UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) –
Human rights violations in Myanmar are alarming, North Koreans are starving and living in continual fear and Palestinians are suffering amid Middle East tensions, U.N. rights envoys said on Thursday.

Special rapporteurs appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva described the human rights conditions in each country to a meeting of the 192 U.N. member states.

While Myanmar rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana was able to visit the military-ruled Asian country twice, communist North Korea denied entry to envoy Vitit Muntarbhorn and envoy Richard Falk was stopped by Israel from entering Palestinian areas.

"The situation of human rights in Myanmar remains alarming. There is a pattern of widespread and systematic violations which in many conflict areas results result in serious abuses of civilian rights and integrity," Quintana said.

"The prevailing impunity allows for the continuation of violations," he added.

He also criticized the military junta for keeping opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained. Western officials fear the government wants to keep her under house arrest during next year's election so that she is unable to run.

Myanmar's representative, who U.N. officials identified as Thaung Tun, described Quintana's report as less than objective, saying insurgents and anti-government groups had been given a "sympathetic ear" and that all the allegations made "should be taken with a grain of salt."

He said steps were being taken to organize 2010 elections in the country, which he said would be "free and fair."

Myanmar also reprimanded the United States and Britain during the meeting for referring to the country by its former name, Burma, while North Korea admonished the United States for not calling it DPRK -- Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

"PERVASIVE REPRESSION"

In North Korea, envoy Muntarbhorn said the food aid situation was desperate with the World Food Program only able to feed about one third of the people in need. He said torture is extensively practiced and described prisons as purgatory.

"Freedoms associated with human rights and democracy, such as the freedom to choose one's government, freedom of association, freedom of expression ... privacy and freedom of religion are flouted on a daily basis by the nature and practices of the regime in power," he said.

"The pervasive repression imposed by the authorities ensures the people live in continual fear and are impressed to inform on each other," he said. "The state practices extensive surveillance over its inhabitants."

North Korea's deputy U.N. ambassador Pak Tok Hun rejected the report and said the country, which has also drawn international condemnation for nuclear and missile tests, was being "singled out for sinister political purposes."

Falk's report on the Palestinian territories focused on human rights concerns related to issues including the war in December and January between Islamist militant group Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, as well as Israel's construction of a land barrier and disputed housing settlements.

He said an Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip means "insufficient basic necessities are reaching the population."

Falk also spoke of the "unlawful, noncooperation" of Israel which prevented him from visiting the Palestinian territories. Israel did not respond to Falk's reports at the meeting.

(Editing by Eric Walsh)

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
Time Warner Inc.'s Fortune business magazine plans to cut the number of issues it publishes annually to 18 from 25, and make other changes that could result in more staff cuts, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday.

It was not clear yet how many people might lose their jobs, the newspaper said.

Fortune, like many other U.S. business magazines, has struggled in the advertising downturn.

Fortune will publish two issues some months and just one issue during other months, in the new publishing schedule is part of a remodeling that is expected to result in staff cuts and a sharper focus on the long stories that have been its trademark, the Journal said.

The revamp is a prelude to broader staff cuts at Time Inc., the Time Warner Inc. magazine unit that includes Fortune, the newspaper said citing people familiar with the matter.

Although plans have not been finalized, it was expected that there will be a near replay, in terms of job losses, of the restructuring kicked off last fall, the newspaper said.

That restructuring pared more than 6 percent of Time Inc.'s work force, or more than 600 positions.

(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan; Editing by David Gregorio)

WASHINGTON -- Alaska Republican Rep. Don Young refused to comment Thursday on allegations he accepted bribes from the businessman at the heart of a federal probe into corruption in Alaska politics.

"Don't bother me, don't bother me," Young said Thursday morning, with a wave of his hand, when asked by a reporter about the court filings as he entered the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage .

The allegations surfaced Wednesday night in a confession that Bill Allen , the former chief of Veco, an Alaska oil services company, signed in 2007. The confession was made public this week as part of Allen's upcoming sentencing on charges that he bribed state lawmakers.

In the document, which outlines criminal activity Allen was involved in, the 72-year-old executive admits to 13 years of gift-giving to public officials. They include former Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens and Young, whom the document referred to as to " United States Representative A."

In the confession, Allen agreed that from 1993 to August 2006 , both he and his deputy at Veco, Rick Smith , "provided things of value to United States Representative A," a reference to Young. For example, in June 2006 , "Smith obtained a set of golf clubs, costing approximately $1,000 , that Smith gave to United States Representative A. Smith used Allen's credit card."

Young, who was obligated in 2006 to report gifts with a value of more than $335 , didn't report receiving any gifts on the personal financial disclosure form he filed with the House of Representatives for that year. From 1995 until last year, Young reported no gifts on his disclosure forms. In 2008, however, he reported receiving as gifts $77,000 in donations to his legal expense fund.

