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

Established 1914

Volume XV, Number 330 5th Waxing of Tabaung 1369 ME Tuesday, 11 March, 2008

INSIDE KHAING MYO NYILAR AUNGPAGE 7

Four political objectives

* Development of agriculture as the base and all-round development of other sectors of theeconomy as well

* Proper evolution of the market-oriented eco-nomic system

* Development of the economy inviting partici-pation in terms of technical know-how andinvestments from sources inside the countryand abroad

* The initiative to shape the national economymust be kept in the hands of the State and thenational 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 stand-

ards of the entire nation

* Stability of the State, community peace andtranquillity, prevalence of law and order

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

tution* Building of a new modern developed nation in

accord with the new State Constitution

Four economic objectives

Four social objectives

Thai Prime Minister to paygoodwill visit to Myanmar

NAY PYI TAW, 11 March — At the invitation of General Thein Sein, Prime Minister of theUnion of Myanmar, His Excellency Mr Samak Sundaravej, Prime Minister of the Kingdom ofThailand, will pay a goodwill visit to the Union of Myanmar in the near future. — MNA

YANGON, 10 March —Yangon Division Sub-Com-mission for Holding Referendum for the Approval ofthe Draft Constitution of the Republic of the Union ofMyanmar held work coordination meeting (1/2008) atthe General Administration Department, on Saya SanRoad, Bahan Township here this afternoon.

U Thaung Nyunt and U Myat Thu, members of theCommission for Holding Referendum for the Ap-proval of the Draft Constitution of the Republic of theUnion of Myanmar, chaired the meeting. U Thaung

Yangon Division Sub-Commission forHolding Referendum for

Approval of Draft Constitution meetsNyunt gave an opening speech.

The chairman of Yangon Division Sub-Commis-sion explained the referendum law and rules for theapproval of the draft constitution. The secretary ofYDSC reported on the formation of District and Town-ship Sub-Commissions.

Later, the participarts of the meeting discussedgeneral matters and U Thaung Nyunt gave concludingremarks.

MNA

Yangon Division Sub-Commission for Holding Referendum for Approval of Draft Constitution holds coordination meeting 1/2008.— MNA

Let’s approve State Constitution (draft) to shape prosperous future (1)

Now, the entire national brethren are working hard together, while exerting the fine

traditions of national solidarity to build a peaceful and prosperous democratic nation

in accordance with the State’s seven-step Road Map.

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM1

2 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 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 DesireTuesday, 11 March, 2008

Work hard for boostingexport of marine products

Fish and prawn are in abundance inrivers, creeks, tributaries, lakes and alongthe coast of Myanmar. The nation is nowengaged in freshwater fish and prawnfarming and coastal and deep-sea fishery ona commercial scale.

Marine products such as fish, prawn,crab and eel are distributed at home for localconsumption, and the surpluses are exportedthrough regular trade and border trade. Theproducts are also exported by cargo shipsthrough Myeik port and through the coldstorage of Muse 105th Mile Trade Zone.

Crabs and eels caught along the Rakhinecoast and fish and prawn from Ayeyawadyand Yangon divisions are transported toMuse 105th Mile Trade Zone all-year round.About 50 species of fish are transported dailyto the Myanmar-China border.

Myanmar’s marine products go mostlyto Japan and China. Continued efforts are tobe made to export quality products inaccordance with the demands in the markets.In particular, special attention is to be paidto keeping fish and prawn fresh andapplication of advanced methods in exportingmarine products.

Now, drift nets are common in catchingsome species of fish that are in high demandin foreign markets such as pomfret fish,tassel fish and hilsa fish in the deep-seafishery. So, it is required to take systematicapproaches to be able to avert depletion offish species and net only large ones.

In the process, emphasis is to be put onboosting production of value-added productsand extensive raising of freshwater and seawater fish and prawn in order thatMyanmar’s marine products will gain afoothold in the international market.

YANGON, 10March — CEC membersDr Myo Thant and UKhin Maung Win, Dr SuHla Han, Daw Kaing ZarThant, Dr San Lwin andU Aung Zaw Win led byVice-President U ZawMin Win of Union ofMyanmar Federation ofChambers of Commerceand Industry andChairman of MyanmarPharmaceuticals andMedical EquipmentEntrepreneurs’ Asso-ciation Dr Win Si Thuleft here for KualaLumpar, Malaysia by airyesterday to attend AsiaHealth Care 2008Conference & BusinessMeeting to be held fromtoday to 12 March.

MNA

MPMEEAmembers leavefor Malaysia YANGON, 10

March — The WeizaMagazine No 7 of Apriledited by Maung PanHmawe and Maung TweChon is in circulation.

It carriesarticles that will widenthe scope of knowledgeon and promote thepractices on SamathaVipassana. It alsocovers Eisitan MahaMuni Buddha Imagesteps of Vipassana ofSayadaw U Gawsita,Panipatti and healthaspects of Pyay WaiPonlayama Sayadawand other range ofknowledgable items.

The magazineembraces the works ofeminent writers such asThar Ga Doe, Chit OoNyo, Hein Latt, HlaMoe (Education),

NAY PYI TAW, 10 March — Chairman ofShan State Peace and Development CouncilCommander of North-East Command Maj-Gen AungThan Htut and Minister for Finance and RevenueMaj-Gen Hla Tun attended the meeting with theofficials and staff of the MFR in Shan State (North)at the City Hall in Lashio on 8 March.

They looked into the MEB and StateManager’s Office, State/District/Township InternalRevenue Department under the Ministry of Finance

YANGON, 10 March—A total of 122 fires brokeout in the whole nation in February 2008. 105 fires brokeout due to negligence, 12 due to short-circuit and five dueto arson.

The fires destroyed 2380 homes, four factories/workshops and 10 warehouses leaving 6,349 peoplehomeless, 13 people dead and 12 injured with 105 animalsdead.

86.07 percent of fires broke out due to negligence.Most of fires broke out in Mandalay Division

followed by Yangon Division and Shan State.Most property was lost in Mandalay Division,

followed by Taninthayi Division and Yangon Division.In Mandalay Division, 27 fires broke out and

most were due to negligence.The Fire Services Department is taking fire

preventive measures for the people. — MNA

Commander and Minister meet MFR officialsand staff in Shan State (North)

and Revenue in Lashio and fulfilled the need afterhearing reports of officials concerned.

On 7 March, the minister inspected theMyanma Economic Bank in Nawnghkio, Kyaukme,Hsipaw and Myanma Small Loans Department(Branch) in Hsipaw.

After hearing reports on services of Banksby Managing Director U Myat Maw and officials,the minister gave necessary instructions.

MNA

Weiza Magazine comes outMyaylat Myat Thu,Sanzarni Bo, MaungKhine Khant, Dr ThinThin, Khin Saw Tint,Kaung Thaw, Yan AungHein and Dhamma

Cariya U Aung KyawMoe,

It is available atTaw Win Myo MaBookshop, YangonPh: 245284. — MNA

122 fires broke out inFebruary

Minister Maj-Gen Hla Tun meeting with employees under MRF of Shan State(North) inLashio.— F & R

Cover of

Weiza

Magazine.

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11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM2

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 March, 2008 3

People visit the repaired Wuhou Temple in Hanzhong of northwest China’sShaanxi Province, on 9 March, 2008. The temple was established in 263 AD, owning some 90 steles spaning dynasties and 34 human statues. —XINHUAHelicopters save 775 Russians

trapped on ice drift

US soldier killed in bomb attack in Iraq

Action would be taken anti-Govtmovements in Thailand

Drugs found in drinking water forat least 41 mln Americans

Hamas, Islamic Jihad to discussceasefire in Egypt

GAZA, 10 March—Palestinian factions Hamas andIslamic Jihad (Holy War) will visit Egypt next week tocontinue the talks on ceasefire deal with Israel underEgyptian mediation, an Islamic Jihad leader said onSaturday. Khaled al-Batsh told reporters that adelegation from his movement visited Al-Arish city inSinai last week as part of preparations for the talkswhich will focus on the calmness, internal Palestiniandialogue, lifting the siege and reopening crossings intoGaza Strip. Israel imposed a strict blockade on theGaza Strip since last June when Hamas took over theterritory from President Mahmoud Abbas’ forces. Inaddition to the siege, Israel stepped up militaryoperations in the Hamas-ruled coastal Strip.

Al-Batsh said there have been talks on ceasefire“but the Islamic Jihad can accept it only when theoccupation stops its crimes and becomes ready to givethe Palestinians their rights”. —MNA/Xinhua

MOSCOW, 10 March—Russian helicoptersrescued 775 fishermenstranded on ice sheetsdrifting into the PacificOcean on Sunday.

The men had walked afew kilometres across theice pack surrounding theremote island of Sakhalin

in Russia’s far-east to fishover the ocean, newsagencies quoting localemergency servicesreported. Ice fishing is apopular hobby in Russia.Groups of men head outover frozen lakes, riversand seas during the longwinters carrying their

fishing lines, a drill to borethrough the ice and a stool.

Vodka is often taken toward off the cold and totoast success.

The ice fishermen drilla hole in the ice, dangletheir fishing line throughit and then sit and wait.

During the spring thawfishermen are oftentrapped on chunks of icefloating out to sea or fallinto rivers through thethinning ice.

MNA/Reuters

BANGKOK, 9 March—Thailand’s Foreign Min-ister Noppadon Pattamasaid Saturday the govern-ment would take drasticaction against move-ments by activist groupsbecause their actionswould tarnish the coun-try’s image in the eyes ofthe international com-munity.

Noppadon was quotedby the state-run Thai NewsAgency as saying that he

was concerned about thegovernment’s attempts toimprove the country’simage after the acti-vist group, the People’sAlli-ance for Democracy(PAD), had renewed itsactivities during the pasttwo weeks.

The PAD’s movementscould send wrong signalsto foreign countries thatThailand’s political stabi-lity was still not secure,and this could deter

foreigners from investingin the country, he said.

“The governmentwon’t allow these bul-lying people to stay abovethe law and it also won’tallow anyone from slow-ing down the democraticsystem from makingheadway,” Noppadonsaid, noting that someleading members ofthe PAD were alsomembers of the Houseof Representatives at-tached to a major politicalparty.

