9th Waxing of Nadaw 1369 ME Tuesday, 18 December, 2007Volume XV, Number 246

Established 1914

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

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

* National reconsolidation* Emergence of a new enduring State

Constitution* Building of a new modern developed

nation in accord with the new StateConstitution

* Development of agriculture as the base and all-rounddevelopment of other sectors of the economy as well

* Proper evolution of the market-oriented economicsystem

* Development of the economy inviting participation interms of technical know-how and investments fromsources inside the country and abroad

* The initiative to shape the national economy must be keptin the hands of the State and the national peoples

* Uplift of the morale and morality ofthe entire nation

* Uplift of national prestige and integ-rity and preservation and safeguard-ing of cultural heritage and nationalcharacter

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

standards of the entire nation

Four political objectives Four economic objectives Four social objectives

True patriotism* It is very important for everyone of the nation

regardless of the place he lives to have strongUnion Spirit.

* Only Union Spirit is the true patriotism all thenationalities will have to safeguard.

Senior General Than Shwefelicitates Emir of the State of Qatar

NAY PYI TAW, 18 Dec — On the occasion of the Independence Dayof the State of Qatar, which falls on 18 December 2007, Senior GeneralThan Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council ofthe Union of Myanmar, has sent a message of felicitations to HisHighness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa AL Thani, Emir of the State ofQatar. — MNA

Senior General Than Shwe visits Ahtetbuywa,Kyeeohn-Kyeewa dam project sites

Based on own strength and know-how it isimportant to stand on own feet in the long run

NAY PYI TAW, 17 Dec — Chairman of the StatePeace and Development Council Commander-in-Chiefof Defence Services Senior General Than Shwe, ac-companied by SPDC member General Thura ShweMann and party, inspected Ahtetbuywa Dam projectbeing implemented in Sedoktara Township, MagwayDivision, at 10.30 am yesterday.

At the briefing hall, the Senior General and party

were reported by Minister for Agriculture and Irriga-tion Maj-Gen Htay Oo, Irrigation Department Direc-tor-General U Khin Zaw and Director of Construction-8 U Tin Win on facts about the project, and Ahtetbuywa,Buywa and Kyeeohn-Kyeewa dam projects being un-dertaken along the Mone Creek. The minister alsoreported that the Ahtetbuywa dam project is beingundertaken on the upper reaches of Mone Creek near

Thukaungkyin Village, Sedoktara Township. Uponcompletion, it will be able to generate electricity andsupply water to Buywa Dam, thereby contributing togeneration of more electricity.

Moreover, water can be supplied to Mone CreekDam and then to Kyeeohn-Kyeewa Dam and everydam project will generate power. At the final

(See page 8)

Senior General Than Shwe inspects construction tasks of Ahtetbuywa Dam in Sedoktara Township.—MNA

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM1

2 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007

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, 18 December, 2007

Exert efforts for ICTdevelopment

At present, the world is experiencingrapid development of Information and Com-munication Technology (ICT). InformationTechnology (IT) is being used globally ineconomic, education and trade and commercesectors. Now is the electronic age in which theworld peoples are extensively dealing withthe electronic community.

A ceremony to open YatanarponTeleport in Yadanabon Myothit ofPyinOoLwin Township, Mandalay Division,was held on 14 December, and Chairman ofState Peace and Development Council Com-mander-in-Chief of Defence Services SeniorGeneral Than Shwe gave guidance on theoccasion.

In his guidance, Senior General ThanShwe said that Yadanabon Myothit was setup for development of modern informationand communication technologies inMyanmar. As the government has providedwater and power supply and communicationand administration facilities for the new town,it is necessary to create good opportunitiesfor enabling local and foreign entrepreneursto pour investment into the teleport and tosmoothly carry out modern IT tasks.

The government has laid down and isimplementing plans for IT development. Itpromulgated the computer science develop-ment law in 1996, and formed the e-NationalTask Force in 2000. Myanmar ICT Park wasthen opened in 2002 and Mandalay ICT Parkin 2003, and work is well under way for ITdevelopment.

Yatanarpon Teleport was built on10,000 acres by the side of Mandalay-PyinOoLwin Road, and the main buildingand incubation centres are under construc-tion as the first phase.

Now, the 6th Myanmar ICT Week isbeing held at Yatanarpon Teleport wheremodern IT equipment and other computeraccessories are displayed by 115 local andforeign companies. During the week, talksand workshops are being conducted with theaim of imparting IT knowledge to the public.

The emergence of Yatanarpon Teleportwill give rise to further development of ICT,thereby enabling agricultural, research, tradeand service sectors to carry out tasks moreswiftly and effectively.

Foreign Minister sendsmessage of felicitations to Qatar

NAY PYI TAW, 18 Dec — U Nyan Win,

Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Union of Myanmar,has sent a message of felicitations to His ExcellencySheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabir Al-Thani, Min-ister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar, on theoccasion of the Independence Day of the State ofQatar, which falls on 18 December 2007. — MNA

Inter-School Cricket ChallengeShield continues

Laptops and Faxmachines

donated to MFA

YANGON, 17 Dec — Minister for InformationBrig-Gen Kyaw Hsan received Vice-President MrMakin Petplai and party of Shin Satellite Public Co,Ltd from Thailand at Myanma Radio and Televisionon Pyay road, here, at 2 pm today.

Also present on the occassion were depart-mental heads and officials of the ministry. — MNA

Fighter aircraft crashes intraining session

Minister receives Vice-Presidentof Shin Satellite Co, Ltd

YANGON, 17 Dec — Aceremony to hand overlaptop computers and fac-simile machines donatedby HE Mr Guan Mu, Am-bassador of the People’sRepublic of China to theMinistry of Foreign Af-fairs was held at the Am-bassador’s residence herethis evening.

Deputy Minister forForeign Affairs U KyawThu accepted the dona-tions from Chinese Am-bassador HE Mr Guan Mu.

Also present were re-sponsible officials of theMinistry of Foreign Af-fairs and the Chinese Em-bassy. — MNA

YANGON, 17 Dec —The 2nd Inter-SchoolCricket ChallengeShield 2007-2008jointly organized byMyanmar Cricket Fed-eration and No 3 BasicEducation Departmentcontinued at the respec-tive venues today.

In boy’s events tookplace at Bahan CricketGround—Ahlon BEHS-4beat Dagon BEHS-2 by 9runs and Pabedan BEHS-2 beat Bahan BEHS-1 by81 runs.

In girl’s events thattook place at LanmadawCricket Ground, Tamwe

BEHS-3 beat BahanBEHS-1 by 2 wicketsand KyimyindineBEHS-3 beat DagonBEHS-2 by 9 wickets.

Matches of the In-ter-School Cricket Chal-lenge Shield continue to-morrow at designatedgrounds.—MNA

NAY PYI TAW, 17 Dec—A fighter of the DefenceServices (Air Force) this afternoon crashed due toengine failure during training session, after taking offfrom Mandalay International Airport.—MNA

Donateblood

�Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan receives Mr Makin Petplai, Vice-President of Shin SatellitePublic Co, Ltd.—MNA

Ahlon No-4 BEHS playing against Dagon No-2 BEHS in 2nd Inter-School Cricket Challenge .—NLM

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM2

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007 3

250 flights delayed due to heavy fog in Delhi

Malaysia floods kill 17KUALA LUMPUR, 16 Dec—Monsoon rains and flooding have killed 17 people in

Malaysia, made 20,000 homeless and could push up food and palm oil prices.The New Straits Times newspaper reported on Saturday that the Meteorological

Department forecast more heavy rain for at least the next four days and Pahang andKelantan states have been put on red alert.

Kelantan registered the most deaths with eight, the paper said. The monsoon rainshave cut off roads.—MNA/Reuters

One dead, six infectedwith bird flu in PakistanISLAMABAD, 16 Dec—Pakistan has recorded its first

human death from bird flu and six other people havebeen infected with the deadly H5N1 virus over the lasttwo months, a senior Health Ministry official said onSaturday.

“Seven in total. One died and six other people wereinfected with the H5N1 virus,” Federal Health SecretaryKhushnood Akhtar Lashari told Reuters. “It wasconfirmed by blood tests.”

The cases were reported in the North West FrontierProvince, Lashari said.

Two people have recovered and four are in quarantine. While Pakistan has registered cases of bird flu in

poultry this is the first time it has been reported inhumans, Lashari said. The first poultry case appearedin early 2006.—MNA/Reuters

Japan’s naval destroyercatches fire, four injured

Oil spill offNorway mostly

dissolvedOSLO, 16 Dec—An

oil slick spilled from aNorth Sea field wasdissolving far from theNorwegian coast onFriday as calmer seasallowed ships to begin aclean-up, energy groupStatoilHydro said.

In Norway’s secondworst oil spill, some25,000 barrels of oilleaked from a loading unitat StatoilHydro’s Statfjordfield on Wednesday,stirring a public debateabout the environmentalrisks of opening pristineArctic areas for drilling.

MNA/Reuters

Italians in new protestover US base expansion

VICENZA (Italy), 17Dec—Around 20,000Italians marched throughthe northern city ofVicenza on Saturday in anew protest at the ex-pansion of a US militarybase that is opposed bypacifists in the centre-leftgovernment.

However, leading leftistpoliticians stayed awayfrom the march and theturnout, according topolice estimates andwitnesses, was lowlycompared with a Februaryprotest against the samebase, when more than70,000 people took part.

Prime Minister RomanoProdi earlier this year

authorized the expansionof the base, home to partof the 173rd AirborneBrigade, saying he did notwant to change Wash-ington’s “defence policyof the past 50 years”.

The decision angeredsome of his own ministers.The Pentagon wants alarger base so that it canhouse the entire brigadeinstead of dividing itbetween Italy and Ger-many.

Military personnel willbe expanded to 4,500 from2,750.

