Volume I, Number 50 13th Waning Day of Tazaungmone 1376 ME Wednesday, 19 November, 2014

INSIDE

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A Workshop on Mass Event and Disaster Prepar-edness jointly organized by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Re-settlement of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, the Government of Israel and UNDP is being held in Nay Pyi Taw from 18 to 21 November 2014. With regard to the workshop, a news crew of the Myanmar News Agency of the Minis-try of Information met Mr. Yehiel Kuperstein, who is an Israeli expert & con-sultant to lead the meeting, at Tongapuri Hotel in Nay

More Israeli companies will come to Myanmar with the signing of agreement on protection of investment between Myanmar and Israel

Interviewer: Dr Tha SeinPhotos: A-1 Soe

Pyi Taw on 17 November 2014 and conducted an in-terview with him.

Q: What the main objective of the workshop and how have you pre-pared for it ?

A: The main objec-tive of the workshop is to share knowledge on disas-ter preparedness and man-agement, to strengthen the collaboration between Isra-el and Myanmar on disas-ter management, to build disaster preparedness skills of the disaster preparedness practitioners by sharing Is-raeli methodology and way

of thinking in emergency management and to share the principles of emergen-cy response, site and event management and practices of Israel. As preparatory measures, I met with sen-ior Myanmar police of-ficers and those responsible in Yangon yesterday and shared experiences and ex-changed information with them.

(See page 2)

Myanmar News Agency of the Ministry of Information meets Israeli Ambassador

Mr Daniel Zonshine.

Nay Pyi Taw, 18 Nov—The Myanmar Parliamentary Union held meeting 5/2014 at Zabuthiri Hall of Hluttaw Complex, here,

Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker attends Myanmar Parliamentary Union meeting, meets Danu nationals, media persons

on Tuesday.Chairman of MPU

Speaker of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Thura U Shwe Mann and Vice Chairman Speaker of Amyotha Hlut-

taw (Upper House) U Khin Aung Myint delivered ad-dresses.

Secretary of MPU Deputy Speaker of the Py-idaungsu Hluttaw U Nan-

da Kyaw Swa reported on progress of works and the minutes of the previous meeting.

Member of MPU Dep-uty Speaker of Amyotha

Hluttaw U Mya Nyein, speakers of region Hluttaw and responsible persons participated in the discus-sions.

(See page 3)

yaNgoN, 18 Nov— The Education Ministry has urged students protest-ing the National Education Law to engage in a dia-logue, asking them to show “tolerance” as the Compre-hensive Education Sector Review is carried out to re-form the education system step by step.

Union Minister for Education Dr Daw Khin San Yi told reporters on

Students urged to be tolerant as reforms carried out step by stepBy Aye Min Soe Tuesday the six demands

made by the students are over-stepped, inviting the students to hold a dialogue with those who drafted the law and pledging the ministry will report the de-mands of the students to a legislative body.

Students took to the streets from 14 to 17 No-vember in Yangon to pro-test the National Education Law, making six demands, of which education offi-cials said some points will

be satisfied by upcoming bylaws within the national law but some others will need more discussion.

Universities rectors have urged the students to include their demands in university charters that will be written in accordance with the upcoming bylaws.

Strong and weak points of the law can be discovered only when it is implemented in accord-ance with its bylaws, said Dr Than Oo, former presi-

dent of Myanmar Academy of Arts and Science who participated in drafting the law.

The bylaws of the Na-tional Education Law are nearly complete and would guarantee the formation of students’ unions, academic freedom and autonomy of universities and institutes, which are included in the demands of the students, he added.

The ministry will im-plement academic freedom

step by step as the country has not yet “enough intel-lectual capacity”, Union Minister Dr Daw Khin San Yi said.

The work committee drafting the National Edu-cation Law took more than two years writing the statue enacted by the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw on 30 September.

More than 400 stu-dents ended their four-day protest in downtown Yan-gon on Monday, sending an ultimatum to the gov-ernment to hold a dialogue with them on amending the National Education Law within 60 days or they will stage nation-wide protests against the law.—GNLM

Union Minister for Education

Dr Daw Khin San Yi.Photo: Aye Min Soe

All are re-sponsible for

achieving success in

national edu-cation reforms to implement an education system which can create job opportunities for graduates.

Photo: Aye Min Soe

MPs suggest constitutional change for national stability, development and reconciliation

Pyithu Hluttaw discuss agricultural and fishery sectors

Unscrupulous fuel stations can face temporary or permanent cancellation of their licences

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Telecommu-nication show launched in Yangon

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Let’s civilize ourselves first

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Wednesday, 19 November, 20142P a r l i a m e n t

Pyidaungsu Hluttaw

(from page 1)Q: As an expert of

disaster management, how much experience did you have and what kinds of disaster did you wit-ness?

A: I have been over 20 years in disaster manage-ment and witnessed a great deal of disaster in various forms. I am responsible for the construction of dozens of shelters “safe rooms”, secure fences, warning sys-

More Israeli companies will come to Myanmar with the signing...

tems and lighting systems country-wide, overseeing tests and research in the field of building durabili-ty during explosions and earthquakes and providing guidance to citizens via media during emergencies. I was extensively engaged in development and acqui-sition of search & rescue equipment for HFC and ci-vilian units while develop-ing doctrines, professional literature, guiding princi-

ples & professional tech-niques for civil protection, mitigation of disasters and search &rescue.

Q: Did you have any comment on disaster management and prepar-edness in Myanmar?

A: It is still early to make comment on disaster management and prepared-ness in Myanmar and we need times to be able to do so.

Afterwards, the news crew of Myanmar News Agency (External) inter-viewed Mr. Daniel Zon-

shine, ambassador of Israel to Myanmar.

Q: Is there any future program for economic co-operation and exchange visits between Myanmar and Israel?

A: There is a plan for Israeli Minister of Agricul-ture to visit Myanmar in January, and Israeli senior officials and businessmen are going to follow suit. Last month, an agreement on protection of investment was signed between My-anmar and Israel, making it possible for more Israeli

companies to take interest to come and extensively invest in Myanmar. We are committed to more frequently visits not only between senior officials but between those from business fields and other sectors.

Q: At a time when Israel and Myanmar are in the process of further strengthening friendly ties, we strongly believe that your arrival as a newly credited ambas-sador to Myanmar will bring fruitful outcomes to

our country. How about that opinion?

A: My arrival here is to put Myanmar on the agenda of Israel as well as to promote investment and support reforms being lunched in the country. Not like other countries that discovered Myanmar just recently, Israel has long and lasting friendly rela-tions with your country. With friendly ties already in place, we are sure that cooperation between the two countries will be fur-ther promoted all the more.

Pyithu Hluttaw

Amyotha Hluttaw

MPs suggest constitutional change for national stability, development and

reconciliationNay Pyi Taw, 18 Nov

— The Pyiduangsu Hlut-taw on Tuesday discussed the report submitted by a committee responsible for the implementation and amendment of the consti-tution.

Daw Sanda Min of the Zabyuthiri constituen-cy said that constitutional change is not a one-time matter and it needs amend-ing step by step, adding that the purpose of consti-tutional amendment is to reinforce national recon-ciliation rather than insti-gating conflicts. She called for greater cooperation in changing the constitution within the framework of

the law to ensure a better future of the country.

U Sai Kyaw Zaw Than of the Shan State constitu-ency-2 pointed out that the report should be discussed with a focus on national stability and development, national integrity, national reconciliation and rule of law.

Col Hla Win Aung, a defence services personnel representative, noted that amending the constitution is unavoidable as public desires change with the passage of time, adding that the constitution should be changed in national and public interests in line with the law, if any of its

sections or articles limits the efficiency and freedom of executive, legislative and judicial branches.

U Naing Ngan Lin of the Dekkhinathiri constit-uency expressed his belief that constitutional change will help the democratic system take shape, thereby propelling internal peace processes. He called for a compromise solution to national reconciliation and mutual understanding and trust. U Myint Tun of the Bago Region con-stituency-10 suggested an increased role of people and their representatives in constitutional amendment.

MNA

Pyithu Hluttaw discuss agricultural and fishery sectorsNay Pyi Taw, 18 Nov

— Pyithu Hluttaw (Lower House) convened its 31st day meeting on Tuesday with the discussions of ag-ricultural and fishery sec-tors.

U Htay Oo, represent-ative of Hinthada Town-ship constituency, asked whether the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation has plans to substitute ag-ricultural lands that can-not be used now for some reasons with new ones and the plans of ministry to pro-mote paddy productions.

Deputy Minister U Than Ohn said that dou-ble-crop paddy cultiva-tion with irrigation system could cover the loss of pad-dy fields for some reasons,

and the ministry is now is-suing permits to individual and companies to use emp-ty or virgin lands for agri-cultural purposes.

He also said that rice sufficiency of the country is 168 percent for the coun-try’s population of 51.42 million, and the govern-ment has adopted a 30-year plan for the sufficiency of rice to the population of 100 million by using high-yield varieties, systematic water supply, agricultural methods and enough input items.

Thura U Aung Ko, representative of Kanpet-let Township constituency, asked whether the govern-ment has plan to prevent ille-gal fishing in Myanmar sea.

U Khin Maung Aye, deputy minister for Agri-culture, Fisheries and Rural Development, said that the ministry is taking actions against illegal fishing by withdrawing fishing rights, limiting fishing boats, days, areas, seasons, type of fish-ing nets, fish species and licence. He said that the ministry is also monitoring closely the fishing boats by using GPS, and research fishery boats and patrol boats to prevent illegal fishing.

Today’s meeting an-swered two questions on farming sector, and approved five bills fol-lowed by the consent of parliament.

MNA

Unscrupulous fuel stations can face temporary or permanent cancellation of

their licencesNay Pyi Taw, 18 Nov

— Maj Zawana, a defence services personnel repre-sentative, asked the Amyo-tha Hluttaw (Upper House) on Tuesday about action taken against unscrupulous oil stations nationwide, with the deputy minister responding that superviso-ry committees inspect fuel stations to ensure oil quality and accurate measurement.

He added that action is taken against fuel stations found guilty of dishonest

sales by means of from tem-porary to total cancellation of their licences.

A question was con-cerned with the possibility of upgrading an industrial ward to an industrial zone in Loikaw, Kayah State.

U Aung Thein, Dep-uty Minister for President Office, responded that it is possible to promote the ward to an industrial zone on condition that industrial-ists there ask for so, adding that local departments will

give loans to manufacturers with complete documents.

According to the depu-ty minister, there are 38 ap-plicants, of whom 18 have been linked with the Small and Medium Enterprises Bank for the loans.

Speaking of techni-cal assistance, he said that workshops and seminars have been held between lo-cal SME entrepreneurs and those of Germany, South Korea and Japan.

MNA

Training Workshop on Mass Event and Disaster Preparedness kicks off

Nay Pyi Taw, 18 Nov — Volunteer trainer cours-es for disaster risk reduc-tion have been conducted in regions and states 20 times and over 1,100 youths from over 300 villages attended the courses, Union Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Dr Daw Myat Myat Ohn Khin said at the opening ceremony of

the Training Workshop on Mass Event and Disaster Preparedness at Royal Ace Hotel in Nay Pyi Taw on Tuesday.

She said that buildings are under construction for the natural disaster man-agement school in Hinthada Township of Ayeyawady Region and arrangements are being made for estab-

lishment of the emergency state management centre and the data base system for loss in natural disasters.

Israeli Ambassador Mr Daniel Zonshine and UNDP Resident Repre-sentative Mr Toily Kur-banov made speeches. 41 trainees are attending the four-day course.

