Established 1914 Volume XI, Number 236 Fullmoon Day … NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Monday, 8 December,...

THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Monday, 8 December, 2003 1

Established 1914

Khanti ca, patient; this is the way to auspiciousness.

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

Volume XI, Number 236 Fullmoon Day of Nadaw 1365 ME Monday, 8 December, 2003

YANGON, 7 Dec— Prime Minister General Khin Nyuntthis morning arrived at Myanmar Shopping Mall where hewas welcomed by Chairman of Yangon Division Peaceand Development Council Commander Maj-Gen MyintSwe, ministers and officials.

The Prime Minister inspected showrooms at theMyanmar Shopping Mall which had been opened on SulePagoda Road.

A ceremony to inaugurate the Myanmar ShoppingMall was held at the said building, attended by Com-mander Maj-Gen Myint Swe, ministers, officials of theState Peace and Development Council Office, departmen-tal heads, officials of Htoo Trading Co Ltd and guests.

First, Managing Director U Htay Aung of the Ministryof Hotels and Tourism and Managing Director U Teza ofHtoo Trading Co Ltd formally opened the shopping mall.

Afterwards, Minister for Hotels and Tourism Brig-Gen

Thein Zaw unveiled the signboard of the shopping mall.Next, the guests viewed the shops.

Various kinds of camera, watches, cosmetics, jewel-lery items, garments with various designs for ladies,foodstuff, purses, paintings, furniture made of rattan,various kinds of electronic devices, sports gear and bookstalls are on sale at the shopping mall and Internet Cafe& Network Game are kept open there.

MNA

Myanmar wontwo golds inSEA GamesYANGON, 7 Dec —

Myanmar sports teamwon two gold, six silverand eight bronze medalsup to 6 December in theXXII SEA Games held inVietnam. (More onpage 8) —MNA

Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt inspects shops at Myanmar Shopping Mall on Sule Pagoda Road.— MNA

Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt inspectsMyanmar Shopping Mall

fertories to members of theSangha.

Next, the minister pre-sented 75 bags of rice to theHome for the Aged throughChairman of Home for theAged Supervisory Commit-tee U Ba Hlaing. Chairmanof Taungtha TownshipSangha Nayaka CommitteePresiding Sayadaw ofSasana Vepulla Kyakan

Kyaungtaik BhaddantaSundara delivered a sermon,followed by sharing of mer-its gained.

At noon, the minister at-tended the ceremony to do-nate a vehicle to be used formissionary purpose held atSasana Vepulla KyakanKyaungtaik and presentedrelated documents and thevehicle to Presiding

Sayadaw BhaddantaSundara.

Next, the congregationreceived the Five Preceptsfrom the KyakanKyaungtaik Sayadaw. Theminister and officials pre-sented offertories to mem-bers of the Sangha, and themerit-sharing followed,which brought the cer-emony to an end.—MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec— Mini-ster for Industry-1 U AungThaung this morning ar-rived at YwaU Monasteryin Aye-ywa Village,Taungtha Township, Man-dalay Division and pre-sented offertories to Presid-ing Sayadaw of the monas-tery Bhaddanta Kelasa.

Next, the minister metwith local people in thecompound of the monasteryand discussed arrangementsmade for development ofhealth, education and trans-port sectors and futurework.

Afterwards, the ministerproceeded to YwaU Mon-astery in Kanni Village andpaid homage to PresidingSayadaw of the monasteryBhaddanta Tiloka. After

presenting offertories to theSayadaw, the minister metwith local people and dis-cussed matters related to re-gional development.

After that, the ministerpresented offertories toPresiding Sayadaw ofYwaU Monastery inAungchantha Village andmet with the local people.

At 10 am, the ministerattended the eighth provi-sion-donation ceremonyheld at Pyilon AungchanthaPagoda and PonyawaranaAhyonsoon offering asso-ciation in Taungtha. Theminister explained the pur-pose of the donation andpresented 200 bags of riceto the association and 225bags of rice to 75 monas-teries. He next presented of-

Minister U Aung Thaungmeets local people, presentsprovisions to monasteries in

Taungtha Township

Myanmar Shopping Mall on Sule Pagoda Road.— MNA

Four political objectives* Stability of the State, community peace and

tranquillity, prevalence of law and order* National reconsolidation* Emergence of a new enduring State Constitu-

tion* Building of a new modern developed nation in

accord with the new State Constitution

Four economic objectives* Development of agriculture as the base and all-

round development of other sectors of the economyas well

* Proper evolution of the market-oriented economicsystem

* Development of the economy inviting participa-tion in terms of technical know-how and invest-ments from sources inside the country and abroad

* The initiative to shape the national economy must bekept in the hands of the State and the nationalpeoples

Four social objectives* Uplift of the morale and morality of the entire

nation* Uplift of national prestige and integrity and pres-

ervation and safeguarding of cultural heritageand national character

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

of the entire nation

Prime Minister General Khin Nyuntto attend ASEAN-JapanCommemorative Summit

YANGON, 8 Dec— At the invitation of His Excel-lency Mr Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan,General Khin Nyunt, Prime Minister of the Union ofMyanmar will attend the ASEAN-Japan Commemora-tive Summit, scheduled to be held in Tokyo, Japan, inthe near future.— MNA

2 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Monday, 8 December, 2003

Monday, 8 December, 2003

PERSPECTIVES

In the world today, information from oneregion can reach another part of the world inseconds as information and communicationtechnology is advancing rapidly.

The Union of Myanmar is carrying outplans to possess advanced information andcommunication technology in order not to lagbehind in development in ever-changingworld.

A coordination meeting on developmentof Myanmar Information and CommunicationTechnology was held at the building of MICTPark in Hline Township on 6 December, withan address by Chairman of Myanmar Compu-ter Science Development Council Prime Minis-ter General Khin Nyunt.

In his address, the Prime Minister saidthat the objectives of ICT development of theState are meeting with success owing to con-certed efforts of Myanmar Computer Federa-tion, computer scientists, computer industrial-ists and computer enthusiasts and the assist-ance of the Government; that the ICT develop-ment in Myanmar has been recognized by theinternational community; and that it is hon-ourable for the nation to receive the ASOCIOawards for ICT development in Myanmar.

The Asian Oceanian Computing Indus-try Organization (ASOCIO) has been set upwith the membership of the computer indus-tries of 23 countries from Asia and the Pacificregion including Myanmar and it representsover 10,000 ICT companies.

Thanks to the encouragement of theGovernment and relentless efforts of com-puter scientists, computer industrialists andenthusiasts, there have emerged MyanmarInformation and Communication TechnologyParks essential for IT development in Yangonand Mandalay in a short time.

If momentum of ICT development inMyanmar could increase all the more,Myanmar will soon be able to keep pace withthose in ASEAN nations which are advancingin ICT.

In recognition of the contributions to thedevelopment of ICT, ASOCIO awards werepresented to Prime Minister of Vietnam MrPhan Van Khai and Prime Minister of theUnion of Myanmar General Khin Nyunt in2003.

ASOCIO ICT awards (2003) for organi-zations went to Myanmar Computer Federa-tion and the Multimedia Development Corpo-ration of Malaysia.

At a time when ICT development inMyanmar is gaining momentum, the respec-tive departments, MCF and ICT industrialistsare urged to make earnest efforts for achievinggreater success.

For further ICT development

Buddha Pujaniyafestival opens

YANGON, 7 Dec— Theopening of the BuddhaPujaniya festival of the MahaZeya Atula Marazein bronzeimage in Bahan Townshiptook place at the southerngateway to the image thismorning, attended by thetownship Peace and Devel-opment Council chairmanand members, social organi-zation members, Wut asso-ciation members, teachers andstudents and invited guests.

The ceremony wasopened with three-time reci-tation of Namo Tassa. Leaderof Myat Yaungchi Wut as-sociation U Mya Thaung re-cited Pali verses.

Member of the panelof patrons of the Committeefor holding the PujaniyaTownship PDC Chairman UTun Hla Aung extendedgreetings and Chairman ofPagoda Board of TrusteesU Tin Ngwe spoke words ofthanks.

Afterwards, memberof Wut associations recitedMetta Sutta. The townshipPDC Chairman and theChairman of Pagoda Boardof Trustees formally openedthe ceremony which came toa close with three-time reci-tation of Buddha SasanamCiram Tithatu. —MNA

Yangon Mayor Brig-Gen Aung Thein Lin welcomes back Mandalay Mayor Brig-GenYan Thein at the airport.— MNA

The eighth ceremony to pay respects to faculty membersof GTI old students in progress in Maha DhammaBeikman in Bahan Township on 7 December.— H

Commander Maj-Gen Myint Swe inspects shops at tax-free market at the junction ofHanthawady and Kyundaw Roads in Kamayut Township.— YANGON COMMAND

YANGON, 7 Dec—Chairman of Yangon DivisionPeace and DevelopmentCouncil Commander ofYangon Command Maj-GenMyint Swe inspected tax-freemarkets in Dagon, Kamayut,Mayangon, Yankin andTamway townships thismorning.Accompanied bymilitary region commanders,Joint-Secretary of Yangon

Commander inspects tax-free markets in Yangon CityCity Development Commit-tee U Kyi Win and officials,the commander inspectedsales of vegetables, meat, fish,egg, rice and personal goodsat the markets.

At Kyaikkasan Vehi-cle and Spare Parts Centre inTamway Township, the com-mander saw over shops inthe centre and gave neces-sary instructions.

On arrival at YangonTatmyo Market in Pha-Sa-Pa-La Ward, MingalaTaungnyunt Township, thecommander and party in-spected sales of vegetables,meat and fish, groceries, riceand personal goods shops andgarments stores. Later, thecommander gave necessaryinstructions.

MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec —Chairman of Mandalay CityDevelopment CommitteeMayor Brig-Gen Yan Thein,Vice-Chairman of Yangon CityDevelopment Committee

Mandalay Mayor Brig-Gen Yan Thein arrives backVice-Mayor Col Maung Paand delegation members ar-rived back here by air this af-ternoon after attending the EastAsia Mayors’ Meeting held inKunming, the People’s Repub-

lic of China.They were wel-comed back at Yangon Inter-national Airport by Chairmanof Yangon City DevelopmentCommittee Mayor Brig-GenAung Thein Lin. — MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec — A cer-emony to open a new pa-tient ward two-storey build-ing of Labutta People’s Hos-pital, Ayeyawady Divisionand hand it over to the Min-istry of Health was held infront of the building on 5December. Present wereChairman of AyeyawadyDivision Peace and Devel-opment Council South-WestCommand CommanderMaj-Gen Soe Naing andwife, departmental officials,social organizations, andguests.

The commander made aspeech on the occasion. Onbehalf of wellwisher Dr SeinWin and family of UnitedConstruction, townselderU Tin Oo reported to theminister on measures taken

Tatmadaw SoccerTournament

continuesYANGON, 7 Dec—

The second round matchesof the 42nd Defence Serv-ices Commander-in-Chief’sTrophy Tatmadaw (Army,Navy and Air) Soccer Tour-nament continued at respec-tive venues today.

At Yangon Com-mand sports Ground inMingaladon, Tatmadaw(Navy) team beat South-EastCommand team 2-1. Simi-larly, Southern Commandteam played with South-West Command team goal-less draw at Padomma SportsGround in SangyoungTownship.

MNA

Trial ofNational ChessChampionshipon 22-30 Dec

YANGON, 7 Dec—The first step trial of Na-tional Chess Championship,organized by MyanmarChess Federation, will beheld at Thida Hall of FireServices Department inMayangon Township from22 to 30 December.

Those wishing to par-ticipate in the championshipmay enlist at the federationat Aung San Stadium, notlater than 21 December.

MNA

Commander attends opening of new patient wardtwo-storey building of Labutta People’s Hospital

for emergence of the newbuilding. The documents ofthe building were handedover to the head of townhsiphealth department.

Next, Head of DepartmentDr Tun Aye of TownshipHealth Department spokewords of thanks.

Afterwards, Head of De-partment Dr Than Aung ofAyeyawady Division HealthDepartment and townselderU Tin Oo formally openedthe new building. The com-mander formally unveiledthe signboard of the build-ing. The commander andthose present viewed roundthe building.

Later, the commanderencouraged the patients un-dergoing medical treatmentand inspected surgical room

and X-ray unit where heheard reports on measurestaken for medical treatmentpresented by the MedicalSuperintendent and officials.

The two-storey patientbuilding is of reinforced con-crete type and it is an eight-bed facility. Wellwisher DrSein Win and family ofUnited Construction donatedthe new building worth overK 25 million in memorial tolate parents.

The commander pro-ceeded to the four-storeyPariyatti Sathintaik ofLabutta Township and paidhomage to Vice-Chairmanof Township Sangha NayakaCommittee SayadawBhaddanta Ñaninda andmembers of the Sangha.

MNA


BAGHDAD , 7 Dec— An American soldier and threeIraqis were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Baghdadon Friday, police said.

Captain Sami Hadi told Reuters at the scene that around16 Iraqis were wounded when the bomb, planted in themiddle of a busy road, exploded as a US military convoy anda minibus were passing in opposite directions.