The new barracks areset to be built on the otherside of the city from theexisting one. That has

raised worries about newroads to handle militarytraffic linking the twoparts, loss of green spaceand strains on publicservices.

Opponents also arguethe base could makeVicenza, a small city of115,000, the target ofterrorist attacks.

MNA/ReutersThe 433 ft long MV

“Beluga SkySails” inan undated image.

Turning ocean windsinto gold while cuttinggreen-house emissions

in the process mightsound like some sort of

alchemy for the 21stcentury.—INTERNET

More than 500 colourful toy cats are put on display in Dongan Market inBeijing on 15 Dec, 2007.—INTERNET

NEW DELHI, 16 Dec—About 250 flights, in-cluding both internationaland domestic, were de-layed and 50 flights werecancelled due to heavy fogat Delhi airport Friday, theIndian Express reportedSaturday. On Friday, heavy

fog disrupted flightschedules for more thaneight hours and causedinconvenience to hundredsof passengers. Lots ofpassengers were forced tostay inside airplanes for fourto six hours as the DelhiInternational Airport Ltd

(DIAL) and airlines tried todeal with low visibility.DIAL officials said around72 flights arrived anddeparted under low-visibility conditions. Mostairlines used the specialfacility for landing.

MNA/Xinhua

TOKYO, 16 Dec—Anaval destroyer anchoredat Yokosuka Base south-west of Tokyo caught firelate Friday, injuring fourcrew members, KyodoNews said on Saturday.

The fire broke out ataround 10:20 pm (0120GMT) Friday near therudder house of the 5,200-ton Shirane and wasextinguished eight hourslater on early Saturday,slightly injuring fourcrewmen, the report said.

The fire is believed to

have started near the radarscreen in the vessel’scombat information centrethat controls missile andmachine gun firingoperations. The cause ofthe fire was suspected tobe an electrical systemglitch.

The Maritime Self-Defence Force ship,

anchored at YokosukaBase in KanagawaPrefecture, is loaded withthree helicopters and cansimultaneously shareelectronic data with USvessels. Some 80 crewmembers were aboard thewarship when the firebroke out, the report said.

MNA/Xinhua

Singapore’s HadyMirza, 28, reacts afterwinning the first Asianldol held in Jakarta on16 Dec, 2007. Six Asian

countries includingIndia, Indonesia,

Malaysia, Philippines,Singapore and Vietnam

participated in theinaugural Asia ldolcontest.—INTERNET

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM3

4 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007

WFP seeks funds after StormOlga hits Caribbean

GENEVA, 15 Dec —The United Nations foodagency appealed on Fridayfor $4 million to help tensof thousands of peopleforced to flee their homesin the DominicanRepublic after TropicalStorm Olga unleashedflash floods.

The death toll from thestorm, the second to hit injust over a month, reachedat least 19, mostlydrownings, Dominicanofficials said on Thursday.

“We need four million

US dollars to help victimsover the next six months,”Christiane Berthiaume,spokeswoman of the UN’sWorld Food Programme(WFP), told a newsbriefing in Geneva. TheWFP would issue detailsof the appeal later in theday, she said.

Some 37,000 peoplehad fled their homes in theDominican Republic,which shares the Caribbeanisland Hispaniola withHaiti, Berthiaume said.

Olga killed three more

people in Cuba, PuertoRico and Jamaica,according to a statementissued by the UN Officefor the Coordination ofHumanitarian Affairs. The majority of theDominican deaths werepeople who drowned whena river burst its banks andflooded parts of Santiago,the Dominican Republic’ssecond-largest city, 110miles (176 kilometres)north of the capital SantoDomingo.

MNA/Reuters

Latvian Presidentnominates new PM

Bulgarian oil trader getsprobation for UN scandal

Russian rocket blasted offwith Canadian satellite atop

Iran police kill 12rebels in S-E province

RIGA, 15 Dec —Latvian President ValdisZatlers Friday nominatedIvars Godmanis, theoutgoing interior minister,as the country’s nextprime minister.

At a news conferenceafter meeting with God-manis, Zatlers said he hadasked the nominee to forma five-party coalitiongovernment.

“This will not be aneasy task ...,” he said,adding that he had not seta deadline for Godmanisto form the government.

How quickly the newgovernment is formeddepends on Godmanis’abilities and concerned

political forces, in-cluding the four partiesin the outgoing gov-ernment and the mainopposition party, said thepresident.

MNA/Xinhua

NEW YORK, 15 Dec —Bulgarian oil traderLudmil Dionissiev wassentenced to two years’probation on Thursday forhis role in paying secretkickbacks to Iraq in

the UN oil-for-foodprogramme.

Dionissiev wassentenced in federal courtafter he pleaded guilty inAugust to one count ofsmuggling just weeksbefore he was due to goon trial with Texas oiltycoon Oscar Wyatt.

Prosecutors saidDionissiev, 61, worked asa consultant to Texasoilman David Chalmers tohelp buy Iraqi oil forChalmers’ companies,Bayoil USA Inc andBayoil Supply andTrading Ltd.

In one January 2001deal, Dionissiev toldRussian politicianVladimir Zhirinovsky thatBayoil would pay asurcharge to Iraq of morethan 546,000 US dollarson his behalf for more than

1,820,000 oil barrels. During the sentencing,

Dionissiev said, “It wasthe biggest mistake of mylife.”

The 67-billion-US-dollar oil-for-food pro-gram began in 1996 andended in 2003 to ease theimpact of sanctionsimposed on SaddamHussein’s governmentafter it invaded Kuwait in1990.

The charges againstthe Houston-basedDionissiev and othersstemmed from Iraq’srequirement from 2000 to2003 that recipients of oilshould pay a secretsurcharge, in violation ofUN sanctions and US law,to front companies andbank accounts controlledby the Iraqi Government.

MNA/Reuters

MOSCOW, 15 Dec— ARussian rocket with aCanadian satellite onboard was launched froma Central Asian spacecentre on Friday, newsagencies reported.

The Soyuz-FG carrierrocket blasted off from theBaikonur space center inKazakhstan at 16:17Moscow Time (1317GMT), media reportssaid.

The Radarsat-2 earthremote sensing satellitewill be put into a solar-synchronized orbit with

an altitude of 805 kilo-metres to join anotherCanadian satellite,Radarsat-1, which hasbeen circling around theEarth since 1995, RIA andItar-Tass cited missioncontrol centre sources.

The satellite will carryout series of missions suchas to lay out maps of seaice and ship routing, aswell as iceberg detection,agricultural crop mon-itoring and marine sur-veillance for ship andpollution detection.

MNA/Xinhua

David Beckham (C) takes a photo with Chinese hosts (from L to R) HeJiong, Xie Na, Li Weijia and Huang Jianxiang at a variety show

recording in Beijing on 24 Nov, 2007. It is the very first time for him to�beon a Chinese TV show. The show is to�air nationwide on China’s Hunan

TV on Saturday evening, 15 Dec, 2007. —INTERNET

A ship is seen crossing alock at the PanamaCanal, 25 km from

Panama City recently.Panama will take bids

from four internationalconsortiums seeking tobuild new, larger shiplocks for the Canal,

according to governmentofficials.—INTERNET

TEHERAN, 15 Dec —Iranian police killed 12armed rebels in a shootouton Thursday in thesoutheastern province ofSistan-Baluchestan, Iran’sstate television reported.

The report said policeclashed with armed“counter-revolutionaries”,who had planned sabotage,ethnical revolts andbombings, near the townof Iranshahr, about 1,600kilometres southeast of

Teheran. The leader of the rebels

and 11 others were killedin the shootout, the reportsaid, adding that police alsoseized “a remarkableamount” of explosivematerials, bombs andweapons at the clash site.

Iran’s security forcesoften clash with local armedgroups which were involvedin drugs smuggling. Sistan-Baluchestan and itsneighbouring province ofKerman have been hit by astring of attacks andkidnappings in the pastyears, which the Iranianauthorities blamed ona Sunni group calledJundallah.— MNA/Xinhua

An environmentalactivist releases a turtle

at a beach near thevenue of the UN Climate

Change Conference2007 in Nusa Dua on

Bali island.—INTERNET

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM4

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007 5

Smoke billows from chimneys at a powerplant in China. China’s top economic

planning agency has revoked approvals for 13small coal-fired power plants amid efforts toboost energy efficiency and reduce pollution,

state media said on Sunday.—INTERNET

The gate of TianyiPavilion Library.Tianyi Pavilion

Library, China’soldest library, has

opened to visitors onweekend evenings, in

an effort to satisfypublic demand.

INTERNET

A staff member showcases a raincoat made of plantfiber, one of the items to be exhibited in China’sbiggest farming culture museum, which is under

construction in Guyuan City of northwesternNingxia Hui Autonomous Region. —INTERNET

BERLIN , 17 Dec —German auto giantVolkswagen on Sundaysaid it had sold a recordnumber of 3.37 millionVW vehicles in the first

HANGZHOU, 17 Dec— Hangzhou Customs in eastChina’s Zhejiang Province announced on Friday thatthey had seized more than 35,000 smuggled luxurywatches in early 2007, the largest watch smugglingcase busted in the record of China’s Customs.

The Customs said that the haul of smuggled luxurywatches, which were genuine, worth 224 million yuan(around 30 million US dollars) and with duty potentialof 43.65 million yuan (5.9 million US dollars), weremade in Hong Kong and then transported to southChina’s Guangdong Province before being dispatchedto other cities. The luxury watches, all big brands suchas Rolex, Omega, Patekphilippe, Turdor, were plannedto reach four watch and clock companies in Zhejiang.

Officers with the Customs said that 15 major criminalsinvolved in the smuggling operation were detained inApril, but trials have not yet been held.—MNA/Xinhua

PHNOM PENH , 17 Dec—The Cambodian Govern-ment launched the secondexhibition of “one pro-vince one product” pro-gramme to promoteinvestments and exportsof local products here onSaturday.

