Volume I, Number 79 12th Waning Day of Nadaw 1376 ME Thursday, 18 December, 2014

Nay Pyi Taw, 18 Dec—U Thein Sein, President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, has sent messages of felicitations to His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, and His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the State of Qatar, on the occasion of the anniversary of the National Day of the State of Qatar, which falls on 18 December 2014.—MNA

President U Thein Sein sends messages of felicitations to Qatar

yaNgoN, 17 Dec—Tra-ditional cotton wears are in high demand at a time when the country’s textile indus-try sees less production, a local entrepreneur said, expecting that the industry will mass produce quality cotton wear at a fair price in the future.

Low production level, rising prices of raw materi-als, poor transportation and labour scarcity are reasons why cotton wear prices are

yaNgoN, 17 Dec—Myanmar’s preliminary population size of 51.4 mil-lion has increased by more than 230,000 over the April to October period, thanks to the excess of births to deaths.

(See page 2)

Myanmar population increases by more than 230,000 in seven months

Photo shows the visit of census enumerator

to a house in Myanmar where the 2014 Popula-tion and Housing Cen-sus of Myanmar took

place between 30 March and 10 April. —Credit to UNFPA MyANMAr

By Ye Myint

Myanmar textile industry to mass produce quality

cotton wear at fair price in futureBy Khaing Thanda Lwin

high, Ma Phyu Ei Thein, a textile Artist from Sunflow-ers Group, told the Global New Light of Myanmar.

Ahe added that al-though traditional textile prices are up for trading, the industry generated more profits than last year. It is expected to witness a fur-ther boom in the future.

Technician U Than Tun, an owner of Pyitdine-htaung natural dyework in (See page 2)

President U Thein Sein views construction of power station at Myittha Dam in

Kalay Township.—MNA

Nay Pyi Taw, 17 Dec—President U Thein Sein on Wednesday in-spected the sites of two multipurpose dam projects being constructed in the Sagaing Region, urging that the projects be com-pleted on schedule and that

President U Thein Sein inspects

multipurpose dam projects

efforts be made to improve the livelihoods of local people.

The president visited the sites in Kalay Township together with Union Minis-ters U Myint Hlaing, U Ohn Myint, Dr Than Aung, U Kyaw Lwin, Dr Ko Ko Oo

and Lt-Gen Myint Soe of the Office of the Command-er-in-Chief (Army).

He and his party were welcomed upon arriv-al at Kalay Airport in the morning by Chief Minis-ter of Sagaing Region U Tha Aye, the commander of North-West Command, members of Sagaing Re-gion Government, town el-ders and cultural groups of the locals.

They then left for the Myittha Multipurpose Dam Project site where they were welcomed by Chief Minister of Magway Re-gion U Phone Maw Shwe and representatives. While there, the president inspect-ed the completion of water storage facilities and the power station.

Afterwards, at a brief-ing hall, Union Minister U Myint Hlaing and Direc-tor-General U Kyaw Myint Hlaing briefed him on sali-ent points of the project and how construction tasks are progressing.

The president said the dam will help boost in-comes of local people as they will be able to grow double crops, while it will also supply electricity to small industries including finished wood products and help raise living standards. He urged officials to exert efforts to complete the pro-ject in the 2015-16 fiscal year including housing and a school for four villages that were displaced by the dam. Arrangements are (See page 3)

Thursday, 18 December, 20142n a t i o n a l

(from page 1)Birth and death data

compiled during the sev-en-month period, indicates that the birthrate is greater than the death rate, result-ing in an increase in the country’s population size based on the provisional results of the 2014 popula-tion and household census.

The information was revealed at the second fo-rum on birth registration in Myanmar on Monday. According to the Ministry of Immigration and Popu-lation, the country’s natu-ral population growth, or excess of births to deaths, was 237,975 as the birth-rate of 375,763 exceeded the death rate of 137,788.

Records acquired from the registration of births and deaths, which was launched on 1 April, showed there were approx-imately 191,279 males and 184,484 females born dur-ing the seven-month period

Myanmar textile industry will...

Myanmar population increases... while 78,758 males and 59,030 females died.

For ensuring coverage of birth and death registra-tion in Myanmar, the cen-tral committee for birth and death registration statistics coordination was formed in January, said the ministry.

In cooperation with parties concerned, includ-ing UNICEF Myanmar that has received funding from the European Union, the ministry conducted birth registration week in Oc-tober, with the result that more than 120,000 children under the age of 5 in Chin and Mon States and Mag-way Region got registered and received birth certifi-cates, added the ministry.

The provisional results of the first nationwide cen-sus Myanmar undertook in more than 30 years were released on 30 August. The main results of the census will be announced in May next year. — GNLM

Textile products dyed with the use of organic materials including bark of mango tree, Sappen Wood, gooseberry and onion skins are being displayed at

an exhibition in Yangon.—Photo: Khaing thanda Lwin

Nay Pyi Taw, 17 Dec—Chairman U Tin Aye of Union Election Com-mission (UEC) and Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, Mr Martti Ahtisaari, Mr Lakh-dar Brahimi and party of London-based The Elders, an independent group for

UEC, the Elders discuss arrangements for 2015 election

peace and human rights, on Wednesday discussed ar-rangement for Myanmar’s upcoming election.

During the discussion, U Tin Aye said that the UEC will hold a transpar-ent, free and fair election in 2015, making a clarifi-cation on process of gath-ering voting list, educative campaigns and coopera-

Nay Pyi Taw, 17 Dec—Deputy Com-mander-in-Chief of De-fence Services and Com-mander-in-Chief (Army) Vice-Senior General Soe Win received Command-er-in-Chief of Royal Thai Army General Udomdej Sitabutr at the Zeyathiri Beikman in Nay Pyi Taw on Wednesday morning.

First, the vice senior general and the Thai army chief took the salute of Guard of Honour and the

tion among media, social organizations and political parties.

Local and overseas observers will be invited to monitor the election, he added. The chairman of UEC replied to queries raised by the Elders. Mem-ber of the commission Dr Daw Myint Kyi discussed gender process.—MNA

Vice-Senior General Soe Win meets Thai General

Thai army chief inspected the Guards of Honour.

Then, the vice senior general and the Thai army chief held discussions on promotion of relations be-tween the two armies, sta-bility of border areas, drug trafficking, further cooper-ation in territorial affairs, medical science, agricul-ture, livestock breeding and learning of Thai and Myanmar languages.

Also present were Chief of General Staff

(Army, Navy and Air) Gen Hla Htay Win, senior officers from the Office of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services, the commander of Nay Pyi Taw Command, Myanmar military attaché to Thailand Brig-Gen Chit Swe, senior officers from Royal Army of Thailand, the military attaché of Thailand to My-anmar.

After the talks, they exchanged insignias.

Myawady

Nay Pyi Taw, 18 Dec—U Wunna Maung Lwin, Union Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, has sent a message of felici-tations to H.E. Dr. Khalid bin Mohamed Al-Attiyah, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, on the occasion of the anniversary of the National Day of the State of Qatar, which falls on 18 December 2014.

MNA

Union FM sends message of felicitations to Qatar

Union Election Commission Chairman U Tin Aye meets officials of London-based The Elders.—mna

(from page 1)Mandalay, expressed his view that the prices of traditional textile may be likely to fall in the future due to the developing of local entrepreneurs in the industry.

A trainer of a state-owned weaving school said that the country sees a higher number of interested young people who want to pursue dyeing and weaving subjects at the schools.

So far, the government has opened 14 weaving and vocational training schools where six or twelve month long diploma courses on weaving, dyeing and cot-ton-related designs have been provided by the skilled trainers. But there is a short-age of trainers at those schools as they are moved to administrative bodies.

Phyu Ei Thein said that in her view, the government should consider establish-ing more training schools to produce more skilled la-bourers and offering mas-ter’s degrees to produce

more entrepreneurs. For the country as a whole, peo-ple who run natural dyeing works number no more than 10.

She also urged the gov-ernment to provide more tax exemptions for small pro-

ducers and endeavor to sta-bilize prices, both measures that would play a vital role in making domestic prod-ucts more cost-competitive as those producers are strug-gling to compete in the face of cheap foreign imports. As for locals, foreign-made clothes are more attractive

than local ones because of their cheap prices.

Myanmar mainly ex-ports its traditional clothes to Japan and the United States. South Korea has also shown interest in im-porting the country’s tradi-tional textile products.

GNLM

Nay Pyi Taw, 17 Dec— Union Minister for Religious Affairs U Soe Win attended the religious paper reading session in ancient cultural city Bagan Wednesday.

The two-day event was organized by the Interna-tional Theravada Buddhist Missionary University with the title of ‘The Future Development of Buddha Dhamma and Cultivating the Right Thought for Peace and Harmony of Human Beings’, marking the 60th

Union Religious Affairs Minister attends paper reading session of Five Principles

of Peaceful Coexistenceanniversary of signing the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence among Myan-mar, China and India, where the Buddhism is flourishing with a great momentum.

The trio signed the treaty in 1954 to cooperate in regional affairs that cov-er mutual respect for each other’s territorial integrity and sovereignty; mutual non-aggression; mutual non-interference in each other’s internal affairs; equality and cooperation for mutual benefit and peaceful

coexistence. At the opening of pa-

per reading session, Union Minister U Soe Win said that the commemoration ceremony of the 60th anni-versary of this treaty was also held in China July this year, with President U Thein Sein hoisting the golden sacred umbrella at the Maha Cinapabha Pago-da, a replica of Shwedagon Pagoda, at Louyang, He-nan Province. U Soe Win said that the paper reading session for Buddhism is

performed with the com-mon inspiration of the three neighbouring countries for propagation of Buddhism, peace for human beings and unity through developing the right thought.

