the new light of myanmar 26-12-2009

Established 1914

Volume XVII, Number 254 11th Waxing of Pyatho 1371 ME Saturday, 26 December, 2009

* Development of agriculture as the base and all-round devel-opment of other sectors of the economy as well

* Proper evolution of the market-oriented economic system* Development of the economy inviting participation in terms

of technical know-how and investments from sources insidethe country and abroad

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

* Uplift of the morale and morality of theentire nation

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

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

standards of the entire nation

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

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

stitution* Building of a new modern developed nation

in accord with the new State Constitution

Four economic objectives Four social objectivesFour political objectives

True patriotism* It is very important for every-

one of the nation regardless ofthe place he lives to havestrong Union Spirit.

* Only Union Spirit is the truepatriotism all the nationalitieswill have to safeguard.

Prime Minister receives Memberof House of Councillors of JapanNAY PYI TAW, 25 Dec—Prime Minister of the

Union of Myanmar General Thein Sein received aJapanese delegation led by Member of the House ofCouncillors Mr Hideo Watanabe at the GovernmentOffice here yesterday afternoon.

Also present at the call together with the Prime

Minister were Minister for National Planning andEconomic Development U Soe Tha, and depart-mental heads. The Japanese delegation was accom-panied by Japanese Ambassador to Myanmar MrYasuaki Nogawa.

MNA

Ma Mya Dam benefits 10,000 acres of farmlandsByline & Photos: Khin Maung Than (Sethmu)

Photo shows Ma Mya Dam. (See page 7)

Prime Minister

General Thein Sein

receives Japanese

delegation led by

member of the

House of Council-

lors Mr Hideo

Watanabe at the

Government Office

in Nay Pyi Taw.

MNA

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2 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Saturday, 26 December, 2009

Saturday, 26 December, 2009

PERSPECTIVES

For sustainable exploitation

of marine resourcesMyanmar is blessed with aquatic and

territorial resources in abundance. With the2832 kilometers long coast, and four largerivers: Ayeyawady, Thanlwin, Chindwin andSittoung, Myanmar is a land where marineresources are inexhaustible.

Due to the growing population, theconsumption of fish and prawn is on theincrease, and water resources such as fish andprawn are in demand.

In its bid to achieve the objective of all-round development in producing meat andfish at home, the Ministry of Livestock andFisheries has been taking a variety of measuressuch as breeding fish and prawn extensively,and boosting fishing in the sea, rivers andcreeks in line with the rules and regulations. Itexports fish and prawn surpluses to earn foreignexchange.

Now, the ministry not only fulfils thedomestic demand of fish, prawn and marineresources, but also exports the surpluses tohelp the nation earn more foreign exchange. Itwill be able to distribute marine resources ona broader scale at home and abroad, if it hasmore access to advanced fishing methods.

The Fisheries Department is now verycareful to ensure sustainable exploitation ofmarine resources for adequate local supplyand export. In order to achieve the goal, thedepartment releases fingerlings and shrimpsinto natural lakes, rivers, creeks, dams and thesea, prohibit fishermen from fishing in the inwhich female fish and prawns go upstream tolay eggs and designating prohibited areas andperiods, and giving talks on prevention ofcatching, collecting and transporting fish.

The people are therefore to conserve thewater resources in collaboration with thegovernment for ensuring sustainable harnessof fish and prawn.

NAY PYI TAW, 25Dec—Chairman of KachinState Peace andDevelopment CouncilCommander of NorthernCommand Maj-Gen SoeWin, together with Ministerfor Electric Power No.1Col Zaw Min and Ministerfor Communications, Postsand Telegraphs Brig-GenThein Zaw, and PresidentMr Lu Qizhou of ChinaPower InvestmentCorporation (CPI) andmembers visitedAyeyawady MyitsoneDam Project site,downstream of theconfluence of the Maykhaand Malikha rivers near

Ayeyawady Myitsone Dam Project launched

Tanphe Village inMyitkyina on 21December.

The director andofficials of No (5)Construction Group underthe Hydropower Projectreported on the project,ongoing pre-engineeringwork, follow-upprogrammes, andarrangements for the launchof the project. Thecommander and MinisterCol Zaw Min fulfilled therequirements.

The commander, theminister and the presidentof CPI attended theceremony to launchMyitsone Dam Project. Also

present on the occasion weredepartmental heads at statelevel, Vice Governor ofYunnan Province of thePeople’s Republic of ChinaMr Zong Hua, and CPI VicePresident Mms. ZhangXiaolu.

Commander Maj-GenSoe Win, Minister Col ZawMin and the president ofCPI delivered speeches.The commander, theminister, the CPI presidentand officials formallylaunched the project, andinspected constructiontasks, and the site chosenfor the main dam.

On 22 December,Commander Maj-Gen Soe

Win, Minister Col ZawMin, Minister Brig-GenThein Zaw, Mr Lu Qizhousand members inspectedPower of Chibwenge DamProject in Chibwe. Inresponse to the reports byofficials concerned,Minister Col Zaw Minattended to the needs.

At the site chosen forPanwah Border TradeCamp in Panwah, theofficial of the Directorateof Border Trade reportedon work progress, and planto accommodate staffmembers. The commanderand the minister attendedto the requirements.

MNA

YANGON, 24 Dec—Electronics and Lifestyle2009 was opened atTatmadaw ConventionHall on U Wisara Roadthis morning.

70 companies take part in Electronics &Lifestyle 2009 Exhibition

NCTC, Unique, Red Link,P.I.T, Trust Net, Sm3,MBC, Integra, GoldenRain, Ubifind, MicroPeacock, transformers ofAsia General Electric,Online U.P.S of GoldenLion and I.E.M, inductioncookers of Future Step,Fudak, and AEK, printersand copiers of Cannonand Concordia, modernelectronics andhousehold utensils ofEver Seiko, AmttCompany, Lifeline,Smart ElectronicDictionary, ToshibaKyaw Win, Three FriendsTrading, Setra, Revo,Rinnai, Aung Myanmar,Atlas, Romanson,Rhythm, Moon Fancy,

MNZ, Khind, Maco,Mistral, Asahi, Omical,Polytron, Standard,Zulex, UniversalComputer, Myanmar Al-ha, and PeninsulaEnterprise (Citizen),mobile handsets andaccessories of NewMobile, DO CO MO,Great Mobile, MobileFriend, and Hisense,furniture of Ocean Glory(Lccco). UniversalFurniture, Nat Ray (GoldCoil), CofferManufacturing, andGolden Hook are ondisplay in the exhibition.

The exhibition willbe opened from 9 am to 6pm daily till 27December.—MNA

Managing Director UThet Lwin Shwe of IEMSCo Ltd, ManagingDirector Dr Aung Theinof Nibban Electric &Electronics andresponsible persons cut aribbon to open theexhibition and lookedround the booths.

A total of 140 boothsfrom 70 companies arebeing displayed in theexhibition which is mainlysponsored by NibbanElectric & Electronics.Energy saving products ofPanasonic, Chang Hongand Mitsubishi, latestlaptops and softwaresystems of Acer, LuckyBird, Blu Ray, KMD,King Empire, Cyber City,

Minister Col Zaw Min addresses the launching of Myitsone Dam Project.—MNA

Electronics & Lifestyle 2009 Exhibition packed with visitors.—MNA

* 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 Desire

26-12-09 NL 8/3/18, 2:16 PM2

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Saturday, 26 December, 2009 3

Taleban video claims to be ofcaptured US soldier

Pakistan to try five Americans overterrorism charges

Bomb blast wounds threecivilians in Taleban birthplace

KABUL, 25 Dec — Three civilians were injured asa bomb went off in Kandahar, the birthplace of Talebanin south Afghanistan on Thursday, a police officer said.“In the incident which occurred at 01:30 pm local timethree civilian passersby were injured,” MohammadAnwar told Xinhua.

He blamed Taleban militants for carrying out theblast, saying militants by organizing subversive ac-tivities want to sabotage peace in the province. Talebanoutfit has yet to make comment.

XinhuaAfghans check buildings destroyed in a suicide bombing attack the previousnight in Kandahar, south of Kabul, Afghanistan, on 25 Dec, 2009.—INTERNET

This image made fromsurveillance video

released by theDickson City Police

via WNEP-TV, showsan unidentified

woman leaving a Wal-Mart with a purse that

contained about$5,000 in cash, on 24Dec, 2009, in Dickson

City, Pa. Policereleased the image inhopes of identifyingthe woman who took

the purse from abench inside a Wal-

Mart store in DicksonCity.— INTERNET

Afghanistan suicide bomber kills eight in KandaharAfghan senator killed by police

Newport Beach firefighters work at scene of a fatal accident on the East CoastHighway east of Bayside Drive in Newport Beach on 24 Dec, 2009. One

person was killed and others were injured.—INTERNET

KABUL, 25 Dec — Asuicide bomber in a horse-drawn cart has killed eightpeople in the southernAfghan city of Kandahar,police say. Police officersapparently tried to stopthe bomber but he wasable to detonate his explo-

sives near a hotel and lo-cal government office.

Five of the dead werein a nearby car, with threepedestrians also killed.The car was destroyed,leading police to initiallythink the bomb was insideit. Previous attacks in

Kandahar Province havebeen blamed on Talebanmilitants. — Internet

KABUL, 25 Dec — AnAfghan senator was shotdead by police when his

car failed to stop at acheckpoint, the InteriorMinistry says. SenatorMohammad Younus wasdriving home when he wasshot in Pol-e Khomri, capi-tal of northern BaghlanProvince. Police say theyordered Mr Younus’s car to

stop and opened fire whenit failed to do so. A gun bat-tle then broke out with hisbodyguards, they say. Thecheckpoint had been set upas part of a planned am-bush of Taleban fightersfollowing a clash on Tues-day.— Internet

Iraq attacks kill scores on eveof Christmas, Ashura

HILLA, 25 Dec — Twenty-seven people were killedand more than 100 wounded in a string of attacks acrossIraq on Thursday ahead of Christmas and the Shiitecommemoration ceremonies of Ashura. In the worstattack, 15 people including a provincial councillor werekilled and 70 wounded when twin bombs struck out-side a busy bus station in Hilla, south of Baghdad, Iraqiofficials said.—InternetPM says Pakistan

not to allow Talebanto re-organize

ISLAMABAD, 25 Dec —Pakistani Prime MinisterYousuf Raza Gilani onThursday said that hisgovernment will not al-low Taleban to re-organ-ize after the death oftheir leader BaitullahMehsood. Taleban net-work has been eliminatedafter the death ofBaitullah Mehsood, andwe will not allow them toreorganize,” Gilani told anews conference.