He urged the unnamedparty to disclose itspolitical stance.

Noppadon said theactivists could still holdrally, which is allowed bythe constitution, but theycannot threaten or useforce against the govern-ment or otherwise violatethe law.

MNA/Xinhua

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

BAGHDAD, 10 March—An American soldier waskilled and another injuredby an explosion in thevolatile province of Diyalain northeast of Baghdad,the US military said onSaturday.

A soldier assigned toMulti-National Division -North died due to fatalwounds from an explosion

occurred during opera-tions in the province onFriday, a military state-ment said.

The military gave nofurther details about theincident but said the nameof the deceased was beingwithheld pending family

notification. The latest death brings

the number of US soldierskilled in Iraq to about3,975 since the outbreakof US-led invasion in2003, according to mediacount based on Pentagonfigures. — MNA/Xinhua

LOS ANGELES, 9 March—A probe has found thatdrinking water for at least41 million Americanscontains a vast array ofpharmaceuticals, includingantibiotics, anti-con-vulsants, mood stabilizersand sex hormones.

Drugs have beendetected in the drinkingwater supplies of 24 majormetropolitan areas — fromSouthern California toNorthern New Jersey, fromDetroit to Louisville,Kentucky, according to the

probe made public onSunday.

“The presence of somany prescription drugs —and over-the-countermedicines like aceta-minophen and ibuprofen—in so much of our drinkingwater is heighteningworries among scientistsof long-term consequencesto human health,” said theprobe conducted by theAssociated Press.

But the probe said theconcentrations of thesepharmaceuticals are tiny,

measured in quantities ofparts per billion or trillion,far below the levels of amedical dose. Also,utilities insist their water issafe. Water providersrarely disclose results ofpharmaceutical screen-ings, unless pressed, theprobe found. For example,the head of a grouprepresenting major Cali-fornia suppliers said thepublic “doesn’t know howto interpret the in-formation” and might beunduly alarmed.—Internet

Clintons push a Hillary/Obama ticketWASHINGTON, 10 March — Hillary and Bill Clinton are again teaming up

on Barack Obama — this time saying the first-term US lawmaker, whom theyhave derided as inexperienced, would be a strong running mate on a Democraticpresidential ticket headed by the former first lady.

In hailing Obama asa possible vice president,the Clintons are reachingout to him and, perhapsmore importantly, to hisbackers, whose supportshe would need to defeatRepublican presidentialcandidate John McCainin the November ele-ction.

“The Clintons are ina difficult position,” said

Dennis Goldford, apolitical science professorat Drake University inIowa, who has tracked thepresidential race.

“If she wins theDemocratic presidentialnomination, she wouldneed Obama’s supporters.But she needs to be careful.If this talk of him on theticket is seen as a cynicalmanoeuvre, it could

backfire and hurt her,”Goldford said.

Obama leads Clinton,a fellow Democraticsenator, in a bruisingrace for their party’spresidential nomination,but neither is likely toreach the 2,025 delegatesneeded to become thenominee in the remainingstate by state contests.

MNA/Reuters

Performance artists wear plastic bags to raise people’s awareness of the“white pollution” in Hanzhou, capital of eastern China’s Zhejiang Province,

on 9 March, 2008. —INTERNET

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM3

4 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 March, 2008

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Abdullah AhmadBadawi holds hands with his deputy Najib Razak

(L) after a news conference in Kuala Lumpuron 9 March, 2008.—INTERNET

CAIRO, 9 March— Aneight-year-old boy inFayoum Province hascontracted the bird fluvirus after coming intocontact with infected birds— the 47th case amonghumans in Egypt since2006, the Health Ministrysaid on Saturday.

The boy, Abdel Hamidel-Sayed Youssef, wastaken to a local hospitalwith a high temperature,difficulty breathing and apulmonary inflammation,spokesman Abdel Rah-man Shahine said in astatement.

He moved to a Cairohospital on Friday and isbeing treated with Tami-flu, the standard treatmentfor humans, it said.

MNA/Reuters

GUANGZHOU, 9 March —Police in the southernprovince of Guangdong on Friday apprehended 14men attempting to have themselves smuggled intoHong Kong, local authorities said.

The stowaways, all natives of Guangdong, werearrested in two vans en route to a port in ZhongshanCity, according to the local police.

The men, all migrant workers, had planned towork in the construction sector in Hong Kong afterthey heard that they might earn 300 Hong Kong dollars(about 38 US dollars) a day. In China, they might earnabout 50 yuan (Seven US dollars) a day.

The men said that their trafficking fees were allinitially paid by the “snakeheads”, or human smugglers,who would deduct 100 to 200 Hong Kong dollars fromtheir daily pay after they entered Hong Kong.

Two drivers were arrested at the scene but thewhereabouts of the “snakeheads” were unknown.

MNA/Xinhua

WASHINGTON, 9 March—Democratic presi-dential forerunner BarackObama dismissed thespeculation that he couldrun as the vice presidentialcandidate for his rival,Hillary Rodham Clinton,according to a TV reportreleased on Saturday.

“You won’t see me asa vice presidentialcandidate — you know,I’m running for presi-dent,” the Illinois Senatorsaid in an interview withCBS. “We have won twiceas many states as Senator

Obama rules out possibilityto be Clinton’s V-P

Clinton, and have a higherpopular vote, and I thinkwe can maintain ourdelegate count.”

After winning threeprimaries on 4 March andregaining her momentum,the New York Senator andformer first lady suggestedthat she was open to theidea of sharing the ticketwith Obama, meaningaccepting Obama as hervice presidential candid-ate. Former President BillClinton echoed his wifeon Saturday in a campaignrally in Mississippi whose

primary is set on Tuesday,saying a joint ticket pairingthe two would be “almostunstoppable”.

“I know that she hasalways been open to it,because she believes thatif you can unite the energyand the new people thathe’s brought in and thepeople in these vast swathsof small town and ruralAmerica that she’s carriedoverwhelmingly, if hadthose two things togethershe thinks it’d be hard tobeat,” he said.

MNA/Xinhua

Police in south Chinaarrest 14 would-bestowaways to HK

Egyptianboy

confirmedwith birdflu, 47th

case

Chinese singer Li

Yuchun performs at her

solo concert held at the

Shanghai Grand Stage

on 9 March, 2008,

ahead of her 24th

birthday on Monday.

INTERNET

Egypt satisfy with ALresolution on Lebanon

CAIRO, 10 March —Egyptian Foreign MinisterAhmed Abul Gheit onSaturday expressed hiscountry’s satisfaction withthe latest Arab League (AL)resolution on Lebanon.

Abul Gheit made theremarks during his meetingwith Mohamed Shatah,political adviser to theLebanese Prime MinisterFouad Seniora, Egyptian

Foreign Ministry spokes-man Hossam Zaki toldreporters.

The latest ALresolution adopted at theAL foreign ministerialmeeting held on Wed-nesday underlined the needto elect a Lebanesepresident on the set dateafter a long-awaitedparliamentary session toelect president was

postponed, for the 15thtime, to 11 March.

It also stressed thenecessity to put theLebanese-Syrian ties on theright track. Seniora has saidthat he is willing to visitDamascus and participatein the upcoming Arabsummit scheduled for 29-30 March “if allcircumstances were con-venient”.

Invitations to Arabsummit are usuallyaddressed to heads of states.But in the case of Lebanon,which has been without apresident since formerpresident Emile Lahoudended his term on 24November, 2007, thingscan be different.

MNA/Xinhua

Pakistan’s major partiesagree on coalition govtISLAMABAD, 10 March — Pakistani’s two leading

political leaders said Sunday that they had agreed toform a coalition government with the Prime Ministerfrom the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

“We undertake to form a coalition together forPakistan, as the people of Pakistan had givenmandate to the democratic forces on 18 February,”said Nawaz Sharif, leader of the Pakistan MuslimLeague-N (PML-N) at the news conference after hismeeting with PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari atthe scenic town of Murree in eastern Pakistan.

“We have fruitful meeting today, we are at theverge of making history, it was the desire of ShaheedBenazir Bhutto,” Zardari, former PM BenazirBhutto’s widower, told a joint news conferencewith Sharif.

In a joint declaration at the end of their talks,Sharif and Zardari agreed to reappoint the SupremeCourt justices, especially Chief Justice IftikharChaudhry, who were ousted by Pakistani PresidentPervez Musharraf on 3 November, 2007 when heimposed the state of emergency.

MNA/Xinhua KUALA LUMPUR, 10

March — Malaysia’sruling coalition BarisanNasional (BN) won in the12th general election heldon Saturday, but failed toretain the two-thirdsmajority in the LowerHouse of the Parliament,said the country’s ElectionCommission (EC) onSunday.

It is the first time thatthe BN failed to controlthe two-thirds majority inthe Parliament, the biggest

Malaysian BN fails to retain two-thirds majoritysetback it suffered since itadministered the countryfor 50 years.

The Lower House ofthe 12th Parliament has atotal of 222 seats.According to the resultsof the 219 seats unveiledby the EC so far, the BNwon only 137 parlia-mentary seats, far less thanthe two-thirds line of 148seats.

While, the oppositionparties already have seizedan unprecedented 82

parliamentary seats. Also, the BN failed

to secure a simplemajorities in the statelegislative assemblies infour states of Penang,Kedah, Selangor andPerak and lost its controlof the state governmentsof these four states.

Meanwhile, the BNfailed in taking back thestate of Kelantan fromthe Islamic Party ofMalaysia.

MNA/Xinhua

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THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 March, 2008 5

E C O N O M I C N E W S

BEIJING, 10 March—Minister of Railways Liu Zhijunhas encouraged overseas and domestic private investorsto get a share in the railways’as the country acceleratesthe construction and reconstruction of its railwaynetwork.

“We welcome overseas and domestic privateinvestors to get part ownership of the railway lines,except the trunk rails,” Liu said on the sidelines of theannual National People’s Congress (NPC) session.

This is a major step in investment reform and willget the government “ample capital” to realize its planto expand the railway network from the present 70,000.