The senior monks from Buddhist foundations from Myanmar and China made closing speeches of the event.—MNA

Thursday, 18 December, 2014

N a t i o N a l3

Myanmar, Chinese vice presidents attend closing ceremony of ASEAN-China Cultural Exchange Year

Nay Pyi Taw, 17 Dec — Vice President U Nyan Tun and Chinese Vice Pres-ident Mr Li Yuanchao at-tended the closing ceremony of the ASEAN-China Cul-tural Exchange Year 2014 held at Myanmar Interna-tional Convention Centre-2 in Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday evening.

In his speech at the ceremony, Vice President U Nyan Tun said that peo-ple in ASEAN countries and China were able to appreciate their different cultures and promote the existing friendship be-tween the ASEAN and China through cultural ex-change programmes during

the ASEAN-China Cultur-al Exchange Year, adding that this will help people to understand more opportu-nities in the region.

Significant events of the ASEAN-China Cultural Exchange Year 2014 includ-ed the opening and closing ceremonies that were held in accordance with the motto “Our Culture, Our Future” which is in line with Post 2015 vision of the ASEAN and strengthens the peo-ple-to-people relations, the vice president said.

The vice president con-tinued that 2014 is a mile-stone in the ASEAN-China relations which is advanc-ing on the positive path that

covers economic, social and cultural cooperation.

In conclusion, the vice president said that the ASE-AN always welcomes the support of dialogue partners including China in building the politically united, eco-nomically integrated and socially responsible peo-ple-centred rule-based ASE-AN.

Chinese Vice President Mr Li Yuanchao made a speech at the ceremony, say-ing that cultural exchange programs were carried out with the aim of strengthen-ing the cultural cooperation between the people during the ASEAN-China Cultural Exchange Year and prom-

ised to cooperate with the ASEAN in stability, devel-opment and establishing the ASEAN Economic Com-munity.

Afterwards, artistes from Myanmar and other ASEAN countries and Chi-na performed traditional dances and the dance depict-ing Our Culture, Our Future.

Then, the two vice presidents presented the ar-tistes with floral baskets and posed for a documentary photo with them.

Present at the ceremony were union ministers, minis-ters of culture from ASEAN countries, deputy ministers, high level delegations, offi-cials and guests.—MNA

Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker meets Vice President of PRC

Nay Pyi Taw, 17 Dec — Pyidaungsu Hluttaw and Pyithu Hluttaw Speak-er Thura U Shwe Mann on Wednesday met Vice President of the People’s Republic of China Mr Li Yuanchao and party at his office here to discuss fur-ther strengthening relations between the two nations.

At the call, they dis-cussed promotion of col-laboration between the two

parliaments, governments and peoples, and action plans for implementation of Myanmar-China com-prehensive strategic coop-erative partnership.

Also present at the meeting were chairper-sons and members of the Hluttaws. The Vice President was accompa-nied by Mr Yang Houlan, Chinese Ambassador to Myanmar.—MNA

Commander-in-Chief receives Thai military delegation, The Elders

Nay Pyi Taw, 17 Dec — Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing received military delega-tion of Thailand and rep-resentatives of The Elders, a London-based interna-tional non-governmental organization of public fig-ures here Wednesday.

While meeting with Commander-in-Chief of Royal Thai Army General Udomdej Sitabutr and his senior military officers, the Senior General said that the militaries of the two neighbouring are in good relations, exchanging dif-ferent views and sharing various experiences, to

protect the prosperities of people from both coun-tries.

The meeting dis-cussed security of border areas, anti-terrorism meas-ures, and fight against ille-gal trades.

In the afternoon, the Commander-in-Chief also met with the representa-

tives of The Elders, led by Dr Mrs Gro Harlem Brundtland, the former premier of Norway, and Mr Martt Ahtisaari, the Noble laureate and former president of Finland.

At the meeting with The Elders, the Senior General said that Tatmad-aw is striving for nation-wide cease fire agreement and lasting peace with the ethnic groups amidst some challenges democratic re-form processes.

Gro Harlem Brundt-land said that The Elders understand some compli-cations Myanmar is fac-ing, and noted no federal union army in the world.

Senior military of-ficials of Myanmar and the former global lead-ers then discussed about peace-making process, the role of Tatmadaw in the elections and ethnic affairs.—Myawady

Vice Pres-ident U

Nyan Tun and Chinese Vice Presi-dent Mr Li Yuanchao

enjoy enter-tainment at closing of the ASE-

AN-China Cultural Ex-change Year 2014.—mna

Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann cordially greets Chinese Vice President Mr Li Yuanchao.—mna

Senior General Min Aung Hlaing holds talks with Commander-in-Chief of Royal Thai Army General Udomdej Sitabutr.—myawady

(from page 1)under way to develop farmland for the locals and to provide rice while until their farmland is ready to grow crops.

At the project area, the president visited a monastery in Sinpon Village built by the pro-ject and paid homage to the monks. He also met warmly with the local people and discussed ed-ucation, health and eco-nomic conditions of the area with them.

Afterwards, the pres-ident and party continued to Yazagyo Multipur-pose Dam Project near Yazagyo village in Kalay Township.

Union Minister U Myint Hlaing and offi-cials reported to the presi-dent on completion of the project, development of farmland and generation of electricity.

The president said that it is necessary to in-troduce double crops with the water from the dam, to build a rice mill run with electricity from the dam and to export rice after maintaining rice sufficien-cy in the region.

MNA

President U Thein Sein inspects . . . .

Thursday, 18 December, 20144l o c a l n e w s

Nay Pyi Taw

Mandalay

Muse

Mohnyin

Myingyan

Natogyi

YangonMyaungmya

Today’s MyanMar news siTes

Today’s MyanMar news siTes

Myingyan, 17 Dec—Rice crop was harvested from paddies of Jokpin village in Myingyan Town-ship, Mandalay Region, on 15 December.

At a ceremony, Head of District Agricultural Mechanization Department U Myint Lwin explained that workers of the town-ship AMD were helping lo-cal farmers harvest the rice with the use of India-made KS9300 combine harvest-ers, due to shortage of man-power. Workers ploughed the farmlands by tractor.

The ceremony was attended by district and township level officials and local farmers.—Zaw Min Naing (Myingyan)

Skilled workers harvest rice crop by agricultural machinery

Writers lecture raising reading skills in MohnyinMohnyin, 17 Dec

— With the assistance of Myanmar Libraries Foun-dation, Department of Information and Public Relations and Basic Edu-cation Department jointly organized the educative talks for development of school libraries and raising reading skills at No. 2 Ba-sic Education High School in Mohnyin Township, Kachin State, on 15 De-cember.

Head of Kachin State IPRD U Htein Lin Aung delivered a speech at the talk.

Three writers from Township Writers Asso-ciation shared knowledge about techniques for de-velopment of school librar-ies and raising the reading skills of students.

Officials presented prizes to winners in the poem recitation, essay, ex-tempore talks and reading skill contests.

The event was attended by Mohnyin District’s dep-uty commissioner U Aung Soe Moe and departmental officials, District Education

Officer U La Roi, Town-ship Education Officer Daw Khin Khin Nwe, teachers and students, totalling more than 500.—GNLM-001

Specialists give free healthcare services

to localsnatogyi, 17 Dec —

Under the arrangements of Mandalay Region Pyithu Hluttaw representatives U Kyi Pe and U Aye Thant Swe, a specialist team gave free medical treatment to local people at Basic Edu-cation High School in Na-togyi, Mandalay Region, on 13 December.

The specialists led by

the head of Mandalay Re-gion Health Department gave medical checkups to 3,233 patients.

Amyotha Hluttaw rep-resentative U Zaw Myint Pe, Mandalay Region Hlut-taw representatives U Kyi Pe and U Aye Thant Swe provided necessary assis-tance to the specialist team.

Htay Myint MaungMdy High Court presents uniforms to staff

Mandalay, 17 Dec — As staff welfare ac-tivity, a ceremony to provide uniforms to ju-dicial officers and staff was held at Mandalay Region High Court on 15 December.

After giving a speech, Chief Justice of Mandalay Region U Soe Thein presented uni-forms to judicial officers and staff for 2014.

Tin Maung (Mandalay)

Chief Justice of Mandalay Region U Soe Thein presents uniform to a staff.

Thursday, 18 December, 2014 5r e g i o n a l

Thai Prime Minis-ter Gen Prayuth

Chan-ocha (R) greets children

during his visit to the

Science Centre

for Edu-cation in Bangkok, Thailand, on 17 Dec,

2014. Xinhua

Vietnam races to rescue trapped

workers as water levels rise

Hanoi, 17 Dec — Vi-etnamese rescuers battled on Wednesday to free 12 workers trapped in a tun-nel that collapsed during construction of a hydro-power plant and said it could take days to get past entrenched mud, sand and debris as water levels rose.

The rescue involves hundreds of firefighters and members of the secu-rity forces. They managed late on Tuesday to ram a pipe through the rubble to supply air to the work-ers as oxygen dropped to a critical level eight hours after the accident.

But bad weather and the complicated geology of the site in the Central Highlands province of Lam Dong were hamper-ing the effort and authori-ties had a race against time to drain out water after levels rose to one metre.