MNA

Tuesday’s session of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw in progress.—mna

Wednesday, 19 November, 2014

N a t i o N a l3

Nay Pyi Taw, 19 Nov—The Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar has agreed to the appointment of H.E. Mr. Hassan Bin Mohamed Rafei Al-Emadi as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipo-tentiary of the State of Qatar to the Republic of the Union of Myanmar with residence in Yangon.

Mr. Hassan Bin Mohamed Rafei Al-Emadi was born in 1957. He got Bachelor of Arts from Depart-ment of Linguistics and Eastern Studies, Cairo Uni-versity in 1987.

He served at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar from 1980 to 1981, and he was transferred to the Ministry of Education as Head of Department of Stud-ies and Researches from 1981 to 1998. He was trans-ferred back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1998. He served at the Office of Undersecretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 1998 to 2001, at the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Islamabad from 2001 to 2003, at the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Cairo from 2003 to 2005 and as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Qatar to the Republic of India from 2005 to 2013.

He is married with two sons and three daugh-ters.—MNA

Appointment of Ambassador agreed on

yaNgoN, 18 Nov—The opening of Qa-tari Embassy to Myan-mar was held at Sedona Hotel in Yangon on Tues-day, with an address by Deputy Minister for For-

Embassy of Qatar opened in Yangon

yaNgoN, 19 Nov—The Joint Steering Com-mittee formed under the MoU between Myanmar and the Netherlands held the second meeting at the Directorate of Water Re-sources and Improvement of River Systems of the Ministry of Transport on 17 November.

The meeting approved the minutes of the first joint coordination commit-tee meeting held in The Hague on 14 November and discussed capacity en-

Myanmar-the Netherlands Joint Steering Committee meets

hancement courses, and future plans for Myanmar integrated water resourc-es management strategic study.

Leaders of the com-mittees signed the annual plans fo Leader of the Joint Steering Committee of the Netherlands Mr Peter Heij handed over the Myanmar integrated water resourc-es management strategic study-Executive Report to leader of the Myanmar team U Tun Lwin Oo.

The joint committee

(from page 1)The Speaker met Danu

nationals from Pindaya and Ywangan townships of Danu Self-Adminis-tered Zone and Nawngkh-io Township in Shan State

Myanmar Parliamentary Union holds...

who observed the 30th day session of Pyithu Hluttaw, at the hall of the Pyithu Hluttaw on Tuesday morn-ing.

The Speaker also met 49 editors and reporters from local and foreign new agencies and newspapers and journals at the C hall of the Pyithu Hluttaw and replied to queries raised by media persons.

It was also attended by Deputy Speaker U Nan-da Kyaw Swa and officials of the Pyithu Hluttaw Office.

MNA

eign Affairs U Thant Kyaw.

The deputy minister and Ambassador of Qa-tar Mr Jabor A Al-Dosari residing in Bangkok of Thailand formally opened

the embassy.So far, a total of 45

embassies including to-day’s Qatari Embassy have been opened in My-anmar.

MNA

will carry out finalizing of Myanmar integrated wa-ter resources management strategic study (final re-port), integrated Meiktila Lake Area development, Bagan multi-purpose pilot river beautification, Pan Hlaing Control Sluice cum navigation lock, feasibili-ty study Mandalay-Bagan navigability improvement, Bago-Sittoung canal inte-grated water system analy-sis and capacity building as future plans.

MNA

Speaker Thura

U Shwe Mann pre-

sents souvenir to

Danu nationals who

observed convening

30th day session of

Pyithu Hluttaw.

mna

Nay Pyi Taw, 18 Nov—Management course on the application for trade-marks and registration was opened at the assembly hall of the Ministry of Science and Technology here Mon-day.

The course is jointly conducted by the ministry and the World Intellectual

Nay Pyi Taw, 18 Nov—More than 90 lead-ing suppliers in communi-

Telecommunication show launched in Yangoncations technologies from 20 countries are promoting their services with their

participations at the Com-muniCast 2014 Myanmar in Yangon.

The show is being held at the Myanmar Event Park from 18 to 20 November, with the theme of “Build-ing Networks, Connecting Communities”.

Union Minister for Communications and In-formation Technology U Myat Hein opened the event on 18 November.

At the opening cer-emony, he said that the CommuniCast Myanmar is the first of its kind in Myanmar, and this is an occasion in which telecom-munication operators and vendors could display their products, services and soft-ware developments.

The first Satellite Fo-rum in Myanmar will also be held in Yangon on 19 November.

MNA

Ministry launches trademark management courseProperty Organization.

Deputy minister Dr Aung Kyaw Myat made a speech at the opening cer-emony of the course that intellectual property rights and its related issues are widely connected with eco-nomic, foreign investment and technology issues.

He also said that the

ministry is working out the development of intellec-tual property rights, with conducting the courses on management in application of trademarks and in devel-oping experts in this sector.

The five-day course will be trained by experts from the office of intellectu-al property affairs.—MNA

Union Minister U Myat Hein opens CommuniCast 2014 Myanmar.—mna

Wednesday, 19 November, 20144l o c a l n e w s

Nay Pyi Taw

Mandalay

Yangon

Mandalay, 18 Nov — A mobile team led by Director U Thein Win of

nay Pyi Taw, 18 Nov — Chairperson of Ottarathi-ri Township Maternal and Child Welfare Association Daw Shwe Zin Win and party conducted the social economic issue of mothers and nutrition of children under two years old at the

naTogyi, 18 Nov — Trains of Myanmar Railways running along

Ownerless motorboat with sawn timber seized in Amarapura

Commercial and Consumer Affairs Department seized an ownerless motorboat at

Shwekyetyet Jetty in Am-arapura Township, Manda-lay, on 11 November.

The motorboat car-ried 0.67 ton of sawn teak timber, 51.89 tons of sawn ironwood timber and relat-ed materials worth K50.3 million. Mobile team offi-cials handed over the seized items to Forest Department and Customs Department.

The mobile team is carrying out its tasks by checking ships to prevent illegal trade along jetties and ports in Mandalay along Ayeyawady River as of 1 November this year.

Min Htet Aung (Mandalay Sub-printing

House)

Children receive medical checkup from MCWA

administrative office of Ot-tarathiri Ward on Tuesday.

Members of Township MCWA, department offi-cials and health staff per-formed medical checkup at 50 children under two in Ottarathiri and Shwenatha wards.—Shwe Ye Yint

Volunteer course regarding traffic accidents conducted in Mandalay

Mandalay, 18 Nov — A ceremony to open the volunteer course for pre-vention of traffic accidents on road, organized by My-anmar Red Cross Society, was held at Golden Coun-try Hotel on 65th Street be-tween 31st and 32nd streets in Chanayethazan Town-ship, Mandalay, on 17 No-vember.

Director Daw Khin Khin Shein of MRCS, Head of Mandalay Region Social Welfare Department U Kyaw Win, Head of Mandalay Region Health Department Dr Kyaw Soe, Deputy Commander of No 11 Traffic Police Branch Police Major Thein Ko Ko and officials attended the opening of course.

A total of 68 train-

ees attended the two-day course in which officials gave lectures and practi-

cal works on traffic rules enforcement, preven-tion traffic accidents and

rescue works to them.Thiha Ko Ko (Mandalay)

Trains added with coaches for convenience of passengers

Bagan-Mandalay route be-come more reliable for the local people in open season.

In consequence, the trains have been linked with more coaches for passengers and cargos, according to the station superintendent of Natogyi Station, Mandalay Region, recently.

To give convenient transport service to the pas-sengers, the three-coach train on Bagan-Mandalay route was added one more for regular running, he said.

The local train had been added one cargo car-riage to seven for many months, said a worker of Myanmar Railways.

Locals voiced thanks for Myanmar Railways for adding carriages and

coaches for the trains to en-able them to have conven-ient travelling.

Khin Zar Mon Myint (Law)

Today’s MyanMar news siTes

Deputy Commissioner U Lwin Ko Oo of Myawady

District, Chairman of Township Development

Affairs Committee U Than Shwe and owner

U Tin Shwe cut the ribbon to open Sein Le

Dipa Hotel on Khwanyo Street in Ward 1 of

Myawady in Kayin State on 16 November.

Thuzar (Myawady Town)

Natogyi

Myanaung

Minbu

Pyinsi

Wednesday, 19 November, 2014

L o c a L N e w s5

Myanaung, 18 Nov —Myanaung Township Infor-mation and Public Relations Department in Ayeyawady Region has opened a wall magazine, photo gallery and

Mandalay, 18 Nov —Germany-based Festo tech-nological company held a show of automatic indus-trial production machin-ery, training machinery, bio-based machinery and mobile robot technology at Mandalay City Hall on Monday.

Faculty members and students of Mandalay Uni-versity of Technology, instructors from Defence Services Technological Academy, executives of Mandalay Engineering So-ciety, executives of Man-dalay Region Chambers of

Pyinsi, 18 Nov —Three communication tow-ers have been erected in Pyinsi model village in Na-togyi Township, Mandalay Region.

Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd erected one CDMA tower, Myanma Posts and Telecommuni-cations one tower on the expressway and Telenor (Myanmar) one tower.

Local people from over 1,000 houses of the village have easy access to the whole nation as well as the globe through telecom-munication services.

Khin Zar Mon Myint (Law)

Minbu, 18 Nov — My-anma Shukhin Cooperative Society takes responsibility in sinking a two-inch diam-eter and 200 feet deep tube-well in Kontha Village of Minbu Township, Magway Region, in 2014-15 fiscal year, spending the rural de-velopment fund.

Director U Kyaw Swe of Rural Development De-partment of Magway Re-gion made a field trip to inspect progress of sinking tube-well. Head of Minbu Township Rural Develop-ment Department U Aung Phone Lin and officials explained progress of sink-ing tube-well and require-ments.

nay Pyi Taw, 18 Nov — The sugar mill owned by Pyinmana Sugar Mill Co Ltd in eastern part of Pyinmana in Nay Pyi Taw Council Area will come into operation for 2014-15 fiscal year as of 19 Novem-ber, according to Assistant

Automatic industrial production technology

show kicks offCommerce and Industry and guests attended the show.

Arrangements are be-ing made to open the in-dustrial production training school in Myanmar so as to improve capacity of Myan-mar youth and generate jobs for the locals.

German experts gave training to 12 faculty mem-bers from Ministry of Sci-ence and Technology and donated six sets of train-ing machinery worth US$ 25,000 to Technological University (Yadanabon Cy-ber City).—Thiha Ko Ko (Mandalay)

Wall magazine, photo gallery display documentary photos

book show in commemora-tion of the 94th anniversary of National Day at its li-brary as of 16 November.

Documentary photos are on display at the wall

magazine and photo gallery where students view pho-tos, books and publications daily.

Win Bo (Myanaung IPRD)

Tube-well sunk for rural development in Minbu Township

Upon completion, over 2,300 people from 512 houses of Kontha will en-joy potable water for con-sumption.

Than Naing Oo (Ngaphe)

Villagers get better

communication service in central

MyanmarPyinmana Sugar Mill to resume

crushing of sugarcane on 19 NovemberMill Manager U Nyunt Tin.

The sugar mill opens 31 uprchase centres in Pyinmana, Pobbathiri, Dekkhinathiri, Ottarathi-ri and Lewe townships to purchase sugarcane from local growers.

The company buys

K300,000 per ton of sugar-cane this year. The compa-ny gave tractors and ferti-lizers to the farmers during the cultivation season, and the farmers are to pay cost of using the tractors and fertilizer to the company after selling the sugarcane.

The sugar mill plans to operate its crushing sug-arcane from 19 November to 15 March this year. Last year, it could crush over 130,000 tons of sugar-cane. Pyinmana Township scored top in production of sugarcane in the re-gion, said the assistant mill manager.