Witnesses said the minibus was badly damaged in theblast, with all its windows blown out. Pools of blood werevisible on the floor of the wreckage. The front vehicle of theUS military convoy was also hit, witnesses said.

The US military did not have any immediate informationon the incident but said it was investigating.

More than 180 US soldiers have been killed in action inIraq since Washington declared major combat over on May1. During that period, scores of Iraqis have also been killedin almost daily assaults by anti-American guerillas.

MNA/Reuters

UNITED NATIONS , 7 Dec— The head of a panel charting the future of the United Nations says his group is to comeup with “practical and doable” proposals in analyzing the world body’s failure to respond to threats of war.

Panel begins to chart UN’s future

After deep divisions overthe US invasion of Iraq, UNSecretary-General KofiAnnan last month chose apanel of former prime min-isters and foreign ministers,among others, to make pro-posals for the United Na-tions in the 21st century.

Speaking before the 16-member group started itsfirst weekend retreat inPrinceton, New Jersey theformer prime minister ofThailand, Anand Panya-rachun said on Friday, “weare at a crossroads.”

“We have to try to focuson the fundamental causesof failure of the UN system

to take collective action ormake a collective responseto threats of peace and secu-rity,” he said of the reportthe panel will deliver by nextSeptember.

“We have to focus on aset of recommendations thatare practical and are doable,”Panyarachun said.

The panel was formed af-ter Annan told world lead-ers at the General Assemblysession last September thatthe world body had reacheda “fork in the road,” possi-bly as important as in 1945when representatives of 50countries met in San Fran-cisco to draw up the UN

charter.He challenged the Bush

administration’s doctrine ofpre-emptive military inter-vention, saying it could leadto the law of the jungle. Buthe said that the multilateralsecurity system was also indisrepair, often incapable ofdealing with threats of weap-ons proliferation, terrorismand poverty.

Panyarachun said theworld remembered UN fail-ures more than its achieve-ments.

“It is true that the UN hashad a mixture of good anddisappointing results,” hesaid. “But be that as it may.

in recent years credibilityof UN is at stake.”

“If the UN is found to bewanting or not as effectiveas people expect, it couldmean we are moving to-wards the end of the UNsystem,” he said.

Included in the group isQian Qichen, China’sformer foreign minister,Yevgeny Primakov, aformer Russian prime andforeign minister, formerAustralian Foreign Minis-ter Gareth Evans, formerNorwegian prime ministerGro Harlem Brundtland.

The American delegateis Brent Scowcroft, aformer national securityadviser.

Internet

Baghdad bomb killsUS soldier, 3 Iraqis

China Tibet Culture Week”opens in Thailand

An elderly Iraqi man

walks past a US soldier

securing a street near a

riverbank in the town of

Baquba in central Iraq

on 6 December, 2003.

INTERNET

BANGKOK , 7 Dec— “China Tibet Culture Week,” the first of its kind ever held inThailand, opened here Friday evening. Against a backdrop of snow-capped moun-tains and Lama temples, Tibetan performers with ethnic fineries unveiled the eventat the National Stadium in downtown Bangkok.

Li Bing, Vice-Ministerof the Information Officeof the State Council ofChina, read a message ofcongratulation from Chi-nese Premier Wen Jiabaoat the opening ceremony.

“The culture week is agreat event in cultural ex-changes between the twocountries,” Wen said in themessage. “The Tibetan cul-ture is a component of thetreasure house of the splen-did Chinese culture and aunique treasure in worldculture.”

The Premier hailedChina and Thailand asclose neighbours andtrustworthy partners andsaid that the fraternalfriendship fostered duringthe long-term friendly co-operation between the twocountries has becomeeven closer and was dis-playing its vitality as timegoes by.

Thai Prime MinisterThaksin Shinawatra alsosent a message to the event.

Thaksin said in his mes-sage that Thailand andChina have long enjoyedclose and friendly relationswhich have been movingtoward a strategic partner-

ship covering all areas of co-operation.

“Cultural exchanges suchas this will certainly help pro-mote better mutual under-standing between our peo-ples,” the Thai Prime Minis-ter said.

“Moreover, as the Thaiand Tibetan people are pre-dominantly Buddhists andshare many similarities, weare very glad to have anopportunity to learn moreabout Tibetan culture andtraditions,” he said in themessage.

The event, scheduled tolast until December 18, wouldoffer local audience a pano-

ramic view on Tibet withtypical Tibetan singing,dancing, movies and exhi-bitions.

Li Bing, who heads thedelegation of “China TibetCulture Week,” said in hisopening speech that the per-formances and exhibitionsin the following two weekswould help Thai peopleknow more about Tibet andbecome more interested inthe fascinating place.

In 2001 and 2002, Chinastaged similar culturalevents in Australia, NewZealand, Belgium andCanada.

MNA/Xinhua

An Iraqi woman leaves her house with her two children during a search for weaponsheld by US soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 325th Airborne Infantry regiment recently

at al-Iskanderiya suburb, southeast of Baghdad.—INTERNET

Dollar may weaken next week amidgrowing dollar-negative trend

TOKYO , 7 Dec— The US dollar may weaken against the yen next week as theJapanese currency loses its immunity to a fresh dollar-weakening trend, whichpushed up the euro to all-time highs and other major currencies to multiyear highsthis week.

Although the yen hadbeen given a reprieve fromthe trend —resulting fromglobal investors’ desire tolimit exposure to dollar-de-nominated securities — thedollar’s fall of more than 2yen from Tuesday appearsto signify the start of theloss of that immunity, deal-ers said.

Although the yen hadbeen left out in the cold duepartly to factors such as thenationalization of AshikagaBank and the Nov 29 killingof two Japanese diplomatsin Iraq, the market “appearsto have started a correctionin the yen-dollar front,” saidDaisuke Uno, chief marketanalyst at Sumitomo MitsuiBanking Corp.

Dealers said they expectthe dollar to trade between

half of the 108 yen rangewith the overall dollar-weakening trend threaten-ing to send it below 108 yenfrom time to time.

The dollar touched theweek’s Tokyo low of 108.08yen Thursday. Later in theday, the dollar fell into the107 yen range overseas be-fore returning to the 108 yenrange on the threat of Bankof Japan (BOJ) interven-tions.

But on Friday, the dollarcame close to sinking belowa three-year Tokyo low of107.52 yen hit Nov 14, 2000,when the day’s release of adisappointing US jobs datafor November pushed thecurrency as low as 107.53yen. The US Labour Depart-ment said the US economycreated only 57,000 jobs inthe nonfarm sector in themonth, much smaller thaneconomists’ forecasts of120,000-200,000.

Internet

106.50 yen and 110.00 yenin the coming week.

In the early part of thepast week, the yen was un-scathed by upward pressureon such high-yielding cur-rencies as the British poundand the Australian dollar aswell as the euro, as the plightof Ashikaga Bank and thekilling of the diplomatsdampened sentiment aboutJapan, dealers said.

The dollar hit a high forthe week in Tokyo of 110.04yen Monday.

But on Wednesday, theupward momentum startedto affect the yen to the detri-ment of Japanese exporters,with the yen rising to therange of 108 yen to thedollar.

On Thursday and Friday,the yen was seen in the lower

Don't smoke

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Rome accord on Iraqi loansset to help trade

ROME, 7 Dec — The Iraqi economygot a boost on Friday when 16 coun-tries signed a deal to release morethan 2.0 billion US dollars in short-term export guarantees for compa-nies looking to win reconstructioncontracts in Iraq.

Marek Belka, the head of economicpolicy in Iraq’s US-led temporaryadministration, said the agreementwould make it much easier forIraqi firms to buy badly-needed goodsfrom abroad and make them lessreliant on costly hard-cash transac-tions.

“This is a very important event forthe private sector and positive for thereconstruction effort,” Belka toldReuters after the signing ceremonyin the Italian Treasury.

The two biggest contributors werethe United States and Japan, whicheach offered loan guarantees ofaround 500 million US dollars, saidan Italian official, who declined to benamed.

The US Export-Import Bank an-nounced in Washington its 500-mil-lion- US-dollar programme was nowopen for business.

The US short-term insurance fa-cility is intended to support sales ofconsumer goods, spare parts,bulk agricultural commodities, fer-tilizer, capital equipment and rawmaterials.

Germany, which was adamantlyopposed to the US-led invasion ofIraq, signed up to Friday’s deal, butFrance, another fervent critic of thewar, was conspicuously absent.

The loans will be handled by theTrade Bank of Iraq, which was cre-ated in July by the US-led authori-ties in Baghdad and is being oper-ated by an international consortiumheaded by US bank JP Morgan ChaseCo.

Friday’s deal will make it possi-ble for Iraqi agencies and oil con-cerns to buy big-ticket items fromabroad using letters of credit under-

pinned by national governments. “Iraqis at the moment have to pay

cash for pretty much everything, whichis hugely cumbersome and risky,” Belkasaid.

“The fact that the Trade Bank of Iraqcan now issue letters of credit will makeit easy for Iraqis to buy goods in a morecivilized and safer fashion. It will alsoreduce their costs.”

Officials expected initial demandfrom Iraq to focus on consumer goods,such as food.

Italy’s credit export agency SACEput some 250 million euros (301.5 mil-lion US dollars ) on the table for short-term guarantees. Another 750 millioneuros have been earmarked for medium-to-long-term projects, but that money isfrozen.

“We do not think that there are theconditions yet for medium-to-long terminvestment programmes,” said an offi-cial at SACE, referring to the securitysituation in Iraq.

MNA/Reuters

Family expert warnsdivorce can

psychologicallydamage children

South Korean protesters chant anti-government slogans at a rally in Seoulon 6 Dec, 2003. Thousands of protesters gathered on Saturday to demand the govern-

ment stop the plan to dispatch more troops to Iraq. —INTERNET

Iraqis stand on top of a burned police car in Samarra,Iraq on 6 Dec 2003. A funeral for two Iraqis killed in a

firefight with US troops turned violent.— INTERNET

HANOI, 7 Dec — Vietnam is likely tomake clothes from a special cloth importedfrom the United States, which are used toprotect wearers from severe acute respira-tory syndrome (SARS) and other fatal con-tagious diseases.

The country’s leading local garmentmaker Viet Tien is proposing that the stateallow it to tax-free import Prevent clothproduced by US firm Kappler. A domesti-

cally-made suit will cost less than 10 USdollars, compared to import prices of 15dollars.

Next year, Viet Tien will produce anti-SARS clothing for export to the United Statesunder a deal inked with Kappler.

Anti-SARS suits were used during theoutbreak of the deadly disease in some re-gions in Asia.

MNA/Xinhua

WELLINGTON, 7 Dec —Divorce is as harmful tosome children as a high-fat,high-cholesterol diet, a vis-iting family expert haswarned.

Professor Paul Amato ofPennsylvania State Univer-sity of the United States toldthe Strengthening FamilyRelationships Conferencein Wellington Thursdaythat the effects of divorceon children could be asharmful as a “high-fat,high-cholesterol diet”, ac-cording to The DominionPost here Friday.

“Yet we think of chang-ing peoples’ diet as being anissue of public health,” hetold the meeting.

Children became dis-tressed when caught in themiddle of a divorce. It had

psychological effects thatcould persist for decades,Amato said.

He said that divorce of-ten severed important tieswith a child’s father. It fre-quently stood in the way of“authoritative” parenting,which studies had shown wasbest for children.

Authoritative parentswere not just supportive andhelpful, but also “quite firm”.“They’re not like dictatorsbut use democratic control,”Amato said.

The more child supportfathers paid the better theirchildren performed inschool, Amato’s study hadshown.

Amato said children of-ten rejected their stepfatherwhen their mother remar-ried, partly out of fear ofbeing disloyal to their bio-logical father. Amato hassuggested the divorced par-ents held off remarriage un-til their children adjusted tothe “dramatic” change ofdivorce.

MNA/Xinhua

Iraq mournersopen fire, killing

policemanSAMARRA, 7 Dec — Iraqis mourning two men killed

in a firefight with US troops clashed Saturday with civildefence forces, killing one officer and setting his pickuptruck ablaze. “Long live Saddam!” they chanted as thevehicle smoldered.

Further north, gunmen killed a police rookie in the latestattack on Iraqis seen as collaborating with the US occupa-tion. US forces arrested arms dealers and broke up a cell theysaid was planning attacks on Americans.

In Baghdad, an explosion in a truck killed at least two menlate Saturday.

Police found remnants of what appeared to be a mortarand shells at the site. It was not immediately clear whetherthe victims were guerrillas or bystanders.

The mourners in Samarra were burying two men killedlast week in running battles with US forces. After theAmericans returned their bodies on Saturday, about 1,000people marched to the cemetery to bury them. As is custom-ary in Iraq, they fired weapons in the air.

A group of Iraqi officers from the US-led civil defencecorps told them to put away their guns, witnesses said, andthe mourners opened fire, shooting one of the officers in thehead and chasing away the others.

Minutes later, dozens of people jumped up and down onthe charred pickup truck, chanting “Long live Saddam!Death to the traitors”.

Samarra is 60 miles north of Baghdad in the so-calledSunni Triangle, where opposition to the US-led occupationhas been fiercest.