Xinhua

KABUL, 25 Dec — TheTaleban released on Fri-day a video purporting toshow a US soldier whowas captured more thanfive months ago in east-ern Afghanistan.

The media arm of theAfghan Taleban an-nounced last week on anaffiliated Web site that anew videotape of Pfc.Bowe Bergdahl was forth-coming. They did notname the American cap-tive, but the only oneknown is airborne infan-tryman who was capturedby the Afghan Taleban in

Paktika Province on 30June.

It could not be con-firmed immediately that itwas Bergdahl in the newvideo, which was releasedto The Associated Pressand other news organiza-tions.

A man is shown seated,facing the camera, wear-ing sunglasses and whatappears to be a US mili-tary helmet and uniform.A caption below the manspeaking says “War pris-oner: Bowe RobertBergdahl.”

On one side of the im-

age it says: “An Americansoldier imprisoned by theMujahideen of the IslamicEmirate of Afghanistan.”The man identifies him-self as Bergdahl, born inSun Valley, Idaho, andgives his rank, birth date,blood type, his unit andmother’s maiden namebefore beginning alengthy verbal attack onthe US conduct of the warin Afghanistan and its re-lations with Muslims. Heappears healthy, anddoesn’t appear to havebeen abused.

Internet

ISLAMABAD, 25 Dec —Pakistani will try fiveAmerican men over ter-rorism charges who werebelieved to have gonemissing from the Wash-ington, DC area lastmonth, and arrested ear-lier this month in theSouth Asian country, asenior official said onThursday.

District Police OfficerDr Usman told a newsconference in the north-eastern Pakistani city ofSargodha that interroga-tion of the suspects hasbeen completed and theywould be tried over terror-ism charges. The men,

between 18 and 20, weretaken into custody earlierthis month in a raid on ahouse in Sarghoda, 190kms southeast of the Pa-kistani capital Islamabad,in the eastern Punjabprovince.

Usman said that allmen will be produced in ananti-terrorism court Friday

and the court will be re-quested to hand over theaccused to police for fur-ther questioning. Usmansaid that links of the ar-rested men with Pakistanibanned groups have beenproved during investiga-tion and terrorism chargeshave been registeredagainst them. — Xinhua

26-12-09 NL 8/3/18, 2:16 PM3


Vehicles travel in blizzard conditions on DodgeStreet in Omaha, Neb, on 24 Dec, 2009. A

powerful storm spreading snow, sleet and rainacross the nation’s midsection glazed roads and

disrupted flights on Thursday.—INTERNET

The Indian Navy ship INS Vidyut (K48) is seen during an exercise in theArabian Sea off the Porbandar coast on 2 December. India announced planson Thursday to shift control of a major shipyard to the military to boost navalwarship production amid complaints of delays in existing projects.—INTERNET

UnemployedJapanese people

search through jobvacancies at an

employment bureauin Tokyo. Japan’s

unemployment raterose to 5.2 percent inNovember from 5.1percent in October,worsening for thefirst time in four

months, the govern-ment said on Friday.

INTERNET

MOSCOW, 25 Dec —An official website of theRussian Pavilion for the2010 World Expo waslaunched on Thursday,providing info support forRussia’s participation inthe global grand gather-ings. The websitewww.expo2010-russia.ruset in Russian, Englishand Chinese languages,contains the blueprint ofthe Russian Pavilion.

From the website citi-

HANOI, 25 Dec — In amotorcycle shop on theTay Son Street in Viet-namese capital city ofHanoi, two young attend-ants were busy introduc-ing motorcycles with thelogo of Chinese brandLifan to customers.

The motorcycles soldin this shop were all pro-duced in an industrialzone in Hung Yen Pro-vince thirty kilometresaway from Hanoi. Eyeing

BEIJING, 25 Dec — China would enhance supportsto small and medium enterprises (SMEs) next yearwith preferential tax policy and easier channels to raisefund, a senior official said on Thursday.

Li Yizhong, Minister of Industry and InformationTechnology, told members of the National People’sCongress (NPC) Standing Committee that the govern-ment has set up a special fund under the central budgetto promote the development of SMEs and increasedinput into the fund each year.

The government earmarked 10.89 billion yuan(1.59 billion US dollars) from the central budget tosupport SMEs development this year, more than dou-bled from 4.99 billion yuan in 2008, Li said.

At the end of September, China has 10.3 millionregistered enterprises, of which the SMEs accountedfor more than 99 percent, he said.

Xinhua

TOKYO, 25 Dec — Japan’s seasonally adjusted un-employment rate rose to 5.2 percent in November from5.1 percent in October, official figures showed on Fri-day. November marks the first rise in unemploymentrate in four months, according to the Health, Labourand Welfare Ministry.

The ratio of job offers to job seekers was at a three-month high, standing at a seasonally adjusted 0.45, upfrom 0.44 in October.

A total of 3.31 million people remain out of workin Japan, a rise of 750,000 people from a year earlier,according to a preliminary report by the Ministry ofInternal Affairs and Communications.— Xinhua

Japan’s jobless rate rises forfirst time in four months

Russia launches website for2010 World Expo pavilion

zens can know about notonly the design idea andconstruction updates of thepavilion, but also the prepa-ration work of the Shang-hai Expo and news aboutother participant states.

Those Russians whoare interested in visitingthe Expo site can also login the website to get infor-mation on visa, boardingand tourism.

The state joint-stockcompany “All-Russia ex-

hibition centre” is fully re-sponsible for Russia’s en-tire exhibition work of the2010 World Expo.

According to the com-pany, during the ExpoRussia will display thelargest amount of itemssince Soviet-era.

Construction for theRussian Pavilion, with atotal area of 6,000 squaremetres, was started inJune.

Xinhua

China to enhance supports to small,medium enterprises in 2010

HANOI, 25 Dec — The Vietnam National Oil andGas Group, PetroVietnam, is expected to earn a totalrevenue of 265 trillion Vietnamese dong (14.34 bil-lion US dollars) this year, exceeding the yearly targetby 25 percent, the group said in an emailed statementto Xinhua here on Friday.

Of its revenue, the group is estimated to pocket7.82 billion US dollars from crude oil export turno-ver, overshooting this year’s target by 34 percent.PetroVietnam will contribute 91 trillion Vietnamesedong (4.92 billion US dollars), or 34.3 percent of itstotal revenue, to the state budget this year, said thegroup.—Xinhua

WASHINGTON, 25 Dec— A fitful economic re-covery is drawing strengthfrom a stabilizing job mar-ket and signs that manu-facturing will contribute tothe rebound. The evidencesignals a betterthan ex-pected end to the year,though doubts remainabout growth in 2010.

The latest signs of im-provement came in tworeports on Thursday. The

Chinese motorcycle companyoperating in Vietnam eyes

opportunitiesin China-ASEAN FTA

PetroVietnam to earn over$14b this year

Jobless claims, goods orders signal modest reboundLabour Department saidthe number of newly laid-off workers filing claimsfor unemployment aid fellmore than expected lastweek. The four-week av-erage for claims, whichsmooths out fluctuations,fell for the 16th straightweek, to its lowest pointsince September 2008,when the financial crisishit with full force.

Further evidence of a

gradually healing eco-nomy was a CommerceDepartment report thatorders to US factoriesfor big-ticket durablegoods rose in November.The overall increase wasless than expected. Butexcluding the volatiletransportation category,the gains were twicewhat economists hadforecast.

Internet

the market opportunitiesin Vietnam, Chinese mo-torcycle company Lifanestablished a productionbase in Hung Yensevenyears ago. It has nowgrown into an industrialzone comprising of 11factories making motor-cycle parts and assem-bling motorcycles.

“As Vietnam andChina embrace theupcoming China-ASEAN(Association of SouthEast Asian Nations) FreeTrade Area (FTA) in thebeginning of next year,the competitiveness ofLifan products will be fur-ther enhanced in Viet-namese market,” ChenJianyu, general manger ofLifan Vietnam toldXinhua in a recent inter-view. “The FTA will fa-cilitate the two-way tradeand investment, and thuslower the operation costof the company,” saidChen.

Xinhua

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23 killed in traffic accidentin N Nigeria state

LAGOS, 25 Dec—Twenty-three persons aboard atrailer loaded with cattle were confirmed dead after acrash in northern Nigeria’s Zamfara State, local me-dia reported on Friday.

Twenty passengers were killed on the spot in theaccident on Wednesday night at the Gidan Kano vil-lage along the Sokoto Gusau road. Another three diedin a hospital. An witnesses said the trailer’s driver lostcontrol when he approached a very sharp bend at highspeed at Gidan Kano and could not control it. The ar-ticulated vehicle then skidded off the road and somer-saulted, witnesses said.

The witnesses said the trailer, which was conveyingcattle to Lagos, was also overloaded with passengerswho were poor travelers mostly hanging along theedges of the truck’s body.— Xinhua

Visitors try a digitalgame on the WMG3

Digital Game Expo inthe Zhejiang WorldTrade International

Centre in Hangzhou,east China’s ZhejiangProvince, on 24 Dec ,2009. The expo lasts

from 24 to 27 Decem-ber with mainstreamgame products withdigital interactive

entertainment tech-nologies. — XINHUA

Beef “Made in China” up with“Created in China”

Technicians fromHarbin, northeast

China’s HeilongjiangProvince, work on an icesculpture in Hexigten Qiin north China’s InnerMongolia Autonomous

Region, on 25 Dec ,2009. Over 30 ice sculp-

ture makers fromHarbin arrived in

Hexigten Qi to set up anice sculpture park.

XINHUA

Texas refinery catchesfire, no injuries reportedHOUSTON, 25 Dec—A crude unit at US refiner Valero

Energy Corp’s plant at Texas City was shut down af-ter two small fires on Thursday morning, a spokes-man for the company said. The initial fire was extin-guished quickly, and a second small fire in a gas linewas also out by about 10:30 am local time, companyspokesman Fred Newhouse said.

There were no injuries and no environmental im-pact to the community caused by the fires, the com-pany said. It said it’s assessing the impact of the fireson its production.

The production capacity of the shut unit, one of thethree crude units at the Texas City refinery, is 90,000bpd, and the company has not set a timeline for theunit’s reopening, according to Newhouse.

Xinhua

Commonwealth Gamesrugby stadium on fire

NEW DELHI, 25 Dec—The rugby stadium under con-struction for next year’s Commonwealth Games wason fire late Thursday in the Indian capital, accordingto local media.

Fire fighters took about two hours to extinguish thefire, which started in the venue seats and no casualtieswere reported, local media reported on Friday.

The Commonwealth Games take place during 3-14Oct next year.—Xinhua

Ecuadorian police raiddrug lab

QUITO, 25 Dec—The Ecuadorian Anti-Drug Policesaid on Thursday that it had discovered an illegal labo-ratory used to process cocaine hydrochloratein Guayas province, west of the country. There wereno detainees during the operation.

