Prime Minister General Thein Sein congratulates Spanish … · 19-03-2008  · — MNA Prime...

16
Emergence of the State Constitution is the duty of all citizens of Myanmar Naing-Ngan. Established 1914 Volume XV, Number 338 13th Waxing of Tabaung 1369 ME Wednesday, 19 March, 2008 PAGE 8+9 SOE MYA KYAW * Stability of the State, community peace and tranquillity, prevalence of law and order * National reconsolidation * Emergence of a new enduring State Con- stitution * Building of a new modern developed nation in accord with the new State Constitution * Development of agriculture as the base and all-round develop- ment of other sectors of the economy as well * Proper evolution of the market-oriented economic system * Development of the economy inviting participation in terms of technical know-how and investments from sources inside the country and abroad * The initiative to shape the national economy must be kept in the hands of the State and the national peoples * Uplift of the morale and morality of the entire nation * Uplift of national prestige and integrity and preservation and safeguarding of cultural heritage and national character * Uplift of dynamism of patriotic spirit * Uplift of health, fitness and education standards of the entire nation Four political objectives Four economic objectives Four social objectives Chairman of Yangon City Development Committee Vice-Mayor Col Maung Pa and officials, Lt-Gen Myint Swe visited tax-free markets in Kamayut, Dagon, Yankin and Mayangon Townships and Fish Central Market in Kyimyindine Township, rice shops of Myanmar Rice Merchants Association and edible oil and meat shops. During the visit, Lt-Gen Myint Swe urged officials concerned to closely supervise the markets and shops in accordance with the objectives of estab- lishment of tax-free makets so that residents can buy fresh foods, meat and vegetables at reasonable prices at the markets. Ministry of Industry-1, Ministry of Energy, regiments and battalions in Yangon Division, district/ township peace and development councils, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries and other private firms also set up shops and sell foodstuff, meat, vegetables and household goods in Yangon. — MNA Lt-Gen Myint Swe inspects tax-free markets Lt-Gen Myint Swe of Ministry of Defence inspects tax-free market in Bahan Township. MNA True patriotism * It is very important for everyone of the nation regardless of the place he lives to have strong Union Spirit. * Only Union Spirit is the true patriotism all the nationalities will have to safeguard. NAY PYI TAW, 18 March — General Thein Sein, Prime Minister of the Union of Myanmar, has sent a message of congratulations to His Excellency Mr Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, on his re-election as the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Spain. — MNA Prime Minister General Thein Sein congratulates Spanish counterpart YANGON, 18 March — Lt-Gen Myint Swe of Ministry of Defence inspected tax-free markets here today and gave instructions to officials concerned. Accompanied by Chairman of Yangon Divi- sion Peace and Development Council Commander of Yangon Commmand Maj-Gen Hla Htay Win, Vice- I N S I D E Essence and benefits of the State constitution Everyone is pleased to hear the democracy transitional processes. Neighbouring countries with genuine goodwill towards Myanmar, ASEAN nations and friendly nations welcome Myanmar for taking correct steps. Even the UN Secretariat also welcomed and acknowledged the laying down of the time frame for implementation of the seven-step Road Map. Generally speaking, everybody who really wants democracy welcomes and supports the steps of Myanma political journey on the correct democratic path. 19-3-08 NL 8/16/18, 02:21 PM 1

Transcript of Prime Minister General Thein Sein congratulates Spanish … · 19-03-2008  · — MNA Prime...

Page 1: Prime Minister General Thein Sein congratulates Spanish … · 19-03-2008  · — MNA Prime Minister General Thein Sein congratulates Spanish counterpart YANGON, 18 March — Lt-Gen

Emergence of the State Constitution is the duty of all citizens of Myanmar Naing-Ngan.

Established 1914

Volume XV, Number 338 13th Waxing of Tabaung 1369 ME Wednesday, 19 March, 2008

PAGE 8+9 SOE MYA KYAW

* Stability of the State, community peaceand tranquillity, prevalence of law andorder

* National reconsolidation* Emergence of a new enduring State Con-

stitution* Building of a new modern developed nation

in accord with the new State Constitution

* Development of agriculture as the base and all-round develop-ment of other sectors of the economy as well

* Proper evolution of the market-oriented economicsystem

* Development of the economy inviting participation in termsof technical know-how and investments from sources insidethe country and abroad

* The initiative to shape the national economy must be kept in thehands of the State and the national peoples

* Uplift of the morale and morality of theentire nation

* Uplift of national prestige and integrity andpreservation and safeguarding of culturalheritage and national character

* Uplift of dynamism of patriotic spirit* Uplift of health, fitness and education

standards of the entire nation

Four political objectives Four economic objectives Four social objectives

Chairman of Yangon City Development CommitteeVice-Mayor Col Maung Pa and officials, Lt-Gen MyintSwe visited tax-free markets in Kamayut, Dagon,Yankin and Mayangon Townships and Fish CentralMarket in Kyimyindine Township, rice shops ofMyanmar Rice Merchants Association and edible oiland meat shops.

During the visit, Lt-Gen Myint Swe urgedofficials concerned to closely supervise the marketsand shops in accordance with the objectives of estab-lishment of tax-free makets so that residents can buyfresh foods, meat and vegetables at reasonable pricesat the markets.

Ministry of Industry-1, Ministry of Energy,regiments and battalions in Yangon Division, district/township peace and development councils, Ministry ofLivestock and Fisheries and other private firms also setup shops and sell foodstuff, meat, vegetables andhousehold goods in Yangon. — MNA

Lt-Gen Myint Swe inspects tax-free markets

Lt-Gen Myint Swe of Ministry of Defenceinspects tax-free market in Bahan Township.

MNA

True patriotism* It is very important for everyone of the

nation regardless of the place he lives to

have strong Union Spirit.

* Only Union Spirit is the true patriotism all

the nationalities will have to safeguard.

NAY PYI TAW, 18 March — General Thein Sein, Prime Minister of theUnion of Myanmar, has sent a message of congratulations to His Excellency MrJose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, on his re-election as the Prime Minister of theKingdom of Spain. — MNA

Prime MinisterGeneral Thein Sein

congratulates Spanish counterpart

YANGON, 18 March — Lt-Gen Myint Swe ofMinistry of Defence inspected tax-free markets heretoday and gave instructions to officials concerned.

Accompanied by Chairman of Yangon Divi-sion Peace and Development Council Commander ofYangon Commmand Maj-Gen Hla Htay Win, Vice-

INSIDE

Essence andbenefits of the

Stateconstitution

Everyone is pleased to hear the democracy transitional processes.Neighbouring countries with genuine goodwill towards Myanmar, ASEAN nationsand friendly nations welcome Myanmar for taking correct steps. Even the UNSecretariat also welcomed and acknowledged the laying down of the time framefor implementation of the seven-step Road Map. Generally speaking, everybodywho really wants democracy welcomes and supports the steps of Myanma politicaljourney on the correct democratic path.

19-3-08 NL 8/16/18, 02:21 PM1

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2 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008

PERSPECTIVES* Oppose those relying on external elements, acting as stooges, holding negative views* Oppose those trying to jeopardize stability of the State and progress of the nation* Oppose foreign nations interfering in internal affairs of the State* Crush all internal and external destructive elements as the common enemy

People’s DesireWednesday, 19 March, 2008

For greater developmentof rural and urban areas

At the core of the drive for buildinginfrastrucutres of the State lies the transportsector.

The government, with this concept, isconstructing roads and bridges on a wider scalethroughout the nation for improving thetransport sector. As a result, so far, the nation’stotal length of tarred roads, concrete roads,gravel roads, laterite roads and earth roads hasincreased from over 20,000 miles in 1988 to over60,000 miles. During the period, it hasconstructed 230 bridges with the length of 180feet and above. Development of rural areas isinterrelated with that of urban areas. So, thegovernment is at the same time constructingmore and more village-to-village, township-to-township and district-to-district roads forequitable region-wise development.

District-to-district road No (1) rises at TadaUTownship in Mandalay Division and goes morethan 400 miles till it meets No (3) Highway inHmawby Township. Now, district-to-district roadNo (1) is under construction, and is in the processof being upgraded from earth facility to gravelone, then to tarred one. Some sections of the roadhave been constructed, and they are coping withtraffic now.

In Sagaing Division, district-to-district roadNo (3) is being constructed section-wise in Wetlet,Shwebo and Katha districts. The government isaccelearing the construction of transport facilitiesas district-to-district roads will make a dominantrole in regional development.

Now, local people are enjoying a higher socio-economic standard, resulting from smoothtransport and swift commodity flow.

The government is working hard to achievethe target of forming a network of roads andbridges that covers the whole nation. So,commodity flows will become swifter and thepeople of respective regions including rural areaswill enjoy greater economic and socialdevelopment in the near future.

YANGON, 18 March— As a gesture of hailingthe 63rd AnniversaryArmed Forces Day, a newgravel road wascommissioned intoservice in NyaungdonTownship on 16 March.

The road wasformally opened in thepresence of CEC Memberof the Union Solidarityand Development

Nyaungdon Township gets new road

YANGON, 18M a r c h — J o i n t l ysponsored by BangkokHospital and BangkokH o s p i t a l ( M y a n m a rBranch), a medicalseminar on GI tractdiseases and hepatitis washeld at Hotel Nikko RoyalLake (Yangon) on 16March.

Professor/Headof GI tract Department ofYGH Professor Thein Saw

Medical seminar on GI tract diseasesand hepatitis held

and Professor/Head ofHepatitis DepartmentProfessor Than Sitpresided over the seminar.

Professor DavidGrahan of GI tractDepartment of BaylorCollege of Medicinebriefed on modernmedical therapies on Hpylori, GastroesophagealReflux Disease(GERD)and NSAID Gastropathy,Associate Professor

Varocha Mahachai onmodern therapy onhepatitis, GI tract andHepatitis Specialist DrPongsith on moderndisease diagnostictechniques and therapiesof Bangkok Hospital,and replied to queriesraised by those presentincluding professors,specialists, doctors andhouse surgeons.

