Names and faces

— American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz mixed entertainment with education to become the first world-class entertainer in decades to perform in Burma, with a concert to raise awareness of human trafficking. Mraz’s 2008 hit “I’m Yours”was the finale for Sunday night’s concert before a crowd of about 50,000 people at the base of the famous hilltop Shwedagon Pagoda in Rangoon, the country’s biggest city. Local artists, including a hip-hop singer, also played at the event organized by the anti-trafficking media group MTV EXIT - for “End Exploitation and Trafficking” -in cooperation with U.S. and Australian government aid agencies and the antislavery organization Walk Free. Burma is emerging from decades of isolation under a reformist elected government that took office last year after almost five decades of military rule. Burma is often called Myanmar, a name that ruling military authorities adopted in 1989. Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other regime opponents have refused to adopt the name change, as have the U.S. and Britain. Mraz called his top-billed appearance at the concert a “tremendous honor.” “I think the country is, at this time, downloading lots of new information from all around the world,” he said. “I’ve always wanted my music to be here, [for] hope and celebration, peace, love and happiness. And so I’m delighted that my music can be a part of this big download that Myanmar is experiencing right now.”

The inquest into the death of soul singer Amy Winehouse was overseen by a coroner who lacked the proper qualifications and must be heard again next month, British officials said Monday. Assistant deputy coroner Suzanne Greenaway, who handled the inquest, resigned in November 2011after her qualifications were questioned. Camden Council said a new hearing has been scheduled on Jan. 8. “The inquest into the death of Amy Winehouse had not technically been heard,” it said in a statement. Winehouse was found dead in her London home in July 2011 at age 27. In an inquest in October 2011, Greenaway ruled that the Back to Black singer had died of accidental alcohol poisoning. Greenaway had been appointed an assistant deputy coroner in London in 2009. But she resigned after authorities learned she had not been a registered U.K. lawyer for five years, as required by the rules. She had practiced law for a decade in her native Australia.

Front Section, Pages 2 on 12/18/2012

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