Myanmar monasteries raided as world pleads for calm

Myanmar's generals launched pre-dawn raids on rebellious monasteries on Thursday in their crackdown on the biggest anti-junta protests in 20 years, defying increasingly desperate international calls for restraint.

The raids suggested the generals, who have lived with Western sanctions for years and routinely ignore all calls for change, were not listening to the diplomatic clamour a day after five monks were reported killed in mass protests. More bloodshed seemed inevitable as monks on Burmese-language foreign radio stations urged their comrades not to surrender and security forces readied barbed-wire barricades at major junctions in central Yangon. (Reuters)