MNA

Minister Col Thein Nyunt inspects newly-opened gravel road in Nyaungdon Township. — PBANRDA

Medical seminar on GI tract diseases andhepatitis in progress at Hotel Nikko Royal

Lake in Yangon. — MNA

Cover of the bookentitled “Think and

Feel Freely”. — MNA

NAY PYI TAW, 18March—The collection ofpoems “Think and feelfreely, and other poems”by U Maung Maung SoeTint (Retd Ambassador)came out today.

The book consists ofeight chapters, featuringreligious, education,Myanmar, love, youth andsocial affairs and feelings.The bilingual work(English and Myanmar) ispublished and distributedby Pyae Sone BooksCentre of No 78, HledanStreet, LanmadawTownship, Yangon, (Tel:224375).—MNA

Poem collection“Think and feel

freely” incirculation

Association Minister forProgress of Border Areasand National Races andDevelopment AffairsCol Thein Nyunt.

The Zeebyugyun-Thazinyegyaw road wasconstructed by NyaungdonTownship DevelopmentAffairs Committee.

The new transporta-tion facility is 3.58 mileslong and meets Yangon-

Pathein Road. The roadwas upgraded from an earthroad. The road contributesto easy transport fromYangon to Pathein,benefiting local residentsof Thazinyay-kyawvillage-tract.

After the openingceremony, the minister alsomet with residents of thevillage-tract.

He also held a meeting

with local people duringhis visit to Koesu ModelVillage yesterday.

MNA

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THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008 3

Residents look at the wreckage of a vehicle used in a bomb attack in Baghdadon 17 March, 2008. —INTERNET

Clinton, Obama backerstone down rhetoric

Barack Obama

I N T E R N A T I O N A L N E W S

Brazil, Germany to developnight-vision radar satellite

RIO DE JANEIRO, 18 March —Brazil and Germanyhave signed an agreement to develop a night-visionradar satellite to observe the Amazon Region, theNational Space Research Institute (INPE) saidSunday.

The INPE plans to build the Multiple ApplicationSynthetic Aperture Radar with the help of the GermanSpace Centre over 18 months, in the second satelliteproject undertaken by the two nations.—MNA/Xinhua

Right-wing Israelis stormArab area in Jerusalem

Militant groups resumerockets attacks on Israel

Australia WWII warship found,ends 66-year mystery

GAZA, 18 March—Palestinian militantgroups said their militantslaunched on Sundayseveral homemade rocketsfrom northern Gaza Stripat southern Israeli towns,causing no casualties.

The armed wing of thePopular Front for theLiberation of Palestine(PFLP) said in a leafletsent to reporters that itsmilitants fired onehomemade rocket at thetown of Sderout.

“The rocket’s attackis retaliatory to the Israelioccupation’s crimesagainst our people in theWest Bank and Gaza Strip,

and a reiteration to the factthat resistance against theoccupation would neverstop,” the group said.

Meanwhile, thePopular Resistance Com-mittees (PRC) said in twoseparate leaflets sent toreporters that its militantsfired two rockets at thesouthern Israeli towns ofSderout and Ashkelon.

“The two attacks areresponse to the killing offour militants in Gaza onSaturday and killing fivePalestinians in the WestBank on Wednesday,”said one of the PRCleaflets.

MNA/Xinhua

JERUSALEM, 18March—Dozens of right-wing Jewish activists onSunday stormed the Arabneighbourhood in EastJerusalem of a Palestiniangunman who killed eightIsraelis at a Jewish semi-nary earlier this month,police and witnesses said.

Dozens of protestersbroke through policebarriers and hurled stones

at cars and houses in theneighbourhood of JabalMukaber, where the familyof the seminary attackerlives. About 200 peoplehad gathered outside thevillage and a number ofthe protesters brokethrough the police barrier,said police spokesmanMicky Rosenfeld. “Stoneswere thrown and 13 peoplewere arrested,” Rosenfeldsaid. No one was injuredin the violence, police said.

The attacker, Ala AbuDhaim, was buried at nighton Thursday after abouta week’s delay becausepolice feared a publicfuneral might triggerprotests and violence.

MNA/Reuters

CANBERRA, 18 March—Australia’s greatest mili-tary mystery was solved onMonday with the discoveryof a World War II warshipwhich went down with all645 crew in a fierce battlewith a German vessel more

than 66 years ago. A dayafter searchers located thewreck of the Germanmerchant raider HSKKormoran off the WestAustralian coast, PrimeMinister Kevin Rudd saidthey had also found the

Australian battlecruiserHMAS Sydney, sunk by theGerman ship.

Rudd, flanked by topmilitary commanders, saidit was “a historic day for allAustralians, and a sad dayfor all Australians.”

“It’s very important tounderstand that this is atomb and there are 645Australian sailors ento-mbed there,” he said, addingboth ships would bedeclared war graves.

The sinking of theHMAS Sydney II isAustralia’s greatest navaltragedy, with all hands lostafter a 30-minute battle withthe German ship on 19November, 1941.

MNA/Reuters

The Australian warship HMAS Sydney (II) ispictured in Sydney Harbour after returning fromthe Mediterranean Sea in this undated handout

photograph.—XINHUA

WASHINGTON, 18March — Backers ofHillary Clinton and BarackObama toned down theirrhetoric on Sunday for fearparty infighting might turnvoters against Democratsand deliver their votes into

the hands of RepublicanJohn McCain.

All over the SundayTV talk show circuit,journalists tried to getcampaigners working forClinton and Obama toattack the other side, buttime and time again thesupporters would not takethe bait and tried to stayon the high road.

“If this party breaksapart, then clearly we’llprobably pull defeat fromthe jaws of victory,”

Leon Panetta, who wasPresident Bill Clinton’schief of staff, said onCBS’s “Face theNation”.

Clinton and Obamatook the day off aftertelling their campaigns-last week to tone downthe language in the race towin the party’s nomi-nation for the Novemberelection.

The man either ofthem will face inNovember, Republicancandidate John McCain,was in Baghdad. With noRepu-blican competition,the Arizona Senator wasable to take trips such asthis to bolster his foreignpolicy credentials.

MNA/Reuters

Demonstrations held worldwideto condemn Iraq war

BEIJING, 18 March—Protesters took to thestreets on Saturday in manycities across the world tocondemn the US-leadinvasion of Iraq, accordingto reports reaching here onSunday.

In Los Angeles, some2,000 people marchedthrough Hollywood,holding banners deno-uncing President GeorgeW Bush and urged an endto the conflict in Iraq, policesaid.

However, organizersof the event put the numberof protesters at tens ofthousands.

London police saidabout 10,000 protestorsrallied in the city to markthe upcoming fifth anni-

versary of the Iraq warwhich erupted on 20March, 2003. Protestersthere urged the BritishGovernment to withdrawtroops from Iraq andAfghanistan.

Similar demonstrationalso took place in theScottish city of Glasgow,Swedish capital Stock-holm, Norway’s Oslo andDenmark’s Aalborg on thesame day.—MNA/Xinhua

Anti-war protesters march through central Seoulduring a rally to mark the fifth anniversary of the

US-led invasion of Iraq, on 16 March, 2008. About1,000 protesters demanded the withdrawal of South

Korean troops in Iraq.—INTERNET

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4 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008

Visitors view the paintings at the painting exhibition of artists from theDemocratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) held in Dalian, a coastal city

in northeast China’s Liaoning Province, on 16 March, 2008.—XINHUA

Photo taken on17 March, 2008

shows YellowRiver’s Hukou

Waterfall innorthwest

China’s ShaanxiProvince. Thefall, located in

Shaan-Jin GrandCanyon, resumed

majestic as theupriver ice

melted.—XINHUA

BAGHDAD, 17 March— The death toll from asuicide bombing in Iraq’sShiite holy city of Karbalaon Monday rose to 35, with55 others wounded, an

JERUSALEM, 17 March — Israel’s Deputy Premiersaid on Saturday the Jewish State’s delay in dismantlingsettler outposts in the occupied West Bank is hurtingbilateral relations with the United States.

The comments made by Haim Ramon came afterUS Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Fridayneither Israel nor the Palestinians have done enough tomeet peace commitments.

A long-stalled 2003 “road map” peace plan callson Israel to remove outposts built without governmentauthorization in the West Bank and to halt all settlementactivity in the territory. It also demands the Palestinianscrack down on militants. —MNA/Reuters

DAKAR, 17 March —A Chadian rebel leaderthreatened on Sunday toattack Chad’s southernoil-producing DobaRegion unless France andthe United States putpressure on PresidentIdriss Deby to start adialogue with his foes.

Timane Erdimi, head

PARIS, 17 March —France goes to the pollsfor the final round ofmunicipal elections onSunday, which couldleave the left in charge ofmost major French citiesand put pressure onPresident Nicolas Sarkozyto change his style ofgovernment.

In the first round lastweekend, oppositionleftist parties won 48 percent of the overall voteagainst 41 per cent for thecentre-right, making gainsin townhalls around the

MOSCOW, 17 March —A Russian newspaper saidon Saturday securityforces foiled an attemptby a sniper to kill PresidentVladimir Putin near theKremlin this month. ITAR-TASS news agency cited a

Chadian rebel chief threatensattack on oil region

of the Rally of Forces forChange (RFC) whichattacked Chad’s capitalN’Djamena early inFebruary along with otherrebels groups, said hisforces could halt oilproduction from install-ations in southern Chadpumping up to 160,000barrels per day (bpd).

“We can carry the warto the south... if theAmericans and theFrench don’t put pressureon Deby to open an all-inclusive dialogue withpolitical and militaryplayers,” Erdimi toldReuters in a telephoneinterview.

MNA/Reuters

Left seeks to capture big citiesin French election

country but failing toimpose any shock defeatson Sarkozy and his allies.

Sunday could changethat, with the Socialistschallenging hard to wincontrol of two bigsouthern cities, Marseilleand Toulouse, andfighting to clinch alandslide victory in Paris.