However, the police found chemical precursors, scales,microwaves and 1.5 kg of cocaine hydro-chlorate, usedto produce drugs. According to local police, the lab, cov-ering 100 hectares of land, was modified to process al-kaloid, but it did not say when it was found.

The police currently is investigating if this lab wasrelated to the largest Colombian rebel group — theRevolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). TheEcuadorean police so far has seized a total of 67.9 tonsof drugs this year, a record amount in the country, anddiscovered five drug labs including this one.—Xinhua

Over 2,000 French nationals detainedin foreign countries

BEIJING, 25 Dec—Beating Ericsson toa telecommunications bid in Sweden islike beating Toyota to an auto-makingbid in Japan.

Yet an up-and-coming Chinesefirm did beat Ericsson on its hometurf, for what is still the Swedishcompany’s forte.

And guess what, China’s HuaweiTechnologies Co, Ltd landed with a 4Gmobile phone infrastructure contract notbecause of its inexpensive “Made inChina” products but thanks to its val-

ued “Created in China” technologies.A 4G cellular system, successor to sys-

tems of 3G and 2G standards, must havetarget peak data rates of up to 100 mega-bytes per second and up to 1 gigabyteper second for low and high mobilities.It is therefore more technology than prod-uct that helps to materialize the ultra-broadband Internet access to mobilephone users. Telenor, offerer of the bid,chose Huawei for its unfailing technol-ogy and service rather than its competi-tive pricing.—Xinhua

PARIS, 25 Dec—French State Secretaryof Cooperation AlainJoyandet said on Thurs-day that there were 2,230nationals detained in for-eign countries and thegovernment was tryingto pull them back.

French authorities, in-cluding President NicolasSarkozy and ForeignMinister BernardKouchner, have commit-ted themselves to “try allmeans to bring back thoseFrench nationals detained

abroad,” Joyandet said ata news conference.

He specially men-tioned Clotilde Reiss, aFrench woman lecturercharged of espionage andprovoking unrest in Iran,and Michael Blanc, aFrench man confined inIndonesian prison afterconvicted for drug traf-ficking.

Arrested at Teheranairport on 1 July, Reissstood trial on Wednesdayfor the third time in Ira-nian court, but no verdict

was issued as the judgedemanding further hear-ing in spite of France’sreiteration of her inno-cence.

Sentenced to life im-prisonment in Indonesia,Blanc has served 10 years’confinement since beingarrested in 1999. Also onThursday, two Frenchwomen charged of drugtrafficking in 2008 werereleased from the Carib-bean island nation Domi-nica.

MNA/Xinhua

All Items from Xinhua News Agency

85 illegal weapons seizedin Afghanistan

KABUL, 24 Dec—The Afghan authorities have re-covered 85 rifles and ammunition from the Talebanand other militants groups over the past severalmonths.The country’s interior ministry here onWednesday handed over the seized arms to the de-fence ministry.

Maj Abdul Waheed, an official with the defenceministry, told Xinhua at the hand-over ceremony thatsecurity forces and police personnel captured the ille-gal weapons during operations conducted in variousparts of the nation. Some of the weapons were aban-doned by the militants after hostile engagement withthe law enforcement teams, said the officer. The seizedweapons and ammunition are normally handed in tothe interior ministry, which is in charge of the securityand police forces. — Xinhua

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NEWS ALBUM

After allegedly stabbing to death hisex-wife and her mother in Ordos, theInner Mongolia autonomous region, thesuspect phoned the cops, saying hewanted to interview them.

The accused is now in police custody.The suspect went to his ex-wife’s

house in the early hours of last Saturdayand following a quarrel stabbed her and

Twin murder phones police for an interviewher mother.

Neighbours phoned the police, whorushed to the scene and found the twobodies bathed in blood.

The police launched a manhunt forthe suspect, who, a day later, phonedthem, asking for an appointment for aninterview. He was arrested when hearrived at the police station.

The Soyuz TMA-17 spacecraft isrolled out by train to the launch pad

at the Baikonur Cosmodrome,Kazakhstan. The launch of the

Soyuz spacecraft with ExpeditionNASA Flight Engineer Timothy

J Creamer of the US, SoyuzCommander Oleg Kotov of Russia

and Flight Engineer Soichi Noguchiof Japan, is scheduled for 21December, 2009 at 3:52 am.

Spaniards hope ticket number 25609,the day pop star Michael Jackson died, isa winner in their annual Christmas lottery“The Fat One” which is billed as theworld’s richest, a website said.

The ticket, corresponding to 25 June,2009, “is one of the most requested” thisyear, according to a statement fromVentura 24.es, a website for lottery ticketsales.

The combination 66666 “chargedwith superstitious and demoniacsymbolism”, like every year is also avery popular choice, said the statement.

“The Fat One” — “El Gordo” inSpanish — is a national institution, withmillions glued to their television screenson 22 December watching the old-fashioned ritual of schoolchildrenchanting in Gregorian-style the numbers

Jackson death date popular in Spain’sChristmas lottery

Pop star Michael Jackson.

and prize amounts.According to national statistics, 80

percent of Spaniards play “El Gordo”,using half their annual lottery spendingon the festive draw.

The Spanish lottery gave out overtwo billion euros (2.9 billion dollars) inprize money last year, nearly twice theamount distributed in 1995.

Although other draws around the worldhave bigger individual top prizes, lotteryexperts rank “El Gordo” as the world’srichest lottery for the total sum paid out.

London’s Leicester Square steppedback in time. Old fashioned street lampsand even fog could be seen at thepremiere of Guy Ritchie’s new movieSherlock Holmes. HYPERLINK “http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20091215/toddly-sherlock-holmes-unveiled-at-london-p-cc3a409.html” \l “ynw-article-part2” Skip related content.

While this is a move away from thegangster films that Madonna’s exhusband is famous for, it is not a completediversion.

Sherlock Holmes unveiledat London premiere

ODHPUR, 25 Dec —At least 17 people were killedand 30 others were feared trapped or drowned after abridge collapsed in western India, officials said onFriday. The accident happened late on Thursday whenthe bridge under construction over the Chambal Riverin the state of Rajasthan collapsed.

The site of the accident was around 350 kilome-tres (220 miles) from Rajasthan city Jodhpur.“Rescueteams have found 17 bodies trapped between the col-lapsed bridge and many labourers are feared to havedrowned,” State Home Minister Shanti Dhariwal toldAFP. Naval divers were conducting search operationin the river. The army, police and fire personnel werealso assisting in the search.

Internet

Officials from the Ahmedabad Fire and Emer-

gency Services stand on the edge of a collapsed

bridge in Talaja town, some 270 kms from

Ahmedabad, in August 2009. At least 17 people

were killed and 30 others were feared trapped or

drowned after a bridge collapsed in western India,

officials said on Friday.—INTERNET

QUITO, 25 Dec — The Ecuadorean government willfile an appeal against Spain’s Air Comet for allegedfraud, the Migration Ministry said on Thursday. Ec-uador is to accuse Air Comet and its legal representa-tive in Ecuador, Germanico Maya, of alleged fraud,Acting Migration Minister Alexis Rivas said at a Pressconference.

Clearly there were dishonesty and irresponsibilityin Air Comet’s operations, which caused damages, andin this case, to passengers who had bought its tickets,Rivas said, adding that his government demanded apreventive imprisonment of Maya. According to Rivas,Ecuador had evidence that Air Comet had a series ofirregular operations, and the company continued of-fering services despite its liquidity and financial prob-lems lately.—Xinhua

ISLAMABAD, 25 Dec — At least 12 militants werekilled on Friday during military operations in north-west Pakistan, local TV channel reported. Gunshiphelicopters and warplanes bombed the hideouts of themilitants in Ferozkhel Mela region of Orakzai tribalagency, as a result eight militants were killed and 10others injured, the private channel ARY News reported.

In the airstrikes, four hideouts and three vehicleswere also destroyed. Meanwhile, sources said that theexodus of population continued from Orakzai regions,and the number of the displaced persons has reachedto 2,70,000. Besides, at least four militants were killedin clash with security forces in Swat valley, North WestFrontier Province.—Xinhua

MOSCOW, 25 Dec—Russia’s Strategic MissileForces (SMF) successfully test-launched an RS-20Vheavy intercontinental ballistic missile on Thursday,said a Defence Ministry spokesman. The missile waslaunched at 09:30 Moscow Time (0630 GMT) from asite in the southern Ural region of Orenburg. It accu-rately hit the target on the Kamchatka Peninsula ofthe Far East region, said the spokesman Vadim Koval.

Designed to test the missile’s performance withextended service, the launch has proven the stabilityof the RS-20V’s technological structure, and its readi-ness to perform combat duties, Koval said. The mis-sile has been in operation for more than 21 years, thespokesman added. The RS-20V missile, usually re-ferred to as SS-18 Satan by the West, is currently theworld’s most powerful intercontinental ballistic mis-sile.—Xinhua

Ecuador to accuse SpanishAir Comet of alleged fraud

17 die as Indian bridge collapsesRussia test-launches RS-20Vintercontinental missile

Twelve militants killed in NW Pakistan

New Zealand glider pilotsbreak world distance record

Two New Zealanders have smasheda world distance gliding record, beatingtemperatures as low as minus 35 deg Cto fly 2,500 km over nearly 15 hours.

Christchurch pilot Terry Delore andJohn Kokshoorn, originally fromChristchurch but now living inAustralia, touched down in Omaramain Central Otago Sunday night, havingglided 2,501 km. They smashed theprevious record by Klaus Ohlmann byabout 80km, the Timaru Herald reportedon Monday.

They took off from Omarama, flewto Ward in Marlborough, back to Clyde,near Alexandra, and then back up andlevel with Taihape in the North Island,before turning around and landing atOmarama. During the trip, the pair hitspeeds of up to 200 km/h, but a roughpatch over the Canterbury plains slowedthe glider to about 80 km/h.

Flying at 28,000 feet, or 8.5 kmhigh, for most of the way, the pair’swater bags froze solid during the record-breaking flight.

They relied on “electric socks, handwarmers, three hats, polyprops, threeshirts, gloves and all that sort of thing”,Delore said. Delore bought the Ash 25glider from Steve Fossett, a millionaireadventurer who died in a light planecrash in the Nevada desert two yearsago.

26-12-09 NL 8/3/18, 2:16 PM6


YANGON, 25 Dec—Minister for InformationBrig-Gen Kyaw Hsanmet the staff members ofthe divisions at theCentral Printing Pressunder Printing andPublishing Enterprise onTheinbyu Road here thisafternoon.

He spoke words ofencouragement andpresented cash awards tothem.