They dug small tun-nels and reinforced the site with tree trunks to pull out sand during a mission that has dominated tele-vision networks and the front pages.

“Now there’s only one tube to send food and oxygen inside, while wa-ter is rising,” Dang Quang Dat, director of Song Da 505, the workers’ firm, told Vietnam Television. “We can’t just dig when

we want.”The $22 million hy-

dropower plant, one of dozens planned or un-der construction in ener-gy-hungry Vietnam, was expected to produce about 110 million kWh annual-ly.

An iron tube 60 cen-timetres in diameter was being used to pull out rocks and sand and author-ities were pinning hopes on reaching the workers so they could eventually squeeze through the pipe to get out.

“It’s very difficult and narrow ... most work is be-ing done by hand with the help of some equipment,” provincial military chief Du Truong Giang told VTV.

It was not clear what caused the tunnel to col-lapse but a preliminary in-vestigation suggested the cause was heavy rain.

Worker Nguyen Van Tuan said he was in a truck inside the 500 metre tunnel and fled as it caved in.

“Dirt, rocks and mud tumbled in ... we came back to dig out our trapped colleagues but dirt and rocks kept falling as we dug, so we had to get help,” he told news the VnExpress website.

Reuters

Stormy weather hits wide areas of Japan, causes death, injuriesand warned against snow-storms, tidal waves and snow avalanches.

In Otake, Hiroshima Prefecture, a man died af-ter a truck skidded and hit a car, and he was wedged be-tween the car and his own truck, local police said. The road was covered with snow at the time.

On Tuesday night, 12 people aboard an American Airlines flight bound for Dallas, Texas, were injured after the plane encoun-tered severe turbulence and made an emergency land-ing at Narita International Airport near Tokyo.

Hokkaido Railway Co said 349 train services including commuter and limited express trains were halted in routes connecting

areas such as Sapporo, Ha-kodate, Kushiro and Wak-kanai.

East Japan Railway Co said four bullet train servic-es on its Akita Shinkansen Line were halted due to strong wind.

The Sanyo Shinkansen Line operated its train ser-vices between Mihara and Kokura on reduced speed due to snowfall, while lim-ited express trains were canceled due to strong winds especially in the Hokuriku region in central Japan and areas in Tohoku facing the Sea of Japan.

Some highway sec-tions in Hokkaido were closed due to the snow-storm, and air traffic was also affected.

All Nippon Airways

A local resident works to remove snow on a road during a snowstorm on 17 Dec, 2014, in Kitami in

Japan’s northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido. The weather agency warned of strong winds with heavy

snow across the coastal areas of northern to western Japan the same day.—Kyodo news

Philippines beefs up military’s naval capabilitiesManila, 17 Dec —

The Philippines is beefing up its military’s naval as-sets and capabilities with the projected acquisition of frigates, antisubmarine hel-icopters and strategic sealift vessels, among others, with-in the next five years, offi-cials said on Wednesday.

“The modernization is triggered by our mandate to protect our territory and of course, to safeguard our sovereignty. The events in the West Philippine Sea actually did give some ur-gency in the acquisition,” Philippine Navy vice com-mander Rear Adm Cae-sar Taccad said at a press briefing aboard one of the Navy’s two US-acquired Hamilton-class cutters.

Taccad admits the Phil-ippine Navy lags behind the navies of Indonesia, Malay-sia, Singapore and Vietnam in terms of assets and ca-pabilities, with only a few

more than 100 vessels in its inventory, of which, only two-thirds are operational.

“(Modernizing our as-sets and capabilities) has been urgent with us for a long time. But because of the events (in the West Phil-ippine Sea), it became ur-gent to the Filipino people,” Taccad said.

With a 28 billion peso ($626 million) allotment from the national govern-ment, the Philippine Navy acquired from 2011 the two Hamilton-class cutters, at least three AW109 naval helicopters, with two more due for delivery next year, and several weapons for the Marines, including assault rifles and grenade launch-ers.

Next year, the navy hopes to seal a contract for the purchase of two frigates and two antisubmarine heli-copters, which it expects to be delivered three to four

years later.“With its multirole ca-

pabilities such as anti-air warfare, antisurface war-fare, antisubmarine warfare and anti-electronic warfare, the frigate shall provide a well-balanced and effective capability to address the current needs of the Phil-ippine Navy...for territorial defence operations, internal security operations, naval defence and even support to other government agencies such as humanitarian assis-tance and disaster response operations,” Taccad said.

The strategic sealift vessels, a multipurpose ves-sel with two landing craft and two rigid hull inflata-ble boats each that will be sourced from Indonesia, are expected to be delivered in 2016 and 2017.

The other items that are in the pipeline are mul-tipurpose attack craft, am-phibious assault vehicles, a

maritime situation aware-ness system, an imagery and targeting system using an unmanned aerial vehicle and other combat and com-munications equipment.

The navy is also up-grading some of its patrol vessels to boost their oper-ational readiness.

Taccad said the navy is also studying acquiring a submarine.

“We don’t need to overtake their capability. We just need to be able to approximate their capabili-ty, and use proficiently our capability in the sense that you will be able to hurt him where it hurts most, and more or less, they feel you, your presence,” Taccad said. “We just have to attain that credibility. If you have forces credible enough, then you have enough deterrence to stop him from doing what is threatening.”

Kyodo News

Co and Japan Airlines Co. cancelled more than 280 domestic flights, affecting about 17,000 passengers. The two airlines also can-celed some of their inter-national flights includ-ing ANA’s Chubu-Hong Kong and JAL’s Shang-hai-Narita routes.

In Hokkaido, 4,824 houses suffered blackouts in 20 municipalities in-cluding Nemuro, where a maximum wind speed of 143.64 kilometres per hour was recorded on Wednesday. Some resi-dents who may be affected by tidal waves evacuated, while many kindergartens as well as elementary, jun-ior high and senior high schools were also closed.

Kyodo News

Tokyo, 17 Dec — Snow, strong winds and high waves hit wide areas of Japan on Wednesday, with the stormy weather resulting in the death of a man in a skidding accident and injuries to airplane passengers caught in turbu-lence.

Railway services and air traffic were disrupt-ed particularly on Japan’s northernmost main island Hokkaido and northeast-ern Japan due to the ad-verse impact of a growing low-pressure system near Hokkaido.

The Japan Meteoro-logical Agency said stormy weather will continue through Thursday especial-ly for Hokkaido and other parts of northern Japan,

Thursday, 18 December, 20146w o r l d

Women mourn their relative Mohammed Ali Khan, 15, a student who was killed during an attack by Taleban gunmen on the Army Public School, at his house in

Peshawar on 16 Dec, 2014. —ReuteRs

Peshawar, (Pakistan), 17 Dec — Pakistan woke up to a day of mourning on Wednesday after Taleban militants killed 132 students at a school in the city of Peshawar in a grisly attack which shocked the nation and put pressure on the gov-ernment to do more to tackle the insurgency.

People around the coun-try lit candles and staged overnight vigils as parents prepared to bury their chil-dren during mass funerals in and around Peshawar — a big, volatile city on the edge of Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt. Pakistanis may be used to almost daily mil-itant attacks against the se-curity forces but an outright assault on children stunned

Pakistan in mourning as parents bury children after school attack

the country, prompting com-mentators to call for a tough military response.

In Peshawar, the vast grounds of the military-run Army Public School were all but deserted, with a handful of snipers manning the roofs of its pink brick-and-stone buildings.

Army vehicles and sol-diers wearing face masks and carrying automatic ri-fles were deployed by the entrance. A day after the attack, Peshawar appeared subdued and many were still in shock, recalling the gruesome events and trying to soothe each other. More details of the well-organized attack emerged as witnesses came forward with their sto-ries.

“The attackers came around 10:30 am on a pick-up van,” said Issam Uddin, a 25-year-old school bus driv-er. “They drove it around the back of the school and set it on fire to block the way. Then they went to Gate 1 and killed a soldier, a gatekeeper and a gardener. Firing began and the first suicide attack took place.”

The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sha-rif has announced a three-day mourning period but people’s anxiety focussed on what the authorities can do to protect the country.

Sharif came to power last year promising to nego-tiate peace with the Pakistani Taleban — but those efforts failed this year, weakening

his position and prompt-ing the army to launch an air-and-ground operation against insurgents along the Afghan border. The mili-tary staged more air strikes

against Taleban positions there late on Tuesday, a se-curity source said, but it was unclear whether it was done in response to the school at-tack.—Reuters

Iran says sees more steps ahead in nuclear talks

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif

lomats began a two-day meeting in Geneva on Monday to pave the way for resuming broader nego-tiations involving Iran and six world powers there on Wednesday.

The discussions were proceeding “in a good at-mosphere,” Zarif said on state television. “Good steps have been taken and more will be taken. I think the world needs this settle-ment, in light of challenges facing us, like the threat of terrorism. It is in every-one’s interest.”

The talks are aimed

at ending a 12-year-old dispute over Iran’s nucle-ar goals that has wrought heavy economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic and fears of a new Middle East war unless the dispute can be settled diplomatical-ly soon. In apparent criti-cism of Gulf Arab states, long nervous about Iran’s nuclear programme, Zarif added: “I wish our other neighbors would follow Turkey’s example and help in finding a solution to the nuclear issue. Our nuclear programme is to no one’s detriment, they shouldn’t

be worried ... Turkey has all along supported our right to peaceful nuclear activities.”

Zarif was speaking at a televised news confer-ence with visiting Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.