If its southern bastionsfall, Sarkozy’s centre-right UMP party will beleft running just two ofFrance’s top 10 cities. If itclings on to them, it willbe able to shrug off

anticipated losses in a slewof smaller towns.

“We are going to winback 30 medium-sizedtowns, but if we don’t getToulouse and Marseillepeople will say it isn’t agreat result,” said Socialistparty leader FrancoisHollande. —MNA/Reuters

Tabloid says Putin escapes plotto kill himsecurity source denying thereport. The Kremlindeclined to comment on thereport by popular Moscowtabloid Tvoi Den, which isknown for its strongsources in law enforcementcircles. Tvoi Den quoted

an unnamed source assaying a sniper wasarrested shortly beforePutin walked through thegates of the Kremlin onelection night, 2 March ,to appear at a concert heldnext to the Red Square.

The concert was heldto celebrate Putin’sprotegee DmitryMedve-dev’s victory ina presi-dential electionand al-though the twomen walked through thegates together, thenewspaper said Putinwas the only target of theplot. ITAR-TASS quoteda source at Russia’ssecurity ser-vices asdenying that peopledetained early this monthfor possession ofautomatic weapons hadintended to kill Putin.

“The information thatthese people planned anyactions against thecountry’s leadership isabsolutely wrong,” thesource said.

MNA/Reuters

Death toll from Karbala suicidebombing rises to 35

The death toll from a suicide bombing in Iraq’sShiite holy city of Karbala on Monday rose to 35,

with 55 others wounded, an interior ministrysource said.—XINHUA

interior ministry sourcesaid. A female suicideattacker detonated explo-sives in a market near theshrine of Imam Husseinin Karbala, about 110 km

south of Baghdad, thesource said. The source saidIranians are among thecasualties.

An early report put thetoll at 10 killed and 30wounded. The explosioncame as US Vice PresidentDick Cheney paid asurprise visit to Iraq earlierin the day.

Suicide bombingsinvolving women havebeen increasing recently.A female suicide bomberwas blamed for one of thebloody attacks against twoBaghdad markets in earlyFebruary which killednearly100 people.

Internet

Israeli W Bank outposthurt US relations

MOSCOW, 17 March—US Secretary of StateCondoleezza Rice andDefence Secretary RobertGates on Monday heldsensitive talks on missiledefence with PresidentVladimir Putin andpresident-elect DmitryMedvedev.

Welcoming Gates andRice, Medvedev predic-ted “tense” talks but saidthere was a common willto overcome differencesboth on missile defenceand replacing the strategicarms reduction treaty

Rice, Gates hold missile defencetalks in Moscow

(L-R) Robert Gates,Condoleezza Rice and

Vladimir Putin.INTERNET

(START) that runs out nextyear.

“We still have differ-ences in our positions onmissile defence and theSTART treaty but none-

theless there is a will tomove forward,” Medve-dev said.

Rice offered congrat-ulations to Medvedev onhis election victory atwhat was a first opport-unity for the US side togauge the political tran-sition in Russia and theextent to which Putin willremain influential.

Gates earliersuggested there was littleroom for flexibility onmissile defence, sayinghe wanted Russia to giveground.—Internet

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THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008 5

Canadian man killed afterhouse collapses

Canadian FM’s speechon Canada-Sino applauded

BEIJING, 18 March—China on Sunday applaudedrecent speech of Canadian Foreign Minister MaximeBernier on Canada-China relations.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gangsaid China had noticed Bernier’s speech on 12 March.He talked about Canada-China relations when made apublic speech on Canada’s Asia-Pacific policy.

China applauds his saying that the CanadianGovernment values relations with China, adheres tothe one-China policy, regards the People’s Republic ofChina Government as the sole legal government ofChina, and opposes to Taiwan authorities’ proposed“referendum on UN membership”, Qin noted.—Xinhua

Philippine police trained on bomb handling

Perfomers dance during the party held in Xinjiangopera house to welcome the Noruz Festival in

Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, on17 March, 2008.—XINHUA

All Items from Xinhua News Agency

MANILA, 18 March—Togear up to fight growinglytechno-savvy terrorists, thePhilippine police are takingcourses from Americanexperts in bomb handling,local newspaper saidMonday.

Superintendent JoseBayani Gucela, chief of theexplosives and ordinancedisposal (EOD) unit withthe Police WesternMindanao Office, told thePhilippine Star that about200 new police recruitsunderwent the two-daytraining in the insurgency-dotted region of Mindanao.

Trainees, under theinstruction of US bombexperts, are expected tolearn skills in handlingpost-blast scenes, bombsdisposal, and bomb threats,the report said.

Gucela said bomb-

handling trainings havebeen conducted for policeand military to keep up withthe bomb technologyadopted by terrorists.

Mindanao has seen ahigh portion of blasts inrecent years partly becauseit is home to the 370-

member extremist groupAbu Sayyaf and thecountry’s largest anti-government guerrillaforces — the Moro IslamicLiberation Front, whichhas been fighting for a self-ruled Muslim domain inthe region. —Xinhua

Greek militarypersonnel sift through

the wreckage of anarmy helicopter nearThessaloniki on 18

March, 2008. All threesoldiers aboard the

helicopter died in thecrash some 20

kilometres east of thecity.—INTERNET

Over 200 arrested after restaurantblast in Islamabad

ISLAMABAD, 18 March—The Islamabad police haverounded up as many as 232 people, most of themstudents of religious seminaries, following the bombexplosion at an Italian restaurant in Islamabad, a seniorpolice officer said Sunday.

The News Network International news agency quotedthe chief of Islamabad police Syed Kalim Imam as sayingthat these people were arrested during a hunt in the capital.The security officials deployed at the US Embassy alsovisited the blast site and collected evidences. However,the Islamabad police chief denied the participation of theUS officials in the investigation of the incident. —Xinhua

Photo taken on 17 March, 2008 shows the beautiful scene of the west lakepark in Fuzhou, capital of southeast China’s Fujian Province. The beautiful

scene of peach blossom in the park has attracted a lot of visiters.XINHUA

OTTAWA, 18 March—A Canadian man from theprovince of Quebec waskilled Sunday when theroof of his house collapsedunder the weight of snow,making him the fourthvictim in the province ofsuch accidents this year.

The 55-year-old manwas in his second floorbedroom when he heard anoise that made himsuspect the roof was

caving in. He then alarmedhis wife and two childrenand helped them out, buthe was not able to go outbefore the housecollapsed. The accidenthappened at about 7 amlocal time (1100 GMT) inthe city of Shawinigan tothe northeast of Montreal.The man’s body was dis-covered an hour later byemergency crews.

Police believe that the

collapse was probably theresult of snow accumu-lation on the roof and havewarned neighbours aboutthe danger, Quebecprovincial police spokes-man Marc Butz toldCanadian Television.

The heavy snowfall inQuebec this winter hascaused several roofcollapses, most notably acave-in on 12 March at awarehouse that killed threewomen.

Xinhua

ICRC says humanitariansituation still critical in Iraq

OTTAWA, 18 March—Five years after the US-ledinvasion of Iraq, thehumanitarian situationthere is still among the mostcritical in the world, theInternational Com-mitteeof the Red Cross (ICRC)said on Monday.

Because of the conflict,millions of Irawis now stillhave insufficient a report.

“Better security in some

parts of Iraq must notdistract attention from thecontinuing plight ofmillions of people who haveessentially been left to theirown devices,” said BeatriceMegevand Roggo, theICRC’s head of operationsfor the Middle East andNorth Africa.

“Among them aredisplaced and refugeefamilies, and those who

have returned to theirhomes, children, clderlypeople, disabled people,hoscholds hcaded bywomen and families ofdetainees,” she said.According to the report,although security hasimproved in some parts ofthe country, Iraqis continueto be killed or injured on adaily basis in fighting andattacks. Civilians are oftendeliberately targeted, incomplete disregard for therules of internationalhumanitarian law.—Xinhua

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6 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008

One man surfs the Internet, while a second uses a mobile phone to getonline.—INTERNET

A woman surfs theInternet on a laptop

computer at a wirelesscafe in Beijing. Withmore Internet users

than any other nationon the planet, China’s

e-commerce isbooming, but obstaclesremain before the fullbusiness potential canbe unleashed, analysts

said.—INTERNET

Schoolchildren wearing masks walk out of theAlumni Association Primary School in Hong Kong

on 12 March, 2008. —INTERNET

LONDON, 17 March—The current crisis rockingthe markets and globaleconomy could turn out tobe the worst since WorldWar II, former US FederalReserve chairman AlanGreenspan said in remarkspublished on Monday.

“The current financialcrisis in the US is likely tobe judged in retrospect asthe most wrenching sincethe end of the SecondWorld War,” Greenspan

KABUL, 18 March — A suicide bomber carried outexplosion attack against a convoy of the NATO-ledInternational Security Assistance Force (ISAF) inAfghanistan’s southern Helmand Province Mondaymorning, killing at least four ISAF soldiers and threecivilians, and wounding 11 others, officials said.

Mohammad Hussain Andiwal, provincial policechief, told Xinhua it occurred at around 9:00 am (0430GMT) when the suicide attacker drove a car full ofexplosive material and exploded it near the ISAFconvoy in Greshk District of Helmand.

“At least three civilians were killed and seven morewere injured,” he added.

Meanwhile, a spokesman from ISAF officeconfirmed there was an explosion attack against NATOconvoy, killing four soldiers and wounding other four.

“All the wounded have been evacuated for medicaltreatment,” he said. —MNA/Xinhua

ATHENS, 18 March —Five people including twochildren injured seriously in a string of explosions atan Albanian Army Base were being treated inThessaloniki hospitals in Northern Greece on Sunday,according to Athens News Agency (ANA).

Two children and three adults, all Albanian citizens,are being treated in Thessaloniki, where they weretransported at dawn Sunday aboard Hellenic Armycarrier C-130.

A Hellenic Army C-130 personnel carrier took offfor Albania on Saturday night, transporting vials ofblood, medical personnel and equipment, whilemilitary and civilian hospitals were put on alert for thetreatment of injured people.