The ministerinspected maintenancework and performancesof the printing presses.Officials concernedconducted the minister

Minister inspects Central Printing Press, Photolitho Printing Press

Minister for Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan inspects photolitho printing press on Ngahtatkyi PagodaRoad in Bahan Township.—MNA

round the CentralPrinting Press.

On arrival at thephotolitho printing presson Ngahtatkyi PagodaRoad in BahanTownship, the ministerspoke words ofencouragement andpresented cash awards tothe staff members.

He inspected theprinting of exercisebooks, weekly andmonthly journals, andmagazines, maintenanceof the printing presses,and storage of rawmaterials in the stores,and gave instructions,

calling for regularmaintenance of themachines of the printingpresses, regularlysupervising tasks rangingfrom the beginning to thefinishing touch forquality control andcooperation andcoordination, minimizingloss and wastage,improving staff welfare,preventive measuresagainst fire, and keepingthe press clean.—MNA

Ma Mya Dam benefits 10,000 acres of farmlandsByline & Photos: Khin Maung Than (Sethmu)

Main right canal of Ma Mya Dam.

(from page 1)For the people to enjoy development in all aspects,

the government is undertaking regional developmenttasks. In that regard, the Ministry of Agriculture andIrrigation is implementing large, medium and small damprojects for economic development of the country andregional development as well as for extended growing ofpaddy, sugarcane, cotton and beans and pulses.

Ma Mya Dam was built in Myanaung Township,Ayeyawady Division by embanking Ma Mya Creek.The embankment is 11,800 feet long and 150 feet highand it is of earthen type. The dam can store 70,000 acrefeet of water. It was built in order to prevent farms in bothsides of Mamya creek from flood and to irrigate 10,000acres of farmland in Myanaung and Ingapu Townships.

Our news team left Kunchaung Dam along Pathein-Monywa Road. About one and a half miles north of theroad was Ma Mya Dam. Two entrance roads to Ma MyaDam were built. They are 24 feet wide and five mileslong gravel roads and serviceable all the year round. Onarrival at the hall of Ma Mya Dam, we were welcomedby staff officer U Khin Maung Than (Civil), deputy staffofficer U Myo Myint (Quality Control) and party. Theyexplained us about supply of water.

The dam was built by Construction Group-9 ofthe Irrigation Department. We were pleased to seeroads, gardens, bank, control tower and water sur-face. They explained to us, “Pre-engineering workssuch as road construction and land survey was com-

The left main canal has completed by 50 percent. So,it can supply water to 50 acres. It is 16 miles long. Now,a total of 4,500 acres of summer paddy be grown withthe supply of water from the two canals. Although theregion has an average annual rainfall of 50 inches, it isdry in summer. Ma Mya Creek is a good source ofwater for the dam. The government has spent millionof kyats on the Dam. Now, the state, the people and thefarmers are enjoying the fruits of the dam. Localpeople, on their part, are to preserve the long existenceof the dam and the canals.

Translation: MTKyemon (24-12-20009)

pleted in February 2002. Geological survey was fin-ished in May 2002, buildings in 2001-2002 financialyear, earthen embankment on 21 April, laying stonesand construction of Coffer Dam on 31 May 2007,outlet conduit in 2004-2005.

There are 11 Micro Hydropower Stations in onedrop on the right main canal. It was able to supplyelectric power to two villages in the past and now cansupply electric power to 1,085 households in nine vil-lages. Supply of water from right canal for summerpaddy is 731.21 acres in 2006-2007, 1999.39 acres in2007-2008, 65.00 acres in 2008-2009 (due to majorrepair to the embankment) and 4450 acres in 2009-2010.

26-12-09 NL 8/3/18, 2:16 PM7


Prime Minister General Thein Sein cordiallygreets Member of the House of Councillors MrHideo Watanabe at the Government office in

Nay Pyi Taw. (News on page 1)—MNA

Surgical specialists led by Dr Norman Hla performing liver transplantto patient U Aung Myint Naing.—HEALTH

Surgical specialists cut half of liver out of donor U Lin Htet Hlaing.HEALTH

Minister Dr Kyaw Myint and Deputy Minister Dr Paing Soe pose for a documentary phototogether with surgical specialists, anaesthetists and nurses at new Yangon General

Hospital.—HEALTH

Second liver transplant surgery performedNAY PYI TAW, 25

Dec—Minister for HealthDr Kyaw Myint addressedthe preliminary meetingwith surgeons andassistant surgeons, whowould engage in thesecond liver transplantsurgery in Myanmar, atNew Yangon GeneralHospital on 23 Decembermorning.

In his address, theminister said that thesecond liver transplantsurgery will be a landmarkin the medical history ofMyanmar; that in the firstsurgery, the liver was

obtained from a lateperson, but this time, apiece of liver will beobtained from a donor;and that the medicalexperts are urged to workhard for successfulcompletion of theoperation.

The minister attendedto the submissions onrequirements presented byProfessor Dr Norman Hlaand Professor Dr Tun Ooand members, surgeonsand medicalsuperintendents.

The second livertransplant surgery wasperformed at the hospitalat 10.30 am yesterday.Minister Dr Kyaw Myintand Deputy Minister DrPaing Soe and officialsobserved it.

Nine surgicalspecialists led byMyanmar surgical

specialists: Professor DrNorman Hla, Professor DrTun Oo and AssociateProfessor Dr Daw Tin TinMar performed thesurgery on patient U AungMyint Naing, 49.

Before the operation,eight anaesthetists led by

anaesthetic specialists:Professor Dr Tin Myintand Associate Professor DrKyi Lin and SurgicalSpecialists performed anoperation at 9 am to cuthalf the liver of the donorU Lin Htet Hlaing, 32, whois brother-in-law of thepatient. The operation wasover at 7.46 pm.

The piece of the liverwas kept by the liverkeeping team to avoid anydamage to it.

The anaesthetist teamgave the patientanaesthetic at 9.20 am, andthe liver transplant surgery

began at 10.45 am. Thepiece of the liver wastransplanted at 10.15 pm,and the operation wascompleted at 6.15 amtoday.

The minister, thedeputy minister and partywatched the operation on

CCTV. They met thesurgeons and anaesthetistsand fulfilled therequirements.

The operation wasreinforced by 12 nurses ledby Matron Daw Saw YuMay, In-charge of theoperation theatre.

C a r d i o v a s c u l a rSurgery SpecialistProfessor Dr Khin MaungAye, Professor Dr KhinMaung Lwin, andAssociate Professor Dr WinWin Kyaw; the team ofphysicians led by ProfessorDr Nyunt Thein andAssociate Professor DrZaw Than Tun, and the livertreatment team led byProfessor Dr U Than Sit,Associate Professor Dr WinNaing, and AssociateProfessor Dr Mya MyaYee; Professor Dr Lin LinTun of the X-rayDepartment, Professor DrDaw Aye Aye Myint of

Pathological Department,and pathologists,Pathologist Dr Daw ThidaAung of the National BloodDepartment, MedicalSuperintendent Dr DawHla Kyin, Acting MedicalSuperintendent ProfessorDr Thein Lwin of YangonGeneral Hospital, andMedical Superintendent DrKhin Than Moncontributed to the surgery.

At 9.30 am today, theminister, the deputy ministerand directors-generalinspected the condition ofthe patient and the donor,

and health care to them andcomforted them, andfulfilled the requirements.

The second livertransplant surgery wascarried out with the fundsof the State. The minister,the deputy minister andofficials concerned areattending to the needs ofthe patients. The patientand the donor arereceiving treatment fromspecialists in-charge and14 nurses in the IntensiveCare Unit. Now, they aregetting better.

MNA

Donate blood

26-12-09 NL 8/3/18, 2:16 PM8


Machanbaw, little hilly township in Kachin StateByline: Reporter Singu Soe Win; Photos: U Hta Man Yon (Putao)

U Khaung Lan Dee,Chairman of

Machanbaw Town-ship Peace and Devel-

opment Council.Kaunghmulon Bridge under construction over Malikha River near

Kaunghmulon Village.

A pleasant view of Malikha River from the side of Machanbaw Township.

(from page 16)gardens and 2,041,875acres of tea saplings andgrafts from 2009-2010 to2015-2016. So far, 55acres have been put under

tea in some wards and vil-lages.

The township has 10acres of tung oil plantsthat grow naturally. So far,departments concerned

have grown 80 acres andhouses in the villages,182 acres, totalling 262.The township is savingseeds to grow tung oilplants.

It gets extra incomesfrom farms 55 acres ofpersimmon, 147 acres oflemon, 35 acres of orange,and 20 acres of pear alongwith livestock farms.

According to Town-ship Engineer U Tin WinHlaing, MachanbawTownship has got hun-dreds of miles of newlaterite, gravel and tarredroads.

In the township are abasic education highschool, two basic educa-tion middle schools, 33basic education primaryschools, a 25-bed town-ship hospital, a 16-bed sta-tion hospital, two ruralhealth centres, and eighthealth centres (branches).A health centre each isappointed with a doctor,

four nurses, two healthassistants, one femalehealth assistant, and fivemidwives.

From 1988 to date, thegovernment has spent 38.84million kyats on the healthsector; 25 million kyats, onthe education sector; 136.68

and Putao townshipswill be able to enjoy ahigher socio-economiclife if they extend grow-ing crops, reclaiming thevacant lands.

Translation: MSMyanma Alin: 22-12-2009

A road indicator on Machanbaw-Khaunglanphu-Pannandin-Nagmon Road.

million kyats on roadprojects; 9.2 million kyats,on bridge projects;370,000 kyats, on ruralbridge projects; and 5.8million kyats on ruralbridge projects. Much ofthe plain area in the town-ship is occupied by mo-torways. Houses are builton slopes of mountainranges.

It grows summerpaddy on a large scalealong the bank of theMalikha River. Localpeople of Machanbaw

New Year Special Sales of Gamon Pwint launchedYANGON, 25

Dec—Gamon PwintDepartment Store haslaunched special sales inwhich customers canenjoy up to 50 % discountfor men, women andchildren’s wear all of itsbranches includingGamon Pwint ShoppingMall on Kaba Aye PagodaRoad. The branded men’swear like Vanson, Luigibatai, Valention Rudy,Venheusen, Pierre Cardin,Monza and Port Land arealso on sale with up to 50% discount with buy oneget one programme and2010 calendar present forevery customer whopurchase over K 10,000.

Various kinds of

foodstuff and householdutensils are on sale at thecar park of the shoppingmall with over 30 stallswhere shoppers can alsoenjoy food of Myanmar,

Shan and Thailand.Moreover, on 25,

26, 27, 31 December of2009 and 2, 3, 4 Januaryof 2010, model show,product show,

entertainments ofcomedians and vocalistscan be enjoyed in additionto interesting games forchildren.