It is those same forms and his lack of disclosure on them that led the Justice Department to indict Stevens on corruption charges. Although a jury convicted Stevens, those charges were withdrawn this year by the Justice Department after defense attorneys questioned the way prosecutors and the FBI handled witnesses and evidence in Stevens' case and others.

An FBI spokesman in Anchorage , Eric Gonzalez , wouldn't comment on Young, Alaska's sole congressman since 1973, citing the agency's policy of refusing to talk about ongoing investigations.

Young's office said he had no comment on the investigation. Young's lawyer in Washington , John Dowd , didn't return a phone call or an e-mail.

Since early 2007, Young has spent more than $1.2 million on lawyers -- with money from his legal expense fund and his campaign account -- in connection with federal investigations of his fundraising and other matters.

Congress last year called on the Justice Department to look into the circumstances surrounding an earmark in the 2005 highway bill that Young oversaw as chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee . That earmark shifted $10 million from a road-widening project in southwest Florida toward a study of an interchange that promised to benefit one of Young's campaign donors.

Until now, however, it wasn't clear whether the FBI was looking at Young as part of Allen's bribery scheme. Prosecutors wrote in a separate sentencing document filed Wednesday in Allen's case that the former Veco chief "curried favor with various state and federal legislators and awarded them with cash and other items of value so they would be favorably disposed toward voting for legislation that was of interest to Veco and the oil industry."

Allen, 72, and Smith, 64, also admitted breaking federal campaign finance laws on Young's behalf, using corporate funds to pay the expenses of a yearly fundraiser from 1993 to 2006. The illegal corporate donations, which went toward Young's annual pig roast fundraiser in Anchorage , weren't reported.

"Each year, Allen and Smith arranged for the purchase of catering expenses, liquor, equipment rentals, and other associated costs," Allen's confession said. "These expenses were paid using Veco's corporate funds, and amounted to approximately $10,000 to $15,000 each year." The total spent by Veco over the years was between $130,000 and $195,000 , according to court filings.

However, Young's campaign in 2006 decided in preparation for the 2008 campaign to take a close look at fundraising expenses from previous elections. In reviewing the 2006 campaign expenses, a spokesman for Young's campaign said last year that they discovered Veco hadn't properly billed the campaign for its annual pig roast on Young's behalf.

Campaign officials looked back several more years and determined that Veco or Allen needed to be reimbursed $37,626 . A check was sent to Allen in January 2007 , the campaign reported.

The campaign's internal audit and the reimbursement occurred months before they knew Allen was cooperating with federal investigators, Young's campaign has said. Allen and Smith pleaded guilty in May 2007 , more than eight months after they secretly began working for the FBI.

Allen never cashed the reimbursement check, and in January 2008 , Young's campaign gave the money instead to the U.S. Treasury.

( Sean Cockerham of the Anchorage Daily News contributed to this article.)

MORE FROM MCCLATCHY

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Prosecutors want ex-Veco CEO Allen to serve almost four years

Justice department won't dismiss charges against Alaska lawmakers

Alaska state lawmaker to challenge Rep. Don Young

D.C. judge OKs subpoenas for Ted Stevens prosecutors

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Alaska judge: No more delays for sentencing of Stevens witness

Alaska legislators snared in bribery probe ordered freed

Follow the latest politics news at McClatchy's Planet Washington

WASHINGTON – The swine flu is causing an unprecedented amount of illness for this early in the fall, with the deaths of 11 more children reported in the past week. And less vaccine than expected will be ready by month's end, federal health officials said Friday.
Of the 86 children who have died since the new swine flu arose last spring, 43 deaths have been reported in September and early October alone, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported. That's a startling number because in some past winters, the CDC has counted 40 or 50 child deaths for the entire flu season — and no one knows how long this swine flu outbreak will last.
"These are very sobering statistics," said the CDC's Dr. Anne Schuchat.
Also surprising, about half of the child deaths reported since Sept. 1 have been teenagers. Until now, much of the attention has focused on younger children.
Overall, what CDC calls the 2009 H1N1 flu is causing widespread disease in 41 states, and about 6 percent of all doctor visits are for flu-like illnesses, levels not normally seen until much later in the fall.
There may be only 28 million to 30 million vaccine doses dispersed around the country by month's end, Schuchat said, short of the 40 million-plus the government had hoped. But more will continue to arrive weekly, and she urged patience as people await their turn.
As of Wednesday, states had ordered 8 million of the 11.4 million doses of swine flu vaccine the government has ready to ship.
Initial vaccine shipments were only of FluMist, the nasal spray version that can be used by only certain people — those ages 2 to 49 who aren't pregnant and have no chronic illnesses such as asthma. But swine flu shots now are shipping, too, accounting for a bit more than half of the vaccine available today, Schuchat said.