Internet

A bullet train leaves the northern ShanghaiRailway Station. Minister of Railways Liu Zhijun

has encouraged overseas and domestic privateinvestors to get a share in the railways’ as the

country accelerates the construction andreconstruction of its railway network. —INTERNET

Wild swans are seen in lake Flachsee in Unterlunkhofen, Canton Aargau,Switzerland on 9 March, 2008. The authorities of Canton Aargau have given

permission to hunters to shoot the swans because of overpopulationin the region.—INTERNET

HANGZHOU, 10 March — Akzo Nobel, the world’sleading paint and chemical provider, has formed a newenterprise to create its largest China production base inthe eastern Zhejiang Province, a group spokesman saidon Friday.

The new chemical enterprise, Akzo NobelChemicals (Ningbo) Co, Ltd was set up on Thursday inthe chemical industrial zone of Ningbo City’s ZhenhaiDistrict.

The enterprise’s main products, chelates andethenamine, are expected to start being manufacturedin 2009 and 2010, respectively, with an initialinvestment of 250 million euros (385 million USdollars), said Robert Margevich, Akzo NobelFunctional Chemicals BV, president.

He promised the Dutch-based company would usecutting-edge technologies and observe the strictesthealth, safety and environmental standards at the newplant.

Deputy Consul General Leo Linscheer of theNetherlands Consulate General in Shanghai said AkzoNobel had set up more than 20 factories and workshopssince it entered the Chinese market in the 1980s.

The further economic cooperation would deepenthe friendship between the two nations.

MNA/Xinhua

MOSCOW, 10 March—Russian President Vladi-mir Putin said on Saturdaythat it would be up to hissuccessor Dmitry Medve-dev to decide whether topardon convicted cri-minals, including jailed oiltycoon Mikhail Khodor-kovsky.

A Kremlin source toldReuters the existingprocedure for a presi-dential pardon requires

ANKARA, 10 March —Visiting Iraqi Minister ofOil Husayn al-Shahristanisaid on Saturday that Iraqdesired to improve itscooperation with Turkeyin the energy sector.

Shahristani, whoarrived in Turkey for aseries of talks, made theremarks in the Turkishcapital of Ankara after hisofficial talks with Turkish

GENEVA, 10 March —Trade negotiators areentering a critical periodin their efforts to wrap upa new world trade agree-ment by the end of theyear.

At stake is a pact toboost trade and growth ina world economy buf-feted by financial crisis,as markets open forbusinesses from food tofinance in rich and poorcountries.

But optimism at thestart of the year that a dealcould be done soon hasfaded, as the talks havebogged down in technicaldetails and recriminationsamong rich and poorcountries about whoshould show the greatestambition in loweringbarriers.

Meetings this week oncentral agriculture andindustrial goods willdetermine whether World

A child shows her work for auction during a commonweal auction in HangzhouCity, capital of east China’s Zhejiang Province, on 9 March, 2008.—XINHUA

Iraq keen to coop withTurkey in energy sector

Energy and NaturalResources Minister HilmiGuler.

He said that Iraq wantsto provide gas to Turkeyand considers Turkey as atransit country as well.

Guler, for his part, saidthat during his talks withShahristani, they discuss-ed projects aiming to bringIraqi oil and natural gas toTurkey in an effort to

diversify energy re-sources.

He said such projectswould be carried out byTurkish Petroleum Cor-poration (TPAO) andTurkish Petroleum Inter-national Company Ltd(TPIC), adding that detailsof the new pipelines wouldbe determined togetherwith Iraqi officials.

MNA/Xinhua

Akzo Nobel starts building$385m China plant

Private entities urgedto invest in railways

WTO trade talks face crucialtwo weeksTrade Organization(WTO) mediators canissue revised textsdistilling the progress.

Those negotiatingtexts, and a set of talksthis week on the servicessector, are intended topave the way for a meeting

of trade ministers whowould agree the outlinesof a deal.

“The next two weekswill be crunch,” said asenior diplomat from anexport-oriented deve-loping country.

MNA/Reuters

Medvedev to decide on oiltycoon’s pardon

anyone who wants to bepardoned to first admittheir guilt and file arequest.

Khodorkovsky says heis innocent.

Putin was asked at ajoint Press conferencewith German ChancellorAngela Merkel whetherKhodorkovsky would bepardoned.

“If we suppose that theprocedure required by lawis observed, then thequestion of pardoning isin the competence of thehead of state, the presidentof the Russian Federa-tion,” Putin said.

Khodorkovsky wasarrested in 2003 in whatwas widely regarded as aKremlin campaign topunish the tycoon for hispolitical ambitions.

The arrest was widelycriticised in the West anda number of politicianshave called for his release.

MNA/Reuters

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM5

6 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 March, 2008

All items from Xinhua News Agency

Hamas claims responsibility forJerusalem attack

NATO soldierkilled in Afghan

roadside bombing

A dragon-shaped kite flies over the Beiling Park in

Shenyang, capital of northeast China’s Liaoning

Province, on 9 March, 2008.—XINHUA

Germany’s Formula One driver Timo Glockdrives the double-championship winning Toyota

TRD Rally Team’s S2000 Corolla at the WerribeeRally Proving ground in Melbourne, on 10

March, 2008.—INTERNET

China’s pol advisersspeak on major

development issuesBEIJING, 9 March —

Following three days ofstudy and discussionon the governmentwork report fromPremier Wen Jiabao,China’s political advi-sers gathered at theGreat Hall of the Peopleon Saturday morning tovoice their opinionson major developmentissues of the country.

Fourteen members of the11th National Committeeof the Chinese People’s

Political ConsultativeConference (CPPCC),currently in its first annualfull session here, arescheduled to speak at thesession’s second plenarymeeting, which just started.

CPPCC sources saidthat their speeches wouldinvolve such topics asthe macroeconomic re-gulation and lessons to bedrawn from the snowhavoc that swept southernChina earlier this year.

Xinhua

Castro’sautobiography

published in Chinese

A statue of AncientRoman Emperor

Augustus.— XINHUA

KABUL, 10 March —One soldier of the NATO-led International SecurityAssistance Force (ISAF)was killed and anotherone was injured byroadside bombing ineastern Afghan provinceof Paktia Province onSaturday, said an ISAFstatement.

“An ISAF routine patrolhit an improvised ex-plosive device in WazaKhwa district of Paktiaprovince,” the statementsaid.

Two ISAF soldiers

were wounded and oneof the two soldiers diedof wounds sustainedfrom the explosion, itadded.

In accordance withISAF policy, ISAFdoes not release thecasualty’s nationality priorto the relevant nationalauthority doing so.

M i l i t a n c y - r e l a t e dviolence had left morethan 6,000 people dead in2007 and the Talebanmilitants have vowed tointensifty their attacks thisyear.—Xinhua

BEIJING, 10 March —A leading Chinese thinktank published recently theChinese edition of FidelCastro’s autobiography.

The Castro auto-biography, based on the100-hour interviews ofCastro and IgnacioRamonet, a spanish jour-nalist and writer who isEditor-in-Chief of LeMonde Diplomatique,goes with a new prefacewritten by Castro par-ticularly for Chinesereaders.

The Chinese Academyof Social Sciences(CASS) Institute of LatinAmerican Studies tran-slated and compilethe autobiography fromits original Spanishedition.

As in the Spanish,English and French

editions publishedpreviously, the Chineseedition has its majorcontent on Castro’shistorical records, hisrevolutionary career, theCuban missile crisis,the geopolitics in LatinAmerica, Cuba’s foreignrelations with majorpowers such as the UnitedStates and the SovietUnion as well as China,and a today’s Cuba.

Suffering from healthproblems, Castro in lastmonth handed over hisreign over Cuba to hislong-time comrade andyounger brother RaulCastro.

Xinhua

GAZA, 9 March —Palestinian IslamicHamas movementclaimed responsibilityfor a shooting attack inIsrael that killed eightstudents and injuredmany others in a Jewishseminary in Jerusalem,a senior Hamas officialsaid on Friday.“TheHamas movement

announces its fullresponsibility for theJerusalem operation,”the official was quotedby Western media assaying.

Gunmen infiltrated intothe religious school namedMercaz Harav Yeshivaand opened fire in-discriminately at nightfallThursday.

On Thursday evening,an organization callingitself “Galilee FreedomBattalions — the Martyrsof Imad Mughniyeh”claimed responsibility forthe attack, according toHizbollah’s Al-Manartelevision.

Israeli security forcesacross Israel were on thehighest level of alert onFriday, setting up roadblocks and tighteningrestrictions on Palestiniantravel in and from the WestBank for 36 hours.

Xinhua

Peruvian policeseizes 1.5 tons of

cocaineLIMA, 10 March —

Peru’s police seized 1.5tons of cocaine andarrested four suspecteddrug traffickers Fridayin northwestern partof the country, policeauthority said onSaturday.

Po l ice sa id theycarried out the anti-d rug opera t ion inthe coast off CaletaCher repe , in Lam-bayeque Province.

The four suspects areEcuadoreans and theytried to ship the drugs tothe United States andEurope.

In addition, policealso confiscated twovehicles, some guns andt e l e c o m m u n i c a t i o nequipment.

Xinhua

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM6

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 March, 2008 7

The National Convention attended by more than1000 representatives of various national races, thepeople from all walks of life from the four corners ofthe nation and from various fields was successfullyover on 3 September 2007. At the National Convention,the representatives unanimously adopted thefundamental principles and detailed basic principlesfor 15 chapter headings to be included in the StateConstitution of the Union of Myanmar.

The State Peace and Development Council on 18October 2007 formed the Commission for Draftingthe State Constitution under Announcement No 2/2007 to draft a constitution based on the fundamentalprinciples and detailed basic principles adopted at theNational Convention. The 54-member commission iscomposed of national race legal experts, well-experienced persons, experts, and those who areknowledgeable about the administrative, economic,political and social fields.

On 3 December 2007, the commission launchedthe process of drafting the constitution. After theprocess was completed, commission members signedthe draft at the plenary session on 19 February 2008.

The State Peace and Development Council issuedAnnouncement No 1/2008 on 9 February 2008, sayingthat the draft of the State Constitution will be approvedthrough a referendum in May 2008.