MNA

YANGON, 25 Dec—The opening and concludingceremony of the 20th Myanmar Police Force Chief’sShield Myanmar martial arts, Karatedo and Taekwondocompetitions in conjunction with prize presentationwere held at Aung San Gymnasium yesterday, with anaddress by Chief of Myanmar Police Force Brig-GenKhin Yi. Managers and players of battalions and unitsof states and divisions, and training school participatedin the events.

The chief of MPF, and officers presentedawards to Myanmar martial arts champion BattalionsControl Command team, Taekwondo and Karatedochampion Yangon Division Police Force team andindividual prize winners in the events.

MNA

Myanmar Police ForceChief’s Shield Myanmarmartial arts, Karatedo

and Taekwondocompetitions conclude

Gamon Pwint Department Store launching its special sales.MNA

26-12-09 NL 8/3/18, 2:16 PM9


There is a pagoda of some antiquity on a beautifulisland in the Ayeyawady River in Shwebo District,Upper Myanmar. It is well known as “Anya ThihadawPhaya”. “Anya” is a prefix to denote Upper Myanmar.Thihadaw is the name of the pagoda. The originalname of the pagoda was “Theinkadaw” but becausethe pagoda is situated at Thihadaw Village, it came toacquire the village’s name. Of the three Yeylei pagodas[pagodas in the mid of water] in Upper Myanmar—Shwe Myitzu Pagoda on the island in Indawgyi Lake,Kachin State, Phaungdaw Pagoda on the island inInlay Lake, southern Shan State and Anya ThihadawPagoda on the island in the Ayeyawady River inShwebo District, the last mentioned is by far theoldest and most venerated pagoda.

The island on which Anya Thihadaw Pagodastands is in the centre of the third defile of theAyeyawady River, and it is only three miles south ofThabeikkyin, a thriving junction town on theMandalay-Mogok motor highway that zigzags 99 uturns on the lofty forested hill ranges reaching out tothe famous ruby mines area.

“Tradition ascribes the foundation of this Yeyleipagoda to the Buddhist Emperor Asoka in the thirdcentury B.C.” But Myanmar history frequentlymentions this pagoda in connection with Myanmarkings of Bagan, Inwa, and Konbaung dynasties.

King Alaungsithu of Bagan (1112-1167 AD) wasa traveller king who toured not only his domains butalso beyond them by land and water and sea. Histravels at home, abroad and overseas were recountedin Myanmar chronicles with authentic facts decoratedwith fabulous fictions. Like Odyssey, sea adventuresof an ancient Greek hero Ulyses, Alaungsithu’smaritime voyages were crammed with tall tales. Itwas Sakka Deva, the Thunder God who persuadedhim to abandon his crazy attempt to reach Mt. Maruthe legendary mountain of the universe upon whichwas believed to be Tavatimsa the Celestial Kingdomof Sakka Deva. Alaungsithu was presented by SakkaDeva a piece of Tharetkhan wood (sandal wood) outof which five Buddha images were carved. In theseimages were encased sacred relics of the Buddha. Onreaching his kingdom, the king enshrined the images“in five pagodas in 1115 AD four were in theneighbourhood of Pakhangyi in Pakokku District, thefifth and most picturesque is at the Thihadaw on anAyeyawady island in Shwebo District. Two Buddhaimages, Shinbyu and ShinHla also given him bySakka Deva were enshrined at Sagaing. All thesepagoda sites were chosen by the wanderings of thewhite elephant as by the flight of birds,” wrote GHHarvey in his History of Burma, 1925, quotingMyanmar historical sources.

The next king who was associated with ThihadawPagoda was king Alaungpaya, the founders of theThird Myanmar Union and of the Konbaung dynasty.He reigned and ruled 1753-1760 AD. He was theconqueror king and the unifier of the country. He ledmany triumphant military campaigns, reconsolidatingthe domains of his predecessors and carried outeconomic, social and religious works, wherever hemarched with his victorious armies. He visited sacred

Anya Thihadaw Yeylei PagodaDr. Khin Maung Nyunt

sites and pagodas to venerate, to repair and to renovatethem such as Shwekyet Yet, Yang Aung Myin, andShwe Taung U Chantha. Next he went upstream theAyeyawady River to receive homage and allegiancefrom Shan Sawbwas (Chiefs) and to draw levies. Heworshipped the Thihadaw Pagoda in the beautiful islandand Zina Aung Char Shwebontha Pagoda at Tagaung.

Thihadaw Pagoda was a favourite place ofpilgrimage for kings of Konbaung dynasty not onlybecause of the sacredness and antiquity of the BuddhaImage enshrined in it, but also because of the pleasantenvironment of the island it occupies. King Singu(1776-1782 AD) the third successor to king Alaungpayawas devout worshipper and renovator of ThihadawPagoda. Himself a poet and nature lover he spent mostof his time out of his place on pilgrimage to distantpagodas. King Bodawpaya (1781-1819 AD) and KingMindon (1853-1878 AD) did not fail to repair andrenovate the pagoda, though they could not visit andworship it personally.

During the reign of King Mindon, European envoysand economic prospectors arrived in Mandalay. Withthe royal permission, they toured distant places aroundthe capital to prospect the natural resources of thecountry. In 1855 AD, Mr. Oldham, a geologist, visitedThihadaw Pagoda. The following account of himabout this pagoda was reproduced in Colonel HenryYule’s book Narrative of the Mission to the Court ofAva. Colonel Henry Yule was the secretary of theBritish Diplomatic Mission to King Mindon, headedby Sir Arthur Phayre in 1867 AD.

“About thirty miles above Tsengoo, is Thihadawa small village of not more than 19 houses on the westbank and exactly opposite to a small island in thestream, on which is situated an old pagoda and someKyaungs which is protected by large piles and aframework of timbers, but even with this precaution itappears to be gradually wearing away. Round aboutthe pagoda on Thihadaw Island are some very goodbells not very large but very well cast. Of these thereare seven and they form very nearly a correctly attunedchime. In fact a little filing from one of them would putthem in perfect tune. They are sufficiently near beingin tune to give by no means an unpleasant effect whenstruck in succession in chimes.”

Having gone over the island I returned to my boatwhere a sight awaited me that I confess astonished memore than anything I have ever seen before.”

“On nearing the island as we descended the riverthe headman in the boat had commenced crying out‘tet-tet’ ‘tet-tet’, as hard as he could, and on my askinghim what he was doing he said he was calling the fish.My knowledge of Burmese did not allow me to askhim further particular, and my interpreter was in theother boat unwell.”

“But on my coming down to the boat again, Ifound it surrounded on both sides with large fish, somethree or four feet long; a kind of blunt-nosed, broad-mouthed dog-fish. Of these there were, I suppose somefifty. In one group which I studied more than the othersthere were ten. These were at one side of the boat, halfof their bodies, or nearly “half protruded verticallyfrom the water, their mouths all gaping wide. The men

had some of the rice prepared their dinners and withthis they were feeding them, taking little pellets ofrice, and throwing there down the throats of the fish.Each fish, as he got something to eat, sank and havingwallowed his portion came back to the boat-side formore. The men continued occasionally their cry of‘tet-tet’; ‘tet-tet’ and putting their hands over thegunnels of the boat, stroke down the fish on the backprecisely as they would stroke a dog.”

“This I kept up for nearly half an hour moving theboat slightly about and invariably the fish came at calland were fed as before. The only effect which thestroking down or patting on the back of the fish seemedto have was to cause them to gape wider for their food.During March I am told there is a great festival here andit is a very common trick for the people to get some ofthe fish into the boat, and even to gild their backs byattaching some gold leaf, as they do in the ordinaryway to pagodas, etc. On one of these fish remains of thegilding were visible. I never was so amused orastonished. I wished to have one of the fishes to takeaway as a specimen, but people seemed to think itwould be a kind of sacrilege, so I said nothing more onthat point. The Phoongyis are in the habit of feedingthem daily, I was informed. Their place of abode is thedeep pool formed at the back of the island by the twocurrents meeting round the sides. And it is it appearsquite a sight, which the people from great distancescome to see, as well as to visit the pagoda which is saidto be very ancient and much venerated.”

When the British occupied Mandalay in 1885AD, the sacred Tharetkhan Image is found in theroyal shrine of Mandalay Palace. With other Buddhaimages of the Mandalay Palace, the Tharetkhan Imagewas moved to Shwe Kyee Myint temple outside thewalled palace city where it has been in the custody ofthe successive Pagoda Trustees.

On fullmoon days, during Buddhist lent and onspecial occasions, Tharetkhan Image is taken out of thevault to receive public veneration. The image iscrammed with gems and jewelleries that fill the casketwhich encases it. The reason of its removal to MandalayPalace was not recorded. It seems that King Mindon orhis predecessor kings who could not visit ThihadawPagoda might have removed Tharetkhan Image totheir palace shrines for daily worship.

As to the seven bells at the pagoda with sevenmusical tones in sequence and the tamed dog-fisharound the island, they were objects of much wonderand admiration by later western visitors to that placeand recorded in their travelogues.

Every year in March, Thihadaw Pagoda Festivalis held. It is a big fair drawing pilgrims, visitors andpetty traders far and near, to worship the pagoda, tostrike the seven-tone bells, to feed and gild sacredgod-fish around the island.

Due to new infrastructures installed in the lasttwo decades, the pagoda is accessible at anytime ofthe year. A modern highway from Mandalay toMogok takes you to Thabeikkyin easily, from whereyou cross by a ferry to the island to enjoy the sublimityof the pagoda and the serenity of the environs.

*****

26-12-09 NL 8/3/18, 2:16 PM10


A/H1N1 flu continues decline inUS state of Illinois

CHICAGO, 25 Dec — H1N1 flu in the USstate of Illinois declined with only two newdeaths from the virus in the last week, accord-ing to an official report issued on Thursday.

Thursday’s weekly update by the IllinoisDepartment of Public Health also includes 41new hospitalizations related to H1N1 flu. Lastweek, in comparison, state officials were re-porting two new deaths and 99 newhospitalizations.

However, the department warned thoughH1N1 flu activity is decreasing in the state,residents still should get vaccinated.

