals appeared to have cut public Internet access on Friday to prevent more videos, photographs and information getting out about their crackdown on the biggest protests against military rule in nearly 20 years.

Dramatic footage and pictures of a Japanese photographer being shot dead and soldiers marching through the streets, rifles at the ready, have been a major factor in the current worldwide outrage and desperate diplomatic clamour for restraint.


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28.09.2007: AFP - 'Telecom Official' Says Burma's Main Internet Link Not Working

YANGON [Rangoon] - After two days of unrest in Yangon's streets, Myanmar [Burma]'s main link to the Internet has stopped working, according to a telecom official who blamed the problem on a damaged cable.

Sources: Bloggers

 

The Burmese military junta is now desperate to stop information of the turmoil in the country filtering out to the rest of the world. It has blocked some domestic blogs on Tuesday at about 6 p.m. to restrict and stop free flow of information.

 

The authorities blocked popular blogs http://www.kohtike.blogspot.com, http://niknayman.blogspot.com and http://soneseyar.blogspot.com which continuously posted news and photographs of ongoing protests against the fuel price hike and economic hardship.

 

"Curbs of freedom of expression by the people and restricting the free media are a blatant violation of fundamental human rights. We condemn the SPDC vehemently," A Niknayman blogger said. "Access Denied" notice appeared when they tried to log on to these banned websites and blogs. These blogs posted the protest march news and pictures in which monks, students, artists and ethnic people vent their grievances, a blogger said.

 

Similarly the authorities recently banned popular the 'You Tube' website where video clips of Burmese democratic movements were posted. They also disconnected the mobile and landline phones of leading politicians, reporters of domestic and foreign media and wire agencies and 88 generation student activists.

 

Hundred of thousand of monks and civilians took to the street despite government warning and restriction. Over 500 demonstrators were arrested in Rangoon and at least five monks were killed by firing police today.

 

The Government owned MPT and Bagan Cyber Tech blocked the websites and blogs to restrict and ban the free flow of information in and out of Burma. Niknayman said that even though the government blocked their websites and blogs, the readers can still visit their blogs and websites through proxy servers.

 

"The readers can visit our blogs through proxy. But we worry about the difficulty in locating our websites through these proxy servers", the Niknayman blog owner said.

 

Just before the recent blog ban, a rumour spread that the authorities were planning to block internet connections also.


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27.09.2007: RSF/BMA - Soldiers raid hotels of foreign journalists and shut down newspapers

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association (BMA) today condemned new attempts by Burma's military rulers to exert pressure on foreign journalists and the Burmese media.

The two organisations welcomed the creation in Burma on 24 September of a group of journalists, lawyers, doctors and former military officers to document the current atrocities by the regime's security forces and take the evidence before international courts so those responsible can be punished.


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27.09.2007: CPJ - Japanese photographer killed as Burmese troops crack down on protests

Burmese authorities have refused to grant reporting visas to scores of journalists who have applied in recent weeks from Thailand.


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27.09.2007: Reuters - (Interview) Myanmar information window closing, says dissident

By Alistair Scrutton

"But we are prepared for that. We'll still have our ways of getting information out," he said -- for the first time showing a sly smile on his face.


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27.09.2007: IMNA - Junta cuts off telephone lines in Burma

Banyol Kin