In addition, through Announcement No 2/2008dated 9 February 2008, the State Peace andDevelopment Council announced that in 2010, multi-party democracy general elections will be held inaccordance with the State Constitution approvedthrough the referendum.

The announcements and programmes depict thatthe Union of Myanmar is working step by step fortransition to democracy.

The State Peace and Development Council issuedthe Referendum Law for the Approval of the DraftConstitution of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar(2008) through Declaration 1/2008 on 26 February2008. It is constituted with 12 chapters—(1) Title andDefinition, (2) Convening the Referendum, (3)Formation of the Commission and Sub-commissions,(4) Duties and Powers of the Commission for HoldingReferendum and Sub-commissions, (5) Preparing

Let’s approve State Constitution (draft)to shape prosperous future (1)

Khaing Myo Nyilar Aung

Voting Rolls, (6) Voting, (7) Postponing and Dissolvingof Voting, (8) Counting of Votes, (9) Declaring Votes,(10) Prohibition and Penalty, (11) Obtaining Financialand Staff Assistance, (12) Miscellaneous.

The same day, the State Peace and DevelopmentCouncil formed the Commission for Holding theReferendum comprising 45 persons in accordance withsection 5 (a) of Chapter 3 of the Referendum Law for theApproval of the Draft Constitution of the Republic ofthe Union of Myanmar 2008 under the AnnouncementNo 2/2008.

Every independent and sovereign country drawsand exercises a constitution. The countries under therule of colonialists, Fascists and Feudalist emperors donot practise a constitution. If there is a constitution inthose countries, the laws, administrative patterns andjudicial systems are practised to the liking of thecolonizers.

Myanmar, which regained independence in 1948,started the process of drawing a constitution in 1947. Itwas compiled in the colonial days. The constitution-drawing process was under the coercion of some FeudalistSawbwas (chieftain). Major-General Aung San wasassassinated before the draft was approved. It wasdrafted in haste in order to regain independence in time.The process of drawing the constitution was completed,however the constitution stipulated some principles onthe rights to secede from the Union. Due to variousreasons, the draft of the 1947 constitution was not in aposition to be explained to the public, nor was it approvedby the people due to the hope of regaining independencesoon.

The 1974 constitution was approved by the majorityof the people at the referendum. The people stagedprotests, saying that they no longer favoured theSocialism and Socialist policies stipulated in theconstitution, and so, the constitution was defunct in1988. Anyhow, it is fair to say that the 1974 constitutioncame into force with the wishes and support of thepeople.

In 1988, the Tatmadaw had to save the Union thatwas under the threat of collapse due to the unscrupulousactivities of the leftists (various forms of Communists),rightists (various groups relying on the West),aboveground groups (power-craving groups, political

opportunists, and various opportunists waiting foropportune times to rob public property), undergroundgroups (various armed insurgent groups committingrobberies, killing the people, torching villages, andengaging in illegal drug business), and external elements(many colonialist countries seeking ways and means tooccupy and colonize Myanmar, as soon as opportune).The colonialists were dreaming the hopes of keepingMyanmar in their control, stationing their militarybases in the Myanmar soils, and exploiting the richnatural resources of Myanmar. However, their dreamsdid not come true due to the Tatmadaw government.Since 1988, they have been resorting to various means,such as media (propaganda) weapon, economicsanctions, and strategies to devastate Myanmar. Andthey have been attacking the Tatmadaw with finetraditions and patriotic Myanmar people stronglyequipped with Union Spirit.

The State Law and Order Restoration Council(Tatmadaw government) thus had to take all necessarymeasures with tenacity from 1988 to 1997 to restorepeace and stability throughout the country, to defendthe country from alien invasion, and to ensureperpetuation of community peace, prevalence of lawand order, and secure and smooth transport.Furthermore, it started the building of infrastructuresfor national development. It held peace talks withvarious national race armed groups in order that theywould return to the legal fold and join hands with thegovernment and the people in the tasks for progress ofthe Union.

In 1997, peace and stability was restored acrossthe country, so the Tatmadaw government reconstitutedthe State Law and Order Restoration Council as theState Peace and Development Council with the aim ofexpediting the national development tasks. Then, itdedicated itself to plans for internal peace, and progressof the whole Union especially of border areas and ruralareas.

After peace and stability had been restored, theTatmadaw government laid down strategies and tacticsfor transition to a discipline-flourishing democraticnation.

Now, the entire national brethren are working hardtogether, while exerting the fine traditions of nationalsolidarity to build a peaceful and prosperous democraticnation in accordance with the State’s seven-step RoadMap.

Now is the most opportune time for the people toachieve the goal. If the people fail to embrace theunique opportunity resulting from being trapped inalien instigation or their lack of reasoning power, theywill have to wait long to gain a similar opportunity.

Therefore, I would like to say that it is time theentire people wholeheartedly welcomed the referendumin order not to lose the brighter future.

Translation: MSMyanma Alin, Kyemon: 10-3-2008

******

Now is the most opportune time for thepeople to achieve the goal. If the people fail toembrace the unique opportunity resultingfrom being trapped in alien instigation ortheir lack of reasoning power, they will have towait long to gain a similar opportunity.

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM7

8 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 March, 2008

(from page 16)At the meeting, Mr Gambari expressed thanks

for the permission to come to Myanmar, for arrange-ments during his trip and hospitality. Moreover, he alsoexpressed thanks for holding talks with him and personswho should be met during his trip. He also said heexpects that Myanmar always opens her door to holdtalks between UN and Myanmar. During the trip, he wasable to discuss openly and exchange views at the meet-ings, he said. He believes that the two sides have thesame desire to see the country become a peaceful anddeveloped democratic nation. He believes that he willget a chance to come to the country again for coopera-tion of the two sides.

Afterwards, Leader of the Spoke AuthoritativeTeam of the SPDC Minister for Information Brig-GenKyaw Hsan explained matters related to the trip of MrGambari.

The clarification of Leader of the SpokeAuthoritative Team of the SPDC Minister for Infor-mation Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan is as follows : —

To come to Myanmar, Your Excellency madetwo-tiresome journeys spending a lot of hours fromNew York to Singapore and from Singapore to Yangon.In addition, Your Excellency might be very tired afterspending five days with very tight schedule. We deeplyappreciate your earnest efforts spending your valuabletime. Recognizing the role of UNSG’s good offices andshowing our willingness to cooperate, we comply withas much as possible in your every trip. Regarding yoursuggestions we complied with, to the most possibleextent, constructively in your previous trips so also inthis trip. This trip was originally scheduled for 4 days.At your request, it has been rescheduled for 5 days. Wealso arranged to our utmost, for you to meet with thepersons and organizations you requested.

Spoke Authoritative Team meets Special Adviser…So during this trip, Your Excellency have met

with those who should be met such as the SpokeAuthoritative Team, the Minister for Foreign Affairs,the Minister for National Planning & Economic Devel-opment and party, diplomats, officials of UN agenciesand ICRC, the Referendum Commission members,Union Solidarity and Development Association, NLDCEC members, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi twice, NationalUnity Party, Pa-O National Organization, etc. You mayhave understood the prevailing situation of Myanmar,the wishes of the majority of the people, the stances andviews of political parties including national race politi-cal parties, we believe.

Hence, you may have known that the effortsof the Government today are meant for the realiza-tion of the wishes and desires of the majority ofMyanmar people comprehensively. Though we areexerting efforts for realization of the wishes of themajority, we do not ignore the wishes of the minorityat all. In accordance with the essence of democracy,we provide opportunities for the minority to partici-pate in the national political process.

As Your Excellency has known, the nationalreferendum will be held in May to approve the draftConstitution as the 4th step of the Road Map. At thereferendum, those supporting and opposing the Gov-ernment will have the right to vote freely. Moreover,after the draft Constitution is approved, those in favourof the Constitution or those against it can have equalright to form political parties, launch campaign andenter election in accordance with the laws concerned.When candidates are elected by the people’s vote in theelection, which will be the 5th step of the Road Map,they will become Hluttaw members and they candiscuss, coordinate and make decisions on political,economic and social affairs of the nation as the 6th and

7th steps of Road Map. It shows that our nationalpolitical process guarantees all-inclusiveness. It canclearly be seen that we keep the door open for “Win-Win” situation. Speaking frankly, the way we are march-ing is the best and the most suitable one for the nationand the people. It ensures stability as well as smoothtransition to democracy. Hence, Your Excellency isbelieved to render a cooperative hand for the entireMyanmar people to march on the right path towards thedesired goal.

With the cooperation and assistance of YourExcellency, our democratization process as desiredby the UN, international community, the entireMyanmar people as well as supporters and thoseopposing the Government, will certainly meet suc-cess. Then, the entire people can participate exten-sively with democratic practices.

At the meeting on 7th March, we frankly andcomprehensively discussed our stance and views. AndYour Excellency also discussed frankly and compre-hensively. The constructive suggestions of Your Excel-lency are also appreciated. As the international commu-nity is welcoming and supporting the role of UNSG’sgood offices, our country is also recognizing and coop-erating with it.

In conclusion, our discussion in friendly andfrank manner will produce good results in Myanmar’spolitical development, we believe. The entire Myanmarpeople wish Your Excellency a good and successful tripback home. We are anticipating to learn Your Excellen-cy’s constructive reporting when you arrive back home.Thank you.

After the meeting, participants of the meetingenjoyed tea party and the meeting ended at 3:50 pm.

Mr Gambari also met with ambassadors, charged affaires ai and responsible persons at 9 am and DawAung San Suu Kyi at noon at Seinle Kantha State GuestHouse. He left here this evening by air. — MNA

YANGON, 10 March—The Myanmar Brewery CoLtd presented its special programmes for forthcomingMyanmar New Year to journalists and made cash dona-tions to social organizations at a ceremony held inconjunction with the blood donation of its staff atWomen Development Organization (Wingaba) in BahanTownship, here, at 10 am today.

Present on the occasion were Chairman of thecompany Lt-Col Ne Win (Retd), General Manager MrPeter Ong, officials, mediamen, representatives of so-cial organizations, staff and guests.