Ko Gyi Kyaw (Pyinmana)

A communication tower seen in Pyinsi Village of Natogyi

Township.

Wednesday, 19 November, 20146r e g i o n a l

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi (R) waves to supporters gathered to watch him at a welcoming

ceremony with Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott at Parliament House in Canberra on 18 Nov, 2014.

ReuteRs

Australian, Indian PMs seek early conclusion of FTA negotiations

Sydney, 18 Nov — The leaders of Australia and India agreed in talks on Tuesday to speed up nego-tiations for a bilateral free trade agreement, as well as to boost defence and secu-rity ties.

A joint statement is-sued after the talks between Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and his Indi-an counterpart Narendra Modi said the two leaders directed that FTA nego-tiations “be brought to an early conclusion to realize the potential of commercial relations.”

Calling those relations “underdeveloped,” Abbot said he and Modi “spent quite some time this morn-ing talking about what we need to do to really crank up the trade relationship.”

Speaking later at a joint Press conference, Abbot said he hopes a free trade deal can be sealed by the end of next year. Ne-gotiations were launched in May 2011 and the sixth round is scheduled to be held in December.

Last year, bilateral trade was worth A$15 bil-lion (US$13 billion), 10 percent of the value of Aus-tralia’s trade with China, its largest trading partner,

with which it only just con-cluded bilateral FTA nego-tiations after wrapping up those with Japan and South Korea earlier in the year.

Modi, the first Indian leader on Australian shores in 28 years, said India and Australia “have a great eco-nomic synergy.”

“There are huge oppor-tunities for a partnership in every area we can think of,” he said, giving such examples as agriculture, agroproceessing, resources, energy, finance, infrastruc-ture, education, and science and technology.

The two leaders also discussed how to boost cooperation between their

respective intelligence agencies and militaries with a view to combating terrorism and transnational crimes like narcotics traf-ficking and illegal migra-tion.

They said a recently forged bilateral Frame-work for Security Coop-eration “demonstrates the unshakeable resolve of the two countries in combating and defeating terrorism, including the threat posed by foreign fighters joining extremist groups.”

“Security and defence are important and growing areas of the new India-Aus-tralia partnership for ad-vancing regional peace and

stability and combating terrorism and transnational crimes,” Modi said.

He and Abbott decided to extend defence coop-eration to cover research, development and industry engagement. They also agreed to conduct regular maritime exercises and to hold regular meetings be-tween their defence minis-ters, as well as staff talks between their navies, ar-mies and air forces.

“There’s an enthusi-asm on both our parts for more bilateral and trilateral military exercises and we hope to see much more of that in the years ahead,” Abbot said.

Modi also addressed the Australian Parliament and said he sees Australia as one of India’s “foremost partners in the region.”

“Today the world sees Australia to be at the heart of the Asia-Pacific and In-dian Ocean region,” the In-dian leader said.

“Australia has become more engaged in this part of the world,” he said. “We welcome it, the growing role of driving this region’s prosperity and its security, because we in India seek the same future for this world.”—Kyodo News

Japan’s Defence Minister Akinori Eto

Tokyo, 18 Nov — Ja-pan’s Defence Minister Akinori Eto will meet his ASEAN counterparts in Myanmar for the first gath-ering of its kind between Tokyo and the 10-nation bloc, the Defence Ministry said on Tuesday.

During the meeting on Wednesday, Eto will like-ly discuss cooperation in maritime security, human-itarian aid and disaster re-lief with the defence chiefs from 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, it said.

With this move, Japan will become the third coun-try to hold such multilateral defence talks with ASEAN members after the United States and China. Both the United States and China have each already organ-

ized four such meetings with the ASEAN states.

Japanese Prime Min-ister Shinzo Abe proposed the defence ministers’ meeting during the Ja-pan-ASEAN summit in Tokyo last December. Eto is scheduled to return to Ja-pan on Thursday, the min-istry said.—Kyodo News

Eto to visit Myanmar to join 1st talks with ASEAN

defence ministers

South Korean President Park Geun-hye

Head of newly created Agency for Public Safety named in S Korea

Seoul, 18 Nov — South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Tuesday named former navy admi-ral Park In Yong as head of a new agency responsible for public safety, according to a presidential spokes-

man. Park “has been con-sidered as the right person to lead the new Agency for Public Safety, which will be launched as the control tower for disaster manage-ment for extensive expe-riences accumulated as a frontline commander, and also in personnel, strategy and education,” Min Kyung Wook told reporters.

The new agency, to be officially launched on Wednesday, came into be-ing after Park ordered a set of drastic measures, includ-ing the disbandment of the

coast guard, following a tragic ferry sinking in April that left more than 300 dead or missing, most of them high school students who were on an excursion.

The government came under a storm of public criticism for its bungling of rescue operations.

The captain and his crew of the 6,825-ton Sewol were accused of abandoning the vessel while hundreds remained aboard.

Last Tuesday, a dis-trict court handed a 36-year

Vietnam to host nuclear forum Atomex Asia 2014Ho CHi Ming CiTy, 18

Nov — The nuclear indus-try suppliers forum, Atomex Asia 2014, will be held here on Wednesday and Thurs-day, with the attendance of representatives from Viet-nam and international ener-gy agencies, as well as the leading nuclear companies in Asia, said organizers in a Press release on Tuesday.

Atomex Asia 2014 will have two primary sections: plenary sessions and exhi-bition. The discussions are planned on the prospects for the development of the nuclear energy in Southeast Asia such as reactor tech-nology and safety control, localization and require-ments for atomic industry suppliers, personnel train-ing and insurance of public acceptance.

At the exhibition, sup-pliers will present their products and services di-rectly to the customer’s rep-resentatives and seek new partners for cooperation on energy development.

Industry Suppliers Forum Atomex is a series of annual events aiming to facilitate talks and co-operation among nuclear suppliers organized by RO-SATOM all over the world since 2011.

Sideline events will in-clude a painting exhibition on “Energy for harmony: nature around nuclear pow-er plants” and movie shows on nuclear power technolo-gy.

According to ROSA-TOM, more than 340 Vi-etnamese students have undertaken courses in nu-clear technology in Russia in 2014-2015. In 2014, 150 Vietnamese experts com-pleted training courses at two reactors of Russia’s Rostov nuclear power plant.

Vietnam and Russia have since 2010 signed agreements and contracts on building a nuclear power plant with two reactors and a nuclear research and tech-nology centre in Vietnam.

Xinhua

prison sentence to the cap-tain, 68-year-old Lee Joon Seok, after convicting him of gross negligence leading to deaths. Prosecutors had sought the death penalty on charges of murder.

The court also found the chief engineer, who left the vessel without helping injured colleagues, guilty of murder and gave him a 30-year jail term, while it handed down terms rang-ing from five to 20 years imprisonment to 13 other crew members.

Kyodo News

Indonesia vows to sink illegal fishing shipJakarTa, 18 Nov —

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Tuesday that he had ordered the coun-try’s navy to sink foreign ships intruding the country’s maritime territory and steal-ing fish and other resources.

The order was made following the reports of rampant illegal fishing in the country’s waters that has led Indonesia suffers a huge

China, Cambodia vow to deepen military tiesBeiJing, 18 Nov — Chinese and

Cambodian military officials on Tuesday vowed to deepen military relations through strengthened exchanges and further coop-eration. Vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission Xu Qiliang and visit-ing Commander-in-Chief of the Royal Cam-bodian Armed Forces Pol Saroeun made the pledge during their one-hour meeting.

“China and Cambodia are good friends sharing weal and woe,” Xu said. “We have worked together since diplomatic ties were forged 56 years ago.” Xu vowed joint efforts

economic loss. “Sink it di-rectly. Let’s sink up to 100 illegal fishing ships so that the others would be reluc-tant to do so,” Jokowi, as the president is known, stressed at the State Palace. Never-theless, the president ordered to evacuate all the crews and those on board first before the sinking. The policy aims at protecting the country’s resources at sea from illegal

exploitation, said Jokowi.The president unveiled

that over 5,400 ships ille-gally exploit Indonesia’s re-sources at sea every year.

That makes the country suffers financial loss of about 300 trillion rupiah (about 24.712 billion US dollars) annually, said Jokowi.

Indonesia is an archi-pelago consisting of about 17,500 islands.—Xinhua

to enrich bilateral relations through enhanced military exchanges. “The friendship between China and Cambodia was built upon mutual trust and support,” Saroeun said, adding that his side attached great importance to devel-oping ties with China and sought to further bolster bilateral relations between the two countries and their armed forces. Saroeun is on a five-day visit to China, which started Sunday, accompanied by senior military offi-cials from the Army Headquarters, the Navy, the Air Force and the National Military Po-lice, totaling 14 members.—Xinhua

Wednesday, 19 November, 2014

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US President Barack Obama (C) gestures as he meets with European leaders to discuss the situation in Ukraine, at the G20 in Brisbane on 16 Nov, 2014.

ReuteRs

Sydney, 18 Nov — As leaders of the world’s 20 most powerful nations congratulate themselves on plans to boost economic growth, a closer look at their 800-plus policy proposals reveals a catalog of measures that are either old, vague or unlikely to be implemented.

Australia, the hosts of the Group of 20 meeting, claimed credit for a year-long effort to get members to adopt “extra” reforms that would add $2 trillion to the world economy and create millions of new jobs. Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the plans would make the whole planet “better off”.

Not everyone shared that prognosis.

“Basically it appears to be a collection of wish lists presented from each country,” said Sakong Il, who chaired a presidential committee to prepare for the Seoul G20 summit meeting in 2010.

Without rigorous guide-lines for implementation, it becomes “another talk shop,

another photo session”, said Sakong, who now runs an independent research insti-tute.

The OECD made a brave stab at estimating that the 620-odd pages of reforms could add 2.1 per-centage points to global eco-nomic output by 2018, but only if fully delivered, and even then it acknowledged a

“high degree of uncertainty”. Australia itself put forward many measures first touted in a general election over a year ago, some of which are stuck in parliament and highly unlikely to survive in their current form.

The United States’ of-fering, the second shortest at just 15 pages, began with an increase in the government’s

spending ceiling, a measure passed as long ago as De-cember last year. Most of the remaining proposals need approval from Congress, an optimistic assumption now that both houses are con-trolled by President Barack Obama’s Republican oppo-nents.

One measure, compre-hensive immigration reform,

G20’s new growth plans suspiciously long in the toothis so anathema to Republi-cans that Obama may have to use executive action to force through even a limited package.

Illustrative of the over-all theme was South Ko-rea’s contribution, which stretched to 114 policy measures under 33 catego-ries over 30 pages. All were a repeat of what the govern-ment has announced since the current finance minister took office in July.

The thrust of Beijing’s commitments were a repeat of its own 3rd plenum re-form plans, and key propos-als from Indonesia on fund-ing for infrastructure date back to late last year.

Reuters’ analysis showed no new commit-ments from governments in Germany, Britain, France, It-aly or Spain over and above what was already in train.

There is no sign of ex-tra spending in the European Union. Germany’s invest-ment plan next year amounts to 0.1 percent of GDP, and it will balance the budget

for the first time since 1969, tightening fiscal policy rath-er than loosening it to spur growth.

Japan’s pledges were almost immediately under-mined when data showed the country had lapsed back into recession, which is expected to prompt Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to postpone a controversial hike in sales taxes and call an early elec-tion later in the day.

Neither did the UK sound entirely in harmony with the G20’s message of hope. No sooner was the summit over than Prime Minster David Cameron took to the opinion pages of The Guardian to tell read-ers that “red warning lights are once again flashing on the dashboard of the global economy”.