MNA/Xinhua

NEW DELHI, 18 March — Four people, including awoman, have been killed and 53 others injured in apowerful blast in India’s northeast state Assam, thePress Trust of India reported on Sunday.

The explosion was triggered by the banned militantgroup the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) onSaturday night when 15,000 tribal community peoplegathered at an open field to celebrate a function, thepolice said. The militants might have targeted the on-duty Assam Police Battalion personnel as four of themwere seriously injured in the attack.

And a massive manhunt is underway to nab theattackers, said the police. The local government hasoffered compensation to the families of those killedand injured. — MNA/Xinhua

LONDON, 18 March — British Prime MinisterGordon Brown has promised a full-scale inquiry intothe mistakes made in Iraq, prior to the fifth anniversaryof the US-led war, The Independent newspaper saidMonday.

“There is a need to learn all possible lessons fromthe military action in Iraq and its aftermath,” Brownsaid in a letter to Sunder Katwala, general secretary ofthe Labour-affiliated Fabian Society.

Brown’s remarks were a significant break from hispredecessor Tony Blair, who steadfastly refused tohold an inquiry into the war, the newspaper said.

But Brown insisted that it was not the right time foran immediate investigation because the situation inIraq remained “fragile” and British troops were stilltrying to bring stability to the country.

“There will come a time when it is appropriate tohold an inquiry,” he said. “But whilst the whole effortof the government and the Armed Forces is directedtowards supporting the people and government of Iraqas they forge a future based on reconciliation,democracy, prosperity and security, we believe that isnot now.” —MNA/Xinhua

Brown promises publicinquiry into Iraqi war

Greenspan says market crisisworst since WWII

said in a Financial Timescommentary.

“It will end eventuallywhen home prices stabi-lise and with them thevalue of equity in homessupporting troubled mort-gage securities,” he said,referring to the meltdownin the US sub-prime homeloan market and subse-quent massive losses forthe banks holding the debtinstruments.

“The crisis will leave

many casualties,” he said,his remarks coming afterBear Stearns, the fifthlargest US investmenthouse collapsed Fridayand was taken over by JPMorgan Chase for a frac-tion of its value of only aweek ago.—Internet

Four killed, 53 injured inblast in northern India

Five injured in Albanian explosionshospitalized in Greece

KUWAIT, 18 March —First Deputy Premier andministers of KuwaitiCabinet submitted theirresignations to PrimeMinister Sheikh NasserAl-Mohammad on Mon-day, the official KUNAnews agency reported.

The report quotedFaisal al-Hajji, stateminister for Cabinet af-fairs, as saying that “FirstDeputy Premier andDefence Minister and therest of ministers havesubmitted their resig-nations to Prime MinisterSheikh Nasser Al-Mo-hammad.”

However, the PrimeMinister has no right todeal with the resignations,which will be handed in tothe oil-rich country’semir.

MNA/Xinhua

Ministers of

Kuwaiti

cabinet

resign

Seven killed, 11 woundedin S Afghanistan

suicide blast

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THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008 7

Right thinking do arrive at the essentialHaving known the essential as the essential and the non-

essential as the non-essential, they, nourished on right thinking, doarrive at the essential.

Dhammapada-12

YANGON, 18 March— Title recipient Sayadawsand lay persons from the Republic of India, theDemocratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, the LaoPeople’s Democratic Republic and Thailand, who willattend a ceremony to present religious titles conferredby the State Peace and Development Council, arrivedhere by air this afternoon.

They were welcomed at Yangon InternationalAirport by Director-General of Department forPromotion and Propagation of the Sasana Dr MyoMyint and departmental officials, Ambassador of theDemocratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka Mr P.A.DSamarasekera and embassy staff and then were takento Maha Santithukha Monastery where they are goingto put up.—MNA

Title recipient Sayadawsand lay persons from

abroad arrive

A title recipient Sayadaw being welcomed byofficials at Yangon International Airport. — MNA

A title recipient Sayadaw being welcomed byofficials at Yangon International Airport.

MNA

A title recipient Sayadaw being welcomed byofficials at Yangon International Airport.

MNA

A title recipient Sayadaw being welcomed byofficials at Yangon International Airport. —MNA

YANGON, 18 March—With thesponsorship of Myanmar ComputerFederation, the Myanmar ICTExhibition 2008, jointly organized byMyanmar Computer ProfessionalsAssociation and Myanmar ComputerIndustrialists Association, will be heldat the Tatmadaw Convention Hallfrom 23 to 25 March instead of 21March.

Myanmar ICT Exhibition 2008 to beheld from 23 to 25 March

NAY PYI TAW, 18 March — The Ministry ofForeign Affairs of the Union of Myanmar hadreleased a statement on 12 July 2007, explicitlyopposing the Taiwan authorities' move for areferendum on joining the United Nations. TheMyanmar delegation also voiced its full support tothe People's Republic of China in rejecting theproposed inclusion of supplementary item called“The Question of representation of Taiwan” in theagenda of the 62nd session of the UN GeneralAssembly.

It has once again come to the Ministry'sattention that despite widespread opposition by theinternational community, the Taiwan authoritieshave announced on 1 February 2008, that they willhold the referendum on UN membership on 22

Myanmar categorically opposes attempt ofTaiwan to hold referendum for joining UN

March 2008 at the same time with the election ofleaders in Taiwan. As a close and friendly neighbourof the People's Republic of China, Myanmarconsistently adheres to the "One China Policy" andalways regards Taiwan as an integral part of thePeople's Republic of China.

Myanmar is concerned at the undesirableescalation in cross-strait tensions that could stemfrom Taiwan's continued push for the referendum asit could affect the peace and stability of the region.The Government of the Union of Myanmar thereforereiterates its categorical opposition to the Taiwanauthorities' any move for "Taiwan Independence"including the attempt to hold the referendum onjoining the United Nations.

MNA

The exhibition will stageISO recognized computers andaccessories of 90 local companiesand enterprises, new technology onNetworking, software solution,computer courses, related documentsand others. And computers andaccessories will be available atreasonable prices during theexhibition.—MNA

NAY PYI TAW, 18March— Chairman ofMandalay CityDevelopment CommitteeMayor Brig-Gen PhoneZaw Han arrived atconstruction site oftemporary shops of ModernYadanabon Market at thecorner of 27th Street and77th Street of Haymazala

Mandalay Mayor inspectsconstruction of temporary shops

Ward in ChanayethazanTownship on 10 March.

O f f i c i a l sconcerned reported onconstruction of the shops.

The mayor inspectedconstruction of temporaryshops and urged the officialsto finish the work in time.

MNA

Beware of Fire

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8 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008

Soe Mya Kyaw

Now the draft of the constitution has been drawn in

accord with the fundamental principles and detailed

basic principles laid down by the National Convention.

In May 2008, the draft of the constitution will be approved

through a referendum. Multiparty democracy general

election will be held in 2010 in accord with the approved

constitution. The people’s democratic administrative

system will emerge as desired by the people.

Everyone is pleased to hear the democracy

transitional processes. Neighbouring countries with

genuine goodwill towards Myanmar, ASEAN

nations and friendly nations welcome Myanmar for

taking correct steps. Even the UN Secretariat also

welcomed and acknowledged the laying down of the

time frame for implementation of the seven-step

Road Map. Generally speaking, everybody who

really wants democracy welcomes and supports the

steps of Myanma political journey on the correct

democratic path.

It is found, however, that there are those who

continue to oppose and disrupt the political way.

They have opposed and disturbed Myanma political

journey in various ways and means since the beginning

of the National Convention. They misled the people

into misunderstanding the government giving false

information and drove a wedge among the people.

As a duty-conscious person from the media, I

wrote 14 articles entitled “Legislative structure

and essence of the future State” with the aim of

giving the people information on the developments

of the National Convention. These articles have been

published in book form since April 2006. The

circulation of the book is in more than a hundred

thousands and it was distributed to the people.

“The fundamental principles and detailed

basic principles laid down by the Plenary Sessions

of the National Convention in drafting the State

Constitution” was published in September 2007. I

had an opportunity to read “The draft Constitution

of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (2008)”.

According to my study, I found that the

accusations of the internal and external anti-

government groups were totally contrary to the

prevailing conditions. That was why I went to Bagyi

Soe and Kyee Kyee Mya again in order to explain the

facts to the people.

As I introduced Bagyi Soe to the readers in my

articles, he is a well-known person in Myanmar education

field. After his retirement from professor, he serves as

a delegate of intellectuals and intelligentsia to the

National Convention. Kyee Kyee Mya is also a retired

headmistress. They seek knowledge as they have no

child. As for me, they are the bank of knowledge.

Essence and benefits of the State constitution

I therefore inform the people of the essence and

benefits of the constitution that we discussed in our talk.

Soe Mya Kyaw: Bagyi Soe, I would like to ask you in

brief. In our country people’s democratic

administrative system will be practised in place of

the administration by the Tatmadaw. Why do

some people oppose it?

Bagyi Soe: Greedy people use the weakness of some

ignorant persons for political gain.

Kyee Kyee Mya: Your Bagyi reads books every day,

takes notes and draws tables for knowledge. It is

lucky for you to come here.

Bagyi Soe: Here, you need to know the main desire of

anti-government groups and their accusations first.

Soe Mya Kyaw: Their main desire is like the old

record. They demanded calling for the Hluttaw

sticking to the result of the 1990 election and

transfer of power.

Kyee Kyee Mya: Yes, of course. They want power

through a short cut. So they tried to disrupt the

National Convention. The entire people supported

the National Convention. Finally, they became

helpless and they resorted to any means they could

lay their hands on.

Bagyi Soe: You’re right. At a time when the draft

constitution is about to be approved through the

national referendum, internal and external

destructive elements are trying to disturb and

disrupt the plan looking backwards as they didn’t

have the chance to get involved in the political

process or their clique did not participate in it.