Mr Peter Ong delivered an opening speech andexplained the programmes.

The chairman, the general manager and officialspresented K 3,000,000 to National Blood Departmentof Yangon General Hospital and K 1,000,000 each toWomen Development Organization (Wingaba), AungZabu Youths Development Centre, school for the disa-bled children, Christian school for the blind, PsychiatricHospital, New Life Foundation, Yadanatheri monasticeducation school, Mandaly school for the deaf and

Myanmar Brewery Ltdlaunches Myanmar New

Year programmes

YANGON, 10 March—The opening ceremony ofMyanmar Olympic Committee Chairman’ Cup Men’sHockey Tournament for 2008, organized by MyanmarHockey Federation, was held at the hockey pitch onTheinbyu Road yesterday afternoon.

Among the spectators were the Chairman ofMyanmar Olympic Committee the Minister for Sports,officials, President of MHF Brig-Gen Myint Soe, Vice-President U Kyaw Kyaw Hlaing, executives and guests.

Minister for Sports Brig-Gen Thura Aye Myintgave a speech on the occasion and Vice-President UKyaw Kyaw Hlaing of MHF spoke words of thanks.

Before the ceremony, vocalists entertained theaudience. In the events, Yangon Command beatTatmadaw Hockey Committee 1-0. Tatmadaw (AirForce) defeated Yangon Youths Team 3-0.

On March 11, Triangle Region Command playsagainst South-East Command and Yangon Command,against Tatmadaw (Navy).—MNAGeneral Manager Mr Peter Ong explains special programme of Myanmar Brewery Ltd. — MNA

MOC Chairman’s Cup hockey tourney kicks off

Minister Brig-Gen Thura Aye Myint deliversaddress at opening of MOC Chairman’s Cup

hockey tourney. — MHF

dumb, Home for the Aged at the foot of Mandaly hill,Taungyyi school for the disabled, Kayin State NationalYouths Development (Paraheita) Centre, Mawlamyineorphan training centre, Pathein Parahita youths devel-opment school and Hlegu township war veterans or-ganization.

Staff of Myanamr Brewery Co Ltd made blooddonations. The company is pursuing its special pro-grammes for the fun of its customers. It is planning todonate cash to social organizations this year.

MNA

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM8

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 March, 2008 9

YANGON, 10March — MyanmarAffairs and InternationalStudies Course No 14conducted by UnionSolidarity and De-velopment Associationwas opened at the trainingschool of USDA inNyaunghnapin Camp inHmawby Townshiptoday.

Speaking on theoccasion, Secretary-General of USDA U HtayOo said we all havewitnessed that everycountry has to lay downand implement policiesand tasks which can servethe interests of theirpeople in implementingthe national objectives ofa country.

Similarly, OurThree Main NationalCauses is the nationalpolicy of Myanmar and12 political, economicand social objectives arethe pratical ways that canpave the way to achievingthe national goal. Thanksto the collaborativeefforts of theGovernment, theTatmadaw and thepeople, the country hasenjoyed pravalence ofcommunity peace and all-round developments.

The USDA wasorganized with the aim ofparticipating inimplementing thedevelopment tasks incooperation with thepeople, and 24 million ofits members have activelybeen participating in

All patriotic people to strive for perpetual existence ofUnion as well as for its prosperity

Myanmar Affairs and International Studies Course No 14 opens

NAY PYI TAW, 10 March — Minister forEducation Dr Chan Nyein together with DeputyMinisters U Myo Nyunt and Brig-Gen Aung Myo Minand officials visited the matriculation exam centres ofNay Pyi Taw Basic Education High School Nos 1 & 3,Nay Pyi Taw Pyinmana BEHS Nos 1 & 3 and Nay PyiTaw Lewe BEHS No 1 this morning and viewed thestudents taking the matriculation examination.

Likewise, Chairman of Myanmar ExaminationBoard U Ohn Myint and Director-General of No 3

Education Minister visits matric exam centresBasic Education Department U Aye Khyu also viewedthe students sitting for the matriculation examinationat No 2 BEHS Sangyoung Township, No 2 BEHS andNo 4 BEHS Ahlon Township, No 2 BEHS Latha andYangon General Hospital.

The 2008 matriculation examination started at9 am today at 1334 exam centres across the country and16 other exam centres of Myanmar embassies in foreigncountries totaling 1350 exam. A total of 609307 studentsare taking the exams, it is learnt.—MNA

implementing the tasks.They have taken

part in implementing theproject for developmentof 24 Special Regions,border areas develop-ment project and the fiverural area developmenttasks.

Members of theassociation come from allwalks of life and they arecommitted to participatein implementing develop-ment tasks in their localregions as much as theycan.

Members of theassociation should beunited as well as shouldbe members of quality ofthe association in theirdedication to contributeto welfare of the people.Trainings will improvethe quality of everymembers and can lead toimprovement of theefficiency of theassociation.

All national raceshave been living togetherin the country since timeimmemorial.

Myanmar hasstood tall as a Unionwhere all the nationalraces living through thickand thin. So all thepatriotic people are tostrive for the perpetualexistence of the Union aswell as for its prosperity.

Now is the timewhen the country is in theprocess of implementingthe seven-step Road Mapwhile undertaking thetasks for ensuring peaceand stability and thedevelopment of economicand social sectors. All thepeople on their part havewelcomed and supportedthe road map. TheNational Convention, themost fundamental andimportant step, has alsobeen held with theparticipation of over 1000

delegates representing theentire people. Theyadopted fundamentalprinciples and detailedbasic principles for thewriting of the draftconstitution. So, the NChas represented the entirepeople.

The State hasannounced that thenational referendumwould be held in May thisyear for the approval ofthe draft constitution andthe multi-party generalelection in 2010. Theimplementation of theseven-step Road Map isthe national dutyconcerned with the entirepeople. Therefore, all theassociation members areto cooperate with thepeople for the success ofthe national referendum.Today’s issues of theState are the internalaffairs of Myanmar thatcan be coped with the

State and the peoplealone. Any foreigncountries will not knowthe history and prevailingconditions of Myanmar.So, the country is readyto welcome anyencouragement andassistance to help with theconstruction of a newnation. However, thepeople will also guardagainst any outsideinterference with one-sided view. In conclusion,he urged the members toparticipate in theirrespective sectors for thewellbeing of the people,to strive for the good ofthe people knowing theprevailing conditions ofthe country, to cooperate

with the people for theapproval of the draftconstitution essential forthe building of a newnation, to cooperate withthe people for the successof the seven-step RoadMap, to guard against anydestructive acts, tocooperate with the peoplewith goodwill for thebuilding of a new nationand to try to enable theassociation to stand as anational force knowingthe importance of thenational duty.

A total of 101trainees from the statesand divisions are takingthe course that lasts 4weeks.

MNA

USDA Secretary-General U Htay Oo addresses the opening ceremony of Myanmar Affairs and International StudiesCourse No 14.— MNA

NAY PYI TAW, 10 March — To mark MahaThingyan Festival in Nay Pyi Taw, Tour Gold CupGolf Tournament will be held at Nay Pyi Taw GolfResort, Yepya Tatmadaw Golf Resort and Nay PyiTaw City Golf Resort from 13 to 15 April.

Tour Gold Cup and a gold medal will beawarded to a winning team after three days and a silvermedal to a team which stands second.

After daily events, first, second and thirdprizes and handsome prizes will be awarded to winningteams daily. Those golf teams wishing to participatein the tournament may enroll at the office of the NayPyi Taw Mayor, the committee for holding thetournament said.

MNA

Tour Gold Cup GolfTournament on 13-15 April

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM9

10 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 March, 2008

PARIS, 10 March —French President NicolasSarkozy’s centre-rightUMP party faced biglosses after the first roundof local elections onSunday that posed his firstelectoral test since comingto power last year.

An initial projectionby the CSA pollstersshowed the oppositionSocialists and other left

Sarkozy’s party facing losses inFrench local vote

wing parties heading for47.5 per cent of the overallvote, with the UMP andother right wing partiesheading for just 40 percent.

“These are naturallynot good results,” saidPatrick Devedjian,secretary general of theUMP party.

The Socialistslooked certain to maintain

control of France’s toptwo cities, Paris andLyons. The left also hopesto seize control ofFrance’s third city,Marseille, as well asrightist strongholds likeStrasbourg and Toulouse.

Final results willcome after the secondround of the election on16 May.

MNA/Reuters

MADRID, 10 March —Spain’s governingSocialist Party wonSunday’s election but fellshort of the absolutemajority that might havehelped them act morequickly to cushion aneconomic slowdown.

“I will govern for allpeople, thinking first ofthose who have nothing,”Prime Minister Jose Luis

Spain Socialists win but short ofoverall majority

Rodriguez Zapatero toldthousands of supporterscheering and waving redflags outside the Socialistheadquarters.

With 96 per cent ofvotes counted, theSocialists were projectedto win 169 seats in the350-seat lower house, upfive from the previouslegislature.

The conservative

Popular Party (PP) won153 seats, also up fivefrom 2004, when votersturned against them afterthey rushed to blame theBasque separatists of ETAfor election-eve trainbombings that turned outto be the work of Islamists.

The night’s big loserswere small left-wingparties.

MNA/Reuters

DHAKA, 10 March —Bangladesh Rapid ActionBattalion (Rab) membersrecovered a Vishnu statueof 9th century AD inBangladesh’s northernGaibandha District, about210 kilometres northwestof capital Dhaka, onFriday night.

Leading Englishnewspaper The Daily StarSunday quoted sources assaying, the Rab members

Over thousand-year-oldVishnu statue found in B’desh

recovered the overthousand-year-old stonestatue of Vishnu at Chappravillage of Gobindaganjsub-district of northernGaibandha District.

Besides, the Rabmembers also recoveredseveral artifacts including

ancient terracotta tilesat Shahargachhi villagein Gaibandha andKamarpara village innorthwestern DinajpurDistrict, about 285kilometres northwest ofcapital Dhaka.