“As I met world leaders at the G20 in Brisbane, the problems were plain to see,” said Cameron.

He must have missed the memo on the importance of shoring up global confi-dence.—Reuters

Senior lawmakers of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party meet at the Diet building in Tokyo on 18 Nov, 2014. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is expected to call a

snap election later in the day.—Kyodo News

Abe to dissolve lower house Friday, postpones tax hike

said at a press conference when asked about the House of Representatives election in December.

Abe’s tax decision came out of concern that the sec-ond round of the two-stage tax increase would only hurt the economy further.

The Japanese economy has contracted for two quar-ters in a row since the con-sumption tax rate was raised from 5 percent to the current 8 percent in April.

“I reached the conclu-sion that the tax hike should be postponed by 18 months to make it certain the success

of Abenomics,” Abe said, referring to his policy mix of aggressive monetary easing, fiscal spending and a growth strategy.

“Another sales tax in-crease next October, follow-ing the one this past April, would jeopardize Japan’s bid to exit from deflation,” he said, while stressing that there will not be another postponement of the tax in-crease.

Abe instructed his Cabi-net ministers the same day to compile a stimulus package to bolster the flagging econ-omy.—Kyodo News

Tokyo, 18 Nov — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Tuesday he will dissolve the lower house Friday for a general elec-tion and postpone a planned consumption tax hike by 18 months to April 2017.

Abe said he is calling a snap election to see if his decision not to raise the consumption tax to 10 per-cent next October can gain public support amid grow-ing signs of weakness in the Japanese economy. “I will resign if the ruling coalition fails to secure a majority (in the lower house seats),” Abe

German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel and Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.—taNjug

Belgrade, 18 Nov — Serbia has a major oppor-tunity, German Vice Chan-cellor Sigmar Gabriel said in Belgrade on Monday, adding that the path Serbia wants to take is the right one and that Berlin will justify the great trust Serbia has in the partnership with Germa-ny.

We are ready to offer a fair partnership to Serbia and the Western Balkans, and there is a lot that can be done, Gabriel said address-ing a joint news conference with Serbian Prime Minister

Aleksandar Vucic, and add-ed that German companies believe that investments in Serbia do pay off despite the numerous problems.

Gabriel expressed the belief that the EU path is dif-

ficult, but he also noted that Serbia has a major opportu-nity to complete it success-fully.

The reform process de-mands much from Serbia and we support everyone on this path, Gabriel said and expressed surprise by the power of the prime minister who is able to deal with all these problems.

He said that the most important matter at this point is for Serbia to launch the EU accession talks, adding that the question as to which chapters would be opened

first is not as significant.It should not be debated

which chapter would be the first to open in the acces-sion talks, Gabriel said and recommended that Serbia should start with the most

useful chapters and avoid any blocks in the process. He underscored that from the standpoint of business-men, most important chap-ters comprise Chapters 23 and 24 that cover rule of law and legal state.

Gabriel underscored that Europe needs Western Balkans and Serbia, and added that peace and stabil-ity on the continent can be secured only through unity.

Serbia has major opportunity, country is on the right track

Serbia not asking for money, but for investments, support

Serbia is not asking Germany for money, but for investments and support that will enable it to become a normal, modern and devel-oped country as soon as pos-sible, Serbian Prime Minis-ter Aleksandar Vucic said on Monday.

Serbia is facing the big and important task of cre-ating better conditions for business, Vucic said at a press conference with Ger-man Vice Chancellor Sig-mar Gabriel, thanking the European Bank for Recon-struction and Development, the International Monetary Fund, Germany and other international financial in-stitutions and countries that support the reforms in Ser-bia.—Tanjug

Wednesday, 19 November, 20148o p i n i o n

Wednesday, 19 November, 2014

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Write for us

It is therefore essential that all of us must try to understand the core principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which are in fact nothing new but drawn from religious teachings.

It is clear that every religion has taught people how to behave well and how to treat others with respect. Wilson Mizner, an American dramatist, once put it that “Be nice to people on your way up because you will meet them on your way down.”

In this age of modern civilization, globalization has demanded us to learn to embrace a world of diversity in terms of dignity and equality by dropping all our differences. Frankly speaking, even people with some education have a sense to realize that the promotion of the universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms is the foundation of justice and peace in every society.

It would not be far wrong to conclude that human rights flourish only in a caring and humane society. If we all want to brand our world civilized, we should act accordingly. If we assume ourselves to be human beings, we should act accordingly. It is undoubtedly reasonable to assume that only civilized people value human rights and fundamental freedoms. Otherwise, we would be humans in disguise.

By Kyaw Thura

Let’s civilize ourselves first

It goes without saying that all members of the human family are born free and equal in dignity and rights. In this 21st century,

everyone should enjoy the right to freedom of speech and worship and freedom from want and fear. In fact, these rights are the highest aspiration of all human beings.

The onus is on every government to observe human rights and fundamental freedoms. If people are deprived of their inherent rights, social unrest entails and ends in barbarous acts.

On retirement after serving for a long period in an estab-

lishment, some look for-ward to the freedom from the burden of work, some are fearful about the finan-cial, social and other ad-justments they would have to make, some do not give much thought to it as they already have other things lined up and some are re-luctant to retire, because of their strong attachment to their work. Top most in the mind of many of those who are about to retire is the amount of time they would have to turn to religion that they have neglected for a

A tranquil retirementBy Pho Thit

long time due to their pre-occupation with their work.

Like many of my fel-low retirees, the day when I did not have to get up at the usual time, and finish the daily preparations to go to work finally arrived. The first week was most liberat-ing and was almost like the ten-day Thingyan vacation that all government em-ployees enjoy. The only difference was that there was no need at all to think of piles of work waiting at the office after the vaca-tion. I pulled out the books that I had always wanted to read from the bookshelf, and made a list of the plac-es and people that I had wanted to visit for a long time. It was only after the

end of the first week of re-tirement that I began to miss my work and my col-leagues. I often wondered what was happening at my former workplace. I began to envy other members of the family and neighbours who left their house for work every morning, as I had done previously. In the evenings, I looked forward to the return of my family members from work and to listen to their chatter about their work. But most of the time, they were too tired to talk and when I asked about their work and their col-leagues they would often laugh and comment that I had become very curious about matters and people that were of little concern to me. I started to welcome phone calls which had been a nuisance for me for so for many years, and also thought of people whom I could phone. Slowly, the bookshelf lost its appeal and the news in the news-paper and TV were no longer as interesting as they were in the first week. I thought, perhaps, I should turn to the Internet for more interesting fare. But after calculating the cost of a few days’ use, I found it too costly for a pensioner and had to cut down its use. In short, I began to fret about how to use up the extra time that was now availa-ble to me.

The third week was depressing, and I began to feel that I was leading a meaningless existence. I thought that the best way to find solace was to turn to religion. Fortunately, prob-ably knowing about this

phase in the life of a novice pensioner, my former col-leagues had given me not only books and booklets on meditation and Buddhism, but also sermons of well-known Sayadaws on CDs as parting gifts. They brought a degree of com-fort and some meaning to life and they awakened in me a desire to try medita-tion. But much as I strove to meditate, as instructed by the venerable Sayad-aws, I found it difficult to concentrate, or to stay still even for a few minutes. Af-ter listening to the daily sermons on impermanence, suffering, and mortality, and seeing in the newspa-pers, the obituaries of some acquaintances who were no older than me, I became greatly interested in my health. The aches and pains that had always been there became more noticeable to me. I made several visits to the doctor, and after a num-ber of tests, he advised me that I was on the onset of several diseases that people who led sedentary lives suffer from and gave me of long list of pills to take reg-ularly. He also gave me a lengthy list of food that I could eat and those I should avoid. I became obsessed with food and took to read-ing about nutrition and healthy food and made fre-quent visits to the kitchen during cooking time to make sure that no un-healthy ingredients were being used. I even tried to force my family to follow my diet. There was also a mania to create order in my life starting with putting things in order in the house and this strong desire led to squabbles with the younger members of the family who

did not want to forsake their disorganized ways.

Not long after, Thad-inkyut arrived. Some of my younger colleagues came to pay their respect individ-ually and in groups. How glad I was to see them! I was overwhelmed by their kindness and thoughtful-ness and they suggested ways on how I could keep myself occupied to main-tain my health. One told about how her father joined a walking group so that he could keep fit. Another told me about the social activi-ties her mother was taking part in after her retirement. A third colleague told me about a meditation centre not far away from where I lived where his father goes regularly. A fourth col-league told me about her aunt, a retired teacher who was serving as a volunteer at a Dhamma school for young children. Another told me about a family friend who had become a member of the board of trustees of an orphanage run by a sayadaw. Still an-other told me about her el-der sister who was attend-ing one part-time language diploma course after anoth-er at YUFL and enjoying the company of her young-er classmates.

I realized how self centred and disgruntled I had become after retire-ment, instead of becoming more tranquil and relaxed, having been liberated from the care of work. I also be-gan to appreciate that re-tirement was an opportuni-ty to use the time I had in my hand as I wanted to. But at the same time, I realized that I should not waste it, as time becomes more valua-ble as one gets older and

reaches the twilight of one’s life. At the same time, I comprehended that retirement from a job does not make a person useless. It does not also mean that he/she must become inac-tive, or isolated. Indeed, as my younger colleagues suggested, there are many ways to spend time profita-bly. For those who still en-joy the challenges of life, they could venture on a second career that is more of their liking. For those who want to contribute something to society, there are so many social activi-ties they can take part in as volunteers. For those who have had no time to have a hobby when they were young, they could start a hobby, like painting or gar-dening, without the need to consider success or failure. For those keen on promot-ing their health, there are many groups of older citi-zens interested in enhanc-ing their health and they are most happy to welcome new members. For those who wish to pursue a more tranquil life, there are mon-asteries and religious or-ganizations in nearly every village in Myanmar to take refuge in.

For those of us who have retired, and the shad-ows around us are begin-ning to lengthen, it is im-portant to realize that life is precious, and one is very fortunate to be able to sur-vive beyond the age of six-ty. Our society still needs us, and we can still contrib-ute a lot to the social and moral development of the next generation. Therefore, it is we need to make best use of the time we have, not only for ourselves, but also for all living beings.

Executive Daw Thin Thin Set of MWEA seen at Yangon International Airport on 15 November

before departure for Japan to attend the 35th Khneiren ASEAN Management Seminar in

Osaka from 17 to 21 November.—mwea

Wednesday, 19 November, 2014

P h o t o G a l l e r y9THEGLOBALNEW LIGHT MYANMAROF

Surgeons at Yangon General Hospital successfully treat heart stabbing victim

Yangon, 18 Nov —Yangon General Hospital, Myanmar’s largest public hospital, on Monday an-nounced that emergency surgery was successfully performed on a patient who was stabbed in the heart, a serious and rapidly fatal injury whose successful treatment is rare even in developed countries, ac-cording to Prof Dr Zaw Wai Soe.

“The patient’s signs are stable and no sur-gery-related problems have been found,” said Consultant Cardiovascu-lar Surgeon Dr Aung Zaw Myo, who participated in

the operation, clarifying his life-saving procedures in the resuscitation room.

U Myint Soe, who sur-vived after surgery on 28 September, said he feels good thanks to the efforts of the medical team which provided emergency care, which plays a critical role in saving lives.

According to the hos-pital’s data, head injuries are one of the leading caus-es of death among emer-gency patients, especially in men, while sudden car-diac arrest is most common in adults.

To reduce the death rate of emergency cases,

the hospital needs more professionals engaged in emergency medicine, Prof Dr Zaw Wai Soe said while explaining the role of mod-ern equipment and facil-ities in immediate health care services.