Iran, the United States, France, Germany, Britain, China and Russia failed to strike a long-term deal by a self-imposed 24 Novem-ber deadline, so extended the talks for seven more months to address what they call complex technical details.—Reuters

Dubai, 17 Dec — Ira-nian Foreign Minister Mo-hammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday nuclear talks with major powers

were being conducted in a good atmosphere, “good steps” had been taken and more would follow.

US and Iranian dip-

syDney, 17 Dec — Australian Prime Minister Tony Ab-bott acknowledged on Wednesday authorities cannot monitor “every-one all the time,” as the country seeks answers

Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his wife Margie prepare to place floral tributes near the cafe in central Sydney on 16 Dec, 2014 where hostages

were held for over 16-hours. —ReuteRs

Australian PM and community seek answers to Sydney cafe siegefor cafe siege in Sydney in which three people died, including the attacker.

“We want to know why he wasn’t being mon-itored given his history of violence,” Abbott told Australia Broadcasting

Corp radio.He acknowledged,

however, it was “impossi-ble” for security agencies to monitor everyone.

“We can’t monitor everyone all the time,” he said, adding “I mean that is impossible.”

Tori Johnson, the 34-year-old manager of Lindt Chocolat Cafe, and Sydney barrister Katrina Dawson, 38, were both killed in the final minutes of the 16-hour standoff. They were among 17 peo-ple initially taken hostage by self-styled Iranian cler-ic Man Heron Monis, who was killed after police stormed the cafe in Martin Place, a plaza in the city’s financial district, shortly after 2 am on Tuesday.

Abbott said the events were an act of a deeply un-

stable person with a long history of violence and mental illness.

He admitted the sys-tem had not adequately dealt with Monis, who was known to federal and state law enforcement agencies on a string of offences of-fenses including harass-ing families of deceased soldiers who fought in Afghanistan and posting graphic extremist material online.

Local media have also reported Monis as being on bail for two separate of-fenses, including around 40 sexual assault charges and being an accessory to the murder of his ex-wife.

Four people were wounded in the incident, including a policeman who suffered a wound to the face from shotgun pellets.

All the wounded were de-scribed by police as being in stable condition.

An emergency action plan was activated as po-lice moved into the cafe following sounds of gun-shots in the early hours on Tuesday.

Several hostages emerged from the build-ing a short time before the move.

A large outpouring of grief has ensued across the country with a floral tribute in a nearby area in Martin Place.

Thousands of peo-ple, including Abbott and New South Wales state leaders, have visited the site to pay their respects.

A number of inves-tigations on the siege are being conducted by au-thorities.—Kyodo News

Japan-US antinuclear disaster drill held at Yokosuka base

yokosuka, (Japan), 17 Dec— Japan and the Unit-ed States held a joint anti-nuclear disaster drill at the US Navy’s Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Wednesday.

The drill was conduct-ed on the assumption that a crew member of the US air-craft carrier George Wash-ington had been exposed to radiation on the nucle-ar-powered ship and had suffered a broken bone.

About 170 people, in-cluding officials from the US Embassy in Japan and the prefectural government, took part in the drill.

The participants con-firmed procedures on bilat-eral information sharing and transportation of the injured with utmost care to prevent radioactive contamination.

The annual drill was the eighth in a series that began in 2007.

The George Washing-ton has been based at Yoko-suka, southwest of Tokyo, since 2008.—Kyodo News

A US soldier undergoes screening during a Japan-

US joint drill at the US Navy’s Yokosuka base near Tokyo on 17 Dec, 2014.—Kyodo News

Thursday, 18 December, 2014

w o r l d7

Putin in talks by phone with Merkel, Hollande, Poroshenko discusses Ukraine crisis

Moscow, 17 Dec — Russian President Vladimir Putin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French Pres-ident Francois Hollande and

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko and Russian President Vladimir Putin. — Itar-tass

The four leaders un-derscored the necessity to ensure a stable ceasefire in Donbass, the press service said. They noted it was important to hold a meet-ing of the Contact Group as soon as possible for the im-plementation of the Minsk agreements and establish a dialogue between Kiev and the southeast. Among priorities are exchange of captives and withdrawal of heavy weapons from the confrontation line, they said. The four leaders also discussed economic res-toration of the eastern re-gions and humanitarian and social support for the popu-lation. They agreed to con-tinue telephone contacts in the “Norman format”, the Kremlin press service said.

Itar-Tass

Obama signs bill $1.1 trillion government

spending bill

US President Barack Obama talks at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst in New

Jersey on 15 Dec, 2014. reuters

washington, 17 Dec — President Barack Oba-ma on Tuesday signed a $1.1 trillion spending bill passed by Congress last week that lifted the threat of a government

Three arrested in northern England, suspected of enslaving SlovakiansLondon, 17 Dec — Po-

lice have arrested three men in a raid on a factory in the northern England town of Rochdale and are expected to charge them with traffick-ing and enslavement offences after finding 20 Slovakians working there in dire condi-tions.

The immigrants, who worked in a factory produc-ing pictures and frames, were paid just 25 pounds for an 80-hour work week after having about 100 pounds deducted from their wages for rent, travel and other expenses, a police spokesman said.

They were paid less than 2 pounds ($3.15) per hour

shutdown. The legislation funds most government agencies through Septem-ber 2015.

The Department of Homeland Security will be treated differently, getting a funding ex-tension only through 27 February, by which time Republicans will control both chambers of Con-gress.

Passage of the 1,603-page bill was a long strug-gle in the Senate and the House of Representatives marked by bitter disputes over changes to banking regulations and Obama’s recent executive order on immigration.

Reuters

and suffered physical and verbal assaults, he said. “If charges are brought, they will be brought later tonight ...” Greater Man-chester Police spokes-man Chris Taylor told the Thomson Reuters Foun-dation. The factory owner was among the three men arrested on Monday, and one of the three was a Pakistani national, police said. A 24-year-old man was also arrested, on sus-picion of immigration of-fences. The deduction of wages “... leaves the men and women effectively working for pennies, while ... ensuring they remain re-

liant on the people enslaving them,” James Faulkner of Greater Manchester Police said in a statement.

“When you consider that this factory was pro-ducing frames and pictures for major high street compa-nies, with contracts running into the millions of pounds, it proves just how much money these men stood to make from this exploita-tion,” he said. In a joint op-eration Greater Manchester Police and Rochdale Coun-cil found 10 of the immi-grants living in a property in Rochdale, where up to four people had to share a room.—Reuters

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko in talks by telephone noted it was necessary to ensure a sta-ble ceasefire in Donbass,

the Kremlin press service said on Wednesday.

Discussion of the cri-sis situation in Ukraine continued.

Pakistan army chief visits Kabul to seek cooperation against militants

isLaMabad, 17 Dec — Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff Gen Raheel Sharif has arrived in Kabul for talks with Afghan authorities about a Pakistani militant group involved in Tues-day’s attack on an army school in Peshawar that killed more than 140 peo-ple, including 131 students, a Defence Ministry official said on Wednesday.

The army chief flew to Kabul after attending

US rejects Manila’s bid for custody of US Marine accused of murder

Activists participate in a protest to seek justice for a Filipino transgender Jeffrey Laude, who also goes by the name Jennifer, outside a justice hall where a prelimi-

nary investigation was held at Olongapo city, north of Manila on 7 Oct, 2014.— reuters

ManiLa, 17 Dec —The United States Embassy in Manila has turned down a request from Philippine au-thorities to hand over a Ma-rine accused of the killing of a transgender Filipino, a move that could spark an-ti-American protest in the former US colony.

The Marine, Joseph Scott Pemberton, who is being held at a US facility at the main Philippine army base, was charged with the murder of Jeffrey Laude, who was found dead on 11 October in a hotel in Olon-gapo City, northwest of the capital. “The United States will retain custody of Pem-berton as provided by the United States-Philippine Visiting Forces Agreement

(VFA),” the embassy said in a statement on Wednes-day.

“The United States has the right to retain cus-tody of a suspect from the commission of the alleged offense until completion of all judicial proceed-ings.”

Manila and Wash-ington signed the Visit-ing Forces Agreement in 1998, to allow US forces to hold military drills in the Philippines to test the readiness of the allies, and the pact sets legal rules on how to treat erring ser-vicemen. The Philippines formally sought custody of Pemberton in a letter from the foreign ministry to the US Embassy af-

ter his arrest was ordered by the Olongapo City trial court on Monday.

“There was a war-rant of arrest issued by the court,” presidential spokes-man Edwin Lacierda told reporters in the Philippine capital. “We have to en-force the warrant.”

In a statement, the for-eign ministry said, “In ac-cordance with the Visiting Forces Agreement, we look forward to the full coopera-tion of the US government in ensuring that justice is secured for Jeffrey Laude.”

Anti-US activists urged the government to terminate its pact with Washington after failing to enforce its sovereignty.

Reuters

a prayer service for those killed in the attack.

The official said Sharif will urge Afghan authorities to apprehend and repatriate Pakistani Taleban militants operating in Afghan ter-ritory. The Tehreek Tale-ban Pakistan group headed by Mullah Fazlullah has claimed responsibility for Tuesday’s attack, saying it was retaliating against Pa-kistan military operations against Taleban militants in

North Waziristan.Fazlullah is known to

have camped in the Kunar Province of Afghanistan bordering Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has approved an end to the moratorium on capital pun-ishment in terrorism-relat-ed cases, an official in the Prime Minister House said.

The moratorium has been in place since 2008.