MNA/Xinhua

An egg truck in Vientiane. Japanese researcherssaid on Monday they had paved the way to develop

an all-round vaccine to protect people from birdflu and its feared mutations.—INTERNET

Chavez finds Castro happyin retirement

HAVANA, 10 March —Venezuelan President HugoChavez visited his friend and mentor Fidel Castro onSaturday for the first since the 81-year-old retired asCuba’s leader and said he found him happy and flowingwith ideas.

Chavez spent all morning chatting with Castroduring a stopover in Cuba on his way home from aregional summit in Santo Domingo, DominicanRepublic, where Latin American presidents defused atense border dispute between Colombia and Ecuador.

“I found Fidel happy, splendid and full of ideas,full of deep and wise thoughts,” Chavez told Cubantelevision.

MNA/Reuters

An Adam Air plane,which skidded off the

runway, is seen atBatam Airport on 10

March, 2008. TheIndonesian passenger

plane, which wascarrying 174 people,

skidded off the runwayin heavy rain during alanding on the islandof Batam on Monday,injuring five people,

an airline spokesmanand a doctor said.

XINHUA

Dozens injured in central Greecetrain derailment

ATHENS, 10 March — A passenger train derailedoutside the city of Larisa in central Greece on Saturdayinjuring dozens of people, the Greek authorities said.

“A total of 28 people were injured and taken tohospital when a train travelling from Athens toThessaloniki (in northern Greece) derailed abouttwo kilometres from Larisa station,” a police officialwho declined to be named told Reuters.

MNA/Reuters

Six killed in head-onC England car collision

LONDON, 10 March — Six people have beenkilled in a head-on car collision in the Cotswolds incentral England, British police said on Saturday.

Five people — three men, a woman and a 15-year-old girl—were pronounced dead at the sceneof the accident between Moreton-in-Marsh andStow-on-the-Wold on Friday night, while a womandied in hospital early on Saturday.

Two children and one adult remain in a criticalcondition in hospital.—MNA/Reuters

BEIJING, 10 March —The 1,500-year-oldShaolin Temple incentral China’s HenanProvince will not gopublic, its Abbot ShiYongxin said onSaturday.

“The risk of goingpublic is too big, and it isagainst the Buddhistspirit,” said Shi, also adeputy to the 11thNational People’sCongress, the toplegislature.

Dubbed “Shaolin

Abbot says Shaolin Templenot to go public

CEO”, Shi Yongxin is acontroversial monk whohas shaken people’snotions of Shaolin Templeand Buddhism with hisbusiness-oriented tran-sformation.

In 1994, he played aleading role in the Chinesereligious community toregister “Shaolin” and“Shaolin Temple” astrademarks, and set up acompany to managerelevant intellectualproperty rights.

MNA/Xinhua

Train crashes into bus inArgentina, killing 18

BUENOS AIRES, 10 March — A train crashedinto a bus at a rail crossing in Argentina early onSunday, killing 18 people and injuring about 45,local media reported.

Several witnesses said the bus driver drovethrough the crossing’s lowered safety barriers, theClarin newspaper reported on is website, but thebus company said the cause of the accident was notclear.

Some of the victims were returning fromholidays on the Atlantic coast.

MNA/Reuters

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM10

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 March, 2008 11

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Images

of

the

Day

Actor Jackie Chan honourslate parents

CANBERRA, 10 March — Hong Kong-born action film star Jackie Chan paidtribute to his late parents and his Australian roots on Sunday by funding a newscience education centre at the country's top cancer research institution.

Chan and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd opened the Jackie ChanScience Centre, at the Australian National University, paid for by Chan'sdonations to cancer research in honour of his parents, who were long-timeresidents in Canberra.

Chan made an initial donation to cancer research in Australia in 2002 after thedeath of his mother, Lee Lee Chan, and was back in Canberra for Saturday'sfuneral for his father Charlie, who died on 26 February, aged 93.

"My father passed away last week. So it is about time I did something forCanberra to remember my parents. I really thank you Australia and Canberra fortaking care of my parents for 46 years," Chan told reporters.

Chan's parents settled in Canberra in the early 1970s, where his father took ajob as the head chef at the United States Embassy before becoming a successfullocal restaurant owner. — MNA/Reuters

Movie star Jackie Chan (L) and Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd lookat an exhibit after Chan opened The Jackie Chan Science Centre in

Canberra on 9 March, 2008.—XINHUA

Germany’s Babbet Peter and goalkeeper Silke

Rottenberg (front) are challenged by Sweden’s

Caroline Seger (L) during their Algarve Cup

women’s soccer championship third round match

in Vila Real Santo Antonio on 10 March, 2008.

INTERNET

Stormy seashit coastal seadefences anda lighthouseat Seaford in

Sussex insouthern

England on10 March,

2008. A stormrushing infrom theAtlantic

lashed thesouth west on

Monday ashigh windsand tides

brought therisk of coastal

flooding.INTERNET

Birdman competitor. 13 Birdman competitors plunged into the Yarra Riverin Australia on 9th March — despite the river having almost double the

safe level of E coli. It was won for the third year in a row by Carrum Downsamateur pilot Michael Paul. Mr Paul, 38, flew 17 metres, a metre shy of the

Moomba record, in a mono-winged creation.—XINHUA

Russians storm the snow fortress celebrating Maslenitsa or Pancake Week

in a forest close to the village of Radischevo, some 35 kms (20 miles)

north-west of Moscow, Russia, on 9March , 2008. —INTERNET

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM11

12 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 March, 2008

A Chinese vendor prepares vegetables at a market in Beijing, on 8March,2008.—INTERNET

Swiss mily loses hundredsof guns every year

European SpaceAgency launches ATV

into spacePARIS, 10 March–The European Space Agency on

Sunday launched its first Automated Transfer Vehicle(ATV) into space, French media reported.

The ATV blasted into the skies at 1:03 am (0403GMT) aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’sspaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

The launch was initially scheduled for Saturday butwas delayed for technical checks.

The ATV is scheduled to separate from the Arianerocket at 0535 GMT and reignite its propulsion system30 minutes later.It will remain in a “parking orbit” andthen is scheduled to dock with the International SpaceStation (ISS) on 3 April to deliver around eight tons offood, water, fuel and personal items to the ISS crew.

MNA/XinhuaBritain makes camera that

“sees” under clothes

GENEVA, 10 March—An average of 430 gunsbelonging to the Swissmilitary are stolen or losteach year, most of whichare weapons stored athome by soldiers, reportedSunday’s Le MatinDimanche.

A total of 4,300 assaultrifles and pistols have beenstolen or lost over the pastdecade, in addition to 260weapons recovered later,

Felix Endrich, SwissDefence Ministry spokes-man, was quoted by theFrench-language news-paper as saying.

According to Endrich,few weapons are stolenor lost during service,averaging about 10 casesover the last three years.

However, crimes linkedto stolen military guns arefew, said police in Vaudand Geneva. Weapons lost

or stolen during serviceare handled by the militaryprosecution service whilecases of weapons stolenout of service are dealtwith by the Swiss police.In Switzerland, about270,000 assault rifles and120,000 pistols arecurrently stored by activesoldiers or reservists athome, according tomilitary statistics.

MNA/Xinhua

Ex-Pakistani ministernabbed for human

traffickingISLAMABAD, 9 March—Pakistani security agencies

arrested a state minister from the previous governmenton charges of smuggling people to Europe and Canada,a senior official said on Saturday.

Mushtaq Victor was picked up on Friday night in thecapital Islamabad after a case of human traffickingwas registered against him last month, said an officialof the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

“In all, he sent three women and 16 boys to Germany,Britain, Austria and Canada between 2003-06, passingthem off as his wives and sons,” Umar Hayat Gondalof the Federal Investigation Unit, a special cell of theFIA, told Reuters. Gondal said most of the people hesent abroad were job-seekers and paid him up to800,000 rupees (12,851 US dollars).

During the investigation, Victor said he was innocentand that his staff might have been mis-using his name.

Victor, 68, was the state minister for religiousminorities in the coalition led by the Pakistan MuslimLeague, the party that backs President Pervez Musharraf.The government's five-year term ended in October.

The pro-Musharraf alliance was defeated in aparliamentary election on 18 February, and the victorshave yet to form a new coalition government.

Gondal said his agency was pursuing Victor since2006 after a tip off from a Norwegian embassy official.

MNA/Reuters

60 newborns, six mothers diein Nepal daily

LONDON, 10 March—ABritish company hasdeveloped a camera thatcan detect weapons, drugsor explosives hiddenunder people’s clothesfrom up to 25 metres awayin what could be abreakthrough for thesecurity industry.

The T5000 camera,created by a company

called ThruVision, useswhat it calls “passiveimaging technology” toidentify objects by thenatural electromagneticrays —known as Tera-hertz or T-rays — that theyemit.

The high-powered ca-mera can detect hiddenobjects from up to 80 feetaway and is effective even

when people are moving.It does not reveal physicalbody details and thescreening is harmless, thecompany says.

The technology, whichhas military and civilianapplications and could beused in crowded airports,shopping malls orsporting events, will beunveiled at a scientificdevelopment exhibitionsponsored by Britain’sHome Office on 12-13March.

“Acts of terrorism haveshaken the world in recentyears and security pre-cautions have beentightened globally,” saidClive Beattie, the chiefexecutive of ThruVision.

“The ability to see bothmetallic and non-metallicitems on people out to 25metres is certainly a keycapability that willenhance any compre-hensive security system.”

MNA/Reuters

KATHMANDU, 9 March—As many as 60newborns and six mothersdie every day in Nepal forlack of maternal andneonatal health services,a survey report has stated.

According to Sunday’sThe Himalayan Timesdaily, every year, around2,500 mothers and 22,000newborns die in thecountry due to shortageof maternal and neonatalhealth services, the

National DemographicHealth Survey said.

According to thesurvey, 281 out of 100,000mothers die every year.Thirty-three out of 1,000newborns also meet thesame fate each year.

The government hastaken different measuresto make maternal healthservices accessible to theneedy.

The National SafeMotherhood Policy has

been formulated andspecial safe motherhoodprogrammes launched todecrease maternal mor-tality and morbidity, saidthe report.

National and inter-national agencies havealso launched pro-grammes towards thisend. GP Ojha, director-general of the Departmentof Health Services, wasquoted by the daily assaying, “Though we havepolitical commitment,proper laws and enoughresources, many mothersbased in rural areas arestill deprived of healthservices. This is due to thelack of awareness.”