As part of a strategic plan by the Ministry of Health to improve emer-gency medical services in the region, plans are under-way to add 25 to 50 special-ists across the country each year with the assistance of two Australian medical in-stitutions.

Currently, 25 special-ists and five senior nurs-es have been selected to attend next year’s master and diploma programmes in emergency medicine, according to Dr Hla Myint, medical superintendent of Yangon General Hospital.

GNLMYangon General Hospital.—Photo: Khaing thanda Lwin

By Khaing Thanda Lwin

A young man makes paddy dry in a field out of Kyein-ni-pyin camp in Pauktaw Township. About 1,000 Muslim households are accommodated at 126 eight-roomed buildings in the camp, one of four in the township. Apart from being provided

with bags of rice by WFP monthly, the camp people are allowed to do paddy growing and

fishing. —gnLM/Photo: Ye MYint

A group of kids seen in front of breastfeeding space at Kyein-ni-pyin camp in Pauktaw Township on Monday. It is one of four in the township with 26,612 Muslim population. “The camp sees health care services thrice a

month,” said one of the heads of the camp. gnLM/Photo: Ye MYint

Photo taken on Monday of children having a big smile on their faces at Kyein-ni-pyin camp in Pauktaw Township on Monday. So far 126 eight-

roomed buildings have been provided for more than 4,500 refugees at the camp. There are more than 17,000 people living in four camps in the

township.—gnLM/Photo: Ye MYint

Happy life of local people and improvement of farming work in

Pauktaw Township, Rakhine State

Wednesday, 19 November, 201410w o r l d

EU says it has no plans for sanctions on IsraelBrussels, 18 Nov —

The European Union has no intention of imposing sanctions on Israel if it takes steps to block a two-state solution to the Israe-li-Palestinian conflict, the EU’s new foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Monday.

European diplomats have said the EU is look-ing at new ways to press Israel to halt its building of settlements on land the Palestinians want for a state, as frustration over the construction programme reaches a new high.

Israeli newspaper Haaretz said on Monday it had obtained an internal EU document on sanctions that could be taken against

In this file photo, EU Foreign Policy Chief, Italian Foreign Minister Federica Mogherini, holds a news conference at the European Parliament in Brussels

on 2 Sept, 2014.—ReuteRs

Israel if it took actions that would prevent a viable Palestinian state. They in-cluded possible measures against European compa-nies working in settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, it said.

Mogherini said the EU had no plan of this kind.

The Haaretz article re-ferred to an internal work-ing document requested by EU governments some time ago that only formed a “technical working hypoth-esis”, she said.

A discussion among EU foreign ministers on Monday was more about “how to start a positive pro-cess with the Israelis and Palestinians to relaunch a peace process”. “It was not

at all a question of isolating or sanctioning anybody,” Mogherini told a news conference. In a statement on the Middle East peace process, the foreign minis-ters said the EU deplored plans for new Israeli set-tlement-building. “Actions which call into question stated commitments to a negotiated solution must be avoided,” they added.

Mogherini said the ministers had decided “to support new initiatives to relaunch a peace process”.

“We will build on the possibility of having a re-gional framework, working not only with the US ... but with some of the key Arab countries,” she said.

Reuters

White House reviewing policy toward US hostages held by militants

US President Barack Obama

wrote last week to US Rep-resentative Duncan Hunt-er that the review would include an emphasis “on examining family engage-ment, intelligence collec-tion, and diplomatic en-gagement policies.”

It added that a 11 No-vember letter to Hunter from Christine Wormuth, undersecretary of defence for policy, did not explicit-ly address the issue of ran-som payments, which it is US policy not to pay.

ABC News said Hunt-er wrote the White House in August after the behead-ing of US journalist James Foley by Islamic State, urging Obama “to guaran-tee we are maximizing our recovery efforts.”

Islamic State previous-ly killed US journalist, Ste-ven Sotloff and British aid workers David Haines and Alan Henning.—Reuters

Washington, 18 Nov — President Barack Oba-ma has ordered a compre-hensive review of US poli-cy governing efforts to free Americans being held by militant groups overseas, the White House said on Monday.

In recent months, Is-lamic State militants have beheaded three Americans, including Peter Kassig, an aid worker and former US Army Ranger, whose death was announced in a video released by the group on Sunday.

“The administration’s goal has always been to use every appropriate re-source within the bounds of the law to assist fam-ilies to bring their loved ones home,” White House National Security Council spokesman Alistair Baskey said in a statement.

“In light of the increas-

ing number of US citizens taken hostage by terrorist groups overseas and the extraordinary nature of re-cent hostage cases,” add-ed Baskey, “this summer President Obama directed relevant departments and agencies, including the De-partments of Defence and State, the FBI, and the In-telligence Community, to conduct a comprehensive review of how the US gov-ernment addresses these matters.”

The administration could not detail all the steps it was taking to free US hos-tages, but Baskey said “we will continue to bring all appropriate military, intel-ligence, law enforcement, and diplomatic capabilities to bear to recover Ameri-can hostages. Those efforts continue every day.”

ABC News reported that a Pentagon official

French, Dutch hostages held by Qaeda appeal in video

Paris, 18 Nov — Al-Qaeda’s north African arm, AQIM, has issued a video of a French nation-al and a Dutch national they are holding hostage in which the two men urge their respective govern-ments to negotiate for their release.

The video, posted on a popular jihadi forum by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb’s media branch, is divided into two scenes showing each hostage in a different location.

The first shows Frenchman Serge Laza-revic, who has been held in the Sahara for almost three years since being kid-napped in Mali, wearing a black turban and sitting in the passenger seat of what appears to be a 4x4.

“I am very sick, my kidneys hurt and I am suf-fering from very high blood pressure.... I fear my life is in danger since the French intervention in Iraq.

“I ask you Mr Presi-dent (Francois Hollande) to do everything to free me because you are responsi-

ble for everything that will happen to me,” he said, ending his statement with a message to his family.

The French pres-ident’s office said in a statement that the video had been authenticated by intelligence services.

“It is a recent proof of life that we had been ex-pecting for a long time,” the statement read, add-ing that the president was in touch with regional countries to use all forms of dialogue to release the hostage.

The last public proof of life for Lazarevic was in June. Philippe Verdon, another Frenchman kid-napped alongside Lazarev-ic, was killed by his cap-tors in northern Mali.

The second segment shows Dutch national Sjaak Rijke, who was taken by force from a restaurant in Timbuktu in November 2011 during a trip across the Sahara.

“Today’s date is 26th September, 2014... it is now more than 1,000 days since my captivity in the

Sahara,” said Rijke, who was wearing a white shirt with a grey sheet hiding the background.

“I’m suffering from serious back problems and I’m not well emotionally. I hold my government re-sponsible for any harm that comes to me. Please help me.”

Reuters could not in-dependently verify the footage of Rijke.

Neither man relayed any specific demands by AQIM, but they both al-luded to the release of an American soldier in May in return for five high-profile Afghan inmates held by the US military in Guantanamo Bay.

France launched an intervention against al-Qa-eda-linked militants in its former colony Mali in Jan-uary 2013 and has since created a 3,000-strong counter-insurgency force to track down Islamist mil-itants, including AQIM, in the desert spanning from Mauritania in the East and southern Libya in the West.

Reuters

New Zealand’s Labour Party elects former union boss as leader

Wellington, 18 Nov — New Zealand’s opposi-tion Labour Party elected former trade union head Andrew Little as its fourth leader in as many years on Tuesday as it looked to re-build itself and end divisions after its heaviest election de-feat in more than 90 years.

Little replaces Da-

vid Cunliffe, who stepped down after the centre-left party slumped to its worst showing since 1922 with 25 percent of the vote in the 20 September general election.

He beat out three op-ponents, including the cur-rent deputy and the finance spokesman, in a contest that gave the party’s broader

membership and affiliated trade unions a vote. Little, 49, a former head of the big-gest union and president of the party, has said Labour scared its traditional work-ing class supporters and centrist voters with policies such as a capital gains tax and raising the age of pen-sion eligibility.—Reuters

Wednesday, 19 November, 2014

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Iraqi security forces enter Baiji refinery: police colonel, state TVBaghdad, 18 Nov —

Iraqi security forces en-tered the country’s largest refinery for the first time on Tuesday after months of battling Islamic State mili-tants who had surrounded it, a police colonel and state television reported.

“The first Iraqi force, the anti-terrorism force called Mosul Battalion, en-tered Baiji refinery for the first time in five months,” police colonel Saleh Jaber, of the Baiji refinery protec-tion force, told Reuters.

State television flashed news of the advance but did not show footage. Nei-

ther account could be im-mediately confirmed inde-pendently.

US-led air strikes have prevented Islamic State, which swept through north-ern Iraq in June almost un-opposed by the Iraqi army, from making significant further territorial gains for its self-proclaimed cali-phate. Islamic State fight-ers seized the city of Baiji and surrounded the sprawl-ing refinery during that first advance in June.

If confirmed, the re-covery of the refinery could provide critical momentum for armed forces charged with restoring stability in a country facing its worst se-curity crisis since dictator Saddam Hussein was top-pled in 2003.—Reuters

Smoke rises from a oil refinery in Baiji, north of

Baghdad on 19 June, 2014.ReuteRs

Truck bomb hits foreign base in Afghan capital, kills two

least two Afghan security guards were killed, said Gen. Mohammad Zahir, Kabul’s police chief.

He said investigations were under way, but ear-ly reports indicated that explosives were hidden under sand in the back of a mini-truck that ap-proached the base.

The blast was large enough to rattle windows several kilometres away in Kabul’s central diplo-matic district.

Taleban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said in an emailed statement that the truck bomb was aimed at an intelligence centre of foreign troops.

He said a suicide bomber started the attack and several insurgent gun-men breached the walls of the base.

Reuters

KaBul, 18 Nov — A truck bomb hit a base for foreign forces in Afghan-istan’s capital early on Tuesday, killing two Af-ghan security guards, po-lice said.

The Islamist Afghan Taleban, ousted from pow-er by an American-led co-alition in 2001, claimed responsibility for the attack at the base on the eastern outskirts of Kabul.

Bomb attacks target-ing foreign troops and Af-ghan government officials and security forces have intensified as the interna-tional military coalition draws down, leaving the fight against the Taleban insurgency mostly to Af-ghan forces.

Tuesday’s explosion targeted a foreign base in the Pul-e-Charkhi district in eastern Kabul, and at

Afghan security forces arrive at the site of a blast in Kabul on 18 Nov, 2014.—ReuteRs

Frenchman seen in Islamic State video of beheadings

london/Paris, 18 Nov — A Frenchman is believed to have been among Islamic State jihadists appearing on a video showing the severed head of US aid worker Peter Kassig, but a British man denied earlier reports his medical student son was there too.

Sunday’s announcement of Kassig’s death, the fifth such kill-ing of a Western captive by Islamic State, formed part of a video

that also showed the beheadings of at least 14 men Islamic State said were Syrian military pilots and officers.

France’s interior minister said analysis by the DGSI security service suggested that one of the men shown herding prisoners to the execution site was Maxime Hauchard, 22, a French Muslim convert from the Normandy region. “This analysis suggests with a very high probability that a French citizen could have directly participated in carrying out these abject acts,” Bernard Cazeneuve told journalists.

French security services were analysing the footage to determine if a second fighter was also French, but Paris prosecutor Frederic Molins told reporters it was too early to say.

The parents of Kassig, a 26-year-old medic and former US Army Ranger who took the name Abdul-Rahman Kassig after his conversion to Islam, called for prayers for captives in Syria and Iraq in a brief statement on Monday at their Indianapolis church.