Soe Mya Kyaw: Yes. Their reasons are totally

groundless. They are criticizing the draft

constitution by saying that it does not ensure equal

rights of the national races, that it includes the

points encouraging the Tatmadaw to wield power

and that set qualifications of the Hluttaw

representatives are outdated.

Kyee Kyee Mya: Actually, they are attempting to drive a

wedge among the national brethren. They are employing

the same way as the ex- and neo-colonialists did.

Bagyi Soe: In the name of national causes, they are

resorting to wicked ways to revive the federal

principle, to remove the Tatmadaw from its national

political leadership role and to install a puppet

government dancing to the tune of the west bloc.

Soe Mya Kyaw: Their attempts are very detrimental to the

State and the people. Those saboteurs are still sticking

to the ideologies of 1962 and the ploys of 1988.

Kyee Kyee Mya: It’s none of our business no mater

how they are adhering to such ideologies. But we

cannot accept the way they are conspiring in

complicity with the colonialists.

Bagyi Soe: Our people are politically awakened. So,

they are well aware of the intrigues of internal and

external elements.

Soe Mya Kaw: Then the general people themselves

will know very well the essence of the draft

constitution and its benefits.

Kyee Kyee Mya: Sure. Only a handful of

destructionists are unable to know the value of

the draft constitution.

Bagyi Soe: The people are able to distinguish between the

enemy and the friend. They know who has the

constructive attitude and who has the destructive

attitude.

Soe Mya Kyaw: Can you explain the similarities

between yours and the people’s attitude towards

the constitution?

Bagyi Soe: As a member of the general public, I

would like to express my opinions. The draft

constitution includes 15 chapters.

Soe Mya Kyaw: Chapter (1) prescribes the State

Fundamental Principles.

Bagyi Soe: The remaining 14 chapters are the State

Structure, The Head of State, Legislature,

Executive, Judiciary, the Tatmadaw,

Citizenship, Fundamental Rights and Duties

of Citizens, Election, Political Parties,

Provisions on State of Emergency, Amendment

of the Constitution, State Flag, State Seal,

National Anthem and the Capital, Transitory

Provisions, and General Provisions.

Kyee Kyee Mya: I have read it from beginning to

end. Whenever foreign broadcasting stations such

as BBC and VOA criticize the constitution, I read

the provisions included in the chapter concerned.

And their accusations are all pointless.

Soe Mya Kyaw: Their first accusation is that Myanmar

exercises Bamar domination policy sidelining

the rights of ethnic minorities. Is it right, Ba Gyi?

Bagyi Soe: The Fundamental Principles prescribe

that the State shall be known as Pyidaungsu

Thamada Myanmar Naing-Ngan Daw, that the

State is a nation wherein various national races

make their homes together, that sovereign power

of the State is derived from the citizens and is in

force in the whole country and that the Union is

constituted by Pyidaungsu (Union) system.

Kyee Kyee Mya: A study of the provisions shows

very clearly that Myanmar is a nation where

various national races are residing together and

the nation will be built in accord with the Union

system. It is common knowledge that we have no

discrimination against any national races.

(See page 9)

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THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008 9

Essence and benefits of the State constitutionSoe Mya Kyaw

(from page 8)

Soe Mya Kyaw: To ensure no racism as well as

regionalism, the constitution has prescribed that

the existing seven divisions are designated as

seven regions and the existing seven states are

designated as seven states. It is also prescribed

that those seven regions and seven states are of

equal status and authority.

Bagyi Soe: In this regard, just as we see the word

“delineation” we can easily understand that it

does not mean demarcation. It is prescribed to

ensure equal status.

Soe Mya Kyaw: I think it was 1989. A TV play “Di

a-taing be` kaung ba de” (Maintain the status quo)

won the satisfaction of the people.

Kyee Kyee Mya: It reflected an evidence to highlight

non-disintegration of the Union. We national

brethren have been living through thick and thin

and we love each other more than ever. We will

never accept any situation that may break up

national unity.

Bagyi Soe: The more I study the constitution, the

more I understand that it is designed to ensure

flourishing of Union Spirit.

Soe Mya Kyaw: Tell me more about it, Bagyi.

Bagyi Soe: Chapter (2) is “The State Structure”. It

says that the State is delineated and constituted

with the seven regions and seven states as follows:

(a) Kachin State, (b) Kayah State, (c) Kayin

State, (d) Chin State, (e) Sagaing Region, (f)

Taninthayi Region, (g) Bago Region, (h)

Magway Region, (i) Mandalay Region, (j) Mon

State, (k) Rakhine State, (l) Yangon Region,

(m) Shan State, (n) Ayeyawady Region, and

(o) Union territories.

Soe Mya Kyaw: In this chapter, it is said that Nay Pyi

Taw, that is the Capital of the Union, is

designated as Union territory placed under

direct administration of the President of the

Union. I would like to know the designation of a

Union territory.

Bagyi Soe: It is said that if the need arises to

designate areas that have special situation in

connection with national defence, security,

administration, economy, etc. as Union

territories they may be so designated as Union

territories after enacting laws. So, Nay Pyi Taw

is designated as a Union territory.

Kyee Kyee Mya: People are worried in case the

constitution will prescribe a principle about

secession from the Union like the 1947 constitution.

Bagyi Soe: Don’t worry about that. It is prescribed

that “No part of the territory of the Union,

namely regions, states and self-administered

areas etc. shall ever secede from the Union”.

Soe Mya Kyaw: I am no longer worried about the

future of our country, then. I notice this principle

carries an expression “self-administered areas”.

Bagyi Soe: Self-administered areas mean a self-

administered division and self-administered zones.

It is prescribed that (1) to group together Leshi,

Lahe and Namyun Townships in Sagaing

Division and prescribe it Naga Self-

Administered Zone; (2) to group together

Ywangan and Pindaya Townships in Shan State

and prescribe it Danu Self-Administered Zone;

(3) to group together Hopong, Hsihseng and

Pinlaung Townships in Shan State and prescribe

it Pa-O Self-Administered Zone; (4) to group

together Namhsan and Manton Townships in

Shan State and prescribe it Palaung Self-

Administered Zone; (5) to group together

Konkyan and Laukkai Townships in Shan State

and prescribe it Kokang Self- Administered

Zone; (6) to group together Hopang, Mongmao,

Panwai, Nahpam, Pangsang (Pankham) and

Metman townships in Shan State and prescribe

it Wa Self- Administered Division.

Soe Mya Kyaw: If so, one more self-administered

division and five more self-administered zones

are to be formed.

Bagyi Soe: Yes. At the National Convention, the

delegates had to hold discussions thoroughly and

laid down this principle for the national races that

have not got separate regions or states to enjoy

the right on self-administration.

Kyee Kyee Mya: National races are going to get all

the rights they deserve. So, the entire people are

pleased with this.

Soe Mya Kyaw: National ethnic minorities are given

rights many more than ever. I would like to know

how the self-administered division and self-

administered zones are formed.

Bagyi Soe: Yes, I will explain it later. Now, you have

understood the essence and benefits of the draft

constitution, haven’t you? Have a look at the chart

I have drawn. Then, you will understand that more.

Chart showing the structure of the future StateThe State practises discipline-flourishing genuine multiparty

democracyThe Union is constituted by Pyidaungsu (Union) system

Sovereign power of the State is derived from the citizens and isin force in the whole country

No part of the territory of the Union shall ever secede from the Union.

Kachin State,

Kayah State,

Kayin State,

Chin State,

Sagaing Region, Naga Self-Administered Zone

Taninthayi Region,

Bago Region,

Magway Region,

Mandalay Region,

Mon State,

Rakhine State, Danu Self-Administered Zone

Yangon Region, Pa-O Self-Administered Zone

Shan State, Palaung Self-Administered Zone

Ayeyawady Region, Kokang Self-Administered Zone

Wa Self-Administered Division.

Nay Pyi Taw

Republic of the

Union of Myanmar

Translation: NW+ST+MSMyanma Alin, Kyemon: 18-3-2008

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10 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008

Foreign tourists visit Yu Garden, one of the most popular tourism sites intown, Tuesday March 11, 2008, in Shanghai, China. The booming economy

draws millions to China to work, study and travel, and criminals increasinglyare defying a culture that has long considered foreigners inviolate.—INTERNET

BANGKOK, 18 March— Eight children wereinjured, including threeseriously, when suspectedinsurgents detonated abomb at a playground inThailand’s restive deepsouthern province of Yalaon Monday, according toThai media reports.

The bomb hid insidea motorcycle and left near

Playground bomb attack injures8 children in Thai south

a playground behind ahouse exploded at about11:00 a.m. (0400 GMT)in Yala’s Bannang SataDistrict, district chiefMethi Kanachanphuwasaid, quoted by the newswebsite of media groupThe Nation.

Some of the injuredchildren were sitting in thehouse and the rest were

playing in the playgroundwhen the bomb went off.Methi said the insurgentsmight have set the timebomb to explode when apatrol unit of soldierspassed the spot, but nosoldiers were injured, thereport said.

Insurgent violencehas troubled Thailand’sthree southernmostprovinces — Narathiwat,Yala and Pattani unabatedsince January, 2004,killing over 2,800 peoplein the region. Thaiauthorities have blamedthe violence on Muslimseparatists.

MNA/Xinhua

Japanese yachtsman Kenichi Horie waves fromthe deck of the wave-powered boat Suntory

Mermaid II in Honolulu Harbor, Hawaii in thishandout photo taken on March 16, 2008. Horieplans to make a solo crossing of the Pacific in aboat that converts the movement of ocean waves

into forward propulsion.— INTERNET

TEHERAN, 18 March —Iran on Monday stronglycondemned the EuropeanUnion (EU)’s latest“unfair” accusations overthe parliamentary electionin the Islamic Republic,state media reported.

While the final andofficial results of theelection were not releasedyet by Iranian officials, itis surprising that the EU

Iran condemns EU accusations overparliamentary election

rotating presidencymanaged to assess theelection and release astatement about it, saidForeign Ministryspokesman MohammadAli Hosseini in a statement.