This fair will bringchances for investors tofind business partners,create opportunity ofexports of local productsand promote economicintegration in the regionand the world, ChamPrasidh, CambodianMinister of Commerce,told the opening ceremonyof the exhibition, whichbeing held from 15-18December in Phnom Penh.

“We have 53 stores forthis fair and the productsare from the provinces andcities of Cambodia. Many

French tax system notattractive to European Cos

PARIS, 17 Dec—Franceis far from being a taxhaven for Europeancompanies owing to the“very high” rate of com-pulsory levies and acomplicated tax regime, astudy conducted recentlyhas shown.

According to thefindings of the study,which was carried out byFrench-based researchfirm Ipsos and publishedFriday by the La Tribunenewspaper, 61 per cent of

European business leadersbelieve that taxation inFrance is “very high”.

Furthermore, the studyreveals that 88 per cent ofthe leaders, who res-ponded to the poll, believethat France’s taxationrules are complicated.

In addition, the busi-ness leaders expressedtheir dissatisfaction overthe quality of publicservices in the country,according to the study.

The poll was con-

ducted by Ipsos and theEuropean MonitoringCentre on BusinessTaxation, using a repre-sentative sample popu-lation of 1,006 businessleaders in Europe, byphone from 1 to 22October.—MNA/Reuters

Cambodia intensifies “one province oneproduct” programme

countries join this event,including China, Malay-sia, Thailand, Vietnam,Laos, Singapore, Pakistan,South Korea, the UnitedStates, Japan and SouthAfrica,’ he said.

There are 18 differentproduct sectors of this fairto show the most ad-vanced technology ofagricultural tools and silkhandicrafts, he added.

MNA/Xinhua

E China Customs seizessmuggled luxury watches

PARIS, 17 Dec— TheEuropean aircraft manu-facturer Airbus Fridaymarked a milestone bydelivering an AirbusA 330-220 plane to bringthe total number of planedeliveries to 5,000 since itbegan operations 33 yearsago.

“This is a historic dayfor Airbus and theaviation industry ingeneral. Airbus began itsoperations very slowlybefore gaining mo-mentum by designing anddeveloping airlines,

Airbus celebrates 5,000 deliverywhich went on to becomesuccessful and wellplaced in the market”Airbus Chief ExecutiveOfficer Tom Enders saidat a special ceremonyheld in Toulouse,southern France.

Airbus delivered itsfirst aircraft an A 300 B2in May 1974.

Enders was quoted assaying during theceremony organized toofficially hand over theplane to Australia’s

Qantas airlines.Since its launch,

Airbus has continued topursue policies that haveboosted the rate ofproduction. For example,the company only man-aged to produce 1,000planes during its first 19years of operations, thentaking six years to producethe next 1,000 planes andhas consistently averaged1,000 planes every threeyears ever since.

MNA/Xinhua

Volkswagen reports record sales11 months of 2007.The figure is an increaseof 8.8 percent over thesame period in 2006,Europe’s biggest car-maker said in a statement.It said VW sales soared by10.3 percent in Novemberwith 324,000 cars de-livered to clients.

“After 11 months, wehave sold roughly as manycars as we did in the wholeof 2006,” Volkswagenboss Martin Winterkornsaid.

Volkswagen postedstrong third-quarter resultsin October and said itexpected record full-yearsales as Chinese and SouthAmerican growth offsetslumping turnover athome and in the UnitedStates. —Internet

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

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM5

6 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007

It is known that the Union of Myanmar has been

a predominantly Theravada Buddhist nation in the

world for nearly one thousand years, and over 90 per

cent of the nation’s population has taken faith in

Theravada Buddhism since then. Futhermore, the

Union of Myanmar has been recognized as a permanent

higher learning centre of genuine Theravada Buddhism

not only in the Buddhist world but also throughout the

world. According to historical records of Buddhism,

the Fifth and Sixth Great Buddhist Councils (Synods)

were successfully convened in the Union of Myanmar

with a view to ensuring purification, perpetuation and

propagation of the Buddha Sasana (the Buddha’s

teachings) all over the world. The Sixth Great Buddhist

Council, which was attended and participated by

Maha Theras from Five Theravada Buddhist Nations,

Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and Myanmar,

was successfully held in the Union of Myanmar in

1954.

In order to carefully preserve genuine Theravada

Buddhism, a great number of Buddhist Monastic

Institutions and Learning Centres of Buddhist Scriptures

have been established in the Union of Myanmar for

years. For the time being, the two Pariyatti Sasana

Universities, one in Yangon and another in Mandalay

have been so far established to promote and propagate

the Theravada Buddhism throughout the world. At

present, Buddhist monk students are attending these

two universities, and if they have got through the

prescribed examinations held by these Universities,

they will be conferred Takkasila Dhammacariya Degree

(Bachelor of Arts) in Buddhism and Tekkasila Maha

Dhammacriya Degree (Master of Arts) in Buddhism

respectively. And now, the International Theravada

Buddhist Missionary University, the very first one in

the Buddhist world has been also already established in

the Union of Myanmar in order to propagate, promote

and flourish genuine Theravada Buddhism throughout

the world, and to share the knowledge of Buddhsim

both in theory and practice with the peoples of the

world to promote their happiness and moral well-

being.

The 60th Sacred Tipitakadhara TipitakakovidaSelection Examination in year of 2008

Ba Sein (Religious AffairsAccording to the Pariyatti (learning canonical

Texts) Education System of the Union of Myanmar,

there are seven kinds of religious examinations

including the Sacred Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida

Selection Examination yearly held by the Ministry of

Religious Affairs of the Government of the Union of

Myanmar. The seven kinds of religious examinations

are as follows: -

(1) Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida Selection

Examination

(2) Dhammacariya Examination

(3) Pathamagyi Examination

(4) Pathamalat Examination

(5) Pathamange Examination

(6) Abhidhamma/Visudhimagga Examination (only

for Laymen and Nuns)

(7) Five Nikaya Examination

Out of these seven kinds of religious

examinations, the Sacred Tipitakadhara Tibitakakovida

Selection Examination has been separately held by the

Ministry of Religious Affairs of the Government of the

Union of Myanmar since fifty-nine years ago. Buddhist

monk candidates who wish to appear for this Sacred

Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida Selection Examination

must have passed at least the Pathamagyi Examination.

In fact, the Sacred Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida

Selection Examination is quite different from other

religious examinations because the candidates have to

take (33) days to sit for this examination. They have to

take both oral examination covering Pali Texts of 8026

pages of Tipitaka canons and the written examination

that consists of Pali Texts, Athakatha (Commentaries)

and Tika (Sub-Commentaries) of 9934 pages of Tipitaka

canons respectively.

Only the candidates who have got through both

oral and written examinations will be presented the

Title of Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida (the Title of

Religious Heroes). Up to now, only nine outstanding

members of Sangha (Bhikkhus) were presented the

Title of Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida within over 59

years’ duration of the Sacred Tipitakadhara

Tipitakakovida Selection Examination.

It is learnt that many members of Sangha

throughout the country appeared for the Sacred

Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida Selection Examination

from year to year. However, most of them were not

successful. In fact, the Sacred Tipitakadhara

Tipitakakovida Selection Examinations is the most

difficult of the religious examinations which are

yearly held in the Union of Myanmar. Such Sacred

Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida Selection Examination

can be held only in the Union of Myanmar which has

carefully preserved the genuine Theravada Buddhism

for nearly one thousand years. It is learnt that such

examination cannot be held in other Theravada

Buddhist nations.

Members of Sangha, multifarious Buddhist

people and Government of the State Peace and

Development Council of the Union of Myanmar,

hand in hand, are striving to propagate, promote and

flourish the genuine Theravada Buddhism not only in

homeland but also abroad. We all Buddhists know

that the Sasana is of the three kinds, viz (1) Pariyatti

Sasana (Learning the Buddha’s teaching), (2) Patipatti

Sasana (Practical application of the Buddha’s

teaching) and (3) Pativedha Sasana (Realization of

the Buddha’s teaching). Out of them, the Pariyatti

Sasana is the most important one which mainly leads

to the purification, perpetuation and propagation of

the Buddha Sasana (the noble teachings of the

Buddha). The aims and objectives of holding the

Sacred Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida Selection

Examination are to preserve, promote and flourish

the genuine Theravada Buddhism all over the world.

The 60th Sacred Tipitakadhara TipitakakovidaSelection Examination in year 2008

We all Buddhists throughout the country are

very pleased and honoured to learn that the 60th

Sacred Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida Selection

Examination will be held at Mahapasana Cave (Great

Cave) in the precinct of the Siri Mangala Kaba Aye

Pagoda, Yangon, Myanmar, and it will take (33) days

starting from 23 December 2007. The entitled

candidates of members of Sangha who have been

enrolled throughout the Union of Myanmar will sit

for the Sacred Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida Selection

Examination of year 2008. Lodging and messing

(four kinds of requisites) for candidates will be

provided by the Ministry of Religious Affairs, other

donors and well-wishers throughout (33) days.It is

further learnt that devotees, well-wishers and other

people are cordially invited to visit the Mahapasana

Cave (examination centre) for paying profound respect

to the members of Sangha who are sitting for the 60th

Sacred Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida Selection

Examination of year 2008.

*****

It is learnt that many members of Sangha throughout the countryappeared for the Sacred Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida SelectionExamination from year to year. However, most of them were notsuccessful. In fact, the Sacred Tipitakadhara Tipitakakovida SelectionExaminations is the most difficult of the religious examination which areyearly held in the Union of Myanmar. Such Sacred TipitakadharaTipitakakovida Selection Examination can be held only in the Union ofMyanmar which has carefully preserved the genuine TheravadaBuddhism for nearly one thousand years. It is learnt that suchexamination cannot be held in other Theravada Buddhist nations.

