Burmese Monks Back in Streets

Picking up their quashed demands, more than 100 Burmese monks marched in defiance of the military junta today in the first marches since the government crackdown on pro-democracy protests late last month. "This is very significant... we are very encouraged to see the monks taking up action," one Burmese human rights watcher told the BBC.

A US human rights group said yesterday that the junta is recruiting children as young as 10 to serve in the military, reports the AP, citing "continued army expansion, high desertion rates, and a lack of willing volunteers." Myanmar's information ministry dismissed the report as "biased reporting;" however, the internationally denounced junta faces a second visit from a UN envoy this weekend. (More Burma stories.)