“If a person can be both a realist and an idealist, then that’s Peter,” said Kassig’s mother, Paula Kassig, reading words written about her son by one of his former teachers. “Peter has earned the right to be both.... Peter’s life is evidence that he’s been right all along; one person can make a difference.”

The Kassigs had repeatedly appealed to Islamic State to spare their son, who had begun converting to Islam before his capture in Syria in October 2013. They said his conversion was a sincere pro-cess.—Reuters

French Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve

Up to five dead in suspected Palestinian attack on Jerusalem synagogue

Jerusalem, 18 Nov — Two sus-pected Palestinian men armed with axes and knives killed up to five people and wounded four in a Jeru-salem synagogue on Tuesday before they were shot dead by police, Israe-li media said, the worst such attack in years.

A spokesman for Israel’s am-bulance service told Army Radio medics were treating nine people, five of them critically wounded. Israel’s Zaka emergency response team said there were a number of fatalities at the scene.

Israeli media said four or five people had been killed.

“We are viewing this as a ter-rorist attack,” police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. Media re-ports said one of the attackers was armed with a gun.

Violence in Israel and the Pal-estinian Territories has surged over the past few weeks.

Five Israelis and a foreign visitor have been deliberately run over and killed or stabbed to death by Palestinians in the past month. About a dozen Palestinians have also been killed, including those ac-cused of carrying out those attacks.

Residents trace the violence in Jerusalem back to July, when a Palestinian teenager was burned to death by Jewish assailants, an alleged revenge attack for the ab-duction and killing of three Jewish teens by Palestinian militants in the occupied West Bank.

The summer war in Gaza and a row over access to a Jerusalem com-pound sacred to Muslims and Jews alike have also been triggers for vi-olence.—Reuters

Wednesday, 19 November, 201412w o r l d

English classes with specific purposes attracting studentsTokyo, 18 Nov — Eng-

lish conversation schools with unique teaching pro-grammes are attracting stu-dents who have specific pur-poses in learning practical English.

Goover English School sends students to families in US military bases in Japan so that they can talk with Americans about a wide range of issues, such as cur-rent news, music and food, as if they were in the Unit-ed States. Goover has tied up with families in four US bases in Tokyo and Kana-gawa Prefecture, including Yokota Air Base and Camp Zama, for the at-home teach-ing programme.

Students pay 3,500 yen for a 50-minute one-to-one lesson, aside from a one-time admission charge of 35,000 yen and a monthly basic fee of 5,000 yen.

“As things students see (in US bases) are different from what they see in their everyday life, they can learn about the cultural and social background” of American

life in addition to English, said Atsushi Suzuki, presi- dent of the Tokyo-based school operator.

Many students at Goo-ver have specific purposes in learning English, such as

studying abroad in the fu-ture and using the language in their work, Suzuki said. Some students visit US bas-es all the way from Hokkai-do and Kyushu.

We Inc in Tokyo offers

what it calls “customized” lessons to teach English con-versation needed for specif-ic venues, such as clothing stores, restaurants, hotels, beauty shops and estate agents. Instructors and stu-

dents act as customers and workers, respectively, and converse in English.

We has about 600 stu-dents, with one-sixth of them taking customized classes.

Kei Ishikawa, a We of-ficial in charge of business strategies, said people who want to learn English are different in their occupations and jobs. “We worked out (the customized teaching method) believing we can help students learn more practical English by meeting their individual needs.”

A survey by Recruit Lifestyle Co, which publish-es the “Keiko to Manabu” magazine on enrichment les-sons, found English topping a list of lessons both men and women want to take.

“Demand for situational English conversation lessons will grow stronger” as Japan steps up preparations for the anticipated increase in for-eign visitors for the Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo in 2020, said Nahoko Negishi, editor-in-chief of the maga-zine.—Kyodo News

Photo taken on 15 Oct, 2014 shows an instructor (L) of We Inc. acting as a customer at a clothing store and addressing a student in the role of a store worker during

“customized” English conversation lessons in Tokyo’s Shibuya Ward.—ReuteRs

Indonesia raises

subsidized fuel prices

JakarTa, 18 Nov — The Indonesian gov-ernment announced an increase in gasoline and diesel prices late Monday, and the new prices will go into effect from midnight despite protests across the archipelago.

President Joko Wido-do, popularly known as Jokowi, told a Press con-ference the government decided to raise the price of low-octane gasoline by 2,000 rupiah (around $0.16) to 8,500 rupiah per liter and the price of die-sel fuel by 2,000 rupiah to 7,500 rupiah per liter.

“From time to time, we, as a nation, are fre-quently faced to difficult choices. However, we must choose and take a decision,” Jokowi said in announcing the new fuel prices.

The decision was made after a series of discussions during a Cabinet meeting he chaired and other meet-ings at related ministries.

“The government de-cided to shift subsidies on fuel prices from consump-tive to productive sectors. The country has needed budget to build infrastruc-ture, education and health, but the budget has been inadequate because it has been spent a lot on sub-sidizing fuel prices,” the president said.

Poorly targeted fuel subsidies, which are esti-mated to hit 276 trillion rupiah next year, eat up around 15 percent of to-tal state spending, burden the state budget and have created a fiscal deficit as the country needs to boost government spending to increase economic growth and people’s welfare.

Kyodo News

Italy region, island seek 220 million euros in Concordia disaster damages30 million euros in damag-es to Tuscany’s image,” the region’s president, Enrico Rossi, told a court in the Tuscan city of Grosseto, according to a statement.

Rossi said the region had registered a decline in tourism, and that Giglio had lost 45,000 visitors due to the disaster.

A consultant to Giglio’s local government, Carlo Scarpa, asked the same court for 190 million euros in damages, most of it for tarnishing the is-land’s image, according to a source present during the proceedings.

The two officials spoke during an ongoing trial against Concordia Captain Francesco Schet-tino, who is being tried for multiple charges, including manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship.

“To reconstruct the image of Tuscany as a top tourist destination will re-quire years of work, sub-stantial investments and costly national and inter-national advertising cam-paigns,” Rossi said.

Costa Cruises last year avoided a criminal trial by agreeing to pay a 1 mil-lion-euro fine to the Italian state, but victims and local administrations have pur-sued damages separately.

Shortly after the Janu-ary 2012 shipwreck, Costa Cruises also agreed to pay about 11,000 euros to each of the more than 3,000 pas-sengers for items lost and any psychological damages to passengers who suffered no physical injuries.

Sources involved in the trial say a verdict may be read during the first few months of next year.

Reuters

Florence, 18 Nov — Officials for Italy’s Tus-cany region and the island of Giglio said on Monday they would seek a total of 220 million euros (175 mil-lion pounds) in damages from Costa Cruises, a unit of Carnival Corp, for the

2012 Concordia cruise lin-er disaster.

The Costa Concordia was carrying more than 4,000 passengers and crew when it struck rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio and capsized, killing 32 people.

The ship remained

partially submerged near the port of the holiday is-land for more than two years before being raised and towed away this year in one of the largest and most complex maritime salvages ever completed.

“We will ask Costa for

Tug boats push the Costa Concordia ship inside Genoa’s port, in northern Italy, where the ship will be broken up for scrap, on 27 July, 2014.—ReuteRs

Tokyo, 18 Nov —Fa-cial recognition machines will be introduced for im-migration screening of Jap-anese passengers at airports possibly in fiscal 2017 to reduce waiting time amid a growth in visitors from abroad, according to Justice Ministry sources.

The switch will allow more passport control staff to be shifted to process for-eign passengers, the sources

Japan’s int’l airports eye machine screening for Japanese passengerssaid. The plan comes after trials of biometric machines from five companies con-ducted in August and Sep-tember produced relatively low error rates, according to the ministry’s Immigration Bureau.

A ministry panel of experts presented a report to Justice Minister Yoko Kamikawa on Tuesday saying identity recognition technology has improved

sufficiently to make full use of it.

In this summer’s trials involving 22,341 volunteers aged 13 or older, the rate of passengers not correct-ly identified dropped to as low as 0.26 percent for the best of the machines tested, according to the ministry. They trials were conducted at two international airports for Tokyo — Narita and Haneda. In a 2012 trial, a

machine by one of the five companies produced an er-ror rate of 17 percent, high enough to discourage the ministry from going ahead with the scheme at the time. New trials were held in the summer as the ministry ex-pects more people to visit Japan ahead of the 2020 To-kyo Olympics.

Biometric recognition machines compare images of arriving passengers’ fac-

es with facial photo data in chips in their passports.

Failed identity match-es in the tests resulted from people wearing glasses or when hair overlapped their eyebrows, according to an immigration official. “We hope we can aim at early introduction by taking steps to improve accuracy,” the official said. Japan intro-duced automated passport control gates in 2007 for

Japanese passport holders and foreigners living in Ja-pan. They allow passengers to bypass manned passport control counters and go through fingerprint-based machine checks. Now avail-able at four international airports for Tokyo, Nago-ya and Osaka, they require fingerprint registrations in advance and the number of users has not been growing.

Kyodo News

Wednesday, 19 November, 2014

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Claims Day NotiCeMV BANGSRIMUANG Voy No ( 126 )

Consignees of cargo carried on MV BANGSRIMUANG Voy No ( 126 ) are hereby notified that the vessel will be arriving on 19.11.2014 and cargo will be discharged into the premises of S.P.W (3) where it will lie at the consignee’s risk and expenses and subject to the byelaws and conditions of the Port of Yangon.

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

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

shippiNg ageNCy DepartmeNt myaNma port authority

ageNt for: m/s WoNgsamut oCeaN shippiNg Co ltD.

Phone No: 2301186

Claims Day NotiCeMV PHUoNG NAM 69 Voy No ( - )Consignees of cargo carried on MV PHUONG

NAM 69 VOY NO ( - ) are hereby notified that the vessel will be arriving on 19.11.2014 and cargo will be discharged into the premises of S.P.W where it will lie at the consignee’s risk and expenses and subject to the byelaws and conditions of the Port of Yangon.

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

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

shippiNg ageNCy DepartmeNt myaNma port authority

ageNt for: m/s g liNK eXpress pte ltD.

Phone No: 2301191/2301178

Claims Day NotiCeMV GREAT BLoSSoM Voy No ( 03 )Consignees of cargo carried on MV GREAT

BLOSSOM VOY NO ( 03 ) are hereby notified that the vessel will be arriving on 19.11.2014 and cargo will be discharged into the premises of M.I.T.T where it will lie at the consignee’s risk and expenses and subject to the byelaws and conditions of the Port of Yangon.

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

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

shippiNg ageNCy DepartmeNt myaNma port authority

ageNt for: m/s CCosCo shippiNg Co ltD.

Phone No: 2301186

Claims Day NotiCeMV PANJA BHUM Voy No ( 034N )Consignees of cargo carried on MV PANJA

BHUM VOY NO ( 034N ) are hereby notified that the vessel will be arriving on 19.11.2014 and cargo will be discharged into the premises of A.W.P.T where it will lie at the consignee’s risk and expenses and subject to the byelaws and conditions of the Port of Yangon.

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

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

shippiNg ageNCy DepartmeNt myaNma port authority

ageNt for: m/s WaN hai liNes pte ltDPhone No: 2301185

Claims Day NotiCeMV MoRoTAI Voy No ( 250 )

Consignees of cargo carried on MV MoRoTAI VOY NO ( 250 ) are hereby notified that the vessel will be arriving on 19.11.2014 and cargo will be discharged into the premises of M.I.P where it will lie at the consignee’s risk and expenses and subject to the byelaws and conditions of the Port of Yangon.