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 01:40 AM6

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007 7

Duties and responsibilities of teachers arerelated with progress of nation and perpetuation

of independence and sovereigntySpecial Refresher Course No 63 for Basic Education Teachers concludes

YANGON, 17 Dec — The conclusion of SpecialRefresher Course No 63 for Basic Education Teacherswas held at Nawarat Hall of the Central Institute ofCivil Service (Phaunggyi) in Hlegu Township thismorning.

On behalf of Chairman of Myanmar EducationCommittee Secretary-1 of the State Peace andDevelopment Council Lt-Gen Thiha Thura Tin AungMyint Oo, Minister for Education Dr Chan Nyeinattended the ceremony and made a speech.

In his speech, the Minister said nowadayseducation leads and influences political, economicand social aspects and this is why the government ismaking efforts for shaping the future of the State withthe strength of education in accord with the nationalrequirement.

As new technologies are developing rapidly inthe world it is found that technological gap among thenations of the world and wealth differences havecaused lop-sided situation in international relations,he said.

He pointed out the fact that the citizens are to getprepared for the existence of the nation and its peopleand various kinds of challenges in the present situationof competition.

He said only when the government nurturesyounger generation who are capable of facing andsolving the challenges of the present and future, will

the nation and its people perpetuate.In accord with the attitude the government is

creating educational infrastructures and goodeducational environment in the education sector, headded.

He said the government is implementing theprogrammes on promotion of education sector, learningopportunity and preservation of value of cultural andsocial norms of the nation and the people.

He urged the teachers to teach the students thehistory of the past with nationalistic spirit and to trainthem through the classrooms.

He said it is true patriotism based on lessonsbestowed by history. In other words, it is theconsolidated spirit forged from essence and the historyof the Union based on national solidarity.

He said duties and responsibilities of teachers inthe education sector are related with progress of thenation and perpetuation of independence andsovereignty. He urged the teachers to make endeavoursfor successful realization of national educationobjectives.

Next, Minister Dr Chan Nyein presented prizesto outstanding trainee teachers and cordially greetedthem.

Also present on the occasion were Ministerfor Cooperatives Maj-Gen Tin Htut, Minister forElectric Power No 2 Maj-Gen Khin Maung Myint,

Minister for Transportation Maj-Gen Thein Swe,Minister for Livestock and Fisheries Brig-GenMaung Maung Thein, Chairman of Yangon CityDevelopment Committee Mayor Brig-Gen AungThein Lin, deputy ministers, members of CivilService Selection and Training Board, departmentalheads, the rector of CICS (Phaunggyi), pro-rectors,heads of department, faculty members, courseinstructors and trainees. —MNA

YANGON, 17 Dec — A total of 69 fires broke outacross the country in November leaving three dead,four injured and 602 homeless, and 153 houses and fivefactories were destroyed in the fires.

Out of 69 fires, 54 started in kitchens and due tonegilence, two were set by saboteurs and one was aforest fire.

Most of the fires in November broke out inYangon Division, and others in Mandalay and Bagodivisions.

Out of 26 fires in Yangon in November, 20 hadstarted in kitchens and due to negligence.

A total of 24 fires broke out in villages inNovember across the country.

Fire Services Department drew a fire safety planand had conducted fire drills in states and divisions inefforts to prevent fires. State/division fire servicesdepartments are alerted in the dry season and haveconducted fire drills. — MNA

69 fires brokeout in Nov

Finance and Revenue Minister back from Indonesia

NAY PYI TAW, 17 Dec— The MyanmarDelegation led byMinister for Finance andRevenue Maj-Gen HlaTun arrived back here this

afternoon by air afterattending the FinanceMinisters’ Meeting onClimate Change 2007heldat Intercontinental Hotelin Bali, Indonesia, on 10

and 11 December.Ministers and

representatives from 36countries and heads andrepresentatives frominternational organi-

zations had attended themeeting.

Indonesian PresidentDr Susilo BambangYudhoyono opened themeeting on 11 December.Indonesian FinanceMinister Ms IndrawatiMulyani chaired themeeting.

The meetingdiscussed the matters onclimate change andreviewed on the results ofprevious meetings.

With Minister forFinance and RevenueMaj-Gen Hla Tun wereMyanmar Central BankDirector Daw OhnmarSein and Deputy DirectorU Min Htut of theministry.

MNA

Minister Dr Chan Nyein presents prize to atrainee at conclusion of Special Refresher

Course No-63 for basic education teachers atCICS in Phaunggyi.— MNA

�Minister Maj-Gen Hla Tun attends Finance Minister’ Meeting on

Climate Change in Bali, Indonesia.—MNADrive safely

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM7

8 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007

Senior General Than Shwevisits Ahtetbuywa,…

(from page 1)step, Mezali Diversion Weir will provide irrigationwater in all weathers contributing to boosting cultiva-tion. Next, the minister reported on the Buywa damproject work and prospects to generate 42 megawatts.Out of the Mone Creek projects, Mone Creek multi-purpose dam project has already been completed andit is generating 75 megawatts and supplying water toKyeeohn-Kyeewa dam. On completion of all theprojects, nearby regions will become green and lushenjoying irrigation water and electricity.

The four step-by-step projects, Upper Bu, Bu,Mone Creek and Kyeeohn-Kyeewa dams will irrigate100,000 acres of farmland through Mezali DiversionWeir and generate 341 megawatts.

Minister for Industry-1 U Aung Thaung andMinister for Electric Power No (1) Col Zaw Minreported on supply of cement and heavy machinery forthe projects.

In giving guidance, Senior General Than Shwesaid the projects being undertaken along the MoneCreek are the ones that will contribute to the develop-ment of the Ayeyawady western bank regions and

Senior General Than Shwe inspects a scale model of Kyeeohn-Kyeewa Dam.—MNA

Panoramic View of Kyeeohn-Kyeewa Dam construction project.—MNA

Projects being under-taken along the MoneCreek are the ones that willcontribute to the develop-ment of the Ayeyawadywestern bank regions andimprovement of socio-eco-nomic life of the local peo-ple.

Out of the Mone Creek projects, Mone Creek multi-purpose dam project has already been completed and itis generating 75 megawatts and supplying water toKyeeohn-Kyeewa dam. On completion of all the projects,nearby regions will become green and lush enjoyingirrigation water and electricity.

improvement of socio-economic life of the local peo-ple. They are also aimed at providing adequate powersupply for industries that will come into shape in thenext few years. So it is important to complete theprojects

systematically and quickly meeting the standards set.Efforts need to be made for earlier completion of theprojects.

(See page 9)

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM8

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007 9

Mone Creek Dam.— MNA

Members of Myanmar Maternal and Child Welfare Association donateprovisions to older persons.—MMCWA

Wheelchairs, cash, medicines donated to older persons in ThanbyuzayatYANGON, 17 Dec —

Myanmar Maternal andChild WelfareAssociation donatedwheelchairs, cash andmedicines to the older

persons of ThanbyuzayatTownship in Mon Stateat Township Peace andDevelopment Council’sOffice on 13 December.

First, member of Mon

State Maternal and ChildWelfare SupervisoryCommittee Daw NyuntNyunt Wai extendedgreetings. CEC member ofMMCWA Daw Htwe

Htwe Nyunt spoke on theoccasion. After that, CECmember Daw Khin NweNwe explained the purposeof the donation.

CEC member DawHtwe Htwe Nyunt handedover cash and medicinesto Daw Nyunt Nyunt Waifor the older persons. Next,CEC members Dr ThanOo and Daw Khin NweNwe providedwheelchairs for the olderpersons.

At ThanbyuzayatHome for the aged, theymade cash donations. InMudon, they observed theweaving works bymembers of MCWA.

In Paung Township,they held round tablediscussions with theexpectant mothers.

MNA

YCDC Chairman receivesKunming Mayor

Transport Ministerreceives Chinese guests

NAY PYI TAW, 15 Dec—Minister for TransportMaj-Gen Thein Swe received Deputy GeneralManager Mr. Ma Zhilian of the CMC Export Divisionand party of the People’s Republic of China at theministry, here, yesterday morning.

The meeting focused on airlines and thetransportation sector between Myanmar and PRC.

MNA

YANGON, 17 Dec — Chairman of YangonCity Development Committee Mayor Brig-GenAung Thein Linn received a delegation led byKunming Mayor Mr Zhang Zu lin of YunnanProvince, the People’s Republic of China at ParkRoyal Hotel Ballroom-2 on Alan Pya Pagoda roadin Dagon Township here at 7 pm today.

Next, Mayor Brig-Gen Aung Thein Linnhosted a dinner to the delegation. —MNA

Senior General Than Shwevisits Ahtetbuywa,…

(from page 8)As the engineers and technicians have already

gained much experience, they should have the capabilityto make their own innovations not only in the field ofirrigation facilities but also in the field of hydro-electricity. Based on own strength and know-how it isimportant to stand on own feet in the long run. Then,the Senior General stressed the need for the staff tohave confidence and skilled personnel.

Afterwards, the Senior General and party lookedinto the construction of the hydro-electric tunnel,diversion tunnel, the site for the main dam and otherproject work.

Buywa Dam is the gravel-filled one and it willbe 451 feet in height and 3300 feet in length. Theproject will generate 150 megawatts.

Next, Senior General Than Shwe and party

arrived at Kyeeohn-Kyeewa multipurpose dam andthey were welcomed by Deputy Minister forAgriculture and Irrigation U Ohn Myint, Director ofIrrigation Department U Tun Aung Lwin and officials.

At the briefing hall, Senior General Than Shweand party heard a report on the salient points of theproject, progress of work and future tasks.

Next, Deputy Minister U Ohn Myint reportedon work being carried out sector-wise.

In response to the report, Senior General ThanShwe spoke of the need to complete the project as soonas possible for regional development and to extensivelyuse heavy machinery in that regard.

After that, Senior General Than Shwe and partylooked into progress of the main embankment andconstruction of the spillway, and viewed the scalemodel of the dam.