Official sources said that the state directorof public health, Dr. Damon Arnold was vac-cinated on Wednesday for swine flu. Arnoldsays swine flu is still circulating and holidayparties and family get-togethers are a goodopportunity for the flu to spread. — Xinhua

A/H1N1 pandemic death toll risein South Korea

SEOUL, 25 Dec — The death toll from A/H1N1 influenza inSouth Korea has increased for the second consecutive weekwhile cases of Influenza-like Illness (ILI) have declined, theMinistry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs said on Thurs-day. The ministry said in a Press release that an additional 22deaths from the A/H1N1 virus were reported last week, in-creasing the total number of fatalities to 170 as of 19 Dec, andthat 50 patients are currently being treated for severe flu com-plications at intensive care units. However, the Ministry also said cases of ILI per 1,000 out-patients have dropped by 34.8 percent from the previous weekto12.32 patients, adding that the average number of daily anti-viral prescriptions cut down by 25.4 percent to 15,258 cases. “The prevalence of A/H1N1 flu disease has continued todiminish as we actively distributed antiviral drugs, but we’reseeing more fatal cases in high-risk groups where proper vac-cination is unavailable,” a ministry official was quoted as say-ing by local media Yonhap news agency. — Xinhua

Cambodia reports 544 casesof A/H1N1 flu with 6 deathsPHNOM PENH, 25 Dec — The Cambodian govern-

ment said on Friday that the number of A/H1N1 flucases in the country has risen to 544 with six deaths.Ly Sovann, deputy director of the communicable dis-ease control department of Ministry of Health said,as of Friday, six Cambodians died of A/H1N1 flu andthe total cases reached 544.

Earlier this month, the government announced thatfive people died of the disease and 480 cases were con-firmed. The infected cases were reported from 13 out ofthe country’s 24 provinces and cities across the country.

The Cambodian Ministry of Health and WHO havecontinued their efforts in advising people around thecountry to protect themselves and the families, by say-ing each individual should cover mouth and nose witha tissue when coughing or sneezing and dispose oftissue in a bin; wash hands regularly with soap andhot water; do not spit in public; and avoid close con-tact with sick people.— Xinhua

Wuhan-Guangzhou high speedrailway to open

Five killed as heavy rain,winds lash Morocco

Dozens killed in Yemen airstrike on al-Qaeda suspectsSANAA, 25 Dec — At least 30 suspected al-Qaeda

militants have been killed by an air strike in a remotemountainous area of Yemen, security officials say. Anunnamed official told reporters the strike took placeas dozens of militants gathered in Shabwa Province,east of the capital, Sanaa.

Two senior al-Qaeda commanders in the ArabianPeninsula could be among the dead, he said. Al-Qaedahas carried out frequent attacks in Yemen in recentmonths. The Saudi government has recently expressedits concern about the resurgence of the movement inthe region. —Internet

Heavy rains and galeforce winds batteredparts of Morocco, kill-ing at least five peopleand flooding largeparts of the northerncity of Tangiers, localauthorities said onThursday.—INTERNET

Search of car turns up gift-wrapped marijuana

JOPLIN, 25 Dec – Some people won’t be gettingthe Christmas presents they were expecting. Missouritroopers seized about 20 pounds of marijuana from acar this week — some of it in luggage, and some inboxes wrapped as Christmas gifts.

The Highway Patrol says troopers found the mari-juana in the car they stopped for speeding on Inter-state 44 near Joplin. Two California women in the cargave troopers permission to search the vehicle. Bothwere charged on Tuesday with one marijuana-relatedcount and released on $1,000 bond.—Internet

Two high-speed trains stop at the high-speed railway maintenance base inWuhan, capital of central China’s Hubei Province, on 22 Dec, 2009.

INTERNET

BEIIJING, 25 Dec— TheWuhan-Guangzhou highspeed railway will go intooperation on Saturdaywith 28 passenger trainscarrying an estimated1,300 people.

Travel time betweenWuhan, the capital of cen-tral China’s Hubei Prov-ince, and Guangzhou, thecapital of south China’sGuangdong Province,will be cut to only threehours.

The high speed rail linkis nearly nine-hundred and

90 kilometres in lengthand is built to the highesttechnical standards.

The stations along theline have distinct designsrepresenting local stylesand are built to be envi-

ronmental-friendly witheasy access for disabledpeople. On Thursday, thefirst batch of five hundredpassengers got to take atest ride.

Xinhua

TANGIERS, 25 Dec –Heavy rains and gale forcewinds battered parts ofMorocco, killing at leastfive people and floodinglarge parts of the northerncity of Tangiers, local au-thorities said on Thursday.Torrential rains lashed theAgadir region, where threepeople were killed whenthe vehicle they were trav-elling in was swept awayby flood waters close to thethe Tazentout River, offi-cials said.

In Casablanca, westernMorocco, two buildingscollapsed in the city’s oldquarter, killing two peopleand injuring 19, media re-ports said on Thursday.Several roads wereblocked and rail trafficaround Tangiers was sus-pended, the rail servicesaid. Winds of up to 80

kilometres an hour (50miles an hour) hit the Straitof Gibraltar, creatingseven-metre high waves.

Traditional ferry serv-ices between Morocco andSpain are so far unaffected,said Ahmed Atmani, re-gional director for theNorth African country’snational port authority.Atmani added, however,that high-speed catamaranlinks had been suspendeduntil weather conditionsimprove.—Internet

26-12-09 NL 8/3/18, 2:16 PM11


CLAIMS DAY NOTICEMV XIANG DA VOY NO (9050)

Consignees of cargo carried on MV XIANG DAVOY NO (9050) are here by notified that the vesselswill be arriving on 26.12.2009 and cargo will be dis-charged into the premises of A.W.P.T where it will lieat the consignee’s risk and expenses and subject to thebyelaws and conditions of the Port of Yangon.

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

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

SHIPPING AGENCY DEPARTMENTMYANMA PORT AUTHORITY

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

Phone No: 256908/378316/376797

CLAIMS DAY NOTICEMV GATI MAJESTIC VOY NO (92410)

Consignees of cargo carried on MV GATI MA-JESTIC VOY NO (92410) are here by notified that thevessels will be arriving on 26.12.2009 and cargo will bedischarged into the premises of M.I.T.T where it will lieat the consignee’s risk and expenses and subject to thebyelaws and conditions of the Port of Yangon.

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

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

SHIPPING AGENCY DEPARTMENTMYANMA PORT AUTHORITY

AGENT FOR: M/S GATI COAST TO COASTPhone No: 256908/378316/376797

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Arenas investigated afterstoring weapons in lockerWASHINGTON, 25 Dec—Washington Wizards star

playmaker Gilbert Arenas was investigated after headmitted put unloaded guns in his locker, the NBAclub said on Thursday.

“Arenas and the club are cooperating fully with lawenforcement during its review of this matter and willhave no further comment at this time,” the club saidin a statement.

The club said no ammunition was in his locked con-tainer. NBA labour regulations allow players to ownfirearms but ban them from having weapons at leaguefacilities or while travelling on NBA-related matters.

All-Star guard Arenas told the Washington Times thathe wanted his guns out of his house after his daughterHamiley was born earlier this month, so he broughtthem to the locker. Arenas said he handed the guns toteam security about a week after he took them there.

Xinhua

Some struggles, a lot of hope, fortsunami orphans

Peru bus crash kills 42passengers

Food safety a priority as Shanghaiofficials get ready for Expo

BEIJING, 25 Dec — The city of Shanghai is steppingup its efforts on food safety control as it looks for-ward to next year’s World Expo.

“A better control of overall food safety and properpreparation for next year’s World Expo are our cur-rent top tasks,” said Xie Minqiang, deputy director ofShanghai Food and Drug Administration at a newsconference on Thursday.

“We will start trial operations in April and all thefood supervision procedures including drills will betested repeatedly before the World Expo officiallykicks off,” said Gu Zhenhua, director of ShanghaiFDA’s food supervision department. “The six-monthevent puts a lot of pressure on local food safety is-sues, as the event runs from May to October, the hot-test and wettest weather, has such a big number ofvisitors and offers different styles of food, which mayhave hidden risks.”—Xinhua

BANDA ACEHN, 25Dec—The 2004 tsunamiobliterated Pipit’s village,wiped out her family andswept her through churn-ing waters, cascading de-bris and hurtling bodies.On her first night as anorphan, at the age of 13,she slept next to a row ofcorpses. Five years later,she still has moments ofsadness, especially during

holidays. But like manyof Indonesia’s more than5,200 known tsunami or-phans, she is making a lifefor herself. She has en-rolled in university, playsthe violin and plans totackle German.

“Most of the time, Idon’t think about the tsu-nami,” said Pipit, wholives in a comfortable or-phanage in Banda Aceh,

the capital of Aceh Prov-ince and close to the epi-centre of the earthquakethat unleashed one of theworst natural disasters inhistory. “I’m trying to bestrong,” said Pipit, wholike many Indonesiansuses one name.

The 26 December,2004, quake registered atleast 9.1 on the RichterScale and unleashed tow-ering waves that levelledcommunities from Indo-nesia to Thailand, Indiaand Sri Lanka.

About 230,000 peopledied, more than half ofthem in Aceh on the islandof Sumatra.

More than $13 billionin donations poured infrom around the world,nearly half for Aceh.

In some Indonesiancommunities, only themosque was left standing.They have been rebuilt.

Internet

Achenese men walk amid the debris of theirdevastated houses following the 2004 tsunami at a

housing complex in Kajhu on the outskirts ofBanda Aceh, in this 3 April, 2005 file photo.

INTERNET

One year jail termfor paedophile

Britonin Cambodia

PHNOM PENH, 25 Dec—A Cambodian court on Fri-day sentenced a Britishman to one year in prisonfor sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl. Judge KeSakhan of Phnom PenhMunicipal Court con-victed 51-year-old GarethAshley Corbett, arrested inthe popular seaside townof Sihanoukville in July, ofcommitting indecent acts.

He handed Corbett theone-year jail term and or-dered him to pay a 1,000-dollar fine. Corbett wasarrested after the under-age girl, who was also al-legedly abused by a USman, told authorities thatthe Briton had sex withher. A trial date for the USman, Scott Alan Hecker,44, has not yet been set,court officials said.

Internet

LIMA, 25 Dec — A bus carrying mostly Quechuafarmers and merchants home for Christmas plunged250 feet (80 metres) into a ravine in Peru’s southernAndes on Thursday, killing 42 people and injuring atleast eight, authorities said.

The accident took place near dawn on a stretch ofmountain highway 380 miles (610 kms) southeast ofLima that was so remote the nearest village didn’t havea doctor.

“The bus is completely destroyed at the bottom ofthe ravine, and the worst of it is that we are isolatedhere like many towns in Peru, without the communi-cation” that could have saved lives, said CornelioCoaquira, mayor of Velille, who along with dozens ofvillagers tried to rescue survivors.

Victims were transported by truck to Espinar, wherea doctor urged the governor to send gasoline for thetown’s one ambulance.

The cause of the accident is still under investiga-tion, said Alberto Palomino of the Cusco HighwayPolice, who raised the death toll to 42 late Thursday.Most of the passengers on the bus were farmers andmerchants returning to their homes for Christmas anda tradition Incan celebration called “Takanakuy” heldbetween 24-26 Dec.