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

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

shippiNg ageNCy DepartmeNt myaNma port authority

ageNt for: m/s Cma Cgm liNe.Phone No: 2301185

Weather reportWeather reportBay iNfereNCe: Weather is generally fair in the North Bay and partly cloudy in the Andaman Sea and elsewhere in the Bay of Bengal. foreCast ValiD uNtil eVeNiNg of the 19th November, 2014: Likelihood of light rain or thundershowers will be isolated in Lower Sagaing, Mandalay, Bago, Yangon, Ayeyawady and Taninthayi Regions, Kachin, Shan and Kayah States and weath-er will be partly cloudy in the remaining Regions and States. Degree of certainty is (60%). outlooK for suBseQueNt tWo Days: Likelihood of slight increase of night temperatures in the Lower Myanmar areas.

Photo taken on 17 Nov, 2014 shows the traditional Mandala beautified by workers as preparation for the upcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Summit in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The SAARC summit will be held in Kathmandu from 22 to 27 November.—Xinhua

thai hospital inaugurated in CambodiaPhnom Penh, 18 Nov — Cambodian Prime Minister

Hun Sen on Tuesday inaugurated a Thai-funded hospital, which targets middle- and high-class patients.

The 50-million-US dollar Royal Phnom Penh Hospi-tal is a tertiary care hospital managed by Bangkok Dusit Medical Services Public Company, Chairman of the Bangkok Dusit Medical Services Prasert Prasatthong said at the inauguration ceremony. “The Royal Phnom Penh Hospital was built according to international standards and well equipped with modern medical facilities,” he said, adding the 8-story hospital consisted of 100 beds, 5 operating rooms, 40 out-patient examination rooms, 12 intensive care units, and 4 laboratory and delivery rooms.

Some 40 doctors from Thailand, Cambodia, the United States, Switzerland and France are ready to serve patients at the hospital, he added. Speaking at the ceremony, Prime Minister Hun Sen said such an international-standard hospital would give Cambodians access to better medical services. “Patients will be no need to travel to Bangkok for medical services because they can choose this well-equipped hospital so that they can spend less money,” he said. “The hospital will also increase confidence in for-eign tourists and investors to Cambodia. “ The hospital started to be built since 2007, but the construction had been slowed down because of a border conflict between Cambodia and Thailand in 2008.—Xinhua

s Korea bans poultry imports from Britain, the Netherlands

Seoul, 18 Nov — South Korea banned poul-try imports from Britain and the Netherlands, which are being pestered by avian influenza, after imposing a ban on ducks and chickens from Germany, Seoul’s ag-riculture ministry said on Tuesday. The import ban was imposed from Monday on all poultry products, in-cluding pet birds and farm animals from Britain and the Netherlands, where the highly-pathogenic bird flu was reported, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

The ministry already

banned imports of poul-try products from Germa-ny from 7 November as bird flu was reported in the European country on 4 November. The import ban was part of quarantine measures aimed at prevent-ing the spread of avian flu in South Korea, the minis-try said, noting that it had nothing to do with the safe-ty of poultry products here.

The ministry asked po-tential visitors who travel to Europe to refrain from making contact with farm animals there and bringing any poultry from the affect-ed countries.—Xinhua

5.9-magnitude quake hits 154 km eNe of Bitung, indonesia

hong Kong, 18 Nov — An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale jolted 154 km ENE of Bitung, Indonesia 04:47:18 GMT on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said. The epicentre, with a depth of 35.0 km, was initially determined to be at 1.8939 degrees north latitude and 126.4993 degrees east longitude.—Xinhua

Wednesday, 19 November, 201414 e n t e r t a i n m e n t

Angelina Jolie says POW film helped with motherhoodto know a man like Louis Zamperini in my life, to know that there is hope,” Jolie said.

Jolie was able to show Zamperini an early cut of the film, shot in Australia, before his death in July, aged 97.

“The strength of a strong heart and an indom-itable will is valuable and it’s worth something,” she added.

“We have to remember that and hold onto that be-cause that’s what will pull us through and it’s what has always pulled people through dark times.”

Jolie was joined on the red carpet by her husband, the actor Brad Pitt, and Jack O’Connell, who plays Zamperini.

The mother of six told Vanity Fair magazine this month she was open to pur-suing a life in politics, or public service.

Jolie’s first film as a director, “In the Land of Blood and Honey”, was set during the Bosnian war and released in 2011.—Reuters

Sydney, 18 Nov — “Unbroken”, a film Ange-lina Jolie directed about the plight of an American Olympian turned World War II prisoner, helped her tackle motherhood, the Os-car-winning actress said on Monday. Hundreds of fans

crowded outside a Sydney theatre to welcome Jolie to Australia for the world pre-miere of her second direct-ing effort.

Based on a best-sell-ing book by Laura Hillen-brand, the film tells how Louis Zamperini, an Olym-

pic sprinter, spent 47 days on a life raft after his plane crashed into the Pacific, and was then held for two years by the Japanese.

“I think as a human be-ing, as a mother, as some-one who works internation-ally, I needed desperately

Angelina Jolie (L-R), cast member Miyavi, his wife Melody Ishihara and Brad Pitt attend the world premiere of Jolie’s film “Unbroken’’ at the State Theatre in Sydney

on 17 Nov, 2014.—ReuteRs

Anthony Hopkins, Ed Harris lead stars on HBO’s ‘Westworld’

LoS AngeLeS, 18 Nov — Sir Anthony Hopkins and Ed Harris will lead the cast of HBO’s upcoming drama series “Westworld” to air next year, Time Warner Inc’s cable network said on Monday.

“Westworld,” based on the 1973 film of the same name directed by Michael Crichton, will be executively produced by JJ Abrams, Jerry Weintraub and Bryan Burk, while “Interstellar” co-writer Jonathan Nolan will pen the one-hour episodes.

HBO did not confirm how many episodes the show will include, or an exact air date.

While Crichton’s film explored a futuristic adult amusement park thrown into chaos after a robot malfunc-tion, the HBO series is described as “a dark odyssey about the dawn of artificial consciousness and the future of sin.”

“Westworld” will also star Thandie Newton, Evan Rachel Wood, James Marsden, Shannon Woodward, In-grid Bolso Berdal and Simon Quarterman. —Reuters

Cast member Ed Harris attends the premiere

of the film “Snowpierc-

er’’ during the Los Angeles Film Fes-

tival in Los Angeles on 11

June, 2014. ReuteRs

Japanese tough guy actor Ken Takakura dies at 83

Tokyo, 18 Nov — Ken Takakura, an actor known as “Japan’s Clint East-wood” for his portrayal of tough but principled gang-sters in over 100 movies and who gained interna-tional fame in director Ri-dley Scott’s “Black Rain,” has died at the age of 83.

Takakura, who played alongside US stars such as Tom Selleck and starred in movies directed by Sydney Pollack and China’s Zhang Yimou, died on 10 Novem-ber of lymphoma, his office said on Tuesday.

Born Goichi Oda in Oita, on the southwestern

island of Kyushu, Takaku-ra got his start in film in 1955 when he dropped into an audition at Toei, one of Japan’s biggest film studios, out of curi-osity. He became known to international audiences through roles in Pollack’s 1975 “The Yakuza,” where he starred with US actor Robert Mitchum, and the 1992 comedy “Mr Base-ball.” In 2005 he appeared in Zhang’s “Riding alone for Thousands of Miles.” But it was in the 1989 po-lice thriller “Black Rain”, where he played a Japanese policeman dealing with Mi-chael Douglas in the role of an irritable New York cop, that he gained international renown.—Reuters

Loved my ‘Horrible Bosses 2’ role for its wildness: Jennifer Aniston

Robert De Niro to play father in ‘Joy’

shocking, she had fun act-ing out her ‘wild fantasies’, reported Contactmusic.

“It was kind of shock-ing for me. But I loved the character and the writing was so good that it gives you the chance to really let loose and not feel inhibited in any way. I think we all have strange thoughts or moments where you im-agine what it would be like to get really wild.

“It’s very rare that you ever get to act out those kinds of fantasies and that’s why acting can be so stimulating really, because it’s the very nature of the process to totally throw yourself into the mind of the character,” she said.

PTI

London, 18 Nov — “It was kind of shocking for me. But I loved the char-acter and the writing was so good that it gives you the chance to really let loose and not feel inhibit-ed in any way. I think we all have strange thoughts or moments where you im-agine what it would be like to get really wild.

LoS AngeLeS, 18 Nov —Hollywood star Robert De Niro has confirmed his upcoming role of a father in David O Russell’s ‘Joy’.

The 71-year-old actor was hosting a special screening of the HBO documentary ‘Remember-ing the Artist Robert De Niro, Sr’, presented by Fondazione Cinema Per Roma and MAXXI, said the Hollywood Reporter. “Yeah, I am going to do something with them. I am going to play a father,” the actor confirmed.

The website had previously reported that he was in negotiations for the role, pending Jennifer Lawrence’s involvement. It will be the third time that De Niro has worked with Russell, after play-ing Bradley Cooper’s father in ‘Silver Linings

‘Friends’ star Jennifer Aniston says she loves her character in upcoming film ‘Horrible Bosses 2’ as it let her come out of inhibitions because of its wild nature.

The 45-year-old ac-tress reprises her role as sexually predatory dentist Julia in the comedy sequel and while she found some of her alter ego’s antics

Hollywood star Robert De Niro

LoS AngeLeS, 18 Nov —China has to wait a little longer to watch “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1’ in cinemas.

Lionsgate has delayed its re-lease in the big Asian market from 21 November to next year, reported Ace Showbiz. No date or reason has been cited yet.

However, it was reported that the first part of the last movie might arrive in Chinese theaters as soon as January. China apparently wants to

‘Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1’ delayed to 2015 in China

Playbook’, a role in which he was nominated for an Academy Award, and making a cameo in ‘American Hustle’.—PTI

prioritise its local movies and that “Mockingjay, Part 1” has some vi-olence scenes which have to be cen-sored for Chinese audience.

Lionsgate previously an-nounced that a press tour for the film would take place in Beijing on 1 No-vember but that plan was scrapped.

The cast and crew later turned up at London’s Leicester Square for the world premiere and at Los Ange-les’ Nokia Live Theater for the US premiere.—Reuters

Wednesday, 19 November, 2014

g e n e r a l15

* Local News* Aesthetic Chinlone* World News* Today Myanmar

“Booming Garment Industry”

* Local News* Shots & Logs

(Episode-2) Ye’ Pyae* World News* Strolling Along A

Memory Link - U Pein Bridge

* Local News* Chef Life :

Cho Wut Yee* World News* A Visit To Ye* Local News* A Simple And

Peaceful Life* World News* 19 Hours* Local News* Craft Blacksmithing* World News* In the Studio

“Khin Su Shin”* Local News* The Photographer* World News* Temple Stalls* Local News* Culture Show:

Abdication of King Thibaw

* World News* Let’s Explore the

Customs of Mindut* Local News* Food Trip

(Episode-10)* World News* Fortune Teller:

“Yan Moe Aung”

(19-11-14 07:00 am~ 20-11-14 07:00 am) MST

MITVMITVMYANMAR INTERNATIONAL

6:00 am* Paritta by Hilly

Region Missionary Sayadaw

6:30 am* Physical Exercise7:00 am* News / Weather

Report7:20 am* Pyi Thu Ni Ti8:00 am* News / International News8:30 am* TV Drama Series10:00 am* News 11:20 am* Documentary11:40 am* Approaching Science

Discovery World12:00 noon* News/ International News /

Weather Report12:30 pm* Hluttaw Image3:00 pm* News3:45 pm* TV Drama Series4:45 pm* University of

Distance Education (TV Lectures) — Third Year

(Myanmar) 5:15 pm* TV Drama Series6:00 pm* News /

Weather Report7:25 pm* TV Drama Series8:00 pm* News / International News/

Weather Report 8:35 pm* People Talks9:00 pm* News9:30 pm* Hluttaw Image * Fine Arts-Boson

of Dramatic Performance

(19-11-2014, Wednesday)

Germany’s Bastian Schweinsteiger, Per Mertesacker, Manuel Neuer, Kevin Grosskreutz and Lukas

Podolski (L-R) pose with the World Cup trophy during celebrations to mark the team’s 2014 Brazil World Cup

victory, at a ‘fan mile’ public viewing zone in Berlin on 15 July, 2014.—ReuteRs

German World Cup documentary pulls in crowds despite bad reviews

Berlin, 18 Nov — A behind-the-scenes documen-tary film about Germany’s successful campaign to win the 2014 football World Cup in Brazil pulled in the crowds in Germany on its opening weekend, despite woeful reviews.