Later, they inspected the sites chosen forconstruction of water intake building and hydel powerplant and building of canals.

The Kyeeohn-kyeewa dam is being built onMone Creek near Wunlo Village about 15 miles lowerreaches of Mone Creek Dam and 5 miles upper reachesof Mezali Diversion Weir in Pwintbyu Township.

Upon completion, the dam will be able to generate74 megawatts.

With the emergence of 4 dams along MoneCreek including Kyeeohn-Kyeewa multipurpose dam,it is possible to generate more electric power with theeffective use of water from the creek. All the four damsbuilt along the creek will be able to generate 341megawatts.

Moreover, local people will be able to engage insummer paddy cultivation and double cropping inaddition to monsoon paddy cultivation at irrigated areas.

On his inspection tour, Senior General ThanShwe also looked into water storage of Salin Dam andMone Creek Dam, supply of water by dams andreservoirs, measures taken for greening of environsand conservation of forest.—MNA

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM9

10 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007

(from page 16)are decorated with fruitand flowers. Those wholove flowers gathered atthe festival and thefrangrance of flowerspermating the air in thefestival.

Not only rare speciesof orchids but also hybridorchids includingCymbidium Cattleya,Phalaenopsis, Den-drobium, Vanda and

National Kandawgyi Gardens, flower…Oncidium are grown in theorchid garden which is saidto meet the internationalstandard. As the orchidgarden has beenestablished, people canvisit the garden for pleasureand can gain knowledge ofgrowing orchids.

In the NationalKandawgyi Gardens, rarespecies of birds are keptfor the public observation.

Scale models of city

halls, Kyaikhtiyo Pagoda,Shwedagon Pagoda,Zwekabin Hill, TaungkwePagoda, KanbozathadiPalace, Inle PhaungdawUPagoda, Goat-hteikBridge, Khakaborazi snowcapped mountain, Kaung-hmudaw Pagoda, royalmoat, Shitthaung Pagodaand the Magway Divisionoil field are displayed inthe National LandarmarksGarden. — MNA

YANGON, 17 Dec—A fire broke out inThingangyun Townshipyesterday and a upholsteryshop and a tyre shop weredestroyed in the fire.

The fire started at

Fire breaks out in Thingangyun Townshipthe kitchen of No-290,room-6 Thanthumar Roadin Thuwunna at 03:50 amas the owner of theupholstery shop forgot toswitch off an oven, on 16December.

A shop whichsells and repairs tyres wasalso destroyed in the fire.

Action is beingtaken against U WinKyaing, 37 owner of theupholstery shop.—MNA

YANGON, 17 Dec— Myanmar Writers andJournalists Associationorganized the 2nd prizepresent presentation forthe outstanding studentsof MWJA members’children who passed thematriculation exami-nation 2006-07 at themeeting hall of MWJA inSarpay Beikman heretoday attended byMinister for InformationBrig-Gen Kyaw Hsan.

Also present onthe occasion were thedirectors-general and themanaging directors of theministry, chairman ofMWJA and executivecommittee members andothers.

First, Chairman

Myanmar Writers and Journalists Associationholds prize presentation ceremony

of MWJA U Hla Myaing(Ko Hsaung) delivered anaddress and Secretary DrTin Tun Oo explained theprize presentationceremony.

A f t e r w a r d s ,Mini-ster Brig-Gen KyawHsan presented prizes andcash award to Ma Su MyatThwe of SaganingTownship, Maung ThantPyay Tun of MingalaTaungnyunt Township,Maung Thet Wai Oo ofInsein Township andMaung Ye Dwe Soe ofYedashi Township whowon five distinctions,Maung Min Than Tun ofZigon Township and MaSu Mon Shwe Lin ofAhlon Township who wonfour distinctions, Maung

Nyan Win Htet ofSangyoung Township, MaNu Wai Zan of SouthOkkalapa Township,Maung Aung Ye Maw ofThingangyun Township,Ma Myat Su Han ofYankin Township and MaThit Su Moe Nay of DaikUTownship who won threedistinctions.

After the prizepresentation, U MaungMaung Aye (Alin-karwutyee Literary andÅrts) donated K 1 million,U Ko Ko and Dr Tha TunOo K 200,000 each, SnapShot Journal and DawThan Than Lay ( Sein ChitFilm Production) K100,000 each, Executivecommittee member UMaung Maung Myint Aye

Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan presents prize to an outstandingstudent.— MNA

Blooming flowers seen in National Kandawgyi Gardens.— MNA

Blooming flowers seen in National Kandawgyi Gardens.— MNA

and Press Scrutiny andRegistration Division K50,000 each and U SoeShein (Maung Soe Hteik-Thongze) K 30,000 to theassociation. Vice

Chairman 1 of MWJA UTin Kha accepted thedonations.

Next, on behalf ofthe outstanding students,Maung Thant Pyay Tun

spoke words of thanks.After the

ceremony, Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan greetedattendees.

MNA

German chickens test positive for H5N1 flu strainBERLIN, 17 Dec —

Two chickens in thenortheastern German stateof Brandenburg havetested positive for thedeadly H5N1 bird fluvirus, local authoritiessaid on Saturday.

A total of 11 birds in asmall private holding in thedistrict of Oberhavel weresuspected of having thevirus. Five of them diedand two were sent for testswhich produced positiveresults the state Agriculture

Ministry said in astatement. Official sealedoff a three-kilometre (two-mile) protection radiusandimposed a 10-kilometre surveillanceraidus around the area.

MNA/Reuters

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM10

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007 11

UN Climate Change Confconcludes with Bali roadmap

Colombia Govt destroys18,000 weapons

18 Vietnameseemployees diein rockslide

BOGOTA, 16 Dec — TheColombian Govern-menton Friday destroyed18,000 weapons seizedfrom disarming formerparamilitary groups andplanned to turn theweapons into artworkspromoting peace.

Jose Miguel Insulza,

general secretary ofthe Organization ofAmerican States, pre-sided over a ceremony forsmelting these weapons,which was carried out atthe National Iron and SteelCompany in centralBoyaca Province.

“We hope this act is afirm advance towardspeace,” said Insulza,whose organization isobserving the peaceprocess between theColombian Governmentand the country’s right-wing paramilitary UnitedSelf-Defence Forces

(AUC). Colombia’s high peace

commissioner Luis CarlosRestrepo also attended theceremony.

The AUC had fiercelyfought the anti-Gov-ernment leftist guerillasbefore joining a gov-ernment-initiated peaceprocess in 2003.

A total of 31,000members of the group haddisarmed themselves byApril 2006 in ex-changefor amnesty granted by thegov-ernment or reducedjail terms.

MNA/Xinhua

BALI, Indonesia, 16Dec —The UN ClimateChange Conferenceended here on Saturdaywith the agreement of 187countries to launch nego-tiations on a crucialinternational climatechange deal.

The Bali decisionincludes a clear agendafor the key issues to benegotiated up to 2009,including action foradapting to the negativeconsequences of climatechange, such as droughtsand floods; ways to reducegreenhouse gas emis-sions; ways to widelydeploy climate-friendlytechnologies and financ-ing both adaptation andmitigation measures.

Indonesian Environ-ment Minister andPresident of the con-ference, Rachmat Wito-elar said: “We now have aBali roadmap, we have anagenda and we have adeadline.”

“But we also have a hugetask ahead of us and timeto reach agreement isextremely short, so weneed to move quickly,” hesaid. “This is a realbreakthrough, a real

opportunity for theinternational communityto successfully fightclimate change,” said Yvode Boer, ExecutiveSecretary of the UnitedNations Framework Con-vention on ClimateChange (UNFCCC).

The 15-day climate

meeting attracted over11,000 delegates fromover 180 countries,making it the largest UNclimate change meetingever held.

Next year’s ClimateChange Conference willbe held in Poznan, Poland.

MNA/Xinhua

Turkish Army tanks

head toward Sirnak at

the Turkey-Iraq

border as Turkish

warplanes bomb

Kurdish rebel targets

in northern Iraq on

Sunday.— INTERNET

A tomato with bean sprouts growing inside it.—INTERNET

Bean sprouts grow in tomato BEIJING, 17 �Dec�— Miss Li was very surprised to find bean sprout growing

in a tomato when she cut it open to eat.

Daynews.com recentlyreported that the strangeincident happened inTaiyuan, northern China’sShanxi Province. Li saidshe thought the tomato was

rotten at first glance, butlater realized bean sproutwere flourishing inside thetomato.

�“There are dozens ofsprouts, with a length of

around 7 to 8 centimetres,”Li added.

�Expert from the localagriculture department saidit is very rare to see beansprouts growing naturallyinside a tomato.

It’s a case of individualvariation.—Internet

HANOI, 16 Dec—Eighteen Vietnamesemen including 16construction workersand two engineersdied in a rockslide inVietnam’s central NgheAn Province, CentralVietnam Television re-ported on Saturdayevening.

The victims, workingat a quarry in TuongDuong District to servethe construction of ahydroelectric plant, havebeen buried in thousandsof tons of stone sinceSaturday morning, andtheir bodies have notbeen taken out of thedebris yet.

The men aged from 21to 50 from some northernlocalities were staff ofthe Song Da No 5

Company, the Song DaNo 2 Company, and thehydroelectric plant projectmanagement board.

The management boardand construction com-panies have mobilizedeight excavators, fivetrucks and hundreds ofworkers to the accidentsite to clear stone and landto take the bodies out ofthe debris. However, theirwork is very tough due todifficult access to the sitecaused by narrow roadsand a deep abyss.

Vietnamese PrimeMinister Nguyen TanDung has asked relevantstate agencies andcorporations to deal withthe accident’s aftermath,and find out its cause, saidthe TV.

MNA/Xinhua

Association for homelesscamps in downtown Paris

PARIS, 17 Dec — French association The Children of Don QuichotteSaturday morning put up dozens of tents to house homeless people along thebanks of River La Seine near Notre-Dame de Paris, in a bid to highlight theplight of the homeless people in France.