Internet

The 2009

Volvo

XC60 sits

at a

preview

at the

New

York

Interna-

tional

Auto

Show in

2008.

INTERNET

26-12-09 NL 8/3/18, 2:16 PM12


Breast cancer not a single disease,scientists find

Rescuers hunt for missing in Philippineferry sinking

Photo taken on 24 December bythe Philippine Coastguard shows

survivors of a vessel that sunk off thecoast of Limbones Islaand, south ofManila, as they are transferred to a

rubber dinghy.—INTERNET

Holiday blizzards wreak havoc incentral United States

WASHINGTON, 25 Dec — A “humongous” winter storm is rolling across thecentral US, bringing chaos to road and air transport from Texas to Minnesota.Icy roads were blamed for the deaths of 14 people, mostly in Nebraska andKansas. Some 100 falights leaving Minneapolis were cancelled.

The US weather service said the storm was spanning two-thirds of thecountry. It advised against non-essential travel and scores of churches cancelledChristmas services. Up to 2 ft (60 cm) of snow was possible in some areas byChristmas Day (Friday), forecasters said.

Scott Blair, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Topeka, Kansas,said the wind was becoming a serious issue in the central part of that state, withgusts reaching 40mph (64km/h). “We’re going to see blowing snow,” he said.“The big concern comes later when we see snowfall with the wind, causingreduced visibility.”The US East Coast is still recovering from record snowfalllast weekend, which brought much of the capital Washington DC to a standstill.The new storm is expected to glaze highways in the east with ice overChristmas, the Associated Press reported. — Internet

MANILA , 25 Dec – Rescuers combedwaters off the Philippine capital onChristmas Day for at least 23 peoplemissing after a ferry smashed into atrawler in an accident that called thecrew’s competence into question. TheCoast Guard said it planned to spend 10days searching for survivors and wouldalso look into the fitness and discipline ofthe crew involved in the crash, whichtopped off a year of deadly disasters forthe struggling nation.

The 79-tonne Catalyn B, a flimsy,wooden vessel taking holidaymakers totheir home village on a small island offthe mouth of Manila Bay, smashed into369-tonne Anathalia, a metal-hulledfishing boat, killing at least four people.Officials are hoping that at least some ofthe other passengers and crew may havesurvived and are afloat in tropical waters,in what is usually the calmest period ofthe year.— Internet

LONDON, 25 Dec —Breast cancer is not asingle disease but acollection of at least fiveseparate conditions thatdiffer in prognosis andresponse to treatment, agenetic study hasrevealed. A comparison ofthe genomes of 24 breasttumours found severaldistinct patterns of DNAdamage, each of whichappeared to be

characteristic of a sub-type of cancer.

The findings, from aBritish team that unveiledlast week the firstcomprehensive geneticmaps of two tumours,offer insights into thebiology of breast cancer.Scientists expect to be ableto classify tumoursaccording to their DNAsignatures and thusestablish how aggressive

the tumour will be, andwhich therapy is mostlikely to work.

Mike Stratton, of theCancer Genome Project atthe Wellcome TrustSanger Institute, said: “Ourwork supports the view thatbreast cancer is not onebut several diseases. If thisdiversity is associated witha different prognosis, orsensitivity to drugs, it willbecome very useful ona clinical level.” Onco-logists already recognisethat there are three to fourbroad groups of breastcancers, which differin their responses toparticular drugs.

Internet

Two Siberian tigers amongdead circus cats

Donkeysescape fromlive nativity

scene in ColoVAIL, 25 Dec – A

living nativity scene innear the Colorado skiresort of Vail almost hadto go without two crucialactors when two donkeysescaped.

The nativity sceneis an annual traditionfor Eagle RiverPresbyterian Church inthe Vail Valley. PastorRob Wilson says twoborrowed donkeys werebeing held in a fenced-inpaen for the event onWednesday night, but theanimals pushed their waythrough it.

Internet

Last round of China’s SpringFestival Gala held

Advertising of the Dream Circus is seen in the rubbishin the city of Yakutsk, about 4,800 kilometres (3,000miles) east of Moscow, on 24 Dec, 2009. —INTERNET

BEIJING, 25 Dec — InBeijing, organizers andperformers are gearing upfor the 2010 CCTVSpring Festival Gala.Some of the nation’s mostambitious acts are takingpart in the latest round ofauditions, although themoment of truth is stillmore than a month away.

Round three of theSpring Festival Galaaudition was held onTuesday night.

Being scrutinized aresix acts. They includebreathtaking acrobatics,sidesplitting comicsketches and crosstalkperformances. Amongthe hopefuls are starentertainers Jiang Kun

and Dai Zhicheng. Apartfrom a stream of jokesand gags, they brought tothe show much-needednew blood, a promisingyoung comedian.

Jiang Kun, comedian,said, “This time, we havebrought a new entertainerto the show. He’s not veryyoung to be sure, but he’snew to the nationalaudience. He’s ZhaoJinsheng from Tianjin. Ifour act can pass the test,viewers across thecountry will be able tomeet him on the smallscreen.”

Another favourite actis unexpected crosstalkby four of China’s topvocalists. Titled “The

Choir”, it features anepisode preparing forthe National Daycelebration. As withmost of the acts stagedon Tuesday night, ithas seen substantiallyimproved from earlierauditions.

The CCTV SpringFestival Gala has been themost influential varietyshow in China for morethan two decades.

It brings together someof the most illustriousentertainers in theChinese-speaking worldto give the audience anight of joy andamusement on ChineseNew Year’s Eve.

Xinhua

The storm is expected to cause widespread disruption.—INTERNET

MOSCOW, 25 Dec — Siberian tigers were among a groupof big cats in a Russian travelling circus that died during a20-hour truck journey this week, a circus administratorsaid on Thursday. Veterinarians suspect the animals weresuffocated by exhaust fumes in the enclosed truck, whichwas heated to counter outside temperatures below minus-30 degrees Fahrenheit (Celsius). Circus officials and policeinitially said that eight Bengal tigers had died.

But Mechta circus administrator Yevgeny Kudashkinsaid there were seven tigers and two were Siberian tigers,which some conservationists fear may be approachingextinction. The loss of the endangered tigers — alsoknown as Ussuri, Amur or Manchurian tigers — wascertain to increase the outrage over the animals’ deaths.lioness also died during the trip across Siberia to the cityof Yakutsk, where the circus was due to perform.

Internet

26-12-09 NL 8/3/18, 2:16 PM13


S P O R T S

MANCHESTER , 25Dec—Roberto Manciniinsists there has been nodressing room rebellion atManchester City in re-sponse to his arrival asreplacement for sackedboss Mark Hughes. Man-cini arrived at Eastlandson Monday followingHughes’s dismissal lastweekend and reports inEngland claimed anumber of senior playersincluding Craig Bellamyand Shay Given had pro-tested about the decisionto City chief executiveGarry Cook.—Internet

LONDON, 25 Dec—Arsene Wenger hasclaimed that Arsenal’s lastfour trophy-less seasonshave given him more sat-isfaction than any otherspell in his long careerwith the Premier Leagueteam.

Wenger’s side havefailed to win major silver-ware since lifting the FACup in 2005, but the Gun-ners boss, who arrived innorth London 1996, be-lieves the progress madeby the club on and off thepitch makes it the most re-warding time.

The Frenchman hasoverseen Arsenal’s moveto the Emirates Stadium,

LONDON, 25 Dec—Fulham manager RoyHodgson believes BobbyZamora’s dazzling goal-scoring form has been in-strumental in the Cotta-gers’ push into the top halfof the English PremierLeague as well as intoEurope.

The 28-year-old strikerscored his 10th goal of theseason in Saturday’s 3-0shock win over Manches-ter United, justifying hisdecision to turn down amove to Hull in the sum-mer.

His form has also leftHodgson unconcernedabout his failed nine-mil-lion-pound bid to buyEngland striker PeterCrouch from Portsmouthbefore the season gotunderway.—Internet

MANCHESTER, 25 Dec—Sir Alex Ferguson hasslammed neighbours Man-chester City for the way inwhich they handled thesacking of his formerplayer Mark Hughes thisweek.

City have been widelypilloried in the footballcommunity for the man-ner in which the highly-respected Hughes wasforced to take control ofhis team in last Saturday’s4-3 victory over Sunder-land before being sackedand replaced by ItalianRoberto Mancini immedi-ately after the game.

LONDON, 25 Dec—Chelsea manager CarloAncelotti insists hedoesn’t fear being sacked

LONDON, 25 Dec —Tottenham manager Har-ry Redknapp insists he hasno intention of sellingRobbie Keane despite thestriker’s role in his squ-ad’s controversial Chr-istmas party.

Keane is reported tohave gone against Red-knapp’s express wishesand organised for histeam-mates to have a fes-tive party in Dublin ear-lier this month.

Redknapp ordered theplayers involved to makea donation to charity butdid not consider taking theclub captaincy away fromKeane or selling him to

LIVERPOOL, 25 Dec –Rafad Benitez admits hehas held talks with Liver-pool’s stars in a bid to endhis team’s dismal run. TheReds, already knockedout of the ChampionsLeague, have won justfour of their last 17 gamesand face an uphill battleto secure a top four finishin the Premier League.

They are currentlyeight points behind fourthplaced Aston Villa andBenitez has come underfire for failing to build asquad capable of chal-lenging for the title, whileSpain striker FernandoTorres has conceded Liv-erpool will continue tostruggle unless they signseveral top players inJanuary.

In response to the

HULL, 25 Dec— Hull manager Phil Brown has hitout at the English Football Association after his clubwere charged with misconduct following last week-end’s brawl at Arsenal. Brown’s team and Arsenal wereboth hit with the FA Charge of failing to control theirplayers after a mass confrontation involving 21 of the22 players on the field at the Emirates Stadium on Sat-urday.

The row started after Arsenal’s Samir Nasri ap-peared to tread on the ankle of Hull midfielder Rich-ard Garcia late in the first half. But Brown, whose sidelost 3-0, has defended the reaction of his players andmade it clear the club will be contesting the charge.“There was an incident for some reason, and I can’tanswer the accusations against Nasri. He decided tolight the touchpaper,” Brown said.

“It was there for everybody to see. It needed to bedealt with more severely and hasn’t been. “Why weare up for a charge I don’t know.

I defend the players to the hilt. As far as I am con-cerned that lad has gone in there with the intent to starta fight, to start a ruck.

“Maybe it was because Arsenal were hitting a brickwall in terms of the way they were playing, I don’tknow.”We were doing our job to the best of our abilityand maybe that’s why they’ve decided to light thetouchpaper, I’ve no idea.”