MNA/Xinhua

Nine people missingin Brazilian shipwreck

incidentBRASILIA, 10 March–Brazilian authorities confirmed

on Sunday that nine people were missing after a boatwith 22 people sunk early in the day in Pantanal,centre-west of the country.

According to the local fire department, 12 touristsand 10 members of crew were on the boat which sankat about 0400 local time (GMT 08h00) near PortoCercado, a point of reference for visitors in Pantanal.

The reason of the accident is still unknown, butsome survivors said they have heard a noise and thenthe boat sunk.

The tourists hired the boat for a fishing expedition,said the local fire department.—MNA/Xinhua

The best timeto plant a treewas 20 years

ago. Thesecond besttime is now.

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM12

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 March, 2008 13

Russia, Tonga donate to Chinafor snow disaster relief

Chinese ancient statues,artifacts on show in Florence

Software engineer is topUS “mental athlete”

NEW YORK, 10 March—A 31-year-old softwareengineer recalled the correct order of an entire deck ofplaying cards in two minutes and 27 seconds onSaturday to take the title of having the best memory inthe United States.

Chester Santos of San Francisco beat two otherfinalists to win the USA Memory Championships inNew York that saw dozens of “mental athletes” overage 12 battle through seven rounds of competition in aManhattan auditorium.

“I’m in a good mood,” Santos told Reuters after hiswin, in which he correctly recalled the 10 of diamondsto qualify for the World Memory Championshipsscheduled to take place later this year in Bahrain.

He attributed his win to spending a few hours eachnight after work practicing his memory.

MNA/Reuters

Hong Kong holdsavian flu drill

HONG KONG, 9 March— More than 300 peoplefrom government departments, the Hong KongInternational Airport and airline held an exercise againstavian influenza here Friday as a dead bird was later testpositive for the deadly H5N1 strain of virus.

The exercise, coded “Tai Shan”, tested a jointeffort by 14 organizations like the Airport AuthorityHong Kong, the Department of Health and other relatedgovernment departments and airlines under themonitoring of observers from the Chinese Mainland andoverseas. The five-hour exercise started at about 1:00amFriday and simulated an arriving Cathay Pacific flightcarrying 56 passengers and five crew members.

As part of the exercise, the airline reported that asick passenger was onboard the flight, suspected to besuffering from avian flu symptoms. As the sick passengerwas considered to be a possible human case of avian flu,the aircraft was isolated and disinfected, while passengersand crew members were put under quarantine by theDepartment of Health. —MNA/Xinhua

BEIJING, 9 March—Russia and Tonga recentlyprovided assistance toChina for disasters reliefin snow stricken areas,sources with the ChineseForeign Ministry said hereFriday.

The Russian Govern-ment decided to donate10 large-scale dieselgenerators and 16,500pieces of quilts to theaffected regions. Part ofthe relief materials onFriday afternoon was sent

to Guiyang, capital city ofsouthwest Guizhou Pro-vince, one of the worstice-stricken regions insouth China.

The materials wouldalso be transported toHunan, another worst-hitprovince.

The government ofTonga decided to donate25,000 US dollars toChina.

Snow and ice stormsplagued eastern andsouthern China since mid-

January, leading towidespread traffic jams,structural collapses, black-outs and crop lossesin 19 provincial regions,leaving 129 peopledead and causing 151.65billion yuan (21.3 billionUS dollars) of losses.It was the worst snowdisaster for the countryover the past fivedecades.

MNA/Xinhua

ROME, 9 March—Anarray of exquisite statuesand artifacts never seenbefore outside China wenton show in Florence onFriday for an exhibitionfeaturing China’s artisticflourishing in the firstmillennium.

More than 200 worksare on display in Flo-rence, highlighting theextravagance, luxury andsophistication of theimperial Chinese courtsduring a period in Europethat saw the fall of the

Roman Empire and theDark Ages.

The exhibition atPalazzo Strozzi charts acourse from the tradition-steeped works of themiddle years of the HanDynasty (206 BC-220AD) through China’s increasingly cosmopolitanculture up to the refinedelegance of the TangDynasty (618-907 AD).

“The nine centuriesrepresented in the showare a period of strongrenewal in Chinese

civilization,” said curatorSabina Rastelli.

“The great attraction forall things foreign putChina at the centre ofcommercial and culturalexchanges with input fromdifferent religions andraces that made this periodunique,” she added.

MNA/Xinhua

China’s tennis players

Shuai Peng, left, and

Tiantia Sun laugh as

they hold the winners

trophies and cheque,

after winning the

doubles final match at

the Bangalore Open

2008 tournament in

Bangalore, India, on 9

March, 2008.

INTERNET

An Australian Corroboree Frog sits on a zookeeper’s thumb at Taronga Zoo in Sydney on 10March, 2008. Australian zoos have joined world

zoos in a conservation strategy for The Year of theFrog 2008, to help avert the increase in frog

extinctions across the globe. —XINHUA

Japanese whaling fleetsuffers from fresh attackTOKYO, 9 March—

Japanese whaling fleet inthe Antarctic Ocean suf-fered from anti-whalingactivists’ fresh attack onFriday, the Japan CoastGuard said.

The Nisshin Maru, afactory ship of theJapanese whaling fleet,fell under attack of bottlescontaining chemicals ataround 12:35 pm Japanesetime from activists on theship of Steve Irwin whichbelongs to the SeaShepherd ConservationSociety.

There was no report ofinjuries among theJapanese crew.

Japanese Chief Cabi-net Secretary NobutakaMachimura defendedJapan’s research-aimedwhaling activities and cri-ticized the attack.

The Nisshin Maru wasjust attacked on Monday

by activists aboard theSteve Irwin with bottlescontaining chemicals.

While the Japanese sidereported injuries of twocrew member and oneCoast Guard, anti-whalingactivists accused theJapanese side of firing atthem.

MNA/Xinhua

LOS ANGELES, 10 March — A newstudy has found that smokingincreases the risk of a hemorrhagicstroke for people with high bloodpressure.The study examined data on563,144 people, with an average age47, who took part in the Asia PacificCohort Studies Collaboration.

More than a third of the participantswere smokers at the start of the study.During a median of 6.8 years offollow-up, 746 of the 210,961 smokersand 899 of the 352,183 nonsmokerssuffered a hemorrhagic stroke, wherea blood vessel bursts inside the brain.

Smoking increases risk of hemorrhagic strokeFurther analysis revealed that for

every 10mm/Hg increase in systolic(when the heart beats) blood pressure,smokers faced an 81 per cent increasedrisk of hemorrhagic stroke, comparedwith a 66-per-cent increased risk fornonsmokers. This added risk ofsmoking in people with high bloodpressure appeared to be specific tohemorrhagic stroke, as there was noevidence to indicate a similar effect onthe risk of ischemic stroke (blockedblood flow to the brain) or coronaryheart disease, according to the study.

MNA/Xinhua

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM13

14 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 March, 2008

S P O R T S

Russia’s Evgeniy Lukyanenko competesin the men’s pole vault final at the 12thIAAF World Indoor Athletics Cham-pionship in Valencia on 9 March, 2008.Lukyanenko won the final.—INTERNET

Middlesbrough’s English midfielder Gary O’Neil(L) tries to block a ball from Cardiff City’s North-ern Ireland defender Tony Capaldi during theirEnglish FA Cup quarter final football match at

The Riverside Stadium, Middlesbrough,on 9 March. Cardiff won 2-0.—INTERNET

Bristol Rover's LewisHaldane (R) vies with

West Bromwich'sdefence during their

Quarter Final FA Cupmatch at Bristol's

Memorial stadium, on9 March. West Bromwon 5-1.—INTERNET

Premier League reportsLONDON, 10 March — Brief reports of Premier League

matches played on Sunday.Sunderland 0 - Everton 1

Fifth-placed Everton bounced back from their UEFACup defeat by Fiorentina to win a scrappy encounter atthe Stadium of Light and remain firmly in contentionfor a Champions League place. Striker Andrew Johnsongot the only goal on 55 minutes when he got the finaltouch to Mikel Arteta’s cross.

Tottenham Hotspur 4 —West Ham United 0 Spurs piled on the misery to slumping West Ham

who suffered their third successive 4-0 drubbing fol-lowing defeats by Chelsea and Liverpool.

The contest was as good as over early on at WhiteHart Lane after Bulgaria striker Dimitar Berbatovtwice headed in free kicks from Tom Huddlestone inquick succession.

West Ham lost Luis Boa Morte to a second yellowcard a minute before halftime, the Portuguese midfieldersent off for a late challenge on Aaron Lennon. Brazil-ian defender Gilberto and fellow substitute DarrenBent hit late goals.

Wigan Athletic 0 — Arsenal 0 Leaders Arsenal turned on the style against AC

Milan in the Champions league in midweek but foundWigan in no mood to roll over as their title pushsuffered another blow after a third successive draw.

Wigan keeper Chris Kirkland kept out efforts fromEmmanuel Adebayor and Cesc Fabregas while Arse-nal keeper Manuel Almunia denied Ecuadorean LuisAntonio Valencia with a smart save.

Dutchman Robin van Persie was introduced for thefinal quarter for his first Arsenal appearance for overtwo months after injury but the winger was unable tomake a difference. — MNA/Reuters

IOC president wants to seetop footballers at Olympics

BERLIN, 10 March — The IOC may try to renegotiateits deal with FIFA over Olympic soccer to get theworld's top players competing at future Games, IOCpresident Jacques Rogge said in an interview pub-lished on Sunday.

"My dream is for all the stars of football to be at theOlympics, because in all other sports the best arethere," Rogge was quoted as saying by the GermanBild am Sonntag newspaper.

"We must see if we can sort that out with FIFA." Men's soccer at the Olympics is an Under-23 tour-

nament, with qualifying nations allowed to field threeover-age players. Accordingly, few of the game's topplayers take part.

"We have an agreement with FIFA dating back 15years," Rogge said. "It was decided at the time thatonly footballers up to the age of 23 would be able to goto the Olympics. It was about protecting the FIFAWorld Cup."