According toAugustin Legrand,spokesman of theassociation, 250 tents hadbeen erected on the banksof River La Seine and theNotre Dame Square,before the police movedin and carried out forcedevacuations.

Earlier on Friday,the government hadwarned associations todesist from these types ofaction after it concludedan agreement todismantle a camp thathad been erected onParis’ La Banque Streetto provide shelter for

inadequately housedfamilies.

The day before,Legrand had stronglycastigated the govern-ment for “unfulfilledpromises” that willensure “that severalthousand people willonce again this year sleepon the sidewalks,especially in Paris.”

Saying that out ofthe 27,000 housing unitspromised by thegovernment, only 14,000had been made available,Legrand had expressedhis willingness to lead hisassociation into erectinga new homeless people’scamp at the heart ofParis.

MNA/Xinhua

All this needs to be known* Do not be frightened whenever

intimidated* Do not be bolstered whenever flat-

tered* Do not be softened whenever appeased

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM11

12 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007

CLAIMS DAY NOTICEMV XIANG FENG VOY NO (7069)

Consignees of cargo carried on MV XIANG FENGVOY NO (7069) are hereby notified that the vessel willbe arriving on 18.12.2007 and cargo will be dischargedinto the premises of A.W.P.T where it will lie at theconsignee’s risk and expenses and subject to the byelawsand conditions of the Port of Yangon.

Damaged cargo will be surveyed daily from 8 amto 11:20 am and 12 noon to 4 pm up to Claims Day nowdeclared as the third day after final discharge of cargofrom the vessel.

No claims against this vessel will be admitted afterthe Claims Day.

SHIPPING AGENCY DEPARTMENTMYANMA PORT AUTHORITY

AGENT FOR: M/S CHINA SHIPPING(MALAYSIA) AGENCY SDN BHD

Phone No: 256908/378316/376797

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S

“CONDOLENCE”We express our heart-felt condolence on the saddemise of U THEIN LWIN@ SUBRAMANIYAN(age) 64 Years, General Secretary of All MyanmarHindu Central Council who expired on Saturday(15-12-2007). We share the same grief along with hisfamily members.MAY HIS SOUL REST IN PEACE

President U Shwe and Executive Committe MembersAll Myanmar Hindu Central Council, Yangon.

Models present creations during the annual Mongolia fashion festival inUlan Bator, capital of Mongolia, on 15 Dec, 2007.—XINHUA

Quake hitsTimorLeste, no

threat of tsunami JAKARTA, 17 Dec—A strong quake with magnitude

of 6.2 rocked TimorLeste on Saturday, no potential oftsunami and no immediate report of damages orcasualty, according to Indonesian Meteorology andGeophysics Agency.

The quake struck at 15:03 pm Jakarta time 0803GMT with epicentre at 243 kilometres northeast Dili,capital of TimorLeste, and at 120 kilometres under seabed, said Edy Kusuma,official of the agency. Theintensity of the quake was less one MMI (modifiedmercury intensity), Kusuma said, adding that the shakeof the quake was not felt by human, only instrumentcan record it.

MNA/Xinhua

Russia disappointed at missiledefence talks with US

MOSCOW, 16 Dec—Russia is disappointedabout the results of the lastround of missile defencetalks with the United Statesin Budapest Thursday, asenior Russian ForeignMinistry official told aPress conference onSaturday. “At the presenttime, the outcomes of thisconversation are discour-aging,” Deputy ForeignMinister Sergei Kislyak

was quoted by the Interfaxnews agency as saying.

Russia hopes that thisdialogue, which is beingmaintained on instructionsof Russian PresidentVladimir Putin and his UScounterpart George WBush, would help the twocountries “progress insearch of common groundin settling problems ofmissile technology proli-feration, preventing threats,and monitoring thesethreats, so that this shouldmeet the interests of securityfor all,” Kislyak said.

At an October meetingin the “two-plus-two”format joined by defenceand foreign ministers ofthe two countries inMoscow, Russia and theUnited States failed toreach any agreement onmissile defence in Europe,but made a decision tocontinue discussions at anexpert level.

MNA/Xinhua

Berth damage delays ironore shipments in Rio portRIO DE JANEIRO, 16 Dec—

An accident that damageda berth of a port in Rio deJaneiro state has delayedvessels from takingshipments of iron ore fromBrazil to China, portauthorities said on Friday.On 8 December, a vesselhit a berthing dolphin at aterminal of Sepetiba portand repair work will take30 to 40 days.

The damage has causeddelays of iron ore ship-ments from several miningcompanies like Brazil’sVale as iron ore could notbe loaded to the vessels,the authorities said. Threevessels have not beenloaded due to the berthdamage, it said.

In a statement, Vale saidthe terminal of portSepetiba is the smallestone used by the companyfor iron ore shipments.

Vale said it will try toreallocate iron oreshipments as the otherterminals at Sepetibacontinue to operate nor-mally. Port officials saidthey will try to resumeshipments at the berth on15 December.

MNA/Xinhua

Athens to broadcastMandarin Chinese

programme ATHENS, 17 Dec—Athens International Radio (AIR

104.4 FM) will broadcast a one-hour programme inMandarin Chinese every night from 15 December.

Ioannis Synodinos, General Editor-in-Chief ofAthens International Radio, told Xinhua that the one-hour programme is provided free by China RadioInternational (CRI).

In July and August next year, before and during theBeijing Olympic Games, Athens International Radiowill broadcast another 5-hour special programme everyday on the Beijing Olympic Games in English, French,German, Russian and Albanian.—MNA/Xinhua

Bangladesh hit by power cuts on eve of festivities DHAKA, 16 Dec—Most

of Bangladesh, includingits capital Dhaka, waswithout electricity onSaturday after a nationalpower failure thatthreatened to dampennational independencecelebrations.

“Most of the country’ssome 60 power plants

went out of generationafter the grid failedfollowing mechanicaltrouble at a plant atAshuganj near Dhaka,” anEnergy Ministry officialsaid. Ashuganj is about100 kilometres (60 miles)northeast of Dhaka.

The grid failure cameas an embarrassment on

the eve of celebrations onSunday to mark VictoryDay when all governmentand public buildings arenormally illuminated.

Bangladesh was lib-erated on 16 December,1971, following a nine-month-long guerilla waragainst Pakistani forces.

The power situation wasexpected to improve bySaturday midnight, butnormal generation andtransmission of electricitymight not be possible untilMonday, officials said.

MNA/Reuters

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MARRIAGECaptain Myo Lwin (Uniteam Marine Ltd)& Daw Khin Saw Thein12 Myawuttyi Street, Parami Yeiktha, Mayangone Tsp announces

the marriage of their eldest daughterEi Myo Lwin

B.A. English YUFL, ACCA Part 3.to

Kyaw Bo Bo HlaingBachelor of International Business (Murdoch University)

(Import Operation, ESS Shipping Pty Ltd. Perth, Australia)youngest son of U Kyaw Chit Hlaing (Hlaing Myittar Co., Ltd) &Mrs. Lorna Hlaing, 64 A Kyaikwain Pagodo Rd, Mayangone Tsp

& Perth, Australia. On 15 December 2007 in the presence ofparents, elders and Mr.Rod. H. Carter(Marriage Celebrant, Perth, Australia).

Both Parents &Ei Myo Lwin-Kyaw Bo Bo Hlaing

Don’t Smoke

First sharkattack at

Australia’sBondi for 70 yrs

CANBERRA, Dec 17—A swimmer has beenattacked by a shark atAustralia’s Bondi beach,popular with tourists fromaround the world, for thefirst time in 70 years.

Scott Wright, 34, wasswimming at the south endof the beach on Fridayevening when a smallshark bit his arm, leavinghim with deep gouges,local newspapers reportedon Sunday.

MNA/Reuters

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM12

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007 13

LONDON, 16 Dec—A British research has provedthat a new drug, Anastrozole, for breast cancer is betterthan the treatments already widely available and canprevent the disease returning for up to eight years.

Anastrozole, marketed as Arimidex, produces betterresults than tamoxifen which has been a preferredtreatment for more than 20 years, setting a newbenchmark for treating early stage breast cancer inpostmenopausal women whose disease is fueled byoestrogen, according to the study published on Saturday.

The latest study confirms that the drug, approvedfor use on the NHS (national health service) in Britainin August and prescribed to patients with breast cancersince November, continues to work even after a patientstops taking it, with a greater chance that tumors willnot return or spread.

Anastrozole acts by cutting the level of oestrogencirculating in the blood-stream, reducing the cancerrisk in so-called receptor-positive cancers.

About four in five of the 41,000 women found tohave breast cancer each year have passed the menopauseand 70 per cent of these have cancers that are exacerbatedby oestrogen.—MNA/Xinhua

LUSAKA, 16 Dec— TheWorld Bank has said thatthe countries with theworld’s highest numbersof TB cases could earnsignificantly more thanthey spend on TB diag-nosis and treatment if theysigned onto a global planto sharply reduce thenumbers of TB-relateddeaths.

According to a WorldBank new research reporton “the economic benefitof global investments intuberculosis control”,highly affected Africancountries could gain up tonine times their invest-ments in TB control, the

BEIJING, 16 Dec—Oneof China’s top chemists,Bai Chunli, becomes thefirst Chinese scientisthonoured by the RoyalSociety of Chemistry(RSC) of the UnitedKingdom for his inno-vative research on chemi-stry.

Richard Pike, RSCchief executive officer,granted the certificates ofthe honorary fellow of theRSC to Bai in Beijing, theChinese Academy ofSciences (CAS) websitereported on Friday.

Bai is among the 87

CAIRO, 16 Dec — TheEgyptian Government onFriday permitted a jointoperation with France toexplore the submergedruins of the ancient Light-house of Alexandriawhich once stood in thenorthern Egyptian port city.