Internet

South Koreans rally againstsending troops to Iraq

SEOUL,˚7 Dec—Some 3,000 people rallied near the USembassy in Seoul on Saturday to protest the SouthKorean government’s decision to send troops to Iraq,witnesses said.

The protestors braved freezing temperatures and gustingwinds to chant anti-US and anti-government slogans on thepavement, some 150 metres away from the US embassycompound.

“No troops to Iraq,” they shouted while waving banners.The protestors included activists, workers, students, teach-ers, farmers, street vendors and representatives for the urbanpoor.

They also chanted slogans opposing a free trade agree-ment with Chile and opening the market to agriculturalimports.

Companies of riot police, who outnumbered the demon-strators, formed human barriers to block roads leading to theembassy.

Last month South Korean President Roh Moo-Hyun saidhe would consider sending around 3,000 troops, mostly non-combatants, to Iraq — far fewer than the United Statesrequested. More than 400 non-combatants from South Ko-rea are already in Iraq.

The sensitive US request for more troops has split SouthKorean public opinion and the issue is heating up after anattack killed two South Koreans in Iraq and injured twoothers six days earlier.

The four electrical company workers from Seoul wereambushed in their car on a highway near the Iraqi town ofTikrit.—Internet

Vietnam to produceanti-SARS clothing

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Figures show funds for Iraq are far shortof pledges

WASHINGTON , 7 Dec — Six weeks after organizers of an international donors conference in Madrid said that morethan $3 billion in grants had been pledged to help Iraq with immediate needs, a new World Bank tally verifies grantsof only $685 million for 2004.

The vast gap seems to have oc-curred largely for two reasons: somecountries, like Japan, changed the na-ture of their commitment after the con-ference from immediate aid to slower,long-term help; and some that had lefttheir intentions unclear were incor-rectly assumed to be giving immediateaid.

Many experts also say that donationpledges often do not materialize in theend, or come in the harder-to-tally formof credits for the purchase of com-modities.

The grant money for immediateneeds was part of a total $13 billionthat organizers said was raised at theconference.

The Bush administration does notdispute the gap, but officials say it istoo early for an accurate count, assert-ing that the number of grants willprobably grow.

Some United Nations officials con-cur. “We know the Japanese are re-thinking what they’re going to do,”said Julia Taft, director of the Bureauof Crisis Prevention and Recovery atthe United Nations DevelopmentFund. “But once we get our trust fundsup and running, about 15 donors willcome forward. It’s like, the money isin the bank, but the bank doesn’t existyet.”

An independent trust fund waspromised at the Madrid conference

and is due to be set up next week.Aid officials acknowledge that it is

not yet clear how much money willend up going to Iraq outside the Ameri-can contribution of $18.7 billion in thenext year.

The World Bank’s new calculationis that of the total pledged for Iraq,$3.7 billion would be in grants and therest in loans. But those totals are forthe period ending in 2007.

The Bush administration had hopedthat the bulk of the aid would be avail-able immediately. But there have beendelays with loan money, too. Interna-tional law allows only a sovereigngovernment to incur debt, legal ex-perts say. —Internet

Soldiers of the US Army’s 4th Infantry Division, patrol the streets of Saddam Hussein’shometown of Tikrit, Iraq, north of Baghdad, on 6 Dec, 2003.—INTERNET

Microsoft launches Internetportal in Indonesia

JAKARTA , 7 Dec — Microsoft has officially announcedthe launch of MSN Indonesia, a localized web site ofworldwide portal msn.com.

“Of the 350 million subscribers to msn.com, 306,000 areHotmail users and 110,000 are MSN Messenger users fromIndonesia, so we want to make it easier for them by providinga local MSN site, using the Indonesian language as an interface,”PT Microsoft Indonesia president Tony Chen was quoted hereby The Jakarta Post as saying. Besides Hotmail and MSNMessenger, the new site, msn.co.id, will offer local news,search engines, online shopping, as well as electronic datingservices — all services offered by the original portal.

Meanwhile, Shriram Adukoorie, director of MSN SouthAsia, admitted that partnerships with local companies in provid-ing local news and other content were still being negotiated, sothe web site was only partially finished on the launch date.

“We invite local companies to enter into partnerships withus in running this web site — for example, partnerships withlocal media to provide the latest news for our web site,”Shriram said. Nevertheless, Shriram was confident that thenumber of local customers would grow by 100 per cent overthe next 12 months.

MSN Indonesia will also offer services such as MSN Mobileso that subscribers can receive e-mail messages, breaking newsor chat with their friends via mobile phone.

Indonesia, with a total population of over 210 million, is aland of opportunity for business people offering online services.

Although not many people have Internet access at home,many users, including those residing in minor cities, enjoyInternet facilities through local Internet cafes and in schools.

MNA/Xinhua

Glaciers in Canada recede quicklyOTTAWA , 7 Dec — Glacier cover in the Canadian Rockies is nearing its lowest point

in 10,000 years and water levels on the country’s biggest river of St Lawrence havefallen significantly in the last century, it is reported here Friday.

About 1,300 of Canada’sglaciers have lost between25 per cent and 75 per cent oftheir mass since 1850, Sta-tistics Canada said Wednes-day in a report entitled Hu-man Activity and the Envi-ronment.

The report said most ofthe losses have been recordedin the last 50 years. “Along

the eastern slope of the RockyMountains, glacier cover isreceding rapidly and is nowclose to its lowest level in10,000 years,” the reportadded.

On the St LawrenceRiver, levels at Montreal “av-eraged two metres above thelong-term average low-wa-ter mark at the outset of the

last century”. Matthew Bramley, di-

rector of climate change atAlberta’s Pembina Institutefor Appropriate Develop-ment, told reporters that therecession of Rocky Moun-tain glaciers has long beenattributed to global warm-ing.

MNA/Xinhua

Ireland has won the Miss World beauty pageant,held this year for the first time in China

HAINAN , 7 Dec—Rosanna Davison, 19, took the title on China’s tropical island ofHainan, watched by millions of people around the world.

China only recently lifted a 54-year ban onbeauty contests and spent millions sprucingup the venue.

Miss Davison, the daughter of rock singerChris de Burgh, is a university student in theIrish capital, Dublin.

Mr De Burgh - best known for his hit LadyIn Red - told reporters backstage: “I’m abso-lutely thrilled, I’m seriously proud of her.”

Miss Canada, Nazanin Afshin-Jam, tooksecond place, while the host country’s MissChina, Guan Qi, was third.

Beauty queens from a record 106 coun-tries have been parading before the camerasin recent days at China’s historic sites andbeauty spots.

They wrapped themselves in fur coats ona snowy Great Wall and unpacked their swim-suits on the southern island of Hainan dubbedas “China’s Hawaii”.

The city of Sanya has spent more than $30million sprucing itself up for the cameras, asthe show for the first time was to be shown onChina’s state television.

A $12 m complex was built especially forthe pageant. Among the panel of judges ofthis year’s finals are the Hollywood actor andmartial arts star, Jackie Chan, and the MissWorld 2001 from Nigeria, Agbani Darego.

Internet

Beethovenmanuscriptfetches $2m

LONDON, 7 Dec — Asigned manuscript of one ofLudwig van Beethoven’sstring quartets fetchednearly 1.2 million pounds(2.1 million US dollars) atauction on Friday.

The 31-page manuscriptof Beethoven’s Scherzo fromhis String Quartet Opus 127 inE Flat Major was bought by aprivate buyer for 1,181,600pounds, Sotheby’s auctionhouse said in a statement. “Theresult achieved by the Scherzosold today confirms beyondall doubt the strength both ofthe market and of the demandfor autograph works by thislegendary composer,” saidStephen Roe, head ofSotheby’s European BookDepartment.

Beethoven composedthe Scherzo at the request ofa Russian prince in 1824-25. The manuscript includesalterations and additionsmade by the composer him-self.— MNA/Reuters

France continues to refuse to take part in

Iraq reconstructionROME , 7 Dec—The United States has recruited 15

countries to help it rebuild Iraq, but the French are stillrefusing to take part in the effort.

Paris and Washingtondiffered vehemently over theUS-led war in Iraq, and theFrench are still refusing to haveany official part in the Iraqreconstruction.

Iraq's interim trademinister says the $2.4-billiondeal would do for Iraq whatthe Marshall Plan did forEurope after World War II.

The deal was signed inRome Saturday by Iraq's

Coalition ProvisionalAuthority, governmentexport banks from the 16participating countries andthe Trade Bank of Iraq.

Participants include:Australia, Austria, Belgium,Britain, the Czech Republic,Denmark, Germany, Italy,Japan, Luxembourg, theNetherlands, Poland, Spain,Sweden, Switzerland andthe United States.—Internet

��

Miss Ireland (centre), 19-year-old

Rosanna Davison, won the Miss World

competition held on Saturday in

Hainan, China. Second place went to

Miss Canada (right), Ms Nazanin

Afshin-Jam, while the host country’s Ms

Guan Qi took third. – INTERNET


International media protests USvisa policy, treatment of journalists

VIENNA (Austria), 7 Dec— International journalists are complaining that a USrequirement for them to have special visas is unfair.

An Austrian journaliston his way to interview BenAffleck for a movie maga-zine was detained, hand-cuffed, held overnight anddeported.

Several say that in thepast they were able to enterthe United States for jour-

nalistic work without visas.A photographer for a

Danish newspaper says hewas detained, his fingerprintsand DNA taken and that hewas escorted to his returnflight.

Six French journalistswere detained overnight in

Los Angeles, then forced tocross the entire airport inhandcuffs and without beltsor laces. The Belgium-basedInternational Federation ofJournalists plans to launch aglobal campaign against theUS rules in coming days.

Internet

UN says digital divide betweenrich and poor narrowing

GENEVA, 7 Dec—The digital divide between rich and poor nations, measuring the gapin access to the Internet and telecommunications, is narrowing faster than many expected,a United Nations agency said recently.

Days before a worldinformation summit in Ge-neva, which has “the divide”high on the agenda, the In-ternational Telecommunica-tion Union said telephonenetworks had spread rapidlyacross the developing worldduring the past decade.

“Fixed and mobile tele-phone networks have grownmore dramatically...than inthe entire period before thatdate (1990),” said EsperanzaMagpantay, one of the au-thors of the World Telecom-munication DevelopmentReport 2003.

As a result, even a coun-try as poor as Ethiopia, whereonly 0.3 per cent of the popu-lation are phone owners, some80 per cent had reasonableaccess to public phones, fel-low author Michael Mingestold journalists.

At the same time, mar-ket research reports onInternet access in the Euro-pean Union had routinelyoverestimated usage becausewhen national statistics in-

stitutes carried out similarsurveys, the figures were onaverage 13 per cent lowerthan claimed in the research,he added.

“The digital divide isnot as big as it was thought tobe. In the EU there is prob-ably less and in developingcountries more than wethought,” Minges said.

As a result, he added, itwas probably unnecessaryfor developing countries topress for financial aid fortelecommunications’ infra-structure to be included inthe proposed action plan forthe December 10-12 sum-mit.

A call by some devel-oping countries for a “soli-darity” fund is one of theareas of disagreement thatenvoys must try to resolve in

final preparatory negotia-tions set for this weekend.

But while the infra-structure might be in place,more must be done to reducecosts and increase awarenessof how best to use so-calledinformation and communi-cation technologies — any-thing from the Internet toradio.

Above all, better statis-tics were needed about useand availability, particularlyin developing countries, toenable governments to planeffective strategies, the re-port said.

“There is a dearth ofinformation for the world’spoorest economies. This sta-tistical divide is as great as— or even greater than —the digital divide,” itadded.—MNA/Reuters

Tourists ride horses near the 4,500-year old Sphinx atGiza near Cairo, on 6 Dec, 2003. Foreign tourism in

Egypt has bounced back in recent months, following a 25percent decline earlier in the year during the height of

the Iraq war.—INTERNET

A US army vehicle (rear) passes Iraqi men lined up for gasoline at a gasoline station inBaghdad on 6 Dec, 2003.—INTERNET

“Cocaine and ecstasy have proved tobe more dangerous than we had imagined,”said Giorgio Bronzetti, chief scientist at theNational Centre for Research’s (CNR) bio-technology department.

“These drugs, on top of their toxico-logical effects, attack DNA provoking mu-tations and altering the hereditary material.This is very worrying for the effects it couldhave on future generations,” he said.

The use of ecstasy, a drug popular atall-night dance parties, increased by 70 per

cent between 1995 and 2000, according to aUnited Nations report published in Septem-ber.

Ecstasy and amphetamines have over-taken cocaine and heroin as the fastest grow-ing global narcotics menace, the study said.

The CNR report, which took more thanthree years to complete, said animal testshad shown a direct relationship betweenecstasy and cocaine intake and the effects onDNA.

MNA/Reuters

This was the highest monthly exportfigure recorded since September 2000, saidthe Press release issued here.

The total imports in October this yearrose to 7.42 billion US dollars comparedwith 6.68 billion US dollars in September.

The trade surplus for the month under re-view arrived at 1.58 billion US dollars.

