Myanmar bans Time magazine over cover story about monk called 'Face of Buddhist terror'

YANGON, Myanmar – Myanmar's government has banned this week's issue of Time magazine because of a cover story about a Buddhist monk accused of fueling recent religious violence.

State television announced Tuesday that the decision was made to prevent further racial or religious rioting.

It said a special committee led by the home minister had issued an order banning the magazine as well as copies made of it.

The magazine's cover carries a photo of a Buddhist monk, Wirathu, with the words "The Face of Buddhist Terror." Wirathu is a leader of a radical movement of monks that preaches that the country's small Muslim minority threatens racial purity and national security.

Nearly 250 people have died and tens of thousands, mostly Muslims, have fled their homes in religious violence in the past year.