Minister of CultureFarouq Abdel-Aziz Hosnigave the go-ahead orderof the operation of theEgyptian-French Missionfor Sunken Antiquitiesdue to start in January,Egypt’s MENA newsagency reported.

Hosni expected theteam to retrieve huge slabsof the tower’s foundationinscribed with Ptolemaicdesigns, MENA said.

Zahi Hawwas, Secre-tary General of Egypt’sSupreme Council ofAntiquities, was quoted assaying that his council had

WB calls for investmentin TB control

Zambia News andInformation Servicesreported in Lusaka onSaturday.

The report indicatesthat the economic cost ofTB-related deaths (includ-ing HIV co-infection) inSub-Saharan Africa from2006 to 2015 is estimatedat 519 billion US.dollarswhen there is no effectiveTB treatment as prescribedby the Stop TB Strategyof the World HealthOrganization (WHO).

It said that by sickeningor killing working-ageadults, TB imposes aheavy cost on people’sincomes as well as national

economies. In Zambia, the report

said that adult deathsamong small maize andcotton farmers causedcrop yields to fall byroughly 15 per cent.

“However, if thesesame countries in Sub-Saharan Africa were tooffer such treatment to TBpatients, in keeping witha global plan to halve theprevalence and death ratesby 2015 relative to 1990figures, countries couldsee their economic be-nefits exceed their costsby about nine times over,”according to the report.

MNA/Xinhua

British research proves betternew breast cancer drug

Chinese scientist receives prestigious UKRSC highest honour

global academic cele-brities, including ahandful of Nobel laureatesin chemistry, to earn theextraordinary honour.

The RSC constitutionstipulates the total num-ber of honorary fellowsshould be no more than120 and they must un-dergo a rigorous nomi-nation and election pro-cess.

The 54-year-old che-mist, deputy CAS pre-sident and president of theChinese Chemical Soci-ety, is leading the mostcuttingedge research on

molecular nanostructureand nanotechnology inChina, which earned himelection in April 2006 asthe elite foreign associateof the US NationalAcademy of Sciences(NAS). Bai studied as apostdoctorate at theCalifornia Institute ofTechnology from 1985 to1987, and previouslyfocused on the structureand properties of polymercatalysts and molecularmechanics, which are coreand original studies inphysical chemistry.

MNA/Xinhua

Egypt, France to jointly retrieveancient lighthouse

worked with the Euro-pean Union to determinethe type of the sunkenstones, ahead of rebuidingthe lighthouse designed byGreek architect Sost-ratos, whose name wasengraved on the tower inhonour of his good work.

Hawwas revealed thatthe lighthouse dates backto the era of Ptolemy II’srule (282-246 BC) andwas built at the cost equalto 2,000 pound sterlingsback then.

Ahmed Shoeib, groupleader of the Egyptianside, noted that the dis-covered slabs were mostlymade of rosy granite,marble and adobe, addingthat a geological map oflocal quarries will bedrawn and the project isexpected to be completedin three years.

The Lighthouse, one

of the Seven Wonders ofthe ancient world, wasseverely damaged by twoearthquakes in 1303 and1323. It was then totallylost to the sea in 1480.

MNA/Xinhua

Veterinarians givediaplasis operation toan injured wild giantpanda at the Shaanxi

Province Rare WildlifeRescue & BreedingResearch Centre in

Xi’an, capital ofnorthwest China’s

Shaanxi Province, on16 Dec, 2007. —XINHUA

Taking advantage of strong sunshine and big temperature gap between day andnight, northwest China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region produces top

quality tomatoes that are sold to European and American markets.—INTERNET

A little fashion shop whose shape closelyresembles a bus appeared recently in an

underground mall in Shanghai. It is equippedwith seats and other bus facilities within and

attracted many customers.—INTERNET

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM13

14 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007

S P O R T S

Liverpool’s Harry Kewell, bottom, attemptsan overhead kick against ManchesterUnited as Owen Hargreaves, left, reactsduring their English Premier League soc-cer match at Anfield Stadium, Liverpool,England, on 16 Dec, 2007. —INTERNET

Federer wins Swiss sports awardfor fourth time

Simeoneappointed River

Plate coachBUENOS AIRES, 17 Dec

—Former Argentina mid-fielder Diego Simeone hassigned a one-year contractto coach River Plate start-ing on 3 January, the clubannounced on Saturday.

Simeone replaces Dan-iel Passarella, who quit lastmonth after River wereknocked out of the CopaSudamericana by modestArsenal ending their lastchance of winning a tro-phy this year.

Simeone, 37, turned tocoaching in 2005 afterplaying 106 games forArgentina and having rep-resented some of Europe'stop clubs including InterMilan and Atletico Ma-drid. He began his coach-ing career at Racing Cluband led Estudiantes to thenational championship in2006.— MNA/Reuters

Man Utd go top after 1-0 win over Liverpool

Arsenal's Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor (L) vieswith Chelsea's Alex (C) and Chelsea's PortugeseDefender Paulo Ferreira (R) during their Premier-ship match at home to Arsenal at the Emirates football stadium. Arsenal won 1-0. — INTERNET

LIVERPOOL ( England), 17 Dec —Carlos Tevez's goal gave ManchesterUnited a 1-0 win at Liverpool onSunday and sent the champions to thetop of the Premier League.The Ar-gentine scored in the 43rd minute bydiverting a Wayne Rooney shot into thenet at close range following a RyanGiggs corner.United overtook Arsenalat the top of the table, although ArseneWenger's side have the chance to makea quick return when they host third-placed Chelsea at 1600 GMT.

Liverpool were a shadow of theside that had beaten Marseille 4-0 inthe Champions League on Tuesday.

Their best chance fell to HarryKewell in the 28th minute. His shotwas cleared off the line by Andersonwith FernandoTorres heading the re-bound over the bar.

United rarely threatened as an at-tacking force but still managed totake the lead through Tevez.

Substitute Ryan Babel came clos-est to equalizing with a fierce shotthat flew narrowly wide, while StevenGerrard landed a last minute free kickon the top of the net.

Rooney wasted an excellent chance

to score a second for United in the 78thminute by side footing wide CristianoRonaldo's cross when unmarked in the box.

The defeat sees Liverpool drop ninepoints behind United and seriously dam-ages their chances of gaining a first leaguetitle in 17 years.—MNA/Reuters

Defeat wrecks Panathinaikoshopes of going top

McCulloch strike givesRangers 2-1 win over Hearts

Milan crush Boca 4-2 to winClub World Cup

YOKOHAMA (Japan), 17Dec — Brazilian Kaka in-spired AC Milan to 4-2thrashing of Boca Juniorsin the Club World Cupfinal on Sunday.

Kaka capped a virtuosoperformance by scoringhis side's third goal andsetting up two for FilippoInzaghi as the Italians be-came the first Europeanside to win the revampedtournament.

"This was the one tro-phy I hadn't won," Kakatold reporters."It's magi-cal to finally get my handson it. I can't describe howhappy I am. I've won eve-rything now -- it's amaz-ing."

A slide-rule pass fromthe Ballon d'Or winnergave Inzaghithe simpletask of firing Milaninto the lead in the 21stminute.

Boca equalized mo-ments later through strikerRodrigo Palacio's headerbut defender AlessandroNesta volleyed Milan backinto the lead five minutesinto the second half.

Kaka got on the scoresheet in the 61st minute,beating goalkeeperMauricio Caranta after adazzling solo run beforesquaring the ball to Inzaghiwho slid home Milan'sfourth.

"I'm not surprised wescored four goals,"shrugged Milan captainPaolo Maldini, who willretire at the end of the sea-son after more than 23years' service for the club.

"We have Kaka. He isalways there for the teamin games at the importantmoments. He's the bestplayer in the world."

MNA/Reuters

ATHENS, 17 Dec—Panathinaikos missed out on thechance to go top of the Greek Super League, losing1-0 at Panionios on Saturday.

With leaders AEK Athens playing second-placedOlympiakos Piraeus on Sunday, Panathinaikos had anopportunity to claim first place but were sunk by a goalfrom former Watford trialist Rafik Djebbour in the42nd minute. It was the Algeria striker's ninth leaguegoal of the season.

Panathinaikos remained third with 24 points from12 games, level with Olympiakos and three behindAEK.

If teams are level on points, head-to-head recordscount and AEK lost 2-1 to Panathinaikos last month.

Aris Salonika returned to winning ways with a 2-0victory at home to Xanthi which took them to fifth on19 points, two behind Asteras Tripolis.

MNA/Reuters

Russia Polina Vyakhireva, centre, shoots past Nor-way players Katja Nyberg, left, and Ragnhild Aamodt,right, during the final match between Russia andNorway at the Women's Handball World Champion-ship final, at the Paris Bercy stadium, on 16 Dec, 2007.—INTERNET

Capello says England job will be his last MILAN, 17 Dec — Eng-

land's new managerFabio Capello has saidthe job will be his last insoccer and acknowledgedhe has a tough task aheadof him. The 61-year-oldItalian was appointed onFriday until 2012 to re-place Steve McClaren,who was sacked lastmonth after Englandfailed to qualify for Euro2008.

“This is the finalcrowning of my career. Itwould be very nice to fin-ish in the best way,”Capello told Rai televi-sion on Saturday. “I didn’tthink that one day I would

be able to coach England.Some time ago I was closethen nothing happened.This time the dream hascome true.

“I will face a differentway of working in a coun-try where football is con-sidered a religion. Everyone in England asks whythe national team are notable to win.”

Capello, who won a ti-tle with all four of the clubshe managed, has beenworking as a commenta-tor for Rai since he wassacked by Real Madrid inJune, despite winning theSpanish title.

MNA/Reuters

BERNE (Switzerland), 17Dec — The world's numberone tennis player RogerFederer has been namedSwitzerland's top sportspersonality for a record-equalling fourth time.Federer, who also won theSportsman of the Yearaward in 2003, 2004 and2006, was up against worldtime trial cycling cham-pion Fabian Cancellara andmarathon runner ViktorRoethlin.