MNA/Reuters

Blatter urges Britain to selectEnglish players for 2012

Sixty injured, match abandonedin Colombia riot

FIFA considergreater punishment forBirmingham’s Taylor

GLENEAGLES (Scotland), 10 March —FIFA couldimpose further sanctions on Birmingham City de-fender Martin Taylor following his tackle on Eduardoda Silva which broke the Arsenal striker’s leg anddisclocated his ankle.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter told reporters the tackle“had nothing to do with football” and said the FIFAwould be asking the Premier League for its file on thecase with the likelihood that FIFA would impose itsown, greater punishment on the player.

Taylor was banned for three matches for the tackleat St Andrew’s on 23 February which left the Croatianwith two broken bones in his leg and a dislocatedankle. He is not expected to play again for at least ninemonths and will miss the European championships.

Blatter, speaking at the conclusion of the Interna-tional Football Association Board meeting (IFAB) onSaturday, said: “We are considering a number ofoptions but one we could consider is if a player is outinjured for nine months, then the player who hascaused him that injured also cannot play again until hisvictim has recovered.

MNA/Reuters

BOGOTA, 10 March —Around sixty people wereinjured during a riot whichforced the Colombianderby between Americanand Deportivo Cali to beabandoned on Saturdaynight. Referee WilmerRoldan called the matchoff in the 82nd minute asriot police attempted to stopa fight among America fansin the Pascual GuerreroSadium in the south-west-ern city of Cali.

Tempers also frayed onthe pitch when Americacoach Diego Umana wasseen to punch his Cali coun-terpart Daniel Carrenowhile America players,

angry at the suspension ofthe game, chased the ref-eree off the pitch.

A Red Cross official toldreporters that the injurycount was around 60 asthe victims were treated atthe edge of the pitch.Deportivo Cali were win-ning 1-0 at the time.

Trouble broke out whenmembers of the Americasupporters group, knownas the Red Baron, beganfighting amongst them-selves.

Riot police moved in toquell the fighting whileother supporters attemptedto break down a fence andinvade the pitch.

At the same time, abrawl erupted on the pitchand when referee Roldancalled the game off, he wassurrounded by Americaplayers and forced into thetunnel.

Carreno attempted to hitback at Umana after beingpunched during the meleebut was held back by hisplayers.

Umana said that he didnot realize he had hit hisrival coach. "Someone wasannoying me and I didn'tsee who it was," he said onthe Web sit of el Tiemponewspaper (http://www.eltiempo.com).

MNA/Reuters

GLENEAGLES (Scotland), 10 March —FIFA president Sepp Blatter has urgedthe four British associations to selectonly English players for their joint teamat the 2012 London Olympics to avoid"endless problems" in the future.

Expressing a change of heart from his

previous position, Blatter told report-ers: "They should choose a solutionwhich will not harm the special privi-leges they hold and should enter only ateam composed of players from Eng-land. "This will then not provoke a longand endless discussion on the fourBritish associations."

British teams for all Olympic sportsare theoretically made up of athletesfrom England, Scotland, Wales andNorthern Ireland, countries which havehad a privileged position in the world ofsoccer for more than 60 years.

The four associations have individualseats on FIFA's rule-making Interna-tional Football Association Board andone guaranteed vice-presidency posi-tion on FIFA's Executive Committee.

But the FIFA president said after theannual IFAB board meeting in Scotlandthat although he originally believed theBritish team could comprise players fromall four countries, he is urging them toonly select English players.

Blatter told Reuters: "Looking at thesituation of 2012, I have had a discus-sion with the Scottish FA leadership andthey have said they would not play in acombined team. — MNA/Reuters

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM14

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 11 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

Monday, 10 March, 2008Summary of observations recorded at 9:30

hours MST: During the past 24 hours, rain or thunder-showers have been scattered in Taninthayi Division,isolated in Mon and Kayin States, weather has been partlycloudy in Rakhine State and generally fair in the re-maining States and Divisions. Day temperatures were(4ºC) below March average temperatures in MandalayDivision, (4ºC) above March average temperatures inYangon and Taninthayi Divisions and about March av-erage temperatures in the remaining States and Divi-sions. The significant day temperatures were Chauk,Minbu,Yangon (Kaba-Aye) and Yangon (Central) (38ºC)each. The noteworthy amounts of rainfall recorded wereLaunglon (1.77) inches, Thaton (1.18) inches, Myeik(0.95) inch, Dawei (0.39) inch and Hpa-an (0.08) inch.

Maximum temperature on 9-3-2008 was 101ºF.Minimum temperature on 10-3-2008 was 68ºF. Rela-tive humidity at (09:30) hours MST on 10-3-2008was 62%. Total sunshine hours on 9-3-2008 was (8.2)hours approx.

Rainfall on 10-3-2008 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 Northwest at (15:30) hours MST on9-3-2008.

Bay inference: Weather is partly cloudy in theAndaman Sea and Bay of Bengal.

Forecast valid until evening of 11-3-2008: Pos-sibility of isolated rain or thundershowers in Kachin,Kayin and Mon States and Taninthayi Division, weatherwill be partly cloudy in Rakhine State and Yangon Di-vision and generally fair in the remaining areas. Degreeof certainty is (40%).

State of the sea: Seas will be slight to moderatein Myanmar waters.

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

Forecast for Nay Pyi Taw and neighbouringarea for 11-3-2008: Generally fair weather.

Forecast for Yangon and neighbouring areafor 11-3-2008: Partly cloudy.

Forecast for Mandalay and neighbouring areafor 11-3-2008: Generally fair weather.

8:30 am Brief news8:35 am Music

-Forget me not8:40 am Perspectives8:45 am Music

-We are family8:50 am National news/

Slogan9:00 am Music

-I feel love9:05 am International

news9:10 am Music

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1:30 pm News/ Slogan1:40 pm Lunch time

music-Only you

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pleasure-Open yourheart

9:45 pm News/Slogan10:00 pm PEL

Tuesday, 11 MarchTune in today

Tuesday, 11 MarchView on today

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18. The next day’sprogramme

Afghan policedestroy sixheroin labs

British woman sets outon North Pole expedition

Thatcher returns home

LONDON, 10 March —British explorer HannahMcKeand set out onSaturday from Canada’sWard Hunt Island in anattempt to become the firstwoman to reach the NorthPole alone and unaided.

McKeand, who in2006 became the fastestperson to ski unsupportedto the South Pole, isexpected to take 60 days tocover the 478 miles (770

kilometres) from Canada’snorthern coast to the pole,where temperatures candip to minus 60 degreesCelsius (minus 76 Fah-renheit).

“She was in re-markable spirits with nohint of nerves or pres-sure,” said McKeand’sexpedition manager SteveJones in an e-mail sent toReuters. “Sang-froid ofarctic proportions.”

After gaining a degreein Classics at LampeterUniversity, the 34-year-oldMcKeand worked for theWatermill Theatre inNewbury in centralEngland for seven yearsbefore she got the exploringbug.

She was flown to theexpedition’s start fromResolute by plane, whichtouched down on the WardHunt ice shelf after it hadbeen unable to land on thedesignated landing strip.

On her trip McKeandwill have to negotiate thefrozen Arctic Ocean — thefloating ice can crumbleand pile up into long ridgesas high as a house — byskiing, walking andswimming, when she willhave to don a speciallydesigned dry suit.

MNA/Reuters

LONDON, 10 March — Former British prime ministerMargaret Thatcher returned home Saturday afternoonafter spending Friday night undergoing medical checksin a London hospital.

Her spokesman said Thatcher, 82, was taken to StThomas’ Hospital after falling ill at a House of Lordsdinner Friday evening.

She had felt “giddy and queasy”, but tests revealed“nothing of substance”, he said.

Thatcher’s daughter, Carol, said the decision to takeher mother to the nearby hospital was a wise one given hermedical history. “But it is good news today. She is doingwell,” she said.

The ex-PM retired from public life after a stroke in2002 and has suffered several smaller strokessubsequently.

Mark Worthington, her private secretary, saidThatcher was sitting up in her living room and chattingwith visitors. However, she was not taking any phonecalls. “She is going to have a quiet day and we are goingto let her get a bit of rest,” he said. — MNA/Xinhua

KABUL, 10 March —Police in Afghanistan’seastern Nangarharprovince have discoveredand destroyed six heroinlabs over the past week, aPress release of thecountry’s Interior Ministrysaid here on Saturday.

“These illegal labswere destroyed in Achindistrict on Wednesday andThursday respectively,” thePress release added.

However, it did not sayif any one had been detainedin this case but added theAfghan Governmentwould do its best toeradicate illicit drug insociety.

According to a latestreport of the InternationalNarcotics Control Board(INCB), illicit opiumpoppy cultivation inAfghanistan increased by17 per cent in 2007.

With the total areaunder cultivation at193,000 hectares andestimated opium pro-duction at 8,200 tons,Afghanistan now accountsfor 93 per cent of the globalillicit market for opiates.

MNA/Xinhua

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5th Waxing of Tabaung 1369 ME Tuesday, 11 March, 2008

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

Spoke Authoritative Team meets Special Adviser to UN Secretary-General

In accordance with essence of democracy,opportunities provided for minority toparticipate in national political processThe way Myanmar marching is best and most

suitable one for nation and people, ensuresstability as well as smooth transition to democracyWith cooperation and assistance, democratization

process as desired by UN, international community,entire Myanmar people, supporters and those

opposing Government certainly meets success

YANGON, 10 March — Mr Gambari, SpecialAdviser to the United Nations Secretary-General,and party met with Spoke Authoritative Team of theState Peace and Development Council at the Guest

House of the National Defence College here at 2.30pm today.

Present at the meeting were Leader of theSpoke Authoritative Team of the SPDC Minister for

Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, members Ministerfor Foreign Affairs U Nyan Win and Minister forCulture Maj-Gen Khin Aung Myint.

(See page 8)

Spoke Authoritative Team of State Peace and Development Council meets Special Adviser to United Nations Secretary-General Mr Gambari atNational Defence College.— MNA

11-3-08 NL 8/8/18, 01:03 PM16