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Volume XXI, Number 269 10 th Waxing of Pyatho 1375 ME Friday, 10 January, 2014

THE MOST RELIABLE NEWSPAPER AROUND YOUNew Light of My

PresidentU Thein Sein

shakes handswith Japa-

nese House of Repre- sentatives

member andChairman of the Japan- Myanmar

Parlia- mentarian Friendship

League Mr. Ichiro

Aisawa.MNA

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N AY P YI T AW , 9 Jan—President U Thein Seinand Japanese House ofRepresentatives memberand Chairman of the Ja-pan-Myanmar Parliamen-tarian Friendship LeagueMr. Ichiro Aisawa heldtalks on cooperation withthe Japan InternationalCooperation Agency-

President U Thein Sein poses for documentary photo with Home Affairs and

Communications Minister of Japan Mr. Yoshitaka Shindo.— MNA

page-9

Scout training

underway in

Kyunhla Township

Women giving birth on 66 th

Independence Day given

gifts in Kyunhla Township

Abe leaves

for Middle

East, Africa

to secure

energy,

exports

JICA and Of cial Devel -opment Assistance loansfrom Japan.

During the meeting atthe Credentials Hall of thePresidential Palace herethis morning, they alsodiscussed matters relatedto opening Japanese bankbranches in Myanmar.

JICA cooperates with

the government in build-ing basic infrastructureprojects and providingsafe drinking water in My-anmar. ODA Loans andassistance from Japan areused for infrastructureprojects, including rail-roads, airports and urbandevelopment.

MNA edited by KW

N AY P YI T AW , 9Jan—President U TheinSein received Home Af-fairs and Communica-tions Minister of JapanMr. Yoshitaka Shindoand his delegation at thePresidential Palace heretoday to discuss the pro-vision of technical and

nancial assistance tostrengthen Myanmar’sPolice Force, postalservice and telecom-munications sector. Itis planned that Japanwill conduct technicalcourses in Myanmar.

Present at the meet-ing were Union Minis-ters U Wunna MaungLwin, U Soe Thane andU Myat Hein amongother of cials. The Jap -anese Home Affairs and

Myanmar, Japan to cooperate in communications sector

Obama edges closer todecisions on intelligence

reforms

page-5

N AY P YI T AW , 9 Jan—The fourth day of sales ofuncut gemstones and jadelots in Nay Pyi Taw hasseen an increase in biddersfrom other countries,

Jade and uncut gem sales in Nay Pyi Tawa hit with foreign merchants

mainly China.The Mani Yadana

Jade Hall this morning waspacked with merchantswaiting for the winners ofthe open tenders for jade

lots No. 1 to 1,400 to beannounced.According toof cials, bidding for the

jade lots 1,401 to 2, 839will start Friday.— MNAedited by Kerstin Winter

Communications Minis-ter was accompanied byJapanese Ambassador

President U Thein Sein meets Japan-Myanmar Parliamentarian FriendshipLeague Chairman

to Myanmar Mr. MikioNUMATA.

MNA edited By KW

Myanmar Gems Emporium continues for fourth day

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Friday, 10 January, 20142 New Light of MyanmarNATIONAL

Foreign Heads of State send felicitations to PresidentU Thein Sein

N AY P YI T AW , 9 Jan— The following are messages of felicitations from foreign Heads of State sent to Presidentof the Republic of the Union of Myanmar U Thein Sein, onthe occasion of the 66 th Anniversary Independence Day ofthe Republic of the Union of Myanmar.From Mr Borut PahorPresident of the Republic of SloveniaYour Excellency,

On the occasion of the National Day of the Republicof the Union of Myanmar, it is a pleasure to convey toyou, on behalf of the Slovenian people and on my own be-half, heartfelt congratulations and best wishes for peace,continued progress and the prosperity of Myanmar.

I would like to take this opportunity to expressmy sincere hope that our bilateral cooperation will bestrengthened and diversi ed in all spheres of mutual in -terest.

May I also wish you a Happy New Year, hoping itwill be a year of further development and democratic pro-gress for the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and its

peoples.Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of my

highest consideration.From Dr Giorgio NapolitanoPresident of the Republic of ItalyExcellency,

The Celebration of the National Day offers a wel-

come occasion to send You, on behalf of the Italian Peo-ple and on my personal behalf, the most sincere wishes ofpeace and well-being to the People of Myanmar.