“It’s always an incred-ible feeling to win theseawards from my homecountry, even if people al-ways say I’m the big fa-vourite,” the 12-timeGrand Slam champion said

in a live video link fromhis training camp in Dubaion Saturday. Federer, whofollows former cyclist TonyRominger as a four-timewinner of the award, saidhe was close to tears afterbeing congratulated invideo messages fromformer champions BjornBorg, Roy Emerson andPete Sampras. Sampras,who still holds the record of14 Grand Slam singles ti-tles, told Federer to “havefun” breaking that record.“It’s amazing to hear mes-sages like that”, Federersaid, and of course break-ing Pete’s record would bea dream for me.

MNA/Reuters

GLASGOW, 17 Dec—Striker Lee McCulloch struckhis second goal of the match to give Rangers a late2-1 win over Hearts on Saturday and cut Celtic’slead at the top of the Scottish Premier League to twopoints.

McCulloch gathered a pass from Kris Boyd andcrashed a rising shot high into the net for the opener inthe 18th minute.

Hearts hit back after the interval with Lithuanianstriker Andrius Velicka levelling in the 57th minuteonly for McCulloch to snatch a late winner in the86th minute. Champions Celtic have 36 pointsfrom 16 games while Rangers are second on 34 from15.—MNA/Reuters

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM14

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Tuesday, 18 December, 2007 15

WEATHER

Monday, 17 December, 2007Summary of observations recorded at 09:30 hours

MST: During the past 24 hours,weather have been partlycloudy in Kachin, Chin, Rakhine States, upper Sagaing,Yangon, Ayeyawady and Taninthayi Divisions, andgenerally fair in the remaining States and Divisions.Night temperatures were (3ºC) to (4ºC) above Decem-ber average temperature in Kachin. Eastern Shan andMon States, Sagaing , Mandalay, Bago, Ayeyawadyand Taninthayi Divisions and about December aver-age temperatures in the remaining areas.The signifi-cant night temperatures were Haka (4ºCº) andPyinOoLwin (6ºC).

Maximum temperature on 16-12-2007 was 95ºF.Minimum temperature on 17-12-2007 was 68ºF. Relativehumidity at 09:30 hours MST on 17-12-2007 was 68%.Total sunshine hours on 16-12-2007 was (6.3) hoursapprox.

Rainfall on 17-12-2007 was (nil) at Mingaladon, Kaba-Aye and Central Yangon. Total rainfall since 1-1-2007 was(136.57) inches at Mingaladon, (141.38) inches at Kaba-Aye and (144.29) inches at Central Yangon. Maximumwind speed at Yangon (Kaba-Aye) was (7) mph fromNorth at (14:30) hours MST on 16-12-2007.

Bay inference: According to the observations at(06:30) hrs MST today, the low pressure area overSouthwest Bay still persists. Weather is partly cloudyto cloudy in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal.

Forecast valid until evening of 18-12-2007: Possi-bility of isolated rain or thundershowers in Kachin,Chinand Rakhine States, upper Sagaing and TaninthayiDivisions, weather will be partly cloudy in Mon, KayinStates, Mandalay, Bago, Ayeyawady and YangonDivisions and generally fair in the remaining areas.Degree of certainty is (40%).

State of the sea: Seas will be moderate in Myanmarwaters.

Outlook for subsequent two days: Likelihood ofslight increase of night temperatures in the NorthernMyanmar areas.

Forecast for Nay Pyi Taw and neighbouring areafor 18- 12-2007: Generally fair weather.

Forecast for Yangon and neighbouring areafor 18-12-2007: Partly cloudy.

Forecast for Mandalay and neighbouring areafor 18-12-2007: Partly cloudy.

Tuesday, 18 DecemberTune in today

7:00 am

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7:25 am

2. To be healthy

exercise

7:30 am

3. Morning news

7:40 am

4. Nice and sweet

R 489 Published by the News and Periodicals Enterprise, Ministry of Information, Union of Myanmar. Editednd 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

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7:50 am

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7. Song of yesteryears

8:30 am

8. International news

8:45 am

9. Let’s Go

2:50 pm

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4:45 pm

2. Song to uphold

National Spirit

5:00 pm

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6:30 pm7. Weather report

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15. The next day’s

programme

Tuesday, 18 December

View on today

8:30 am Brief news8:35 am Music:

-Falling down8:40 am Perspectives8:45 am Music

-I’m gonnagetcha good

8:50 am National news/Slogan

9:00 am Music:-Puppylove

9:05 am International news

9:10 am Music-Someday

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

music-All by myself-Anything foryou

9:00pm EnglishSpeakingCourse

9:10pm Article9:20 pm Weekly sports

reel9:30 pm Listening

pleasure-The first noel-Ave Maria

9:45 pm News /Slogan10:00 pm PEL

LONDON, 17 Dec —British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s Labour Party trails the oppositionConservatives by the largest margin in more than 15 years, an opinion poll for the Sunday Times newspapershowed.

Brown suffers further poll slump

The poll by YouGovput Labour on 32 points, 13percentage points behind theConservatives on 45.Brown’s personal rating hasalso slumped since he tookover from Tony Blair inJune.

“At Westminster thesense of doom is growing,and no single analysis ofLabour’s troubles seemsentirely satisfactory,”Martin Bright, politicaleditor of the left-wingweekly New Statesman,wrote in commentary

published on Sunday. Brown does not have

to call an election until May2010 and his advisers hoperecent crises will pass, theeconomy will rebound andconfidence in Brown andhis policies will be restoredbefore voters judge him atthe ballot box.

Foreign SecretaryDavid Miliband said it wasthe government’s job totake the difficult decisionsneeded to move the countryforward, even if theyaroused opposition.

“It doesn’t feel likemeltdown at all,” he toldthe BBC. “In the end, whatcounts are not headlinesbut ideas. And it’s the ideasthat this government in theend will live or die by.”

Brown was ridinghigh in the polls after takingoffice. But the first run on abank in more than acentury, the loss of half ofthe country’s personal datain the post, allegations ofsleaze and a downturn inhouse prices have all hitLabour.

Perceptions thatBrown dithered overwhether to call an earlyelection or attend thesigning of a new EU treaty,coupled with growing fearsamong voters of aneconomic recession havealso undermined the formerfinance minister’s showing.

Brown’s personalrating—the gap betweenthose saying he was doing agood job and those sayinghe was doing badly—hasplummeted from plus 48 inAugust to minus 26 fourmonths later.With anelection some years off, theonly risk to the PrimeMinister is if his LabourParty begins to have seriousdoubts about whether he candefeat the Conservativesnext time round.

However Brown isnow coming under fire fromthe left of the politicalspectrum, a natural ally inthe past. — MnA/Reuters

Poland will listen to Moscow on missile shieldLONDON, 17 Dec —

Poland will listen toRussia’s arguments butwill make its own decisionon whether to install a USanti-missile base on itsterritory, Polish mediareported on Sunday.

“Poland has no nuclearpotential, but Russia does.We will hear out theirarguments, but our finaldecision will be a sovereign

one, ” Polish media quotedthe country’s new DefenceMinister, RadoslawSikorski, as saying.

He was replyingto a Russian warning thatthe firing of a weapon froma US anti-missile system inPoland could be misreadby Moscow’s automateddefences, triggering thelaunch of an inter-continental ballistic missile

in reutrn.“The firing of an anti-

missile rocket from Polandcould be seen by Russia’sautomated system as thelaunch of a ballistic missile,which could provoke aresponsive strike,” ArmyChief of Staff YuriBaluyevsky told a newsconference in Moscow onSaturday.

MNA/Reuters

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM15

9th Waxing of Nadaw 1369 ME Tuesday, 18 December, 2007

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

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

killers in the air waves —RFA, VOA and BBC

Objectives of the 60thAnniversary

Independence Day(a) All the national people to constantly join

hands for safeguarding the perpetua-tion of independence and sovereignty ofthe State;

(b) All the national people to collectivelystrive for non-disintegration of the Un-ion and non-disintegration of nationalsolidarity;

(c) To ensure emergence of an enduringconstitution in line with the fundamen-tal principles and detailed basic princi-ples adopted by the National Conven-tion that has been completed success-fully;

(d) All the national people to harmoniouslymake all-out efforts for building of amodern, developed discipline-flourish-ing democratic nation;

(e) All the national people to cooperate inrealizing the State’s seven-step RoadMap with Union Spirit, patriotic spiritand the spirit of sacrifice.

INSIDE

PAGE 6 BA SEIN

The aims and objectives of holding theSacred Tipitakadhara TipitakakovidaSelection Examination are to preserve,promote and flourish the genuine TheravadaBuddhism all over the world.

Prime Minister sends messageof felicitations to Qatar

NAY PYI TAW, 18 Dec—General Thein Sein, Prime Minister of the Union of Myanmar,has sent a message of felicitations to His Excellency Sheikh Hamad Bin Jassim Bin Jabir Al-Thani, Prime Minister of the State of Qatar, on the occasion of the Independence Day of theState of Qatar, which falls on 18 December 2007.—MNA

National Kandawgyi Gardens, flowerfestival attract thousands of visitors

NAY PYI TAW, 17 Dec— The 2nd flower festivaland the orchid garden inthe National KandawgyiGardens in PyinOoLwinwere packed with visitorstoday.

The 2nd flowerfestival is being held whilethe National KandawgyiGardens is celebrating its76th anniversary.

In the gardens, a treewhich includes in the listof the oldest trees in theworld and Rock Gardenattract most of the visitors.

At the 2nd flowerfestival, archways aredecorated with local andexotic species of differentflowers and Myanmarmaps and the royal moat

(See page 10)Blooming flowers seen at National Kandawgyi Gardens in

PyinOoLwin.—�MNA

18-12-07 NL 8/2/18, 12:52 AM16