EU’s Slovenianpresidency overnightSaturday labelled thedisqualification ofcandidates during thegeneral elections a “grave

violation” of internationalnorms, saying that Iran’slegislative election was“neither fair nor free”.

“(The EU) expressesits deep regret anddisappointment that over athird of prospectivecandidates were preventedfrom standing in this year’sparliamentary elections,” itsaid in a statement.

MNA/Xinhua

Four FBI agents wounded in Pakistan bombingWASHINGTON, 18

March— FBI agents wereamong those wounded ina bomb attack on an Italianrestaurant in Islamabadduring the weekend, theFBI said on Sunday.

“Four FBI personnel

were slightly injured in thebombing attack inPakistan. The FBI isproviding the necessaryassistance to ouremployees and theirfamilies,” FBI spokesmanRichard Kolko said.

Kolko provided nofurther details. The USState Department had noaddition comment.

A bomb planted in thegarden dining area of theLuna Caprese Restauranton Saturday killed aTurkish woman andwounded 11 people,including five Americans.

The restaurant is apopular spot withforeigners in Islamabad.

ABC News, citingunnamed sources,reported that aninvestigation was underway to determine whetherthe attack was based onwhether terrorists hadlearned in advance theagents would be at therestaurant.

MNA/Reuters

US army names soldier shotdead by German police

BERLIN, 18 March —The US Army has namedJeremiah W. Carmack asthe soldier stationed insouthern Germany whowas shot dead by policelast week.

German authoritiessaid on Friday they shot30-year-old Carmackdead after he threatenedan ex-girlfriend and thenwent on the run armedwith an assault rifle.

The 2nd, “Dagger”,

brigade of the US 1stInfantry Division, whereCarmack was serving, istaking part in a jointinvestigation by the US

Army and Germanauthorities, the brigadesaid in a statement late onSaturday, which named thesoldier.—MNA/Reuters

Gas explosionin apartmentbuilding kills3 in Barcelona

MADRID,18 March —Three people were killedand eight others wereinjured Monday morningin a gas explosion in anapartment building indowntown Barcelona,Spain.

A total of 37 peoplewere rescued byfirefighters, news reportsfrom Barcelona said.

The explosion wasreportedly caused by agas leak on the first floorof the eight-floorbuilding.

MNA/Xinhua

Death toll in NY crane collapseup to seven

NEW YORK, 18 March — Three more bodies werefound beneath the rubble on Monday, raising to seventhe number of people killed when a giant crane fell andcrushed a residential building in Manhattan, a policespokeswoman said.

The crane flipped over on Saturday, flattening afour-storey townhouse with a bar on the lower leveland damaging three other buildings, injuring morethan 10 people.

Six of those killed were believed to be constructionworkers, including the crane’s operator. The sevethvictim was a woman visiting New York from Floridapolice said.

Authorities were investigating the cause of thecollapse. The crane broke during an operation toincrease its height.

MNA/Reuters

Democrats fault Bushamid financial crisis

WASHINGTON, 18March—Tumul tuousweekend developments onWall Street reflect the BushAdministration’s failure tocome to grips decisivelywith a housing meltdownnow afflicting the broadereconomy, contenders forthe Democratic pre-sidential nomination said

on Monday.“The news coming

from Wall Street today hasconfirmed our fears thatthe financial fallout fromthe mortgage crisis wouldspill over into the widereconomy,” SenatorBarack Obama said whilecampaigning in Penn-sylvania. The FederalReserve stepped in onSunday to boost financialmarket liquidity by cuttingan interest rate andappoved a takeover ofailing Wall Streetinvestment bank Bear

Stearns by JPMorganChase & Co for a bargain-basement price of two USdollars a share. That dealcommitted the Fed to fundup to 30 billion US dollarsof Bear Stearns’ less liquidassets.2 Senator HillaryClinton, speaking toreporters after deliveringa speech at GeorgeWashington University,said she would not“second guess” what theFed had done, especiallygiven the seriousness ofthe current economicsituation.—MNA/Reuters

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THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008 11

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Images

of

the

Day

Dancers perform Chu Shui Ba Shan, an original drama displays a panorama of ancientpeople at the Three Gorges area of China, during a public show in Yichang City, centralChina’s Hubei province, 17 March, 2008. Chu Shui Ba Shan is created and performed

by the Yichang Song and Dance Ensemble. The drama has been condensed and put intothe tourism market as a culture product, into which bilingual host has been added, to

meet the market needs. —XINHUA

People play a human fooseball game in front of a departmentstore in Hangzhou, East China’s Zhejiang Province, on 16

March, 2008.—XINHUA

These cymbals on display at Frankfurt’s MusicTrade Fair on 14 March, might all look fairly

similar, but as the man checking out theinstruments in the corner would probably say,

the bang is in the details. —INTERNET

This ‘flying saucer’ house is pictured on the side of Signal Mountain in Chattanooga, Tenn., on 14March, 2008. A Cincinnati woman’s $135,000 bid bought the flying saucer-shaped house on 15

March, 2008. An auctioneer who conducted the sale said the buyer, Pearl Johnson, did not want totalk about the transaction. Auctioneer Terry Posey said he thought she bought it as a second

home.—INTERNET

Visitors look at the gold-plating tableware for restaurants

during the 14th China International Exhibition for Hotel &

Restaurant Facilities, Equipment & Services, Food &

Beverages that opened at the China World Trade Center

Exhibition Hall in Beijing, capital of China, on March 16,

2008. —XINHUA PHOTO

19-3-08 NL 8/16/18, 02:21 PM11

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12 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008

Bank Holidays All Banks will be closed on21st March (Friday) Full Moonof Tabaung and 27th March(Thursday) Armed ForcesDay 2008, being publicholidays under the NegotiableInstruments Act.

Central Bank of Myanmar

Guangdong reportspoultry bird flu outbreakBEIJING, 17 March —An outbreak of bird flu in

poultry has been reported in south China’s GuangdongProvince, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) said onSunday.

The National Bird Flu Reference Laboratoryconfirmed the case, which occurred at a market inLiwan District of Guangzhou City on Thursday. It wascaused by the highly pathogenic H5N1 subtype of theavian influenza virus, the MOA said.

The disease, which killed 114 domestic fowl and ledto the culling of another 518, was brought undereffective control after the MOA and provincialgovernment took timely emergency measures.

It was China's fifth bird flu outbreak in poultry thisyear. Others included one in the northwestern XinjiangUygur Autonomous Region, two in the southwesternTibet Autonomous Region and one in the southwesternGuizhou Province.— MNA/Xinhua

ABBA drummerfound dead in

Spain MADRID, 18 March—A former drummer for 1970s

Swedish pop group ABBA, Ola Brunkert, has beenfound dead after an apparent accident in has house inMallorca, Spanish police said on Monday.

Brunkert bled to death from a throat wound whichpolice suspect was caused after he accidentally smasheda pane of glass, a spokeswoman for the Civil Guardpolice said, adding that authorities were awaiting theresult of an autopsy.

The official website of the band said Brunkert waspossibly the only instrumental musician to appear onall the albums released by the band

MNA/Reuters

New method finds networks ofgenes behind obesity

WASHINGTON, 18 March—Overeating disrupts entirenetworks of genes in the body, causing not only obesity,but diabetes and heart disease, in ways that may bepossible to predict, researchers reported on Sunday.

The researchers developed a new method ofanalyzing DNA and used it to discover that obesity isnot only complex — something already known — butcomplex in ways that had not been previouslyunderstood.

“Obesity is not a disease that is the result of a singlechange to a single gene. It changes entire networks,”said Eric Schadt, executive director of Genetics atMerck Research Laboratories.

His team identified networks of hundreds of genesthat appear to be thrown out of kilter when mice are feda high-fat diet.

“This network is completely rocked by exposure toa high-fat, Western-type diet,” Schadt said.

They then turned to a database of Icelandic peoplebeing studied by Decode Genetics Inc and foundpeople have the same networks.—MNA/Reuters

100 tons of heavy oil spillsinto France’s Loire River

FWD102 Model walks therunway at the Puja Aryashow during Fall 2008

Wills Lifestyle IndiaFashion Week in New

Delhi on 16 March, 2008.INTERNET

PARIS, 18 March—About 100 tons of heavyoil spilt into France’s LoireRiver late Sunday whenpipes of an oil tankerleaked during the loadingprocess, local governmentof Loire-Atlantique Pro-vince said Monday.

According to a govern-ment statement, asidefrom the 100 tons of heavyoil spilt into the river, 300more were poured onto theriver bank. The provincialgovernment warned that

heavy oil is harmful tohuman health and has tobe handled with caution.

Residents living in thearea are not allowed tojoin in the governmenteffort to clean the spill,the statement said.

MNA/Xinhua

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THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008 13

Space station robotichandyman flexes its muscles

Surgeons are seen operating at a hospital in Osaka, western Japan. Japanmight boast universal health cover and some of the world’s best medical

technology, but an acute shortage of doctors is leaving some hospitals unableto treat even car crash victims.—INTERNET

Two girls enjoy the beautiful scene of the west lake park in Fuzhou, capitalof southeast China’s Fujian Province, on 17 March, 2008. The beautiful

scene of peach blossom in the park has attracted a lot of visitors.—XINHUA

Mars, Venus very different, very similar

Vietnamesechild dies

from bird fluHANOI, 17 March —

Vietnam’s NationalHygiene and Epidemio-logy Institute said thecountry’s latest humancase of bird flu infectionwas a 11-year-old boyfrom northern Ha Namprovince who died on 14March after four days oftreatment in Hanoi capital,Vietnam News Agencyreported Monday.

The institute’s testsshowed that specimensfrom the boy named DoVan Huong from ThanhLiem district was infectedwith bird flu virus strainH5N1, the news agencyquoted Nguyen LapQuyet, director of the HaNam Health Department,as saying.

Internet

New drug identified in US forparasitic worm disease

BEIJING, 17 March —US researchers haveidentified a new drug thathold promise as potentialtherapies for schis-tosomiasis — a parasiticworm disease that afflictsmore than 200 millionpeople worldwide.