For us to come under criticism yet again is abso-lutely scandalous, and we’ll be defending it.”—Internet

Benitez admits talks with Liverpoolstars over slump

Liverpool’s Spanishmanager Rafael

Benitez.

slump, Benitez has spo-ken with several key play-ers to assess the team’smorale and discuss ex-actly how they can getback on track. “I havespoken to several players,not just Gerrard andTorres.

Internet

Ferguson lays into City overHughes sacking

Ex-Manchester City

manager Mark

Hughes.

INTERNET

Now the ManchesterUnited manager, an influ-ential figure at the LeagueManagers’ Association,has added his voice to thegeneral condemnation ofCity’s behaviour whilepraising the actions ofSunderland managerSteve Bruce, a formerteam-mate of Hughes’ atUnited in the 1990’s.

“That is one thing I donot need to discuss, it isso obvious, that kind ofbehaviour is unaccept-able,” said Fergusonwhen asked for his reac-tion to Hughes’ treatmentlast Saturday.

“It doesn’t matterwhether you have lost 20games or, as in the caseof Mark Hughes, twogames.

There is a way to treatpeople, surely. ButChristmas time seems tobring the worst out of di-rectors.

Sitting there through-out the game, knowingsomething was going on,must have been terrible.

Brucey felt that him-self, the rumour mill wasworking overtime.”

Internet

Hodgson dazzled by Bobby’s form

Fulham manager Roy

Hodgson believes

Zamora’s dazzling

goal-scoring form has

been instrumental in

the Cottagers’ push

into the top half of the

English Premier

League as well as into

Europe.

INTERNET

Arsenal’s Frenchmanager Arsene

Wenger.

Wenger takes pride from Arsenal’sbarren years

the construction of a newtraining ground and thedevelopment of a hugelysuccessful youth acad-emy.

“For me the best pe-riod at the club is the lastfour years but unfortu-nately it is also the periodwhere we have not wontrophies,” Wenger said.

Internet

Ancelotti doesn’t fear Chelsea axe

Chelsea’s Manager

Carlo Ancelotti

by Blues owner RomanAbramovich despite histeam’s recent struggles.

Ancelotti’s side headinto the Christmas pro-gramme on the back of adisappointing run of justone win in their last sixmatches.

Exiting the LeagueCup at the quarter-finalstage against Blackburnwas never likely to betaken too seriously, butlacklustre displays aga-inst the likes of Everton,Apoel Nicosia and WestHam were more worryingfor Ancelotti.

Internet

French defenderWilliam Gallas vies with

Irish captain RobbieKeane during the World

Cup qualifier at theStade de France.

INTERNET

Redknapp won’t sell Keanedespite party row

Celtic, who are believedto be keen on a loan dealfor the Republic of Irelandforward.—Internet

City stars back me, insists Mancini

New Manchester City

manager Roberto

Mancini poses for

photographers at the

City of Manchester

stadium on

21 December.

INTERNET

Hull boss Brown furious at FA charge

26-12-09 NL 8/3/18, 2:16 PM14


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Saturday, 26December

View on today

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 22/32 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

Local Transmission

* Signature Tune* Song of Myanma Beauty & Scenic Sights* Beautiful Myanma Silver Bowl* Mollusc Mosaics* A Little Village of Kyar Ton* From “Putao” to “Machan Baw”* Myanmar Modern Song* Modernized Umbrellas evolved from the

Yesteryear* Song of Myanma Beauty & Scenic SightsEurope/ North America Transmission

* Signature Tune* Song of Myanma Beauty & Scenic Sights* Beautiful Myanma Silver Bowl* Mollusc Mosaics* A Little Village of Kyar Ton* From “Putao” to “Machan Baw”* Myanmar Modern Song* Modernized Umbrellas evolved from the

Yesteryear* Panning Gold in Thabeikkyin Township* Myanmar Movie Impact* Songs On Screen* Let’s Savour Strawberry Milkshake* Song of Myanma Beauty & Scenic Sights

Website: www.mrtv3.net.mm

MRTV-3Programme Schedule(26-12-2009) (Saturday)

Summary of observations recorded at 09:30 hr.M.S.T. During the past 24 hours, weather has been partlycloudy in Shan, Chin and Rakhine States, Mandalay,Bago, Ayeyawady and Taninthayi Divisions and generallyfair in the remaining States and Divisions. Nighttemperatures were (3°C) below December averagetemperatures in Rakhine State, (5°C) to (6°C) belowDecember average temperatures inChin State and SagaingDivision, (3°C) to (4 °C) above December averagetemperatures in Mon State and Bago Division and aboutDecember average temperatures in the remaining Statesand Divisions. The significant night temperatures wereHaka and Loilem (-2°C) each, Namhsam (1°C), Heho andMogok (3 °C) each, Pinlaung, Mindat and Katha (4 °C)each, Machanbaw and Lashio (5 °C) each.

Maximum temperature on 24-12-2009 was 95°F.Minimum temperature on 25-12-2009 was 61°F. Relativehumidity at (09:30) hours MST on 25-12-2009 was 68%.Total sun shine hours on 24-12-2009 was (9.4) hoursapprox.

Rainfall on 25-12-2009 was (Nil) at Mingaladon, atKaba-Aye and Central Yangon. Total rainfall since 1-1-2009 was (111.69) inches at Mingaladon, (122.09) inchesat Kaba-Aye and (129.41) inches at Central Yangon.Maximum wind speed at Yangon (Kaba-Aye) was (4) mphfrom Southeast at (15:30) hours MST on 24-12-2009.

Bay inference: Weather is partly cloudy in theSouthwest Bay and generally fair in the Andaman Sea andelsewhere in the Bay of Bengal.

Forecast valid until evening of 26th December 2009:Weather will be partly cloudy in Rakhine State, Mandalay,Bago, Yangon and Ayeyawady Divisions and fair in theremaining States and Divisions.

State of the sea: Strong Easterly wind with moderateto rough seas are likely at time Deltaic, and off and alongMon-Taninthayi Coast. Surface wind speed in strong windmay reach (35) mph. Seas will be moderate elsewhere inMyanmar waters.

Outlook for subsequent two days:Likelihood ofisolated light rain in the Eastern Myanmar areas.

Forecast for Nay Pyi Taw and neighbouring area for26-12-2009: Partly cloudy.

Forecast for Yangon and neighbouring area for26-12-2009: Partly cloudy.

Forecast for Mandalay and neighbouring area for26-12-2009: Partly cloudy.

Weather outlook for last weekend of December 2009:During the coming weekend, weather will be partly cloudyin Nay Pyi Taw, Yangon and Mandalay Divisions.

Friday, 25 th December, 2009

Transmissions Times

Local - (09:00am ~ 10:00am) MSTEurope - (15:30pm ~ 23:30pm) MSTNorth America - (23:30pm ~ 07:30am) MST

7:40 am 5. Nice & Sweet Song7:50 am 6 . uAsmyef;O,smOf

8:05 am 7. Musical Programme8:15 am 8. twD;NydKifyGJ

8:30 am 9. International News8:40 am10. Crossroads Cafe

(Episode -17)(United We Stand)

11:00 am 1. Martial Song11:10 am 2. Musical Programme11:25 am 3. Game For Children11:50 am 4. Round Up Of The

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5:45 pm 2. Musical Programme6:00 pm 3. Evening News6:15 pm 4. Weather Report

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WEATHER

The artwork of paper sculpture artist PeterCallesen. —INTERNET

Sea-crossing bridge linksChina’s island city with mainland

HANGZHOU, 25 Dec —A sea-crossing bridgelinking Zhoushan City,China’s only city ofmore than 1,000 islandsin eastern ZhejiangProvince, with thecountry’s mainland wentinto trial operationFriday.

Costing 13.1 billionyuan (1.9 billion U.S.dollars), the 46.5 km-long Zhoushan Sea-crossing Bridge, so farthe longest of its kind inthe country, wascompleted after 10 yearsof construction.

The bridge starts atthe Zhoushan island,passing the island ofLidiao, Fuchi, Cezi andJintang and traversingseveral watercourses,and connects with the

national expresswaynetwork at ZhenhaiDistrict in Ningbo, aneconomically strong cityof Zhejiang Province.

The opening of thebridge will improve thelife of Zhoushanresidents and facilitatethe development of thedeep-water harborsofZhoushan and Ningbo,said Lu Zushan,governor of Zhejiang.

Rich in marineresources, Zhoushan isone of China’s majorfishing grounds. TheZhoushan Port is a naturalcommunications hub forships sailing from southto north. It handled morethan 10 million twentyfoot-equivalent units(TEUs) last year.

Internet

15 (26).pmd 12/25/2009, 11:45 AM15

11th Waxing of Pyatho 1371 ME Saturday, 26 December, 2009

★ Only with stability and peace will the nation develop

★ Only with stability and peace will democratization process be successful

★ Anarchy begets anarchy, not democracy★ Riots beget riots, not democracy★ Democracy can be introduced only through constitution

People’s Desire ■ VOA, BBC-sowing hatred amongthe people

■ RFA, DVB-generating publicoutrage

■ Do not allow ourselves to be swayed■ By broadcasts designed to cause

troubles

■ We favour peace and stability■ We favour development■ We oppose unrest and violence■ Wipe out those inciting unrest

and violence

Machanbaw, little hilly township in Kachin StateByline: Reporter Singu Soe Win; Photos: U Hta Man Yon (Putao)

Malikha suspension bridge across Malikha River links Putao and Machanbaw townships.

On our recent trip toMachanbaw Township,about 14 miles from

Putao Township in KachinState, we were briefed onthe region by Chairman of

Township Peace and De-velopment Council UKhaung Lan Dee.

He said, “Our town-ship stands at an altitudeof 1400 feet. It is bounded

by India and NagmonTownship in the north;Khaunglanphu Township,

in the east; SumprabumTownship, in the south;and India and PutaoTownship, in the west. Ithas an area of 1104.22square miles.”

Machanbaw Town-ship is constituted withfour wards and 103 vil-lages of 26 village-tracts.Local people are by na-ture honest and live onagricultural farming.

In 2008-2009, theregion put 7,381 acresunder monsoon paddy,and harvested more than360,108 baskets of paddyand its rice sufficiencypercentage touched107.39. In the township,farms of corn, beans andpulses, vegetables, fruit,and sugarcane werefound thriving.

In order to helpachieve Putao District’starget of becoming a tealand, Machanbaw Town-ship has a plan to setup 12,500 acres of tea

(See page 9 )

26-12-09 NL 8/3/18, 2:16 PM16

the new light of myanmar 26-12-2009

Documents

national economy

uplift of national prestige

national reconsolidation

national character

national peoples

new enduring state

new light of myanmar

theconsumption of fish