For the period January-October this year,total value of exports reached 81.67 billionUS dollars, up 5.4 per cent over that of sameperiod last year. —MNA/Xinhua

Study says cocaine, ecstasy cause DNA mutation ROME, 7 Dec— Cocaine and ecstasy not only cause addiction and raise the risk of

cancer but also provoke genetic mutations, Italian scientists said on Friday.

Malaysian exports up 4.4% in OctoberKUALA LUMPUR, 7 Dec— Malaysia’s exports in October stood at nine billion US

dollars, up 4.4 per cent over that of previous month, a Press release on Malaysia ExternalTrade Statistics indicated on Friday.

�� MOSUL (Iraq), 7 Dec — Guerrillas blew

apart a US Humvee with a roadside bomb inthe northern Iraq city of Mosul on Sunday,killing one American soldier and woundingtwo in the latest deadly strike on occupyingforces.

Sergeant Kelly Tyler of the 101stAirborne Division told Reuters thatexplosives were detonated as a US convoydrove past in Mosul, Iraq’s third-largestcity. Police who rushed to the scene said theblast destroyed a Humvee in the three-vehicleconvoy.

Bomb attack kills US soldier,wounds two in Iraq

“We heard an explosion and ran towardsit. I saw four US soldiers lying on the ground,with their Humvee destroyed,’’ policemanHamid Saleh said.

According to the latest Pentagon figures,307 US soldiers have been killed in actionsince the start of the war to oust Saddam, 192of them since President George W Bushdeclared major combat over on May 1.

Iraqi guerrillas have mounted daringattacks against US forces and their allies aswell as Iraqis cooperating with theoccupation. —Internet

EU ministers agree transport priorities

In a meeting shown onclosed-circuit television, EUtransport ministers approvedthe list and added just one tothe 29 projects — a canalbetween the Netherlands,Belgium and France. The listmust be confirmed by theEuropean Parliament.

Ministers looked headedfor a deadlock when severalcountries, including Ireland,Portugal and Sweden, triedto add new projects to the list,

a process some EU diplomatssaid was inevitable if anyalterations were made to theproposal.

But the new canal project,linking waterways betweenthe river Seine in France andthe Schelde on the Dutch-Belgian border, was the onlyaddition as ministers acceptedit was not included on theoriginal list largely due totechnical reasons.

"I am very, very happy,"

French Transport MinisterGilles de Robien toldreporters. "It wasn't look-ing good for the Seine-Schelde."

European Union TransportCommissioner Loyola dePalacio resisted the addition,saying it would open aPandora's box allowing othercountries and the EuropeanParliament to overload the listwith new projects.

MNA/Reuters

BRUSSELS, 7 Dec— European Union governments approved a list of transportinfrastructure projects on Friday which will be eligible for EU funding — the Trans-European Networks (TENs) aimed at boosting Europe's economy.

Britain liftswarning

against travelto TurkeyLONDON, 7 Dec — The

British Government onFriday removed its warningagainst travel to major citiesof Turkey, while stillclaiming a high threat levelin the country.

“Whilst there is still ahigh threat level in Turkey,the advice against all butmost essential travel toIstanbul and other majorcities has been removed fromthe (Travel) Advice.

This is in response to achange in the assessment ofthe immediate threat,” thesummary of the BritishForeign Office’s newlyupdated travel advice read.

MNA/Xinhua


* Saving one gallon of fuel per car per monthwill save the nation one US dollar

* Thus, a total of 455,822 cars in Myanmarcan save US$ 5.5 million in a year

* The amount, US $ 5.5 million, can build amajor bridge across Ayeyawady River

Efficient use of fuel

There are about 500,000 householdsusing electricity in Yangon. Thus, saving afour-foot fluorescent lamp every day by eachhousehold amounts to saving power that isequal to the capacity a 20-megawatt powerstation can supply.

Efficient use of electricity* Use daylight as the main source of light

* Use the least possible amount of electricityonly if there is not enough natural light

* Use the least possible amount of electricityrequired in production and service enter-prises

* Preventing waste of electricity benefits theuser and others

* Oppose those relying on externalelements, acting as stooges, holdingnegative views

* Oppose those trying to jeopardizestability of the State and progress ofthe nation

* Oppose foreign nations interfering ininternal affairs of the State

* Crush all internal and externaldestructive elements as the commonenemy

People’s Desire

* Do not be frightened

whenever intimidated

* Do not be bolstered

whenever flattered

* Do not be softened

whenever appeased

All this needs tobe known

Border area development:Once upon a time in Mawpha region

Myint Soe (Na-ta-la)

Ko Khin Maung Cho (Poet Ko Cho San), a friend ofmine, contributed a poem to the National Races magazine,published by the Department for Development of BorderAreas and National Races. His poem reminded me of thedays when we were collectively upgrading Metman into atown. Great! He could tell us about Metman with his poems.

Another friend of mine, Ko Ohn Myint, knew theMawpha area very well. He had served in the No 77 LightInfantry Division. Although he is not a poet, he can tell usabout Mawpha very well.

He told us that, “When we went to Mawpha in 1986-87, we had to cross Tapain River from a jetty on board apontoon boat. Mawpha then was a hamlet with only 14 or 15houses. It is located on a mountain over 5,000 feet above thesea level. From the mountain we could see Thanlwin Riverflowing silently on the lowland. In the east we could see thebeautiful natural scene as far as the eye could see. The Point5710, lying near Metman, was higher than the village. Whenthere were battles in the area, the No 77 Light InfantryDivision took a foothold at the Point. In the east not far fromthe Point was Thankhamouk Hillock. The Tatmadawmembers had to make much sacrifices to seize it from theBCP. The BCP had military camps in Yaung-U and Yaung-aw. Our troops were stationed in Lon-nauk and Twe-naukvillages in the north-west. I had discharged military dutiesat Hsok-wo in the south of Mawpha. It was also a hamletwith only 14 or 15 houses. There were poppy fields at thevillage.”

Permanent guests in Mawpha regionAye Win was one of my classmates during my four

years at the Defence Services Academy. He was quick tomake friends with anybody and friendly with everyone at theinstitution. When we had completed our studies at the DSA,duties were assigned to us to serve in the forward areas.When I asked him his assignment, he told me that he wasassigned to Battalion No 105 under the No 77 LID. That wasthe last time I had seen him and heard his voice. Hesacrificed his life for the national cause at a battle in Mawpharegion as a 2nd Lt. Other Tatmadaw members including CapMaung Yi, who was awarded the Thiha Thura Title forgallantry, also sacrificed lives in Mawpha region.

Mawpha in the pastIn the past, areas lying in the north and west of the

Mawpha region were under the control of BCP, Mongpyinwas in the south and Thanlwin River and Monghsu Townshipwere in the west. It was also known as Thanlwin/Mawpharegion. Residing there were Wa, Shan and Lahu races.Although it was included in the Panyang Township it wasdifficult for the authorities to open and run administrative

offices in Mawpha as it was on the other bank of theThanlwin. Thus, the region was under the control of the BCPfor many years.

Director U Sein Lin of our department was anotherperson who knew the Mawpha region very well. Although20 years have passed, he could draw the map of the regionand pinpoint the villages, Tatmadaw camps, enemy positions,the places where battles took place, and the jetty from whichhe and his troops crossed the Thanlwin. He was from the No104 Light Infantry Regiment.

The battalions under the command of the No 77 LIDengaged battles with the BCP troops and liberated manyareas from under the BCP control. While listening to hiswords, my mind went back to the officers mess of the No 104Light Infantry Regiment, where I dined together with myfriends, where we recounted our battle experiences, andwhere we teased each other.

What he told me was the true situation of the Mawpharegion. The situation in the region was getting worse then.The death of my friend Aye Win was a proof. The Tatmadawand the BCP were engaging in deadly battles to seize all thestrategic places in the region. Villages in the region weredestroyed, and became deserted or ghost villages because ofthe battles. Even at the time when the Tatmadaw was able tocontrol most of the areas of the region, the local people stilllacked knowledge and necessities.

There were no schools, hospitals and dispensaries.The military medical health attendants of the nearby militarybases were giving medical treatment to the patients at thevillages in the region. As for the villagers, they thought thatthe anti-malaria drug was enough for curing all kinds ofdiseases.

Mountain springs were the sources of water fordrinking and other purposes as there was not a single pondor well of clean water in the region. There was no electricityand cars. When the supply convoy arrived, the local peoplecame and helped carry the rations. Afterwards, they were ona joyride on the cars.

Tarwein Nong was the only jetty in the region tocross the Thanlwin. Many people lost their lives while tryingto cross the river. Household goods were rare as transportwas difficult. Even the household goods like soaps wererare. Any kind of foodstuff including salt was expensive.They had to satisfy their life with chilli and salt as the onlydaily curry. They are sincere people. But their troubles wereso big. Who have saved them from those troubles?

*****(Translation: TMT)

Kyemon+Myanma Alin: 5 December 2003.

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YANGON, 6 Dec — TheArchdiocesan YouthApostolate (Yangon) held aceremony to mark its silverjubilee at the Strand Hotelon Strand Road here thisevening.

It was attended byDeputy Minister forReligious Affairs Brig-GenThura Aung Ko, diplomatsof foreign embassies inYangon, Director-General ofthe Religious Affairs

Archdiocesan Youth Apostolate (Yangon)celebrates silver jubilee

Department Dr Myo Myintand Deputy Director-GeneralU Htin Myo, the Bishop andFathers and officials of theArchdiocesan YouthApostolate (Yangon),Catholic youths and guests.

The youths of the AYA(Yangon) sang a hymnto mark the silver jubilee.Next, the president of theAYA (Yangon) presented abrief biography of theassociation.

Afterwards, the deputyminister and Bishop CharlesBo delivered speeches on theoccasion.

Youths in charge FatherEdwin David spoke wordsof thanks, followed by askingfor God’s favour andprotection for all.

Next, a dinner washosted and entertainmentprogrammes were presentedto those present.

MNA

Deputy Minister for Religious Affair Brig-Gen Thura Aung Ko addresses silver jubileecelebration of Archdiocesan Youth Apostolate (Yangon) on 6-12-2003. — MNA

Hockey tourneyopened

YANGON, 7 Dec —The seventh Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services(Army, Navy and Air)’sShield Hockey Tournamentwas opened at the state sportsgrounds in Taunggyi on 3December afternoon.

Among the spectatorswere Shan State Peace andDevelopment CouncilChairman Eastern CommandCommander Maj-Gen KhinMaung Myint and wife,military officers of thecommand and departmentalofficials.

The commanderaddressed the openingceremony and watched thefirst match in which thecentral command teamplayed against No 11 LIDteam.

Altogether 18 teamsare participating in thetournament which continuestill 17 December.

MNA


Lt-Gen Maung Bo meets…

Minister for Hotels and Tourism Brig-Gen Thein Zaw unveils signboard of Myanmar Shopping Mall. (News page 1) MNA

Managing Director U Htay Aung of Ministry of Hotels and Tourism and Managing Director U Teza of Htoo TradingCo Ltd formally open Myanmar Shopping Mall. (News page 1)— MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec —Myanmar Women Entrepre-neurs’ Association held itsannual general meeting2002-2003 at the meetinghall of the association onShwedagon Pagoda Road inDagon Township here thismorning.

Present at the meetingwere patrons of the associa-tion, advisers, the president,executives and members.

President of MWEADaw Sein Sein made anopening speech. SecretaryDaw Nu Nu Yi and AuditorDaw Khin Htay Yu submit-ted and read the annual re-port 2002-2003 of the ex-ecutives and financial state-ments respectively.

Joint Secretary Daw HlaWady read the list of new

executives for the year 2003-2004, and member DawKhin Ohn Myint supportedthe list.

The chairman of themeeting approved the list ofnew executives includingPresident Daw Khin MyintMyint, Vice-Presidents DawThet Yi and Daw Nu Nu YiSecretary Daw Hla Wadyand Joint Secretary DawKhin Lay.

President Daw KhinMyint Myint extendedgreetings and handed overK 12 million to the MWEA.The donations was contrib-uted form the funds for or-ganizing the 10th Interna-tional Women Entrepre-neurs’ Federation WorldConference.

MNA

President Daw Khin Myint Myint presents K 12 millionfor funds of MWEA to officials.— MNA

Drive safely

Commander inspects TadaUTownship Hospital, Pansay

creek in MandalayYANGON, 7 Dec —

Chairman of Mandalay Di-vision Peace and Develop-ment Council Commanderof Central Command Maj-Gen Ye Myint, accompa-nied by departmental offi-cials, made an inspectiontour of TadaU TownshipHospital on 3 December.The commander inspectedoperation theatre, patientwards and dental section.Dr Su Su Kyi reported tothe commander onmeasures being taken for

giving medical treatmentin the hospital.

Next, the commanderencouraged the patients un-dergoing medical treatmentand gave instructions toofficials.

Afterwards, the ministerproceeded to Pansay creek,TadaU and inspected con-struction of the bridge inprogress.

The minister gave nec-essary instructions and at-tended to the needs.

