Regime pocketing Burma aid, say exiles

By Harvey Morris at the United Nations As much as a fifth of the tens of millions of dollars in international aid sent to Burma’s cyclone victims is being lost as a result of the regime’s foreign exchange regulations, according to United Nations officials. They quoted John Holmes, the UN’s humanitarian affairs chief, as describing the loss as “a serious problem” that he had raised with Burmese leaders during a visit this week, who had promised to address... [read full story]