Kyodo News

Bulgaria detains foreign suspects bound for Syria conflictsofia, 17 Dec — Bulgaria has detained three foreigners, wanted in Spain on terror-

ism charges, who had been on their way to take part in the conflict in Syria, Bulgaria’s state security agency (SANS) said late on Tuesday.The three suspects - two Morrocans and a Brazilian — were held on Monday at a border crossing with Turkey, the agency said in a statement.Interpol has issued arrest warrants for the three suspects, and extradi-tion procedures would be initiated, the agency added.— Reuters

Thursday, 18 December, 20148o p i n i o n

Thursday, 18 December, 2014

We appreciate your feedback and contributions. If you have any comments or would like to submit editorials, analyses or reports please email wallace.tun@gmail.com with your name and title.

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Write for us

fore, each country or territory sets different lim-its for vehicles such as cars and trucks.

No highway is 100 percent safe because there can be infrastructural flaws or traffic accidents. A driver may be very clever at driving or the ve-hicle may be equipped with the latest technolo-gies, however, life-threatening accidents can still happen at any time if there is uncontrolled driv-ing.

Some jurisdictions set lower speed limits for large commercial vehicles like heavy trucks and buses, which do not apply to light trucks or pri-vate cars. Speed limits also depend on the type of vehicle, in addition to the areas where they are being driven.

‘Freedom’ is like a smooth highway with less hurdles or obstacles. However, when we the peo-ple are going along the highway of freedom, we

need to respect certain limits to be able to enjoy it. When freedom is abused with reckless aban-don, the consequences and impacts will affect both the individual and the whole society.

Freedom is needed for an open society. However, with freedom comes responsibility. People should not use it recklessly. Drive safely on the roads. Enjoy freedom with limits for a safe and peaceful society. By Aung Khin

Speed limits for a safe society

Every major highway has signposts with speed limits, even though they are nearly perfect, straight and smooth. On many highways there will be some crossroads or junc-tions with open spaces or obstacles that obscure the view.

Speed limitation is needed as the highways are not for reckless driving. Dangerous driving with unlimited speed can cause fatalities. There-

The FAO Project “Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries and Aquaculture Livelihoods in Coastal Mangrove Ecosystems” held at the Ayeya Shwewa Hall in Pathein on the 12th December 2014, Ayeyawady Region, the 17th Fisheries Co-management Workshop, with the participation of regional authorities, regional, district and township fishery officers, the Italian NGO OIKOS, and FAO staff of the “Environmentally Sustainable Food Secu-rity Programme”. His Excellency, U San Maung, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Breeding, Ayeyawady Re-gion, made the closing remarks of the workshop.

The author of this article and also the Chief Techni-cal Advisor, explained that the project “Sustainable Small-scale Fisheries and Aquaculture Livelihoods in Coastal Mangrove Ecosystems”, funded by the Govern-ment of Italy, is a pilot initiative, that explores the poten-tial and modalities of working with village fishing com-munities to better manage fisheries activities and resources in their fishing area. It is expected that the ex-periences and lessons learned through the pilot project will results in a proper set of policies guidelines in fisher-ies co-management and that successful approaches would be expanded on a wider scale in future. The Village Fish-eries Societies [VFS], supported by their Village Fisher-ies Management Committees [VFMC] are the drivers for management changes in the freshwater fishery within 20 villages along the main branch of the Bogale River in the Ayeyawady Delta. The results of the initiative is the transfer of sustainable fishing rights [Tender Lots] to the VFS, composed by small-scale fishers and other mem-bers involved in fishery related activities.

Through the Project, the management responsibility for freshwater fisheries has been transferred for the first time in Myanmar, from the Government to these local Village Fisheries Societies (VFS) and twenty villages have the right to manage the resources within their own village boundaries and fisheries management area. More effective management arrangements have been devel-oped to limit fishing pressure, to manage resources ef-fectively and ensure greater compliance by fishers through the village fisheries co-management plan. This innovative approach has therefore enabled local fisher communities to manage the fishery resources, promoting their long-term sustainability and thereby improving livelihoods through the management of Tender Lots in open waters.Methodology and Intervention

The Village-Based Freshwater Fisheries Co-Man-

FIHSERIES CO-MANAGEMENT IN THE AYEYAWADY REGIONagement Approach is based on the following principles:• meeting the livelihood needs of the fishing village; • effective village and stakeholder institutions; • establishment of VFS and VFMC, governed by a set

of by-laws, for the implementation of a Fisheries Co-management Plan to manage the fishing tender lots in a sustainable manner, creating benefits for the largest number of villagers involved in fisheries;

• effective partnership arrangements with stakehold-ers [e.g. regional, district and township fisheries of-ficers, NGO and concerned institutions];

• participatory processes for consultation and deci-sion making;

• a policy framework and legal framework; • best available information and continuous improve-

ment; and• including the ecosystem approach to fisheries

co-management.Village-based freshwater fisheries co-management

is a formal partnership arrangement where the stake-holders jointly manage the fisheries resources using lo-cal formal/informal traditional/customary practices sup-ported by legislation and the regional and district fisheries government systems. For clarity, the definition of fisheries Co-Management is: ‘a partnership arrange-ment in which government, the community of local re-source users and external agents (e.g. NGOs, academic and research institutions), and other resource stake-holders share the responsibility and authority for the management of a resource which covers various part-nership arrangements and degrees of power sharing and integration of local informal/traditional/customary practices and centralized government systems.’

Under the Project’s interventions, the fishing rights became stronger, fisher incomes increased, cost of oper-ations decreased, small fishers selling to highest bidder, reduction of pressure on natural resources through re-duction in use of fishing gear and reduction in inequali-ties, tensions and conflicts.

The benefits derived during the Pilot Project from the application of a Co-management approach include:• improve fisheries livelihood;• enhance socio-economic life of the small-scale fish-

ers;• sustain fisheries resources in line with reducing neg-

ative impact• reduce pressure on village fisheries resources;• less fishing gears used;

• less cost for stow-net fisher to access Tender Lot areas;

• greater returns from higher prices for small scale fishers;

• reduction in inequalities and conflict;• building capacity of fishers and stakeholders;• higher levels of compliance with fisheries rules [re-

duced illegal fishing];• improved small scale infrastructure [e.g. roads and

jetties]; and• improved relationship with Township Fisheries Of-

ficer.Conclusion

This is the first time that the management responsi-bility for Tender Lot fisheries has been shared by a vil-lage community in Myanmar and reflects the longer term vision of Department of Fisheries to develop more effec-tive co-management arrangements whereby measures to increase livelihoods and limit fishing pressure, manage resources more effectively and ensure greater compli-ance can be achieved.

The key outcome of the Project was the move to-wards sustainability within the village communities. For example:• Environmental-reduction in the number of stow-

nets in each Tender Lot, reduction of overfishing, agreements for reducing net mesh sizes;

• Social-increased cohesion and mutual trust in the communities, fishers empowered and with an active role in the communities; and

• Economical–immediate return for VFS, increased incomes for the fishers and stability of income to Fisheries Department.

Giuseppe RomalliChief Technical Advisor, ESFSP

Yangon Gold PriceBuying K666,500 per tical: Selling K667,500Mandalay Gold PriceBuying K666,500 per tical: Selling K667,500

FE RATEUSD Buying K 1033: Selling K----SGD Buying K 785: Selling K795Euro Buying K1,280: Selling K1,300

GOLD PRICE, FE RATE (17-12-2014)

Thursday, 18 December, 2014

L o c a L N e w s9

Mandalay, 17 Dec— Officials of Asian Devel-opment Bank are compil-

nay Pyi Taw, 17 Dec — A medical team led by Head of Nay Pyi Taw Health Department Dr Daw Hla Hla Kyi made a trip to staff quarters in Wunna Theikdi Ward in Zabuthiri Township on 15 December to vaccinate people against elephantiasis disease.

Deputy Head of Nay Pyi Taw Health Depart-

Nay Pyi Taw Council Area gets small- and medium-scale industrial zonenay Pyi Taw, 17 Dec

— A ceremony to inau-gurate a small- and medi-um-scale industrial zone was held in Dekkhinathiri Township, Nay Pyi Taw Council Area, on Wednes-day morning.

Chairman of Nay Pyi Taw Dekkhinathiri Small- and Medium-scale Industri-al Zone Allotment Commit-tee and Member of Nay Pyi Taw Council U Myint Swe opened the signboard of the zone.

Members of Nay Pyi Taw Council and officials attended the inauguration

ceremony of Mann Shin gas plant in the industrial zone.

The zone is located on 385 acres of land, facilitat-ed with one power station for electrification round the clock. Concrete roads have been constructed in the zone for smooth transport of en-trepreneurs. It is 20th indus-trial zone of its kind in the nation and the 1st zone in Nay Pyi Taw Council Area.

Land reclamation is being undertaken for the second industrial zone in Tatkon Township.

Shwe Kokko

ADB officials conduct survey on traffic safety in Mandalay

ing a paper on deaths and injuries in traffic accidents, and cases of taking action

against traffic rule offend-ers in Mandalay, an official of Mandalay Region Trans-

port Department told media on 16 December.

For compilation of the paper, a survey will be conducted for the topics of easing traffic congestion in Mandalay, running of bus lines, erecting traffic signs, control of traffic light sys-tems, and future downtown transport system.

Adviser Mr Eric How-ard of Asian Development Bank and departmental of-ficials held a meeting on plans to reduce traffic ac-cidents and enforce traffic rules at the hall of Manda-lay Region Public Works on 16 December.