The drug killed wormsin the lab, and cured miceinfected with the disease,said David Williams ofIllinois State University,who reported his findingson Sunday in the journalNature Medicine.

The results exceededall benchmarks set bythe World Health Orga-nization for potentialnew drugs to treat schisto-somiasis.

Importantly, the resear-chers also showed that thedrug was active againstall three major species ofSchistosoma worms thatinfect humans.

Schistosomiasis, alsoknown as bilharzia orsnail fever, affects anestimated 207 millionpeople, most of whom livein developing nations intropical areas.

About 20 million of

those people are seriouslydisabled due to severeanemia, diarrhea, internalbleeding and/or organdamage. In addition,another 280,000 die of thedisease each year.

Internet

A handout of the European SpaceAgency ESA shows a visualisation of

Mars, created from spacecraftimagery.—XINHUA

HOUSTON, 17 March— Astronauts aboardthe International SpaceStation put their newmechanical maintenanceman through a trialworkout on Sunday,testing the joints on itsgangly arms whilecrewmates prepared foranother spacewalk to getthe robot ready for service. The Canadian-builtrobot, named Dextre, wasassembled during anoccasionally frustratingspacewalk that endedearlier Saturday by shuttleEndeavour astronautsRichard Linnehan andMichael Foreman.

Dextre’s 11-foot (3.35-metre) arms were flownto the station anchored —at some points too tightly

— to a work pallet. “Wemay have to get medievalon Mr Dextre,” Linnehanremarked at one pointwhen even a pry bar wasnot readily freeing a stuckbolt.

Eventually, the astro-nauts were able to pinDextre’s arms on his body,clearing the way for aspacewalk on Monday tooutfit the handyman witha tool caddy, televisioncameras and otheraccessories.

Dextre is designed tooperate on the station’srobot arm, adding manualdexterity and another 30feet (9.1 metres) of reachto assist spacewalkingastronauts during stationrepair and maintenancetasks. — MNA/Reuters

Uruguay, Venezuela to launchcommunications satellite

MONTEVIDEO, 18 March — Uruguay andVenezuela are expected to have a sharedcommunications satellite in the air soon whichwill cover South and Central America, an officialfrom Uruguay’s Communication ServicesRegulation Unit said Sunday.

The 250-million-US-dollar satellite, which isdesigned for 15 years of service life, will boost bothnations’ communications and allow them to lower thecost of using the broadband Internet, Leon Lev,president of the regulation unit told media.

“It (the satellite) will be jointly used by Uruguayand Venezuela for peaceful ends,” Lev said, addingthat “Uruguay is on the verge of a fundamentallyimportant event”.

Local media said the joint programme has alreadyenabled the two nations to improve their aerospaceresearch. The satellite’s launch site has yet to beconfirmed.

MNA/XinhuaBEIJING, 17 March — Two nearly

identical spacecraft orbiting Mars andVenus has sent back data that reveals thetwo planets have more in common thanheretofore thought.

The ESA’s Mars Express and VenusExpress have discovered the twoworlds’atmospheres, while quite different,are much alike as to how they interact withsolar radiation. The data show that chargedparticles from the gas layers around bothplanets are being scavenged by solar windand storms.“Mars and Venus are verydifferent planets,” said David Brain, aplanetary scientist at the University ofCalifornia, Berkeley, and a supportinginvestigator for Venus Express.

“Venus’s atmosphere is very thick, dryand hot, and Mars’s atmosphere is verythin and cold. And yet the sameprocesses are happening on bothplanets.” The atmospheres of Venus andMars are about 95 percent carbon dioxide.

Earth’s is mostly nitrogen now, butscientists think it used to be more like theother rocky worlds. Because neither ofour neighbouring planets has a global,protecive magnetic field, the solar windis free to interact directly with the planets’atmospheres.—Internet

Pet dogs are displayed for sale on a street in the southern Chinese city ofGuangzhou recently.—INTERNET

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14 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008

S P O R T S Owen’s equaliser givesNewcastle breathing space

BIRMINGHAM (England), 18 March — Michael Owen’ssecond-half goal allayed Newcastle manager KevinKeegan’s relegation fears in securing a 1-1 Premier-ship draw at Birmingham on Monday night.

England coach Fabio Capello watched Owen showhis predatory instincts in front of goal as he levelledmatters 10 minutes into the second half with hisseventh goal of the campaign.

James McFadden had given Birmingham a deservedhalf-time lead but it was a different story after the breakwhen the Magpies looked the more menacing.

The Scot punished some poor defending to put theBlues ahead but the visitors were much improved inthe second half to grab their equaliser through Owen.

McFadden said the hosts deserved three points.“We were by far the best team in the first half. They

were the better team in the second half but if we takeour chances it’s a different game.”

“They’ve done well to come back into it and in theend we’ve done well to hang on.” —Internet

Barcelona’s Andres Iniesta (L) con-trols the ball next to Almeria’s Juanitoduring their Spanish first division soc-cer match at Mediterraneo stadium inAlmeria on 16 March, 2008. Kalu Ucheheaded in an 85th-minute equaliser

on Sunday to give Almeria a 2-2draw against 10-man FC Barcelona

in the Spanish league.—XINHUA

Ai Sugiyama of Japan returns the ball during her1-6, 1-6 loss to Jelena Jankovic in the third round

of the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament inIndian Wells, California.—INTERNET

Newcastle Utd’s Michael Owen (2ndR) beats theBirmingham City defenders to the ball to score his

team’s equaliser.—INTERNET

Sania Mirza of India serves duringher match against Israel’s Shahar

Peer in the third round of the PacificLife Open tennis tournament in

Indian Wells, California.—INTERNET

Goal flurry leads Sporting toemphatic win over Nacional

LISBON, 18 March — Sporting scoredthree times in as many second-halfminutes to record a 4-1 home win overNacional Madeira in the PortuguesePremier League on Monday.

Brazilian striker Liedson shot the UEFACup quarter-finalists into a 55th-minutelead and captain Joao Moutinho made it2-0 a minute later.

Liedson then made sure of victory withhis second goal of the game in the 57th

Sporting missed a penalty before wingerYannick Djalo completed the rout after agoalmouth scramble in the 65th.

MNA/Reuters Hamburg keen to recruitCroatia coach Bilic

ZAGREB, 18 March — Hamburg SVhave put Croatia coach Slaven Bilic ontop of their wish-list and the Bundesligaclub are keen to sign him immediatelyafter the Euro 2008 tournament inJune, the Jutarnji List daily reported onMonday.

“They made it clear that they want meto take over the team from this summer.However, we haven’t talked about anyconcretedetails yet,” Bilic told the popu-lar daily.

Bilic said he was also in talks with theCroatian Soccer Association (HNS)about his coaching future.

“I wouldn’t like to use media as ameans of communication with my em-ployer and anyhow, there is nothing newyet. It is true that the Hamburg offer is anhonour for me,” Bilic said.

MNA/Reuters

Bordeaux stay in title race with Strasbourg win PARIS, 18 March — Girondins Bordeaux kept alive their title hopes when an

Henrique double helped them to a 3-0 victory over lowly Racing Strasbourg inLigue 1 on Sunday.

The Aquitaine side remain second in the standings, with nine matches left, on 55points, six behind leaders Olympique Lyon who won 3-0 at Monaco on Saturday.

Olympique Marseille missed the chance to move within a point of third-placedNancy when they wasted a two-goal lead in a 3-3 draw at struggling RC Lens.

France midfielder Samir Nasri opened the scoring in the 25th minute with a16-metre shot and Benoit Cheyrou doubled the tally three minutes later after benefit-ing from a poor clearance from Lens centre back Vitorino Hilton.— MNA/Reuters

Palmeiras score three penaltiesto beat Sao Paulo

Goaless draws completeviolence-hit weekend in Argentina

BUENOS AIRES, 18 March — Boca Juniors and RiverPlate were involved in goaless draws on Sunday as aweekend of violence in Argentine soccer came to anend.

South American champions Boca missed a chance togo top of the Clausura championship when they wereheld 0-0 at Huracan, despite dominating most of thegame.

River drew at home to bottom club Racing Club, aresult which left the hosts undefeated after five gamesand the visitors winless after six.

Huracan goalkeeper Marcelo Barovaro deniedRodrigo Palacio and Fabian Vargas after both were putclean through in the first half, then produced anotherbrilliant stop from Palacio just before the interval.

In the second half, Boca striker Martin Palermo wasclose with a left foot shot and Sebastian Battaglia hitthe post in a goalmouth scramble.—MNA/Reuters

Valhalla in McDowell’sview after Korea win JEJU (South Korea), 18

March — A place atValhalla beckons for North-ern Ireland’s GraemeMcDowell as the biggest ofprizes for victory on SouthKorea’s island of gods.Beating India’s Jeev MilkhaSingh in a playoff at theEuropean Tour-sanctionedBallantines Championshipmakes McDowell an earlyfavourite to claim a RyderCup spot in September.

“This is the year for mereally,” the 28-year-old toldreporters after Sunday’s sud-den-death thriller. “At the KClub (at the 2006 RyderCup), I realized I should havebeen on the team. I was goodenough. I promised myself Iwas going to give myselfevery opportunity to be on(Nick) Faldo’s team atValhalla.” —MNA/Reuters

Woods clinches Arnold Palmer Invitational win

RIO DE JANEIRO, 18March — Palmeiras con-verted three penalties inthe last 20 minutes on theway to a 4-1 win over arch-rivals Sao Paulo 4-1 in thePaulista championship onSunday.

Adriano, on loan fromInter Milan, headed SaoPaulo in front in the 38thminute on a rain-soakedpitch, but Palmeiras,underformer Real Madrid andBrazil coach VanderleiLuxemburgo, equalizedfive minutes later with agoal from Kleber.

The game turnedPalmeiras’s way whenflamboyant Chileanmidfielder Jorge Valdiviawent down in the penaltyarea in the 76th minute.After three minutes of SaoPaulo protests, former

Brazil forward Denilsonconverted.