MNA

(from page 16)Speaking on the occa-

sion, Lt-Gen Maung Bo saidthat the government is im-plementing plans for equita-ble development of the areasthroughout the country in-cluding border areas; asKayin State is included inone of the areas of develop-ment, departmental person-nel are required to organizelocal people so as to partici-pate in the regional develop-ment tasks; departmental of-ficials are to harmoniouslyand actively cooperate inundertaking the tasks; in ad-dition, service personnelmust carry out the tasks togive wide knowledge to thelocal people.

Then, Lt-Gen MaungBo cordially met thosepresent.

Afterwards, Lt-GenMaung Bo and CommanderMaj-Gen Thura MyintAung arrived at MebaungMonastery in Hpa-an wherethey paid homage to StateOvadacariya Agga MahaPandita Abhidhaja MahaRattha Guru MebaungMonastery SayadawBhaddanta Indriya, aged 94and vasa 74. They askedafter health of the Sayadawand donated provisions tothe Sayadaw.

Lt-Gen Maung Bo leftHpa-an at 11.30 am and ar-rived back here in theevening.— MNA

Construction work ofMonywa Airport inspectedYANGON, 7 Dec — Min-

ister for Transport Maj-GenHla Myint Swe, accompa-nied by Director of the De-partment for Civil AviationU Ohn Myint and officials,arrived at the finished woodfactory of Tagon Wood-based Industrial Co Ltd inSagaing, Sagaing Division,jointly undertaken bySagaing Division War Vet-erans Organization and Fly-ing Tiger Co Ltd, on 5 De-cember. Deputy Manager ofthe factory U Ko Ko Myintreported on the site chosenfor construction of the build-ing of Tagon Wood-basedIndustrial Co Ltd, location,laying of pipe line and con-struction of the water tank.

Managing Director of theCo U Mya Khaing reportedon production and sale oftimber, requirements andsupply of raw materials andsale of finished products.Next, the minister fulfilled

the needs.The minister and party

inspected the machinery atthe factory and gave neces-sary instructions to officials.

The minister and partywent to the constriction siteof Monywa Airport. Manag-ing Director of ShweThanlwin Highway Co UZaw Win Tun reported toNorth West Command Com-mander Maj-Gen Tha Ayeand Minister Maj-Gen HlaMyint Swe on availability ofgravel and fuel oil, use ofvehicles and machinery. Thecommander and the ministerattended to the requirements.

Next, they went to thenorthern part of the runwayand inspected earth workand tarring of road. Thecommander and the minis-ter also inspected along therunway of the airport andgave necessary instructionsto officials.

MNA

Myanmar team bags fivesilver, seven bronze more

YANGON, 7 Dec— TheMyanmar sports contingentwon five more silver andseven bronze today.

Winners of silver medalwere Kyaw Oo and AungHsan Oo in the double eventin the billiard tournament;Yin Hwa Thong Lwe inKhata event of the women’sjudo tournament; Aye AyeThin in the 52-kilo event ofthe women’s judo tourna-ment; Aye Aye Aung in thewomen’s 57-kilo event andYan Naing Soe in the men’s73-kilo event.

Winners of bronze

medal were the men’s teamin the 50-m prome rifleshooting event and AungNyein Ni in the singleshooting event; Win LwinOo in the men’s 80-kiloKumite event of judo Tour-nament and Aung Thura inthe men’s 10000-m race; thewomen’s two-oar westernstyle rowing event; LayNanda Aung in the wom-en’s 63-kilo event of thejudo Tournament and TunTin Htoo in the men’s 66-kilo event in the judo Tour-nament.

MNA

A&I Minister arrives backYANGON, 7 Dec — The

Myanmar delegation led byMinister for Agriculture andIrrigation Maj-Gen NyuntTin arrived back here by airyesterday evening after at-tending the 32nd Conferenceof United Nations Food andAgriculture Organizationheld in Rome, Italy.

The delegation was wel-

comed back at Yangon Inter-national Airport by Ministerfor Finance and Revenue Maj-Gen Hla Tun, Minister forLivestock and Fisheries Brig-Gen Maung Maung Thein,Deputy Minister for Agricul-ture and Irrigation U OhnMyint, Directors-General andManaging Directors and offi-cials. — MNA

Mass sports activitieslaunched in Bago DivisionYANGON , 7 Dec —

Chairman of Bago Divi-sion Peace and Develop-ment Council SouthernCommand CommanderBrig-Gen Ko Ko and wife,departmental officials atdivision/district/townshiplevels, members of Mater-nal and Child Welfare As-sociation, social organiza-tions, local people and stu-dents numbering over50,000 collectively took awalk in front ofThirihantha hall,Shwemawdaw pagodayesterday morning, asmass sport activities in thefirst week of December,2003.

The commander andthose present collectivelytook a walk alongShwemawdaw pagodastreet, Shinsawpu street,Phettan street, Hinthakonstreet and Thanatpin streetand entered into DivisionSports Grounds and per-formed physical exercises.

The commander and of-ficials held lucky draw pro-gramme including 32 kindsof personal goods worthover 200,000.

The mass sport activitieswere held in every town-ships, Bago Division andwill be held every weekduring December.

MNA

Annual general meeting ofMWEA held


Minister inspects No 2 AgriculturalMachinery Factory

ager of the factory U TheinAung reported to the minis-ter on production target andproduction of new items andfuture tasks.

The minister next in-spected the workshop for theassembling of tractors andgave necessary instructionsto officials. — MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec — Min-ister for Industry-2 Maj-GenSaw Lwin, together with of-ficials, yesterday morningarrived at No 2 AgriculturalMachinery Factory (Malun)of Myanma AgriculturalMachinery Industries inMinhla Township, MagwayDivision. The General Man-

Great Wall National ChampionshipBadminton Tourney concludes

and executives of MyanmarWomen Sports Federation,patrons and President UMaung Maung Swe of MBFand executives.

After the final match,MWSF General SecretaryDaw Aye Aye and U MaungMaung Swe and officialspresented prizes to winners.— MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec — Thefinal match of Great WallNational ChampionshipBadminton Tournament andthe prize presentation, organ-ized by Myanmar Badmin-ton Federation, was held atthe Aung San Stadium thismorning. Among the spec-tators were officials of theMinistry of Sports, patrons

Commander Maj-Gen Myint Swe, Minister for Social Welfare,Relief and Resettlement Maj-Gen Sein Htwa and Chairman ofHninzigon Home for the Aged Management Board U Maung Tin formally open 42nd Funfair. (News reported)— MNA

Prize presentation ceremony of Great Wall NationalBadminton Championship in progress.— MNA

Commander inspects…(from page 16)

have been implemented andfeeder canals have been dugin Tetthitkyun andBawlekyun areas.

Then, local authoritiesand officials reported on re-gional development and ag-ricultural matters.

Next, local officials andfarmers reported on educa-

tion, health and transportmatters for regional devel-opment.

Later, the commanderattended to their needs andgave instructions that depart-mental officials are to coop-erate with social organiza-tions and local people fordevelopment of their respec-tive townships.— MNA

Research paper readingsession of MAAFLFC to be held

YANGON, 7 Dec — Or-ganized by Myanmar Acad-emy of Agriculture, Forestand Livestock and FisheriesScience, research paperreading session 2003 will beheld from 10 to 12 Decem-ber.

The opening ceremonyof the paper reading sessionwill be opened at the meet-ing hall of Myanma Agri-culture and Livestock Breed-ing Enterprise (Headquar-

ters), 9th mile, Pyay Road at9 am of December 10.

The reading session ofpaper on agriculture will beheld at the meeting hall ofMyanma FarmEnterprise(Head Office), thepaper on forestry at ForestryDepartment, Insein Town-ship and the paper on live-stock breeding and fisheriesat Livestock, Feedstuff andDairy Products Enterprise.

MNA

ICRC Conference agreeson measures to protect

human dignityGENEVA, 7 Dec — The

28th International Confer-ence of the Red Cross andRed Crescent closed hereSaturday with the partici-pants committing them-selves to a wide range ofmeasures to protect humandignity.

Over 1,500 representa-tives of governments andmembers of the Red Crossand Red Crescent Move-ment agreed on an Agendafor Humanitarian Action,which focuses on enhanc-ing protection of peopleaffected by armed conflictand reducing the impact ofdisasters and disease on vul-nerable groups.

The states undertook toimprove systems for ascer-taining the fate of missingpersons and to take effec-tive steps to search for andidentify human remains. Itwas also agreed that allstates would pursue the ul-timate goal of global elimi-nation of anti-personnelmines. Furthermore, the confer-ence made a call for pro-tecting humanity from poi-soning and the deliberatespread of disease.

“We all agreed that ur-gent action is required toprevent the misuse of bio-technology for hostile pur-poses and the erosion ofthe prohibitions on poison-ing and the deliberate

spread of disease containedin international humanitar-ian law,” said JakobKellenberger, President ofThe International Commit-tee of the Red Cross(ICRC).

Kellenberger particu-larly welcomed the two ob-jectives of the Humanitar-ian Agenda which focusedon issues relating to thedevastating effects of armedconflicts.

He said that “the one isaiming at ensuring respectfor and restoring the dignityof persons missing as a re-sult of armed conflict andtheir families, and the otherat strengthening protectionfrom the indiscriminate useand effects of weaponsthrough controls on weap-ons development, prolifera-tion and use”.

“This was the first In-ternational Conference ofthe 21st Century, and itcame at a time when theworld is facing majorchallenges to peace andsecurity and widespreadthreats to health,” saidConference PresidentJaime Fernandez.

The 28th InternationalConference of the RedCross and Red Crescentopened here on December2 with the protection ofhuman dignity as its centraltheme.

MNA/Xinhua

ROMe, 7 Dec — PopeJohn Paul appealed to gov-ernments on Friday totackle hunger and poverty,saying they were a seriousthreat to peace and thathaving enough to eat wasa basic human right.

“Hunger and malnutri-tion, aggravated by grow-ing poverty, represent agrave threat to the peace-ful coexistence of peoplesand nations,” he told rep-resentatives of the UN’sfood agency. “Economic and politicaldecisions... must increas-ingly be guided by a com-mitment to global solidar-ity and respect for funda-mental human rights, in-cluding the right to ad-

Hunger, poverty seriousthreat to peace

equate nourishment,” the83-year-old Pontiff said.

One in every sevenpeople is now malnourishedand the goal of halvingworld hunger by 2015 is in-creasingly out of reach, theUnited Nation’s Food andAgriculture Organization(FAO) said in its annualreport, published last week.

“The world cannot re-main deaf to the plea ofthose who demand the foodthey need in order to sur-vive,” the Pope said.

The number of hungrypeople in the world in-creased by 18 million to842 million in 1999-2001from 1995-1997, the FAOhunger report said.

MNA/Reuters

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Development of Rakhine State is not a dreamZaw Min Latt (News Agency)Zaw Min Latt (News Agency)Zaw Min Latt (News Agency)Zaw Min Latt (News Agency)Zaw Min Latt (News Agency)

The State, the people and the Tatmadaw are join-ing hands in all spheres for building up a peaceful, mod-ern and developed nation.

At present, progress has been achieved in all sec-tors. The State has constructed dams and reservoirs foragriculture and roads and bridges for transportation.

Sanepauk Bridge constructed by Myanmar engi-neers on Yangon-Kyaukphyu Road in Ann Township,Rakhine State was inaugurated on 17 November. TheMinistry of Construction built the new bridge under theguidance of the Head of State Senior General Than Shwe.

At the inauguration ceremony of the bridge, Mem-ber of the State Peace and Development Council Lt-GenKhin Maung Than made a speech. In his speech, he saidthe State Peace and Development Council has been mak-ing strenuous efforts for all-round development to ensurethe emergence of a new modern and developed nation. Inthe process, development projects have been laid downand are being implemented to bring about equitable andharmonious development across the nation. The SanepaukBridge opened is situated in Taungup-Ma-ei-Kyaukpyuroad section of the Yangon-Kyaukpyu Union Highway.The Kaishay Bridge, the Tanlwe Bridge, Hsabyin Bridge,Lamu Bridge, Ma-ei Bridge have been constructed out of14 bridges with a length of over 180 feet to be constructedon Taungup-Ma-ei-Kyaukpyu road section. The SanepaukBridge is the 7th of its kind to be opened on the roadsection.

At the auspicious time, Chairman of the RakhineState Peace and Development Council Commander of theWestern Command Maj-Gen Maung Oo and Minister for

Construction Maj-Gen Saw Tun formally opened thebridge. Afterwards, Lt-Gen Khin Maung Than unveiledthe stone inscription of the bridge.

The Sanepauk Bridge is 789 feet and four incheslong and constructed crossing Sanepauk Creek. The bridgehas 24 feet wide motorway and 2 feet wide pedestrianlanes on both sides. Its upper structure is of steel frameand lower structure is of reinforced concrete type. It canwithstand 60-ton loads. Its clearance is 170 feet wide and

6 feet in height from the maximum water level.Now, Lonedawpauk Bridge, Didokepauk Bridge,

Thanthamakyi Bridge, Thanthamanchay Bridge, ThazintanBridge, Wanphike Bridge and Minkyaung Bridge are underconstruction in Rakhine State.