Thiha Ko Ko (Mandalay)

Myanmar, China show off better trade relations

Muse, 17 Dec — The Myanmar-China border trade fair successfully concluded at 105th-Mile Trade Zone in Muse, northern Shan State, on 13 December.

Myanmar entrepre-neurs showcased their products at 88 booths and the Chinese businessmen at 124 booths.

Deputy Minister for Commerce Dr Pwint Hsan and Chinese officials at-tended the trade fair.

At the meeting hall of the trade zone, officials of both sides discussed trade

promotion between two countries, establishment of Muse-Ruili economic zone, export of Myan-mar’s agricultural produce to China, tax exemption of Myanmar’s products based on bilateral relations of two countries, participa-tion of Myanmar entrepre-neurs in the 3rd South Asia Expo and the 23rd Kun-ming Expo.

In the afternoon, the border trade coordination committee held a meeting at Muse-Namkham trade zone.

NLM-018

Medical staff vaccinate people against elephantiasis disease

ment Dr Htin Lin ex-plained: “The vaccine is being given to the people across the nation as part of implementing a plan to pre-vent elephantiasis disease. Emphasis is being placed on giving the vaccine in 203 townships from 45 districts. The government has set an aim of enabling Myanmar to be free from

elephantiasis disease in 2020. This activity of vac-cination will last up to 24 December.”

Local authorities and members of Maternal and Child Welfare Association cooperated with the medi-cal team in vaccinating the people.

Ko Pauk (Okkar Myay)

Social organization members get knowledge about rights of child

MyaungMya, 17 Dec — Ayeyawady Region Committee of the Rights of Child and Region Women’s Affairs Organization joint-ly conducted a course on children’s rights for mem-bers of social organizations

at the hall in Myaungmya, Ayeyawady Region, on 16 December.

Secretary of Region Committee of the Rights of Child and Director of Ayeyawady Region De-partment of Social Welfare

Daw Khin May Nu spoke on the occasion.

The director and of-ficials lectured on early childcare development activities, matters relat-ed to the United Nations Convention on the Rights

of the Child, laws relating to children in Myanmar, child protection and gen-der equality in the country, and prevention of violence against women.

Aung Min (IPRD)

People visit Myanmar-China border trade fair at 105th-Mile Trade Zone in Muse.

Thursday, 18 December, 201410w o r l d

Libya rivals clash over oil ports as EU considers sanctionsTripoli, 17 Dec —

Forces allied to Libya’s conflict parties clashed with heavy weapons on Tuesday over control of the country’s biggest oil ports in the east as the Eu-ropean Union was consid-ering sanctions on people obstructing UN-brokered peace talks.

The United Nations had planned to hold this week a second round of talks to end a confron-tation between two rival governments and parlia-ments but said a military escalation was undermin-ing its efforts.

On Monday, a force allied to the rival assem-bly based in Tripoli, the General National Con-gress (GNC), moved to the east to try seize the Es Sider and Ras Lanuf oil ports. Both terminals have closed, drying exports of an estimated 300,000 bar-rels a day of oil.

Libyan military personnel stand at a checkpoint in the city centre in Benghazi on 4 Dec, 2014. —ReuteRs

The recognized gov-ernment, forced to work out of the east since los-ing control of Tripoli in August, launched more air strikes on the rival forces positioned near Es Sider, eastern officials said.

They also said the ri-val force had for the first time used a jet to sup-port its troops, though its spokesman Ismail al-Shukri denied this.

“We confirm the campaign will continue,” Shukri told reporters, add-ing that oil facilities would not be harmed.

GNC spokesman Omar Hmeidan said the assembly was supporting the UN talks but said the venue needed to change and talks should reflect that the GNC was the le-gitimate body.

“Members of the GNC will attend the talks as representatives of the legislative body,” he said,

proposing to hold the next round in the southern town of Hun.

The House of Repre-sentatives, the legislature aligned with recognized Prime Minister Abdullah al-Thinni, said in a state-

ment it was supporting the UN-led dialogue but rejected talks with GNC members and its armed factions.

The UN had held a first round of talks in Sep-tember in the southern city

of Ghadames by inviting the House of Represent-atives and members from Misrata, linked to Libya Dawn, which has boycott-ed sessions.

UN Special Envoy Bernadino Leon said last

week the next round would include GNC members. The UN has not given a date or venue, saying on Monday only talks would hopefully start “soon”.

The European Union is ready to consider sanc-tions on people obstruct-ing a political solution, EU foreign policy chief Feder-ica Mogherini said.

“They must face con-sequences for their actions. The EU ... remains ready to consider further actions, including restrictive meas-ures, should circumstances so require,” she said in a statement.

Separately on Tues-day, African leaders meet-ing in Dakar urged western nations to act to resolve the crisis in Libya, which has sent shock waves across the vast arid Sahel band and threatened to destabilise fragile regional governments.

Reuters

Inquiry clears British soldiers of murder and torture of Iraqis

london, 17 Dec — Al-legations that British troops killed captured Iraqi prison-ers and tortured or seriously abused others after a battle in 2004 were “baseless”, a long-running inquiry con-cluded on Wednesday.

The Al-Sweady in-quiry, which has lasted five years and has cost around 30 million pounds ($47 million), was charged with examining allegations made by Iraqis that British soldiers captured alive and then murdered up to 20 men during and after the battle in southern Iraq.

Iraqi witnesses told the inquiry that British soldiers killed the men at the Abu Naji army camp in May 2004 and separately that they mistreated nine detain-ees, whereas the troops said the men died fighting on the battlefield and denied mis-treatment.

Wrapping up the in-quiry, which heard allega-tions of multiple murders, torture, and mutilation, Chairman Thayne Forbes said all the gravest allega-tions had turned out to be false and criticized Iraqi tes-timony. “I have come to the

firm conclusion that the vast majority of the allegations made against the British military... including, without exception, all the most seri-ous allegations, were wholly and entirely without merit or justification,” he said.

“Very many of those baseless allegations were the product of deliberate and calculated lies on the part of those who made them.”

However Forbes did recommend changes to the way the British army treats detainees and said that some behavior amounted to “actu-al or possible ill-treatment”,

EU court annuls keeping of Hamas on terrorist listBrussels, 17 Dec— The Eu-

ropean Union’s second highest court annulled on Wednesday the bloc’s decision to keep Ha-mas on a list of terrorist organ-izations, but temporarily main-tained the measures for a period of three months or until an appeal was closed.

The General Court of the European Union said the contest-ed measures were not based on an examination of Hamas’s acts but on imputations derived from the media and the Internet.

The court said it was never-theless maintaining the effects of the measures in order to ensure that any possible future freezing of funds would be effective.

Reuters

Palestinian members of al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Hamas movement, take part in a military parade marking the 27th anniversary of Ha-

mas’ founding, in Gaza City on 14 Dec, 2014.—ReuteRs

Suicide bomb, gunfight at Afghan bank, civilians inside

lashkar Gah, (Af-ghanistan), 17 Dec — Suspected Taleban mili-tants detonated a suicide bomb then stormed a bank branch in the southern Af-ghan province of Helmand on Wednesday, engaging in a firefight with security forces while an unknown number of civilians were inside, police said.

A Reuters witness at the scene heard the blast and the gunfire. Employ-

ees who escaped said that when the attack happened, the bank was busy with government workers who had come to collect their salaries.

“According to our information, there were four Taleban, one of them detonated his explosives and three are fighting with security forces,” said Far-id Ahmad Obaid, spokes-man for Helmand’s police chief.—Reuters

Drone strike in Afghanistan kills four

Pakistani TalebanJalalaBad, 17 Dec —

A US drone strike in east-ern Afghanistan killed four Pakistani Taleban members and seven other insurgents, a district government offi-cial said on Wednesday.

The drone’s missiles killed the militants on Tues-day afternoon as members of the Pakistani Taleban were attacking a school in the Pakistani city of Pesha-war, near the Afghan bor-der, said Mahlem Mashuq, the governor of Sherzad dis-trict in Nangarhar province.

“Based on our find-ings, 11 insurgents, four of them Pakistani Taleban,

were travelling in a pickup truck that was hit by a drone strike, killing all of them,” Mashuq said. The Pakistani and Afghan branches of the hard-line Islamist Taleban are loosely allied and oper-ate across the porous border between the countries.

Both are dedicated to overthrowing their coun-tries’ governments and es-tablishing rule by their strict interpretation of Islamic law. The Afghan Taleban, however, issued a statement condemning Tuesday’s Pa-kistani Taleban attack on the school in Peshawar that killed 141 people.—Reuters

Thayne Forbes, Chair-man of the Al-Sweady

Inquiry arrives on the first day of the public inquiry, in central London, on 4 March, 2013.—ReuteRs

including the lack of ade-quate food and sleep and the use of certain questioning methods.—Reuters

Thursday, 18 December, 2014

b u s i n e s s & h e a l t h11

Brent drops below $60 as OPEC, Russia keep output steady amid glut

Singapore, 17 Dec — Brent futures fell more than 1 percent on Wednesday, down for a sixth straight session, with persistent worries of a supply glut keeping prices near a 5-1/2 year low un-der $60 (£38.15) a barrel.

Oil prices skidded in recent weeks, with Brent down nearly $20 since the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Coun-tries (OPEC) decided to keep output steady in late November.

Non-OPEC member Russia, one of the world’s top producers, has also indicated that it does not plan to cut output despite a glut in the world market.

Brent for February delivery LCOc1 fell 62 cents to $59.39 a barrel by 0601 GMT.