The relations between our Countries are goingthrough a dynamic phase, especially after Your Of cialvisit to Italy last March and thanks to the positive goalswhich Myanmar has been achieving on paving the wayto Democracy.

The year that just started will offer new occasions forfruitful bilateral collaboration and other positive circum-stances. I’m con dent that during 2014 the relations be -tween Myanmar and Italy will be further strengthened alsoin the framework of ASEM and thanks to our respectiveASEAN and European Union Presidencies.

With this attitude, I express my best wishes of pros-perity to You and to Your People.From Mr Rosen PlevnelievPresident of the Republic of BulgariaYour Excellency,

On behalf of the people of Bulgaria and myself, please

accept heartiest congratulations on the occasion of the Na-tional Day of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and bestwishes for Your personal good health, happiness and success.

I avail myself of the happy occasion to express theRepublic of Bulgaria’s support to the democratic develop-ment of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar under Yourleadership. I would like to assure You of our readiness to

share our experience along the arduous path of changeyour country has embarked on for the sake of nationalreconciliation, social justice and economic progress. Wewelcome Your Government’s efforts for the developmentof dialogue and cooperation with the international com-munity, as well as for the building of a strong bilateralpartnership with the European Union.

Please accept, Your Excellency, the assurances of myhighest consideration.From Mr Bronistaw KomorowskiPresident of the Republic of Poland

Dear Mr. PresidentOn the occasion of the National Day of the Republic

of the Union of Myanmar, on behalf of the Polish Na-tion and myself, I wish to convey to Your Excellency myheartfelt greetings.

We notice endeavors Myanmar of to build democrat-ic and modern state. We would like to support this pro-cess, drawing from our own experience gained during theperiod of economic and political system transformation of

Poland. I am also delighted that thanks to the opening ofMyanmar to the outside world, our bilateral contacts canalso ourish.

Please accept the assurances of my highest considera-tion together with best wishes of good health and prosper-ity for both Your Excellency and all citizens of the Repub-lic of the Union of Myanmar.

P YIN O OL WIN , 9 Jan—Acting on a tip-off, a com-bined team searched a sus-pect namely Zaw Zaw, sonof U Win Myint, and foundstimulant tablets at a res-taurant, Zeythwe Street,Ward-2 of PyinOoLwin on6 January.

The police seized 57

Fifty-seven stimulant tablets seizedin PyinOoLwinstimulant tablets, K 10,000and a driver’s licence fromthe suspect.

The suspect disclosedthat he bought the tabletsfrom Kyaw Naing Oo (a)Salin, of Bogyoke Streetin Ward-3, PyinOoLwinTownship. The team raidedthe house of Kyaw Naing

Oo(a) Salin and they didnot nd any drugs. But, hecame clean in the presenceof the witnesses that he soldthe tablets on credit to ZawZaw. Myoma Police Force

led a lawsuit against thetwo suspects.

MMAL-Thiha Ko Ko(Mandalay) edited by KW An of cial presents

322 sets of uniforms to members of auxiliary re brigade from wards andvillage-tracts in KyauktanTownship, Yangon South District, on 9 January.

K YEMON -N AN A YE K HAING (IPRD)

K ATHA , 9 Jan—Thepeople’s hospital in KathaTownship held a lectureyesterday to inform peopleabout the replacement ofopium with methadone tohelp drug addicts combattheir addiction. Of cialssaid that a methadone cent-er would be opened, withMedical Superintendent

Methadone to replace opium treatment tohelp drug addicts in Katha

Dr Sein Aye explaining thepurpose of the center andmental health specialistDr U Kyi Soe Win elaborat-ing on the side effects of thetreatment.

Methadone has longbeen used in Western coun-tries to treat opium drug ad-diction. The lecture was at-tended by Region Hluttaw

Representative U Sein Tun,Commander of District Po-lice Force Police Lt-ColSoe Myint, Township Man-agement Committee Chair-man U Zaw Min Htaik,Secretary U Kyaw Swe,and members of townshipsupportive committees andhealth staff.— Nyein Nyein(Katha) edited by KW

N AY P YI T AW , 9 Jan—

Deputy Minister for Re-ligious Affairs Dr MaungMaung Htay discussed in-terfaith friendship and othermatter related to peacefulco-existence with an Amer-ican delegation.