Now, the dream of Rakhine State has come true.*****

(Translation: AMS)Kyemon: 29-11-2003

Sanepauk Bridge on Yangon-Kyaukpyu Road in Ann Township, Rakhine State.

Vajpayee confirms participationin SAARC meet to Jamali

NEW DELHI , 7 Dec — Just ahead of his trip to Nigeria for the CommonwealthSummit, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee here confirmed his participa-tion in the SAARC summit in Islamabad in January to his Pakistani counterpart MirZaffarullah Khan Jamali.

In a letter to Jamali, thePrime Minister “confirmedhis participation at theSAARC summit”, ExternalAfffairs Ministry spokesmansaid in a statement here.

A letter to this effectwas delivered to PakistanForeign Office on Thursdaymorning, he said. The PrimeMinister’s letter was in re-sponse to a letter of invita-tion from Jamali on August6, the spokesman said.

Vajpayee’s trip to Pa-kistan takes place at a timewhen the two countries arein the midst of putting inplace confidence-buildingmeasures to improve ties.

Indian officials havesaid while the Prime Minis-ter was bound to come acrossPakistani leaders at such aforum, there was no likeli-hood of any substantive talkon bilateral issues takingplace between them.

While welcoming thepositive response from Paki-stan to its proposals, NewDelhi has stuck to the viewthat dialogue on outstandingissues could be held onlywhen Pakistan took crediblesteps to end infiltration andcross-border terrorism.

The SAARC Summitis slated to take place fromJanuary 4 to 6 when leaders

from the seven-membergrouping including Bangla-desh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhu-tan and Maldives besidesIndia and Pakistan partici-pate. Vajpayee had last vis-ited Pakistan in February,1999 when he had under-taken the historic bus ride toLahore and signed with thethen prime minister NawazSharif the historic LahoreDeclaration. New Delhi islooking for substantiveprogress on issues like pref-erential trading arrangementand the free trade agreementamong SAARC leaders toboost regional economic co-operation. — MNA/PTI

Chinese, Pakistani local governmentsto strengthen cooperation

LAHORE, 7 Dec — Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the ChinesePeople's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said he hoped that localgovernments of China and Pakistan would strengthen cooperation and learn fromeach other.

Jia, who is here on an official goodwillvisit at the invitation of Pakistani SenateChairman Mohammedmian Soomro, madethe remarks during his stay here at separatemeetings with Punjab Province Chief Min-ister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi, GovernorKhalid Maqbool, Provincial AssemblySpeaker Mohammad Afzal Sahi.

Jia, who arrived in this capital of Pun-jab Province on Friday afternoon from Paki-stan's capital city Islamabad, said this is hisfirst visit to Pakistan, which has enabled himto witness the Pakistani people's friendshiptoward the Chinese people.

He noted that Sino-Pakistani friend-ship is the common treasure of the twopeoples and China's policy on its friendshipwith Pakistan will never change no matterwhat happens in the regional and interna-tional situations.

China will join Pakistan in continuingto promote the further growth of bilateralrelations, stressed Jia.

Punjab provincial leaders said China isnot only Pakistan's friendly neighbour, butalso a reliable friend.

They welcomed Chinese business com-munities to invest here and conduct coopera-tion.

During his stay in Punjab, Jia also vis-ited the Heavy Mechanical Complex builtwith Chinese assistance, Ghazi Barothahydropower project with Chinese participa-tion, and the HNR Company Private Limitedwith investment from China's Haier.

Pakistan is the last leg of Jia's visit tofive South Asian nations.

He had visited India, Sri Lanka, Bang-ladesh and Nepal before arriving here.

MNA/Xinhua

"SEAI " expressesconcern about agri

proposed plansKOCHI, 7 Dec — The Seafood Export-

ers Association of India (SEAI) has ex-pressed concern about the AgricultureMinstry's proposed plans to permit jointventures between Thai and Indian compa-nies to operate large and medium fishingvessels in the Exclusive Economic Zone(EEZ).

If large deep sea fishing vessels fromThailand were permitted to operate in In-dian waters, there would be almost totaldepletion of deep sea resources, the associa-tion said in its memoranda to the centralgovernment, copies of which were releasedto the media in this southern Indian city.

MNA/PTI

20 injured aslocal train

derails in Italy MILAN, 7 Dec — A train

derailed just north of Milanon Saturday leaving about20 people injured, policesaid.

They said the train,which was going from Mi-lan to Sarrono, derailed neara station. The derailment wasbelieved to have happenedafter the train collided with alocomotive.

At least five peoplewere hospitalized, at leastone in serious condition, ac-cording to initial reports.

MNA/Reuters

Two more Indian temples to beput on World Heritage listNEW DELHI, 7 Dec — UNESCO will declare two tem-

ples in Darasuram and Kumbakonam in southern India'sTamil Nadu State as World Heritage Temples on Monday,Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) sources said Satur-day.

The World Heritage Team from the United NationsEducational, Scientific and Cultural Organization(UNESCO) will visit these sites on the same day, the PressTrust of India quoted the sources as saying.

The team is scheduled to visit on Sunday the worldfamous Big Temple, which along with the Rock Temples atMahabalipuram near Chennai in east Indian coast, hasalready been declared as a Heritage Temple by UNESCO,the PTI reported.

The ASI had sent proposals to UNESCO to declare allthese temples as World Heritage Temples, it said.

India has altogether 16 monuments which have beenput into the World Heritage list so far.

MNA/Xinhua

Three killed inBritish light

aircraft crashLONDON, 7 Dec — Three people were

killed in a plane crash near Oxford on Satur-day when the light aircraft attempted to land,police said.

The victims were believed to be twoBelgians and a French national, a spokes-woman for Thames Valley police said.

The plane is believed to have been tryingto land at Kidlington Airport in Oxfordshirewhen it crashed into a field, the spokes-woman said.

"The plane crashed as it was coming intothe airport," she said.

"We can confirm that three people died.There are no survivors."

MNA/Reuters


The power of the industrial sector

The Battery Workshop established in Dagon Myothit( South) under the Ministry of Industry-2 produces 50,000 National brandbatteries a year to fulfil the domestic needs.—PHOTO: I NDUSTRY-2

The Myanmar Phar-

maceutical Factory

under Myanma

Pharmaceutical

Industries was con-

structed on 110.18

acres of land to the

west of Kyogon

station, Insein Town-

ship. The factory

produces high quality

tablets, medicines,

injections, vaccines

and intravenous

injections.

PHOTO:

AUNG MYAT KYAW

The diesel engine factory in Indagaw Region, Bago Division, wasconstructed by the Ministry of Industry-2. It is now manufacturing18-horse-power engines for water pumps, power-tillers, generators

and dinghies. — MNA

No 1 Tyre and Rubber Factory of Myanma Tyre and Rubber Industriesunder the Ministry of Industry-2 is located six miles from Thaton, MonState. Thanks to the factory there are job opportunities for over 1,000people. It produces different kinds of tyres. The photo shows part of

the production process at the factory. —PHOTO: HTWE KYI


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Zanzibar, Turkey agree tocooperate in education sector

DAR-ES-SALAAM, 7 Dec— The Turkish Government hasagreed to cooperate with the Zanzibar Government in highereducation sector in order to give students in both countriesan opportunity in acquiring education.

The Turkish Ambassador to Tanzania Varol Ozkocakmade these remarks on Friday when meeting with ZanzibarPresident Amani Abeid Karume at the Zanzibar StateHouse.

Ozkocak said that his government will look at the possi-bilities of increasing the number of Tanzanian students inTurkey for receiving higher education in various fields.

Karume said that the plan will help greatly the effortstaken by the Zanzibar Government in enhancing the stand-ard of education which is an important factor for the coun-try’s sustainable development.

MNA/Xinhua

Uganda bans using mobilephones while driving

KAMPALA, 7 Dec— The Ugandan Government Fridayannounced a ban on using mobile phones while driving,and some other measures, to curb the frequent road acci-dents in the country.

The stringent measures were announced by Minister ofWorks, Transport and Communication John Nasasira inthe run-up to the road safety week.

Nasasira said the other measures included banning ofsame day return journeys on long-distance roads, installa-tion of speed governors for passenger service vehicles andcompelling only importation of buses with in-built speedgovernors.

He said an average 15,000 accidents were reportedevery year and that from 1988 to 2001 an average 1,650people died in road accidents each year.

He said 2,017 people died in 2002 alone and most of thevictims were 45 years old and below, the most productiveage bracket.

He said long distance drivers will have time cards,which the police would endorse at the different stagesof the journey to ensure they did not breach the speedlimits.

The minister added that the government will alsoimprove the road network under the 10-year road sectordevelopment programme.

MNA/Xinhua

10 Cuban migrants believeddead in sea tragedy

M IAMI , 7 Dec— A man found clinging to two inner tubesoff the coast of Miami is believed to be the only survivorfrom a group of 11 Cuban migrants whose home-madeboat capsized during an attempt to reach the UnitedStates illegally, the US Coast Guard said on Friday.

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The 24-year-old survivorwas among 17 Cuban mi-grants repatriated to Cubaon Friday, the Coast Guardsaid.

A Coast Guard cutter crewrescued the man about ninemiles off the Miami shore onMonday but the incident wasnot made public until Fri-day.

The man told rescuers heleft Matanzas, Cuba, on No-vember 27 with 10 other peo-ple aboard a 14-foot home-made vessel that was de-stroyed when it ran into badweather. Weather reports forthe days in question con-firmed the seas were roughand the air unusually cool.

Coast Guard crews con-ducted an intensive air andsea search and alerted boat-ers in the area but had trou-ble pinpointing the vessel’slikely route.

“Due to his traumatizedcondition, the informationthe survivor was initially pro-viding was inconsistent,” theCoast Guard said in a state-ment. One body was foundon Wednesday, promptingadditional searches but therewas no sign of the other miss-ing migrants.

“This confirmed the CoastGuard’s fears that all of theothers had likely died,” theCoast Guard said.

MNA/Reuters


A pair of twins flash a victory sign during a party for twins in Nanjing, in east-centralChina, on 6 Dec, 2003. A total of 423 pairs of twins were invited to the party said to be

the biggest held in the former capital.INTERNET

Family communication urged to helpChinese children avoid autism

GUANGZHOU ,7 Dec— Psychological experts have urged Chinese parents to commu-nicate about emotions and feelings with their children to help them develop a healthymind and easy character, and avoid lapsing into autism.

India may hike agri-import tariff tocounter WTO imbalances

ROME, 7 Dec— India has warned that developing countries will have to increasetheir import tariffs on agricultural products if the developed countries continue withthe current mammoth subsidies regime.

Study shows smoking cannabis causedamage to lungs

LONDON, 7 Dec— Smoking cannabis is not the harmless recreational activity it mayseem because it can cause lung damage, researchers said on Friday.

“Unabated subsidies by major devel-oped countries leave developing countrieswith the sole recourse of using tariff relatedmeasures to protect their farmers from theadverse consequences of trade distortions”,Agriculture Minister Rajnath Singh saidhere.

Addressing a round table on WTO-related issues in the Food and AgricultureOrganization (FAO) conferenceWednesday, he said unfairly gained com-petitiveness through bulging subsidies andunjustified protection in developed coun-tries have rendered the developing coun-tries vulnerable to the agricultural traderegime.

Plight of African cotton farmers clearlyillustrates the perils of lop sided reform in

agricultural trade. Similar deprivationscaused by distorted trade are evident acrossmuch of the developing world.

Advanced developed world economiesmust not be allowed to undermine the live-lihood security of farmers in developingcountries under the guise of self-servingtrade reforms.

Singh is here for participating in theFAO conference on Global Food Security.Apart from participating in the round-tablediscussion, he also held bilateral discussionswith European Agriculture Commissionerand his counterparts from Japan, Swedenand Finland. Talks mainly veered roundissues concerning negotiations in WTO onagriculture.

MNA/PTI

Regularly smoking three or four jointsa week, even for less than six years, canimpair lung function and rob the body ofantioxidants that protect cells against dam-age that can lead to heart disease andcancer.

“Smoking cannabis on a regular basisactually depletes your lung of protectiveantioxidant substances... and this may havechronic long-term implications for youngindividuals,” said Dr Sarah Nuttall of theUniversity of Birmingham in central Eng-land.

In a small study involving 20 peopleaged 19 to 30, including non-smokers andthose who smoked tobacco and cannabis,Nuttall and her team took blood samples,measured lung function and tested forantioxidant markers. She presented the find-ing at a meeting of the British ThoracicSociety in London.

“We found that smokers, compared tonon-smokers, had impaired lung function,”Nuttall said in an interview.

Cannabis smokers also had significantlylower levels of a protective antioxidant andnitric oxide, which is involved in lungfunction, than non-smokers.

“These findings are important in young

individuals in which the use of cannabis isincreasing and may have serious long-termimplications for what is currently regardedas a relatively harmless recreational habit,”she said.

Dr John Harvey of the British ThoracicSociety called for more research into theeffects of smoking on the lungs.

“It is vital that young people understandthe dangers of both cigarette and cannabissmoking since these habits can start havinga serious impact on their lungs at an earlystage,” he said in a statement.

Some European countries have taken arelaxed approach to cannabis use. Althoughit is technically illegal in the Netherlands,the drug can be bought and used in cannabiscoffee shops in the country.

