The Junta Moves

Burma's military dictators cut off their people from outside news the old-fashioned way:

The license fee [for TV satellite dishes] has rocketed from $5 to $800 - an unaffordable sum to most people in Burma. It is equivalent to about three times the annual salary of a public school teacher. The new fee was imposed without warning and discovered by residents who went to renew their licenses Wednesday.

Most middle class homes and shops use satellite dishes to tune into foreign sports events, soap operas and to circumvent the junta's tightly controlled state media. "The government is trying to shut our ears and eyes," said Thant Zin, a 57-year-old civil servant. "The military regime does not want us to know the truth about our country."