Five minutes later, it wasValdivia’s turn to scoreafter Kleber was judgedto have been fouled byJuninho, who was sent off.Forward Diego Souza wonand converted the thirdpenalty in injury time.

MNA/Reuters

ORLANDO (Florida), 18 March — Ti-ger Woods produced a superb 24-footputt for a dramatic birdie on the finalhole to claim his ninth win in 10 tourna-ments at the Arnold Palmer Invitationalon Sunday.

World number one Woods went intothe 18th hole level with fellow Ameri-can Bart Bryant on nine-under-par andlooked set for a play-off.

Journeyman Bryant, ranked 137th be-fore this event, had kept the pressure onWoods throughout with a consistent

round of 67 but was left to watch a perfectputt for victory — Woods’ seventh suc-cessive worldwide.

Woods celebrated with a punch of hisfist and threw his cap to the ground be-fore picking the ball out of the hole withthe massed ranks of fans cheering hissuccess. “It was just a great day. I hit theball well all day,” said Woods who hadstruggled to find his form in the openingtwo rounds and who had been down in20th place, seven shots off the lead onFriday. —MNA/Reuters

19-3-08 NL 8/16/18, 02:22 PM14

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THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Wednesday, 19 March, 2008 15

WEATHER

R 489 Published by the News and Periodicals Enterprise, Ministry of Information, Union of Myanmar. Edited and printed at The New Light of Myanmar Press,No 22/30 Strand Road at 43rd Street, Yangon. Cable Newlight, PO Box No. 43, Telephones: Editors 392308, Manager 392226, Circulation 392304, Advertisement 392223,Accounts 392224, Administration 392225, Production/Press 392369

Tuesday, 18 March, 2008Summary of observations recorded at 9:30 hours

MST: During the past 24 hours, rain or thundershow-ers have been isolated in Shan State and TaninthayiDivision, weather has been partly cloudy in Kachin,Rakhine, Kayin and Mon States, Sagaing, Mandalayand Yangon Divisions and generally fair in the re-maining States and Divisions. Day temperatures were(3ºC) to (4ºC) above March average temperatures inShan State, Bago and Taninthayi Divisions and aboutMarch average temperatures in the remaining Statesand Divisions. The significant day temperatures wereMinbu (40ºC) and Aunglan (39ºC). The noteworthyamount of rainfall recorded was Minesat (0.12) inch.

Maximum temperature on 17-3-2008 was 100ºF.Minimum temperature on 18-3-2008 was 72ºF. Rela-tive humidity at (09:30) hours MST on 18-3-2008was 83%. Total sunshine hours on 17-3-2008 was(7.5) hours approx.

Rainfall on 18-3-2008 was (Nil) at Mingaladon,Kaba-Aye and Central Yangon. Total rainfall since1-1-2008 was (0.67) inch at Mingaladon, (0.47 ) inchat Kaba-Aye and (0.35) inch at Central Yangon.Maximum wind speed at Yangon (Kaba-Aye) was(4) mph from North at (15:30) hours MST on17-3-2008.

Bay inference: Weather is partly cloudy in theSouth Andaman Sea and South Bay and generallyfair elsewhere in the Bay of Bengal.

Forecast valid until evening of 19-3-2008: Like-lihood of isolated rain or thundershowers in Kachin,Shan States and Taninthayi Division, weather willbe partly cloudy in Mon and Kayin States, upperSagaing, Mandalay, Bago, Ayeyawady and YangonDivisions and generally fair in the remaining areas.Degree of certainty is (60%).

State of the sea: Seas will be moderate inMyanmar waters.

Outlook for subsequent two days: Likelihoodof isolated rain or thundershowers in the NorthernMyanmar areas.

Forecast for Nay Pyi Taw and neighbouringarea for 19-3-2008: Partly cloudy.

Forecast for Yangon and neighbouring areafor 19-3-2008: Partly cloudy.

Forecast for Mandalay and neighbouring areafor 19-3-2008: Partly cloudy

Wednesday, 19 MarchView on today

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French Socialistslead way against

SarkozyPARIS, 18 March —

France’s oppositionSocialists secured stronggains in second round localelections on Sunday,opinion polls said, dealinga blow to President NicolasSarkozy and his 10-month-old government.

The polls suggestedleftist candidates had woncontrol of a number oftowns and cities currentlyrun by the centre-right,including Caen, Amiensand Reims in the north ofFrance, and Perigueux inthe south.

There was no im-mediate sign if Sarkozy’sallies had managed to holdonto the two main prizeswithin the left’s grasp —the southern cities ofMarseille and Toulouse.If the right loses thesevotes it will represent asevere setback forSarkozy.

MNA/Reuters

Belarus seeks staff cuts in US Embassy

Israel killed 100 Hamas police since June

MINSK, 18 March — Belarus has asked the United States to cut staff at itsembassy in Minsk, a week after Washington’s envoy temporarily left the former-Soviet state which the US and European Union says violates human rights.

A statement from theForeign Ministry said a USdiplomat from the embassyhad been called in and toldof the “urgent recom-mendation from theBelarussian side that theUS Embassy in Minskreduce its number ofpersonnel”.

The ministry did notgive a reason for thisdemand.

Ambassador Karen

Stewart’s departure lastTuesday followed tworequests that she leaveBelarus over what Minskcalled new US sanctionsagainst national oil productsfirm Belneftekhim.

Last year the USordered its citizens not todeal with the company andsaid no new action had beentaken since.

US officials saidStewart’s departure was for

consultations only, and thatshe remained ambassadorto Belarus. Minsk last weekalso recalled its envoy fromWashington.

Since a dispute withRussia last year, however,Lukashenko has tried toimprove ties with the Westand courts have releasedseveral opposition activists— moves cautiouslywelcomed by the EU.

MNA/Reuters

GAZA,18 March — Chief of Hamas Police in Gaza General Tawfiq Jabbersaid that Israel had killed some 100 Hamas police officers in the Gaza Strip sincethe movement had taken over the enclave in mid June last year.

Israeli air fighters hitseveral police stations andposts in the Gaza Strip overthe past nine months, killingabout 100 police men.Israeli airstrikes wereretaliatory to rockets attackscarried out by Gazamilitants against Israel.

Jabber revealed that thepolice formed by Hamashad evacuated all the policebuildings and headquartersall-over the Gaza Strip, infear that Israel may strikeon them in the coming days.

Hamas militias hadtaken control of the GazaStrip nine months ago,after it defeated PresidentMahmoud Abbas securityforces. Abbas said nodialogue with Hamasuntil it gives Gaza backto the Palestinian

Authority.Jabber revealed in a

statement sent to reportersthat the police in Gaza“have full plans ofemergency all-over theGaza Strip to deal withthe current situation incase Israel escalates its

military actions”. He added that the

police also have plans tocontinue acting in the GazaStrip “in case the policebuildings andheadquarters are targetedby Israel”.

MNA/Xinhua

Indoneia airline loses half its fleet after defaultJAKARTA,18 March —

Indonesian budget carrrierAdam Air, which has beenwarned about its safetystandards, said on Mondaythat a leasing firm seizedmore than half its fleet afterthe airline defaulted on itspayments.

Adam Air, which likeall other Indonesian airlineshas been banned by theEuropean Union because ofsafety concerns, was forcedto cut back several

scheduled flights onMonday because it did nothave enough aircraft,causing delays for somepassengers.

“ Out of 22 planes, nowwe only have 10 because12 of them have beendeclared in default. Theother 10 have been declaredin default as well, but I’mstill trying to work out away to restructure thepayments,” AdamSuherman, the airline’s

president director, toldReuters.

PT Bhakti InvestamaTbk, an investment firmwhich indirectly owns 50per cent of Adam Air,will sell its stake in thetroubled airline back toSuherman, the foundingshareholder, for 100billion rupiah (11 millionUS dollars), according toI Iotman Paris IIutapea,a lawyer acting forBhakti.—MNA/Reuters

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Page 16: Prime Minister General Thein Sein congratulates Spanish … · 19-03-2008  · — MNA Prime Minister General Thein Sein congratulates Spanish counterpart YANGON, 18 March — Lt-Gen

13th Waxing of Tabaung 1369 ME Wednesday, 19 March, 2008

People’s Desire� We favour stability.� We favour peace.� We oppose unrest and violence.

� RFA, VOA and BBC airing skyful of lies� RFA, VOA and BBC saboteurs, watch your step!� The public be warned of

killers in the air waves —RFA, VOA and BBC

Objectives of the 63rdAnniversary Armed Forces Day

* To work in concert with the people

in building a peaceful, modern,

developed and discipline-flourish-

ing democratic nation

* To realize the seven-step Road Map

of the State joining hands with the

people

* Joining hands with the people and

based on Union Spirit to crush

internal and external destructive

elements sabotaging stability and

development of the State

* To build a strong, capable and

modern patriotic Tatmadaw to

safeguard Our Three Main Na-

tional Causes

NAY PYI TAW, 18 March— Chin State Sub-commission for Holding Referendum for Approval ofDraft Constitution of the Republic of the Union ofMyanmar held the meeting 1/2008 at the office of theChin State Sub-commission in Haka on 16 March.

Members of Commission for Holding Referen-dum for Approval of Draft Constitution of the Republic ofthe Union of Myanmar U Tin Aye together with Dr HmuHtan and U Saw Win Aung presided over the meeting.

Coord meeting of Chin State Sub-commissionfor Holding Referendum for Approval of

Draft Constitution heldMeeting Chairman U Tin Aye made an open-

ing speech on the occasion. Chairman of the Sub-commission U Tin Myint explained about laws andrules regarding the referendum and forming of sub-commissions at district, township, ward and village/tract levels.

Those present held a general round of discus-sions and the meeting chairman made the concludingremarks.—MNA

Coordination Meeting of Chin State Sub-commission for Holding Referendum for Approval ofDraft Constitution in progress. — MNA

Minbu (40ºC)Aunglan (39ºC)

Significant DayTemperatures

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