The Netherlands was also the first nationto make cannabis available as a prescriptiondrug in pharmacies for chronically ill pa-tients. — MNA/Reuters

Castro says Cuban revolution willoutlast Bush

CARDENAS (Cuba), 7 Dec— Cuban President Fidel Castro said on Friday he willoutlast any Bush Administration plans to oust him and Cuba’s one-party Communiststate will survive his death.

The alert sounded to the dangers ofthe psychological disorder mainly affect-ing children following a recent surveyamong 765 students in five primary andjunior schools in Guangzhou, capital ofsouth Guangdong Province, which is oneof the country’s economically developedareas.

The survey on children’s view on fam-ily education showed that more than 40per cent of the interviewees wanted theirparents to have a sense of humour, morethan 20 per cent would like to join theirparents in games, web surfing and otherentertainment activities, and about 16 percent regarded chatting and communica-tion with parents as the favourites athome.

Experts at the provincial psychologi-cal health research institute said thatthe survey reflects the loneliness of chil-dren in the present-day society, where

high-rises estrange children from eachother.

Chinese children meet their peers andfriends mostly during the schooltimeand spend their spare time alone at theirown homes without companions to playgames with or do group activities togetherwith.

Adding to the solitude is that, saidthe experts, their parents are fully occupiedby work and other businesses and thus havenot enough time to share with their off-spring.

The experts warned that those childrenalienated from the community for quite along time are prone to autism, a conditionmost common among children character-ized by self-absorption, which could causethem to grow into adults indifferent toothers’ feelings and lacking communitysense and social responsibility.

MNA/Xinhua

“The group of idiots that met in theWhite House will die of bitterness and frus-tration,” the 77-year-old Cuban leader saidin an address to school children celebrat-ing the 10th birthday of Elian Gonzalez,the shipwrecked boy at the centre of aninternational custody battle in 2000.

Bush top aides met on Friday at theWhite House and decided tighter inspec-tions of US citizens travelling to Cubaand a crackdown on illegal business withthe Caribbean island to enforce four-dec-ade-old sanctions aimed at underminingCastro.

The Commission for Assistance to aFree Cuba, created in October by Presi-dent George W Bush to foster a demo-cratic transition on the island and headedby US Secretary of State Colin Powell andCuban-born Housing Secretary MelMartinez, met for the first time on Fridayat the White House with Bush’s NationalSecurity Adviser Condoleeza Rice.

“This little meeting does not worry us...they would be better off dedicating theirtime to drinking whiskey and smoking

marijuana,” Castro said, speaking to hun-dreds of school children.

“They hope that 15 minutes after mydeath the revolution will collapse. Theydon’t know that this country has thousandsof leaders,” he added.

Castro, who overthrew a US-backedright-wing leader in a 1959 guerilla upris-ing, has outlasted the hostility of nine USpresidents after building a Soviet-styledCommunist society 90 miles from theUnited States.

Since he arrived in the White House,Bush has tightened the screws on Cuba,reducing travel there by academic and cul-tural exchange groups, and cracking downon Americans who visit the island withouta special US Treasury Department permit.

Bush has vowed to veto efforts toamend trade sanctions, such as the liftingof travel restrictions advocated by businessgroups. Three years ago, US farmers andagribusiness companies successfully lob-bied for an exception to the embargo al-lowing sales of food to Cuba.

MNA/Reuters

Germany’s Steffen Driesen, competes in the 200-metre backstroke at the World Cupswimming in Durban, South Africa, on 6 Dec, 2003.

INTERNET

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SPORTS

Answers for yesterday’sCrossword puzzle

S-E Asian Games open in Vietnam HANOI, 7 Dec— The 22nd South-East Asian Games raised its

curtain Friday night amid a gala celebration at the My Dinh NationalStadium in Hanoi. A team of 11 skydivers carried the national flags ofthe participating 11 countries and parachuted into the National Sta-dium, signalling the official start of the nine-day biennial Games.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai declared open theGames after a parade of more than 5,000 competitors and officials.

Then thousands of athletes, artists and children took up the centrestage with a colourful rendition of traditional songs and dances.

Nearly 4,000 athletes will compete in 32 sports, ranging fromtraditional pastimes like athletics and soccer to the more exotic pencaksilat and sepak takraw. The competition will take place in 11 provincesand cities nationwide, the majority of which in Hanoi and Ho Chi MinhCity. The participating countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Vietnam,Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, East Timor, Myanmar,Singapore and Laos, with Thailand and Indonesia considered mostlikely to dominate the region's biggest sporting event.

Vietnam and Thailand have both registered to compete in all 32sports. The host nation has the biggest contingent with 690 competi-tors, while East Timor the smallest with just 16.—MNA/Reuters

Vietnam’s gymnasts win firstSEA Games gold for hosts

HANOI, 7 Dec— Hosts Vietnam claimedtheir first gold medal at the 22nd SoutheastAsian Games on Friday as their womengymnasts triumphed in the team event.

The Vietnamese team, composed of DoThuy Duong, Do Thi Ngan Thuong, DaoThuy Linh, Duong Minh Hang, Phan Thi HaThanh and Tran Thi Phuong Thao, scored acumulative 124.550 points from four disci-plines — vault, uneven bars, balance beamand floor exercise. Singapore took the silverwith 124.425 points, with Thailand thirdwith 123.850. Many Vietnamese gymnastsshed tears in delight after the competition asit was a "surprise" win for them.

"We had pinned medal hopes on themen's side," said Nguyen Hoang Bao, coachof the Vietnamese team.—MNA/Xinhua

Philippines wins SEAGames women's team

archery goldHANOI, 7 Dec— The Philippines

outscored Malaysia 218-211 in the women'steam archery final to win the country's firstgold medal at the 22nd Southeast AsianGames here on Friday.

The Philippines, who upset title favour-ites Indonesia 226-224 in the semifinals,maintained their momentum against theMalaysians and bagged home the gold.

But Malaysia found some solace lateras its men archers grabbed the men's teamtitle after defeating Indonesia 236-232 in thefinal.

The archery competition concluded onFriday as Malaysia won half of the four goldmedals available.—MNA/Reuters

Ferguson "feels fine" after heart scare MANCHESTER (England), 7 Dec— Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson said

he "felt fine" on Friday after undergoing hospital treatment for an irregular heart-beat.

The 61-year-old underwent a D-C cardioversion, a controlled electronic shock, onThursday, a statement from the Englishchampions said.

"This was performed successfully on anelective basis yesterday. Everything is nor-mal and Sir Alex feels fine," the statementsaid.

British media reported that Prime Min-ister Tony Blair recently underwent similartreatment for the same ailment.

Ferguson is one of the most successfulmanagers in British soccer history havingguided United to eight Premier League ti-tles in the last 11 seasons and the 1999Champions League.

Constantly in the limelight in 17 yearsas manager of one of the biggest and highestprofile clubs in the world, he has had to dealwith a number of controversial issues thisseason.

United defender Rio Ferdinand misseda drugs test, causing a huge furore that hasyet to be resolved, and Ferguson has beenembroiled in a high-profile row with one of

the club's biggest shareholders, JohnMagnier, over the breeding rights for topracehorse Rock of Gibraltar. That affairlooks destined to be decided in the courts.

He had planned to retire by this year butdecided against it, saying recently he felt"fitter than ever". There has been specula-tion in the British media that he plans tocontinue until 70 as manager of United.

The statement said the problem had beenspotted at a routine examination three monthsago.

"Further investigation indicated thatthere was no underlying cardiacabnormality...(the treatment) was performedsuccessfully," it said.

Ferguson, who was "sent off" from thetouchline for the first time as United man-ager for abusing an official during a matchat Newcastle United in August, will be incharge of his team as usual for Saturday'sPremier League match against Aston Villa,the club said.

MNA/ReutersEriksson says qualifying not easy

FRANKFURT (Germany), 7 Dec— England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson said his teamwould not find it easy against British rivals Wales and Northern Ireland in theirqualifying group for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

"It's local derbies, moreor less," Eriksson told re-porters at the draw on Fridayafter England were placed inGroup Six with Wales,Northern Ireland, Poland,Austria and Azerbaijan.

"Wales did very well inqualification (for Euro 2004),they could have won thegroup. It will not be easy atall. "I am sure Wales want tobeat England at any cost butwe want the same. We willsee."

After guiding England

through to the Euro 2004finals, Eriksson will beconfident of winning thegroup and the Swede saidhe was pleased to haveavoided the Netherlands,one of the dangerous float-ers in the draw.

Eriksson was alsohappy to be facing Poland,a team England haveplayed many times in pre-vious qualifying groups.

"I think it's a rathergood draw, interesting,"Eriksson said. "It's not per-

fect but it's not bad. Wewill see what happens. It'sokay." Wales managerMark Hughes has fondmemories of the last timethe Welsh faced England,the former ManchesterUnited and Barcelonastriker scoring on his in-ternational debut to securea 1-0 victory at Wrexhamin 1984.

"It was in my hometownand I scored the winner.I've got happy memoriesof that game and I hope tohave happy memories ofthe games we've got aheadof us as well," Hughes toldSky TV "England are do-ing very well at the mo-ment. They are one of thetop sides so it's a big testfor us. I'm sure the Welshlads will relish the pros-pect.—MNA/Reuters

Woods topcandidate for

Player of the YearWASHINGTON, 7 Dec— Tiger Woods

was still the top candidate for this year'sPGA Tour Player of the Year award,according to an unofficial vote on Thurs-day.

About 52.1 per cent of 10,783 read-ers of the USA Today voted for Woods,who did not win any major title thisyear.

South Africa's Vijay Singh is thesecond best player to these readers, re-ceiving 27.7 per cent vote, while MikeWeir, winner of the Masters, receiving10.3 per cent.

The players on Tour began submittedtheir votes after the Tour Champion-ship early last month, and the final deci-sion will be announced on Monday.

Woods won the title for the past fouryears.

MNA/Xinhua

European favourites get easy ride in 2006 qualifying draw FRANKFURT (Germany), 7 Dec—Leading European fa-

vourites France, Italy and England were given a relativelyeasy ride when the preliminary draw for the 2006 WorldCup finals in Germany was made on Friday.

France, the 1998 champions and Euro 2000 winners,were placed in European Group Four where their toughestrivals will be Switzerland and Ireland.

Italy's trickiest opponents in a not-too-daunting GroupFive were Slovenia, Scotland and Norway, while Englandface their British neighbours Wales and Northern Ireland as

well as Poland and Austria in Group Six. The draw threw up some other interesting confronta-

tions with the Netherlands and the Czech Republic againpitted together — as they were in both the preliminary andfinals draws for Euro 2004.

Germany as hosts are the only automatic qualifier andwill be joined by 31 other countries for the finals which openin Munich on June 9, 2006 and end exactly one month laterwith the final in Berlin.

MNA/Reuters

Beckham injuryscare for

Real MadridMADRID , 7 Dec—Real Madrid

midfielder David Beckham pulled out oftraining with an ankle injury on Fridaybut should be fit to play in Saturday'sPrimera Liga clash with Barcelona at theNou Camp.

"Beckham withdrew as a precaution,"Real coach Carlos Queiroz said after train-ing. "He'll be okay to play.

"We have to take a lot of care and avoidunnecessary risks. You also have to respectwhat your body is telling you."

Assuming the England captain is fit toplay, Queiroz will be able to field his first-choice side, including the likes of LuisFigo and Ronaldo, both former Barcelonaplayers, and French midfielder ZinedineZidane.

Barcelona will be missing Brazilianplaymaker Ronaldinho, their leading at-tacking player, because of injury.

MNA/Reuters

Real Madrid's Brazilian player Ronaldo, centre, fights for the ball against Carles Puyol, leftand Michael Reiziger of FC Barcelona during a Spanish league soccer match at Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain, on 6 Dec, 2003. Real Madrid won the game 2-1.—Internet

A U G T S I

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R S I A R R A A O

O T T O M A N I N T E R

B U E I F E Y

A R C H S M O T E

T K C O Y C R

A P O S S E C O N E

S F N I S B F

P R E S S T E N A B L E

I I O Y A L R

T U N D R A G R I E V E

E T T E R E


R 489 Published by the News and Periodicals Enterprise, Ministry of Information, Union of Myanmar. Edited and printed at The New Light of Myanmar Press,No 22/30 Strand Road at 43rd Street, Yangon. Cable Newlight, PO Box No. 43, Telephones: Editors 296115, Manager 296864, Circulation 297093, Advertisement 296843,Accounts 296545, Administration 296161, Production 297032 (Office) /297028 (Press).