Critics assailed “Die Mannschaft” (The Team) as a sugar-coated, corporate PR-style production, a far cry from a more critical and stir-ring movie by independent filmmaker Soenke Wortmann about the 2006 World Cup, which Germany hosted.

But that didn’t stop 420,000 people from pack-ing cinemas, according to distributor Constantin, to see forward Thomas Mueller serving teammates in a pink Bavarian dirndl dress after losing a bet, and his fellow striker Lukas Podolski push-ing a reporter into a pool.

The 85-minute film, which premiered on Thurs-day on 600 of Germany’s 2,000 cinema screens, in-cludes some of the key mo-ments of Germany’s six wins

and one draw en route to winning the cup with a 1-0 victory over Argentina.

But it also has many tedious scenes of coach Joa-chim Loew looking moody as he walks along a beach, and of players fiddling with mobile phones while lying around the pool or waiting in airport lounges.

“It’s shallow, banal and doesn’t tell us anything we don’t already know,” wrote Fabian Scheler in the national weekly Die Zeit. “It’s nothing more than 90 minutes of un-critical self-congratulation.”

“There’s nothing new in this film — unless you’re interested in knowing what Philipp Lahm ate for break-fast after the final or how Mario Goetze plays table tennis,” wrote Spiegel Online critic Peter Ahrens. “What you see over and over again is players staring down at their smartphones.”

The German football federation made the film, hoping to repeat the success of Wortmann’s 2006 docu-mentary “Deutschland: ein

Sommermaerchen” (Ger-many: A summer fairy tale), which 4 million people saw in German cinemas.

But that picture, which also captured something of the party atmosphere that surrounded the 2006 tour-nament, even though the hosts only came third, had a far more successful opening weekend with more than 1 million tickets sold.

Wortmann gave audi-ences glimpses of mild-man-nered striker Miroslav Klose - who this year became the top goalscorer in World Cup finals history — getting an-noyed with a Munich hair-dresser because she doesn’t know who he is, and then-coach Juergen Klinsmann furious at being thrashed at table tennis by an assistant.

Reuters

A starfish, also known as a sea star suffering from a wasting disease epidemic is shown in this handout photo courtesy of Kevin Lafferty of the United States

Geological Survey, provided on 17 Nov, 2014.ReuteRs

Virus implicated in massive die-off of North American starfishWashington, 18 Nov

— Scientists investigating a huge die-off of starfish along North America’s Pacific coast have identified a virus they say is responsible for a calamitous wasting disease that has wiped out millions of the creatures since it first appeared last year.

The scientists said on Monday they identified the pathogen as the Sea Star Associated Densovirus, or SSaDV, after ruling out other possible culprits including certain bacteria, protozoans and fungi.

More than 20 species of starfish, also called sea stars, from southern Alaska to Baja

California are dying from a wasting disease that causes white lesions to appear be-fore the animal’s body sags, ruptures and spills out its internal organs.

“They basically fall apart into a pile of goo on the bottom of the seafloor,” said Cornell University biological oceanographer and microbial ecologist Ian Hewson, who led the study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

SSaDV is a parvovirus, a tiny form of virus that can cause illness in animals and people.

The researchers detect-

ed it in older starfish sam-ples, museum specimens from as early as 1942. They said it may have been pres-ent at low levels for years and only recently became a large-scale threat due to some kind of viral mutation, environmental trigger, star-fish overpopulation or other factor.

“It’s probably the larg-est epidemic in marine wild-life that we know of,” Cor-nell ecologist Drew Harvell said.

“That’s the million-dol-lar question in all this: Why now? What is it that changed that created the conditions for this outbreak? And we

don’t have the answer to that. But certainly a viral mutation would be one explanation,” Harvell added.

The disease was first spotted in June 2013 and has shown no signs of slowing.

“There are 10 million viruses in a drop of seawa-ter, so discovering the virus associated with a marine disease can be like looking for a needle in a haystack,” Hewson said.

“Not only is this an im-portant discovery of a virus involved in a mass mortality of marine invertebrates, but this is also the first virus de-scribed in a sea star.”

Reuters

Prosecutor examines racism against players of Dutch national team

the hague, 18 Nov — The Dutch public prosecutor (OM) is investigating racist reactions on social media to a ‘selfie’ made by players of the Dutch national soccer team, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reports on Tues-day.

After the preliminary study, in which the OM col-lects the facts, a decision on possible prosecution will be taken. Last Friday Dutch in-ternational Leroy Fer posted

a photo, made by colleague Memphis Depay, on Insta-gram and Twitter. On the picture Fer and Depay pose with seven other internation-als, all coloured. It led to a flood of responses, including racist, with people comparing the players with monkeys, slaves and Black Pete, a con-troversial black figure during the current ‘Sinterklaas’ cel-ebration in the Netherlands.

“I cannot imagine this occurs in 2014 in the Neth-

erlands,” Fer said in De Telegraaf. “The comments hurt me deeply. I am sad and disappointed at the same time. I feel like people want to say that I do not belong in the Dutch national team. These fans probably produced the loudest cheer when I scored at the World Cup against Chile.”

Netherlands captain Robin van Persie also stood up against racism. “This makes me very sad,” Van

Persie said. “It is shocking that this is still happening in 2014. We all represent the Dutch national team and color is no issue. This should be tackled hard. It’s time to set an example.”

Answering questions in the parliament on Monday Dutch Minister of Security and Justice Ivo Opstelten called the comments “dis-gusting” and announced to handle the issue “seriously”.

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Sunderland, Queens Park Rangers fined for not controlling players

London, 18 Nov— Sunderland and Queens Park Rangers have been fined 20,000 pounds each for failing to control their players in two separate Premier League matches, the Football Association said on Monday.

Both clubs admit-

Everton’s Leighton Baines

(L) scores a penalty past

Sunderland’s goalkeeper

Costel Pantilimon during their

English Premier League soccer

match at the Stadium of Light in

Sunderland, northern England

on 9 Nov, 2014. ReuteRs

ted the charge of “failing to ensure its players con-ducted themselves in an orderly fashion”, the gov-erning body said on its website.

Sunderland’s fine re-lated to an incident in the 76th minute of their 1-1 draw against Everton at

the Stadium of Light on 9 November.

Sunderland players re-acted angrily to referee Lee Mason’s decision to award Everton a penalty for a foul by Sunderland striker Con-nor Wickham on Seamus Coleman.

QPR were punished

Croatia FA urges ‘end to hooliganism’ after Italy trouble

Zagreb, 18 Nov — The Croatian Football As-sociation (HNS) has urged the country’s government and “the entire society” to combat hooliganism af-ter flare-throwing Croatia fans marred the Euro 2016 qualifier against Italy in Milan on Sunday.

The visiting fans twice halted play, tossing flares onto the San Siro pitch and later clashed with the police. Croatian media re-ported that 17 fans were arrested.

“These hooligans

have shocked soccer-lov-ing Europe and deserve nothing but condemnation of the entire society. We call upon the Croatian ju-diciary to process all those who took part in the inci-dent,” HNS said in a state-ment entitled ‘Let’s put an end to hooliganism’ and posted on their website.

“We also urge the oth-er segments of the Croatian society, starting with the government, to see those incidents as the last straw, which will prompt all those in power to an energetic

Croatia’s supporters throw flares onto the field during their Euro 2016 qualifying soccer match against Italy at the San Siro stadium in Milan on 16 Nov, 2014.

ReuteRs

Real’s Croatia midfielder Modric suffers injury blow

Real Madrid’s Luka Modric (R) celebrates with team mate Daniel Carvajal after he scored against Villarreal

during their Spanish first division soccer match at the Madrigal stadium in Villarreal on 27 Sept, 2014.

ReuteRs

Madrid, 18 Nov— Real Madrid midfielder Luka Modric is set to miss the rest of the year with a thigh injury, the La Liga leaders said in a statement on Monday. Modric went off injured in the first half of Croatia’s Euro 2016 qualifier in Italy on Sun-day and team doctor Bo-ris Nemec’s initial fears that tendon damage would keep him on the sidelines for over a month have been

confirmed by tests at his club.

“An examination by medical staff from Real Madrid have discovered a tear in a thigh tendon in his left leg,” Real said.

Modric, with his pre-cise passing and fluid movement in midfield, has been a key figure in Real’s bright start to the season that sees them top La Liga with 27 points from 11 games.—Reuters

Swiss Davis Cup dreams clouded by injury and row reportsLondon, 18 Nov —

Switzerland’s potential Davis Cup fairytale this weekend has become clouded by uncertainty over the fitness of Roger Federer and suggestions of strained relations between the all-time great and his team mate Stanislas Waw-rinka.

The country is on ten-terhooks to learn whether its favourite son Feder-er, struggling with a back injury, can recover from injury in time to cap his matchless individual ca-reer by joining Wawrinka and winning a first team ‘World Cup’ for his nation

against France in Lille.Everything had been

going swimmingly in Federer’s historic quest until Saturday evening’s semi-final of the ATP World Tour finals, in which he ousted his equal-ly in-form pal Wawrinka in an epic three-setter.

Yet not only did the draining final moments of Federer’s win reawaken his old back trouble, forc-ing him to withdraw before Sunday’s final against No-vak Djokovic, but the late tension of the match also caused Wawrinka to offer sharp, unimpressed words towards his opponent’s

support team at courtside.John McEnroe, the

former American firebrand now commentating for ESPN, only threw more fuel on the flames with his revelations that the two players were engaged in a long post-match debate.

“Something went on in the locker-room, there

Roger Federer of Switzer-land arrives to announce

that he is injured and unfit to play Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men’s

singles final at the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 in London, on 16 Nov,

2014.—ReuteRs

was a long talk between the players that extended well into the night,” said McEnroe.

“And the stress of that — I can’t confirm all of this — but a lot of this went on and I don’t think that helped the situation.”

Near the end of an in-creasingly stressful match which was only settled by a final set tiebreak during which Federer picked up his injury, it had appeared Wawrinka was unhappy with the exuberance of the celebrations of Federer’s camp, led by his wife Mir-ka and father Robbie.

Reuters

and decisive action,” it said.

Croatian fans have a history of unruly behav-iour ranging from rac-ism and fascist chants to flare-throwing and clashes with the police.

“Such incidents are obviously the result of the failure to act earlier. They are a shame for the Croa-tian state and have resulted in unforeseeable conse-quences for Croatian soc-cer and the national team,” the HNS statement said.

Reuters

for the reaction of their players to referee Mike Riley’s decision to deny striker Charlie Austin two goals — both in the eighth minute — in the 2-2 draw with Manchester City at Loftus Road on 8 November.

Reuters