The January contract, which

expired in the prior session, hit a low of $58.50 on Tuesday — the weakest since May 2009 and off this year’s high above $115 reached in June.

US crude CLc1 dropped $1.12 to $54.81 a barrel after touching the lowest since May 2009 at $53.60 on Tuesday.

“The story is still the same. Europe is weak, China is weak, and the US economy is growing by a bit. It’s a supply story,” said Avtar Sandu, senior manager for commodities at Phillip Futures in Singapore.

“The only thing is that the markets are very oversold and oil is extremely cheap at these levels,” he added.

Core Gulf OPEC members that declined to cut output at a

27 November meeting signalled this week they are prepared to wait as long as six months to a year to see the market stabilise.

Saudi Arabia’s relinquish-ing its role as oil price anchor has caused a catastrophic drop in the demand for inventory which has resulted in oil prices collaps-ing, said PIRA Energy Group.

Kuwait’s oil minister said there were 1.8 million barrels a day of excess oil in the market currently and prices could pick up in the second half of 2015.

Russia Energy Minister Alexander Novak has said that Moscow would not cut output in 2015, even if pressure on its finances rose with the economy showing signs of a severe stress.

The rouble has been hit

A gas price sign is seen at a Phillips 66 station on Westheimer Road in Houston, Texas on 16 Dec, 2014. According to gasbuddy.

com the prices shown in the picture are the lowest in Houston. ReuteRs

hard, prompting Russia’s central bank to rush in to hike interest rates to halt a collapse in the cur-rency.

In the United States, crude inventories rose by 1.9 million

barrels last week, compared with analysts’ expectations for a decrease of 2.4 million barrels, data from the American Petro-leum Institute showed late on Tuesday.—Reuters

Asian business sentiment rebounds in fourth quarter with India most optimistic

The rosier picture in the United States coincid-ed with oil prices falling to five-year lows, boosting Asian economies depend-ent on imports of crude.

Fatas cautioned that uncertainty remained, not least in China where inves-tors and companies are “sit-ting and waiting for data” to indicate how dramatical-ly growth in Asia’s largest economy is slowing.

Global economic un-certainty remained the biggest concern for Asian businesses during the quar-ter, the survey showed, as well as rising costs and oth-er risks such as regulatory change.

“I am surprised that the US and oil prices seem to have outweighed concerns about China and Europe. The downside risks to Chi-na’s growth are significant, especially related to real es-tate and shadow banking,” said Dariusz Kowalczyk, a senior economist at Credit Agricole.

Companies participat-ing in the survey includ-ed Japanese drugs maker Daiichi Sankyo Co Ltd (4568.T), South Korea’s Hyundai Heavy Industries Co Ltd (009540.KS) and Indian real estate developer DLF Ltd (DLF.NS).

The poll, by Thomson Reuters in association with INSEAD, a global manage-ment and business school, was conducted from 1-13. December.

Reuters

A worker operates a lathe machine as he makes a steel cutter at a manufacturing unit in Noida, on the outskirts of New Delhi in this 3 Nov, 2014 file photo.

ReuteRs

new Delhi, 17 Dec — Business sentiment among Asia’s top companies re-bounded in the fourth quar-ter to the second-highest level in almost three years, a Thomson Reuters/INSEAD survey showed, helped by a stronger US economy and a plunge in oil prices.

The Thomson Reuters/INSEAD Asian Business Sentiment Index .RACSI increased to 72 in the fourth quarter from 66 in the pre-vious three months. The re-sult was only slightly below the 74 reading of the sec-ond quarter which was the highest since early 2012. A reading above 50 indicates an overall positive outlook.

Indian businesses pro-vided the biggest boost to the index, with companies reporting a maximum score of 100 for the third consec-utive quarter as they look to new Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi to speed up eco-

nomic recovery.Corporations in Chi-

na, where worries about a slowdown in economic growth persist, were among the least positive with a reading of 50, coming in below Japan, which is stuck in recession, at 56.

US unemployment fell to a six-year low in Novem-ber, a signal that the world’s biggest economy and a key export destination for Asian companies is healthier and its consumers are growing in confidence.

“The US’s economic leadership is influencing expectations across the world, and the US is really becoming stronger,” said Antonio Fatas, a Singa-pore-based economics pro-fessor at INSEAD.

“Asia is a region where there is not massive uncer-tainty related to political risk. This is a region that grows with the world.”

Review of evidence finds e-cigarettes may help smokers quit

lonDon, 17 Dec — Evidence suggests e-cig-arettes help smokers quit, but more research is need-ed to confirm this and find out if “vaping” nicotine is better than using patches or gum, scientists said on Wednesday.

In an international review of available evi-dence, researchers found a paucity of robust scientific studies on e-cigarettes and their capacity to help peo-ple stop smoking, but said data so far pointed at likely benefits.

“Although our con-fidence in the effects of electronic cigarettes as smoking cessation inter-ventions is limited because of the small number of trials, the results are en-couraging,” said Peter Ha-jek, a professor of clinical psychology and a member of the research team at the Cochrane Review, a re-spected research network that determines relative effectiveness of different health interventions.

The uptake of e-cig-arettes, which use bat-tery-powered cartridges to produce a nicotine-laced vapor, has rocketed in the past two years, but there is fierce debate about them.

Because they are rela-tively new, there is a lack of long-term scientific evi-dence on their safety. Some experts fear they could be a gateway to tobacco smok-ing, while others say they have enormous potential to help millions of smokers around the world kick their deadly habit.

The Cochrane Re-view’s study, a so-called meta-analysis, drew on two randomized trials cover-ing 662 smokers, and also considered evidence from 11 observational studies, to examine the effects of e-cigarettes on quit rates and on helping people cut down their cigarette smok-ing by at least half.

It also looked at side effects reported by e-ciga-rette users and found no ev-idence of serious problems.

The results showed about 9 percent of smokers who used e-cigarettes were able to stop smoking at up to one year, compared with around 4 percent who used placebo e-cigarettes.

Data on reducing smoking in people who did not quit showed that 36 percent of e-cigarette users halved the number of con-ventional cigarettes they smoked, compared with 28 percent of placebo users.

Only one of the trials compared e-cigarettes’ quit success rate with patches, and this suggested they were about equal.

Robert West, director of tobacco research at Uni-versity College London, said in an emailed com-ment that the findings sug-gested e-cigarettes could be a valuable public health tool.

“It’s early days but so far it seems that these de-vices are already helping tens of thousands of smok-ers to stop each year.”

Reuters

Food safety remains priority in age of organic food

rome, 17 Dec — Even in an age when the consumption of organic food is booming, strict global food safety standards are needed to protect the consumers, a leading expert at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said.

Mary Kenny, officer of FAO’s Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department, told Xinhua in an exclusive interview that the safety of all foodstuffs, including organic food, remains a global priority.

“It means that food should be safe and free from chemical and microbiological contaminants. And the nature of food supplies these days means that it’s an international issue,” she said. “For example, the world trade in food means that food produced in Uganda might go to supermarkets in Europe or Asia. So there needs to be rigorous na-tional and international regulations and procedures,” she said.

FAO says that food safety threats must be taken with the utmost seriousness be-cause they can cause major economic damage, add extra burdens to struggling health systems and threaten food security.

Xinhua

Thursday, 18 December, 201412w o r l d

Passengers on an American Airlines flight that left South Korea’s Incheon International Airport bound

for Dallas in the United States arrive at Japan’s Narita airport near Tokyo on 17 Dec, 2014, having

made an emergency landing there after encountering turbulence. It was reported that about dozen people

sustained minor injuries.—Kyodo News

Havana, 17 Dec — Cuba’s government has approved new wage guide-lines for nationals work-ing for foreign firms in the country, state daily Gran-ma reported on Tuesday.

The new rules, cov-ering wages and social security payments, were published in a government gazette.

Cuba’s state-run em-ployment agencies will be responsible for negotiating wages on behalf of workers and paying their salaries, as well as hiring, training and protecting workers’ rights.

According to govern-ment statistics, Granma said, the average salary in Cuba in 2013 was 471 pe-sos, around 19 US dollars, so wages cannot be any lower than that, including

Moscow, 17 Dec — Russia’s Energomash scientific and production company has concluded a contract to de-liver rocket engines to the US corporation Orbital Scienc-es, the Izvestia newspaper said on Wednesday.

The engines will be used for the first stage of Antares rockets beginning 2015.

Energomash will deliver 60 engines to the US cor-poration, the newspaper cited a high-ranking Roscosmos source as saying. There is a contract to supply 20 engines, and the work has already started to deliver the first two units in June, and there are two more options, each for 20 units.

The contract is concluded directly between Orbital Sciences and Energomash.

The contract costs about one billion dollars. It in-cludes the cost of engines and services — flight prepara-tions, the installation of an engine on a rocket and tests.

The Russian space agency source said the RD-181 engine was developed specially for the Antares. The de-

US company to buy billion dollars worth of rocket engines from Russia

Russia’s Energomash will deliver 60 engines to the US Orbital Sciences corporation.—Itar-tass

velopment was based on the Angara RD-191, he added.Energomash and Orbital Sciences gave no comments.It was the second big contract concluded between En-

ergomash and the US company, the newspaper said.In late 1990, the Russian scientific centre situated in

Khimki near Moscow won a contract to supply RD-180 engines to the US United Launch Alliance company for Atlas rockets. The Alliance is a joint company of Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

As TASS reported earlier, a draft law on allocations for military needs for the fiscal year of 2015 passed by the Senate of the Congress on 12 December had an amend-ment banning further purchases of Russian RD-180 en-gines for American Atlas rockets. The document specifies that $220 million would be provided for development of an American rocket engine to replace Russian RD180s. The Pentagon must develop such a new engine by the end of 2018.