View today:

Monday, December 8

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Tune in today:

Monday, December 8

8.30 am Brief news8.35 am Music8.40 am Perspectives8.45 am Music8.50am National news/

Slogan9.00 am Music9.05 am International news9.10 am Music1.30 pm News/Slogan1.40 pm Lunch Time Music

- If I Didn't love (TinaArena)

- I need to knoe (SropsMarc Anthony)

9.00 pm Sportlight on the star steps

9:15 pm Article9.25 pm Women's affairs

- MAF Secures 2nd grade in the qualifier for World Olympics

9.35 pm Vocal Gems - Another day in paradise (Phill Collins)

9.45 pm News/Slogan10.00 pm PEL

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(The Radio MyanmarModern Music Troupe)

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22. The next day's programme

WEATHERSunday, 7 December, 2003

Summary of observations recorded at 09:30 hours MST:During the past 24 hours,weather has been fair in the wholecountry. Night temperatures were 3°C to 4°C above normal inupper Sagaing and Taninthayi Divisions, above normal in Kachin,Kayah, Mon States and Magway Division, 3˘C to 4˘C belownormal in Kahin and Chin States and Yangon Division and 5˘Cto 6˘C below normal in remaining areas. The significant nighttemperature was 0˘C in Hakha.

Maximum temperature on 6-12-2003 was 33.5°C (92°F).Minimum temperature on 7-12-2003 was 16.3°C (61°F). Rela-tive humidity at 9:30 hrs MST on 7-12-2003 was 76%. Totalsunshine hours on 6-12-2003 was (8.1) hours approx. Rainfall7-12-2003 was nil at Yangon Airport, Kaba-Aye and centralYangon. Total rainfall since 1-1-2003 was 2211 mm (87.05inches) at Yangon Airport, 2315 mm (91.14 inches) at Kaba-Aye and 2394 mm (94.25 inches) at central Yangon. Maximumwind speed at Yangon (Kaba-Aye) was 8 mph from Northwestat (10:00) hours MST on 6-12-2003.

Bay inference: Weather is partly cloudy in South Bay andgenerally fair elsewhere in the Bay of Bengal.

Forecast valid until evening of 8-12-2003: Except for thepossibility of isolated light rain in Kachin and Northern ShanStates, weather will be generally fair in the whole country.Degree of certainty is (40%).

State of the sea: Seas will be slight to moderate in Myanmarwaters. Outlook for subsequent two days:Significant decreaseof night temperature in upper Myanmar areas.

Forecast for Yangon and neighbouring area for8-12-2003: Partly cloudy. Forecast for Mandalay and neigh-bouring area for 8-12-2003: Fine weather.

8-12-2003 (Monday)(Programme Schedule)Morning Transmission

(9:00 - 10:00)

MRTV-3MRTV-3MRTV-3MRTV-3MRTV-3MRTV-3MRTV-3MRTV-3MRTV-3MRTV-3

9:00 Signature TuneGreetings

9:02 Song of MyanmarBeauty & ScenicSights “Myanma Pano-rama & Myanma Sen-timent”

9:06 Myanmar NaturalSpirulina (Part III)

9:10 Headline News9:12 Easily Cooked Tasty

Dishes “Loach FishCurry in Oil”

9:15 National News9:20 Beautiful Pleasant

Beach Village9:25 Three Types of Dances9:30 National news9:35 Ancient Htoke Kan

Thein Temple9:40 Song “Sumprabum”9:42 Green Turtle9:45 National News9:50 Lifestyles along the

Ayeyawady (Manda-lay to Pyay) (Part-I)

9:58 Song of MyanmarBeauty & ScenicSights“Come and SeeMyanmar”

8-12-2003˚(Monday)Regular Programmes for

Viewers from AbroadEvening Transmission

(15:30 - 17:30)15:30 Signature Tune

Greetings15:32 Song of Myanmar

Beauty & ScenicSights “Mingalabar”



Dishes “Loach FishCurry in oil”

15:45 National News

Gems Market19:55 Traditional Lamp

Dance20:00 National News20:05 Thabotseik Village on

Seaside20:10 Song “Bonfire Festi-

val”20:12 The National Museum

(III)20:15 National News20:20 Special Teak Planta-

tion Programme inMyanmar

20:25 Songs on screen“Predestination”

20:30 National News20:35 Travelogue “Pyin Oo

Lwin”20:40 Myanmar Cuisine

“Traditions Shwe-daung Noodle”

20:45 National News20:50 Unforgettable Tradi-

tions of Pa-O National20:55 National Dance “Kayin

Dance (We Bu)”20:57 Inn-Waing Waterfall21:00 National News21:05 Myanma Seafood21:10 Song “Come to

Myanmar (TheGolden Land)”

21:15 National News21:20 Talent Show on the

Myanmar BambooXylophone

21:30 Song of MyanmarBeauty & Scenic Sights

15:50 Beautiful PleasantBeach Village

15:55 Three Types of Dances16:00 National news16:05 Ancient Htoke Kan




16:30 National News16:35 A Thousand Bo-trees

from Greening TropicZone

16:40 Myanmar Cuisine “Po-tato Pudding”

16:45 National News16:50 Myanma Traditional

Bronze Casting16:55 National Dance

“Kayah Dance”17:00 National News17:05 Photo by Artist Photo

Show (Aung Min)17:10 Song “Two, Together”17:12 Weaving Industry of

Pakokku17:15 National News17:20 A Trip to Naga Land17:25 Song of Myanmar

Beauty & ScenicSights “Come and SeeMyanmar”

Evening Transmission(19:30 - 23:30)



19:35 Water HyacinthFurniture


Dishes “Snake gourdstuffing poundedprawn”

19:45 National News19:50 Hta Pwe (or) Mogok

“Mingalabar”21:35 Myanmar Natural

Spirulina (Part III)21:40 Headline News21:42 Easily Cooked Tasty






22:25 Song “Naughty Girl”22:30 National News22:35 A Thousand Bo-trees


22:40 Myanmar Cuisine “Po-tato Pudding”





Pakokku23:15 National News

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23:20 A Trip to Naga Land23:28 Song of Myanmar


8-12-2003˚(Monday) &9-12-2003 (Tuesday)Evening & Morning

Transmission(23:30 - 1:30)


23:32 Song of MyanmarBeauty & ScenicSights “Mingalabar”






Thein Temple23:10 Song “Sumprabum”23:12 Green Turtle

23:15 National News23:20 Lifestyles along the


23:25 Song of MyanmarBeauty & ScenicSights “MyanmaPanorama & MyanmaSentiment”

23:30 National News23:35 A Thousand Bo-trees


23:40 Myanmar Cuisine“Potato Pudding”





Pakokku23:15 National News23:20 A Trip to Naga Land01:25 Song of Myanmar


16 THE NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Monday, 8 December, 2003Fullmoon Day of Nadaw, 1365 ME Monday, 8 December, 2003

Myanmar sports teams leavefor Vietnam

Myanmar delegationarrives back

YANGON, 7 Dec— Afterpaying a goodwill visit toChina, the Myanmar delega-tion led by Minister for RailTransportation Maj-GenAung Min arrived back hereby air this evening. The del-egation studied rail trans-portation work in YunnanProvince, China.

Minister for InformationBrig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, Min-ister at the Prime Minister’sOffice Maj-Gen Thein Swe,Deputy Ministers for RailTransportation Thura UThaung Lwin and U PeThan, Chinese Ambassador

Mr Li Jinjun and embassystaff, departmental headsand officials welcomed backthe delegation members atYangon International Air-port.

Minister Maj-Gen AungMin was accompanied byGeneral Manager (Mechani-cal/Electronics) of MyanmaRailways U Soe Win, Gen-eral Manager (Civil) Lt-ColThi Han, Deputy GeneralManager (Electronics) UZaw Win and Assistant Gen-eral Manager (Communica-tions) U Ba Myint as mem-bers.—MNA

Minister for Rail Transportation Maj-Gen Aung Minand party being welcomed back at the airport.— MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec—A14-member — MyanmarTaekwando team and a 24-member Myanmar tradi-tional rowing team number-ing 38 led by Team LeaderU Zaw Lin left here by airfor Vietnam this morning toparticipate in the XXII SEAGames.

They were seen off at

Yangon International Air-port by officials of the Min-istry of Sports, officials ofMyanmar Taekwando Fed-eration and Myanmar Row-ing Federation and their rela-tives.

It is the last batch ofMyanmar sports teams totake part in the games.

MNA

YANGON, 7 Dec— Chair-man of Yangon DivisionPeace and DevelopmentCouncil Commander ofYangon Command Maj-GenMyint Swe, accompanied bySecretary of Yangon Divi-sion Peace and DevelopmentCouncil Lt-Col Kyaw Tintand departmental officials,this afternoon inspected ag-ricultural and regional de-velopmental tasks. At 2 pm,the commander arrived atKogyi Creek near LetpangonVillage, Htantabin Townshipwhere he inspected dredgingof the creek by Irrigation De-partment with the use ofheavy machinery.

Director U Kyaw Theinof ID and officials reported

on further dredging of thecreek.

Then, the commandergave instructions on supplyof water through canals forcultivation of summer paddyin Htantabin.

At Kyunngu river waterpumping project, the com-mander saw over prepara-tions for supplying waterthrough the main canal toirrigate summer paddy field.The commander gave in-structions on cultivation ofsummer paddy in time.

Next, the commandermet with local people andurged them to exceed the tar-get of cultivation of summerpaddy and cold season crops.

On arrival at the conflu-

ence of Kokkowa River andKogyi Creek, the com-mander gave instructions onwater supply for summerpaddy and proper flow ofwater in Kogyi Creek to offi-cials.

At Lamudan river waterpumping project inBawlekyun, on the otherbank of Htantabin Township,the commander gave instruc-tions on tasks of the projectto be carried out as soon aspossible.

Then, the commanderinspected the rural road be-tween Lamudanlay villageand Hleseik village inBawlekyun area.

Afterwards, the com-mander met with officialsand local farmers. Speakingon the occasion, the com-mander said that it is neces-sary to cultivate summerpaddy in the places wheremonsoon paddy has beenharvested as well as cold sea-son crops, edible oil cropsand pulses and beans. Local

authorities are required toinspect and provide assist-ance to grassroots level. Cul-tivation of crops must be car-ried out in vacant and virginlands for greening the 30-mile radius of Yangon Inter-national Airport all the yearround. A total of 14 sluicegates have been built, riverwater pumping projects

Commander inspects development tasks in Htantabin

Commander Maj-Gen Myint Swe inspects dredging of drains on either sides of Thida-aye Road in HtantabinTownship.— YANGON COMMAND

Lt-Gen Maung Bo gives instructions to departmental officials of Kayin State at Hpa-an Station.— MNA

Lt-Gen Maung Bo meets departmental officials in Hpa-anYANGON, 7 Dec— Mem-

ber of the State Peace andDevelopment Council Lt-Gen Maung Bo of the Minis-try of Defence met withKayin State and district leveldepartmental personnel at thecombined hall of Hpa-an Sta-tion at 8 pm yesterday.

Lt-Gen Maung Bo gaveinstructions on regional de-velopment tasks.

Also present on the occa-sion were Chairman of MonState Peace and DevelopmentCouncil Commander ofSouth-East Command Maj-Gen Thura Myint Aung, lo-cal Light Infantry Division

tation of rural developmenttasks in 2003-2004 financialyear, agricultural undertak-ings for local food suffi-ciency, putting of 361,574acres of land under monsoonpaddy, utilization of land andreclamation of vacant andvirgin lands and accomplish-ment of projects in 2002-2003and implementation of theprojects till the end of Octo-ber, 2002-2003.

Myanma AgricultureService Kayin State Man-ager U Kyaw Thein reportedon rainfall in the state thisyear, cultivation of monsoonpaddy, corn, edible oil crops

and double cropping, DeputyDirector U Khin Win of Set-tlement and Land RecordsDepartment on prospects forreclamation of wetland inMebaung-Naunglon region,Deputy Director U AungKyaw Win of Irrigation De-partment on digging of drainsfor ensuring prevention offlood in Mebaung-Naunglonregion and Deputy DirectorU Myint Htay of Livestockand Veterinary Departmenton breeding of domesticpoultry.

After hearing the reports,Lt-Gen Maung Bo fulfilledtheir requirements.

Commander Brig-Gen NgweThein, Chairman of KayinState Peace and DevelopmentCouncil Col Khin Kyu, Sec-retary of Kayin State Peaceand Development Council Lt-Col Kyaw Win Maung,Chairman of Hpa-an DistrictPeace and DevelopmentCouncil Lt-Col Soe MyintAung, Chairman ofKawkareik District Peace andDevelopment Council Lt-ColKo Ko Gyi and departmentalofficials.

At the outset, Chairmanof Kayin State Peace and De-velopment Council Col KhinKyu reported on implemen-

Chairman of Hpa-an Dis-trict Peace and DevelopmentCouncil Lt-Col Soe MyintAung submitted reports onutilization of lands in the dis-trict, growing of monsoonand summer paddy, ground-nut and other edible oil crops,carrying out of economic,social and transport tasks andimplementation of rural de-

velopment works.Chairman of Kawkareik

District Peace and Develop-ment Council Lt-Col Ko KoGyi reported on utilizationof land in the district andcarrying out of five ruraldevelopment tasks. Next, Lt-Gen Maung Bo attended totheir needs.

(See page 8)

23,814Circulation

(See page 9)

INSIDE

For further ICT

development

Page 2

Perspectives

Border areadevelopment: One upon atime in Mawpha region

Page 7

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Established 1914 Volume XI, Number 236 Fullmoon Day … NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR Monday, 8 December,...

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