Itar-Tass

12 injured on American Airlines flight hit by turbulencecHiba, (Japan), 17

Dec — An American Airlines flight made an emergency landing early on Wednesday morning at Narita International Airport near Tokyo after hitting severe turbulence that left 12 people aboard injured.

Among the people hurt aboard the Dal-las-bound flight were a female passenger and a male flight attendant who sustained serious inju-ries, the transport minis-try’s Narita office said.

The Japan Safe-ty Transport Board on Wednesday dispatched three investigators to look into the accident.

Flight 280 carrying 240 passengers and 15 crew members departed

Incheon International Air-port near Seoul at 6:15 pm on Tuesday Japan time and encountered the turbulence around 7:30 pm, the office said.

The Narita airport me-teorological observatory gave a wind shear caution Tuesday afternoon as two powerful low pressures covered the main Japanese island of Honshu.

Exhausted passen-gers on the Boeing 777 emerged at a Narita airport lobby shortly past 2 am on Wednesday after the emer-gency landing.

As the aircraft was shaken for some 20 min-utes during dinner time, food and drinks were thrown around the cabin, with some passengers pan-icking, according to one

traveller.A male flight attendant

was thrown to the ceiling,

hitting his head, another passenger said.

Kyodo News

Cuba sets new policies for wages paid by foreign investors

for those who have been earning Cuba’s minimum salary of 225 pesos.

The rise in wages is expected to help spur pro-ductivity, especially in in-dustry.

More than 40,000 Cu-bans are expected to bene-fit from the higher wages as employees of joint-venture companies or wholly for-eign-owned firms.

Cuba’s new Foreign Investment Law took effect in June and the country is preparing for an influx of foreign capital and busi-nesses.

The country hopes to attract at least 2 billion dollars a year in fresh cap-ital to revitalize the econo-my and push its economic growth to over 5 percent.

Xinhua

Prosecutors summon former Korean Air exec over nut rage incident

seoul, 17 Dec — State prosecu-tors summoned the former vice pres-ident of Korean Air for questioning Wednesday into allegations that she had physically and verbally attacked a cabin crew mem-ber on an Incheon-bound plane from New York’s JFK International Air-port earlier this month.

Cho Hyun Ah, 40, who was called into the Seoul Western Prosecutors’ Office, ignited public outrage after she had the airplane that was on the taxiway returned to the gate and delayed the departure of the plane with 250 passengers aboard for 11 minutes on 5 December.

Cho, eldest daughter of Korean Air chairman Cho Yang Ho, flew into a rage after she was served macada-mia nuts in a packet rather than in a bowl in the first-class cabin and ordered the flight to return to the gate so the chief flight attendant could be removed.

She resigned last week after her conduct prompted a storm of criticism against her and the air carrier.

The transportation ministry said Tuesday it would file a formal complaint with prosecutors over the conduct of the former executive and take disciplinary measures against the carrier.

“Statements from some flight attendants and passen-gers confirmed her abusive language and yelling,” a state-ment by the ministry said, adding she might have violated a clause of a related law that obliges passengers to coop-erate for flight safety.

It would also take disciplinary measures against Korean Air over the captain’s failure to command and supervise flight crew members for the safe operation of the flight. Reports said initial investigation showed Cho cursed flight attendants and hit one of them with the com-pany’s service guidebook.

Korean Air carried a statement in the front page of major newspapers Tuesday and apologized for the inci-dent.

“We are keenly aware any words of apology are not enough,” the statement said.—Kyodo News

Cho Hyun Ah, former vice president of Korean Air, bows her head in apology in front of reporters in Seoul, South Korea on 17 Dec, 2014,—Kyodo News

Thursday, 18 December, 2014

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THE REPUBLIC OF THE UNION OF MYANMARMINISTRY OF ENERGY

MYANMA OIL AND GAS ENTERPRISE(INVITATION FOR OPEN TENDER)

(22/2014)Open tenders are invited for supply of the following respective items in United States Dollars.

Sr.No Tender No Description Remark(1) IFB-118(14-15) Geological Instruments for Applied Research US$ Centre, Geology Workstation & Mud Logging Unit (1) Lot (2) IFB-119(14-15) Retest Factory for CNG Type.1 US$ (150 Cylinder / Day) (1) Unit (3) IFB-120(14-15) CNG Compressor Driven Motor with US$ Complete Package (2) Units (4) IFB-121(14-15) CNG Compressor Driven Electric Motor with US$ Complete Package & Accessories (1) Unit (5) IFB-122(14-15) Cummins Engine with Gear Box (1) Set US$ Tender Closing Date & Time – 14-1-2015, 16:30 Hr

Tender Document shall be available during office hours commencing from 17th December, 2014 at the Finance Department, Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, No(44) Complex, Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.

Myanma Oil and Gas EnterprisePh.+95 67-411097/411206

THE REPUBLIC OF THE UNION OF MYANMAR MINISTRY OF INDUSTRY

No.(1) HEAVY INDUSTRIES ENTERPRISE ( INVITATION FOR OPEN TENDER)

Open Tender is invited for the supply of the follow-ing respective item which is necessary for No.(2) Steel Mill Project (PangPet) on CIF Yangon Port Price in Unit-ed States Dollar (USD). (1) Stacker & Reclaimer Machine (1) Lot (a) Conveyor Length - 1256 meters(b) Stacker machine capacity - 450 Ton per hour(c) Reclaimer machine capacity - 150 Ton per hour Tender Closing Date & Time - 6 .1. 2015 (I3 :00PM)

Tender Document Shall be available during office hours commencing from 19th, December, 2014 at the Steel Mills Supervision Department, No.( 1 ) Heavy Industries Enterprise, Building No.(41), Nay Pyi Taw, Myanmar.

Steel Mills Supervision Department Ph +9567-408345

CLAIMS DAY NOTICEMV josco fuzhou Voy No (13)Consignees of cargo carried on MV jOSCO

FUzHOU VOY NO (13) are hereby notified that the vessel will be arriving on 18.12.2014 and cargo will be discharged into the premises of M.I.T.T where it will lie at the consignee’s risk and expenses and subject to the byelaws and conditions of the Port of Yangon.

Damaged cargo will be surveyed daily from 8 am to 11:20 am and 12 noon to 4 pm to Claims Day now declared as the third day after final discharge of cargo from the Vessel.

No claims against this vessel will be admitted after the Claims Day.

SHIPPING AGENCY DEPARTMENT MYANMA PORT AUTHORITY

AGENT FOR: M/S BRIGHT SAIL SHIPPING CO LTD.

Phone No: 2301186

MINISTRY OF RAIL TRANSPORTATIONMYANMA RAILwAYS

INVITATION TO OPEN TENDER1. Open Tenders are invited for supply of the following items in Euro: Sr No. Tender No Description 1. 12(T)47/MR(ML/ISN) Ball Bearing & Roller Bearing for DEL (23) Items 2014-2015 2. 12(T)48/MR(ML/ISN) Prelubricating Oil Pump with Motor (6) Sets 2014-2015 3. 12(T)49/MR(ML/ISN) Main Components Required for Repowering of 2014-2015 DEL (12) Items 4. 12(T)50/MR(ML/ISN) Spare Parts for Repower with MOI 16V, 2014-2015 170 Engine (1800 rpm) (13) Items Closing Date & Time - 16.1.2015 (Friday)(12:30) Hour.2. Tender documents are available at our office starting from 19.12.2014 dur-ing office hours and for further detail please contact: Deputy General Manager Sup-ply Department, Myanma Railways, Corner of Theinbyu Street and Merchant Street, Botahtaung, Yangon. Phone: 95-1-291985, 291994.

MYANMA PORT AUTHORITYHOLIDAY NOTICE

As the wharves, warehouses and challan Of-fices of Yangon Port will be closed on the 21st DE-CEMBER 2014 (Karin New Year day) and 25th DE-CEMBER 2014 (Christmas Day). Loading, Unloading and delivery for Goods will be received Payment as Holiday Fees.

Moscow, 17 Dec — The Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU) tops the emerging Europe and Central Asia universi-ties ranking published by the UK-based Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) on Wednes-day.

The Novosibirsk State University shares the sec-ond place in the ranking for 2014/2015 with the Czech Charles University in Prague, while the St Pe-

Moscow State University building.

Moscow State University tops emerging Europe, Central Asia ranking

tersburg State University is ranked seventh.

The list published by the world’s most re-nowned ranking agency also includes the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (17) and the Bauman Moscow State Technical University (21).

The rankings are com-piled in consultation with the QS Global Academic Advisory Board and are widely used by applicants

and students as well as uni-versity specialists and gov-ernments around the world.

The Moscow State University was ranked in the top five of the 2015 BRICS and emerg-ing-economies university rankings unveiled by the Times Higher Education magazine on 4 December. The top-100 list also in-cludes seven Russian uni-versities.

Itar-Tass

Rice expert wins

award for promoting cultivation in AfricaNiigata, (Japan), 17

Dec — Tatsushi Tsuboi, a rice cultivation expert, has spent a lifetime promoting rice production in Africa, a continent that suffers from chronic food shortages.

His efforts to combat food shortages and to boost economic development in Africa led to his winning this year’s Niigata In