Interfaith friendship and cooperation discussedHe welcomed the del-

egation led by Ms. ColetteRausch, Director of theRule of Law Center of theUnited States Institute ofPeace (USIP) at his of cehere this afternoon.

They discussed coop-

eration in promoting inter-

faith friendship, peacefulco-existence and interfaithdialogues, prevention of re-ligious-based con icts andthe creation of a peacefulsociety.

MNA/edited by KW

L ASHIO , 9 Jan—TheLashio Township Develop -ment Affairs Committeelocated in Northern ShanState have supervised dredg-

Lashio conducts drainage maintenanceing operations in Namlaungand Kholaung to ensure ad-equate water supply as of 31December. The committee isalso conducting maintenance

work on the bridge at theskate ground and AT bridgeto ensure the drains are notclogged.— MMAL-Han Htay(IPRD) edited by KW

Environmental Conservation

Of cials inspect progress of dredging drain in Lashio, northern Shan State.

N AY P YI T AW , 9 Jan —Myanmar is preparing tohost the 36 th ASEAN Min-isterial Meeting on Agricul-ture and Forestry and otherrelated meetings this year.

At the coordinationmeeting for the prepara-tion of hosting the meetings

Myanmar prepares to host 36 th ASEAN MinisterialMeeting on Agriculture and Forestry

held at the Ministry of Ag-riculture and Irrigation heretoday, Union Minister forAgriculture and IrrigationU Myint Hlaing expressedhis hope that the upcoming

ASEAN meetings in Myan-mar will meet internationalstandards.

Agricultural produce,forest products and live-stock farming productsfrom Myanmar will be ex-hibited at the meetings aspart of efforts to nd for -

eign markets for Myanmarexports.

MNA/edited by KW

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Friday, 10 January, 2014 3New Light of MyanmarW O R L D

Abe leaves for MiddleEast, Africa to secure

energy, exports

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo

Abe (C) and his wife Akie

(R) wave on 9 Jan, 2014, as they leave from Tokyo’s

Haneda Airport to embark on aweeklong trip to four countries of the Middle

East and Africa — Oman, Ivory

Coast, Mo- zambique and

Ethiopia.K YODO N EWS

T OKYO , 9 Jan — PrimeMinister Shinzo Abe onThursday left for a week-long trip to the MiddleEast and Africa, where hewill meet with the leadersof four countries to dis-cuss economic cooperationaimed at helping Japan se-cure energy resources andincrease exports.

Abe will arrive inOman the same day on the

rst leg of the trip beforevisiting the three Africannations of Ivory Coast, Mo-zambique and Ethiopia.

In Oman, Abe willhold a summit with SultanQaboos bin Said and is ex-

pected to call for the stablesupply of oil and natural gas

from the Gulf state to Ja-pan. They will also discussbilateral cooperation onmaritime security, includ-ing antipiracy measures,Japanese of cials said.

With the trip, Abe willhave visited all six oil pro-ducers making up the GulfCooperation Council sincetaking of ce in 2012. Ja -pan has been in talks since2006 with the GCC, alsoinvolving Saudi Arabia, theUnited Arab Emirates, Bah-rain, Kuwait and Qatar, onliberalizing trade in goodsand services.

In Africa, Abe will an-nounce Japan’s continued

support for developmenton the continent. He will

hold summits and deliverspeeches, aiming to pro-mote assistance in areassuch as support for local in-frastructure and personneltraining for rapidly growingeconomies in the region.

China has also beenincreasing its presence in

development assistancefor Africa with signi cantamounts of nancial aid,apparently prompting Japanto accelerate its efforts notto fall behind its rival.

Abe will return to To-

kyo on Wednesday.Kyodo News

(L-R) China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi, US Secretary of State John Kerry, France’s Foreign Minister Laurent

Fabius, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, EU Foreign Policy Chief Catherine Ashton and Iran’s For-

eign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attend the Iran nuclear talks at the Palais des Nations in Geneva

on 14 Nov, 2013.— R EUTERS

Iran, big power nucleartalks hit snag on

centrifuge researchU NITED N ATIONS , 9 Jan

— Negotiations betweenIran and six world powerson implementing a landmarkNovember deal to freezeparts of Teheran’s nuclearprogramme in exchange foreasing some sanctions haverun into problems over ad-vanced centrifuge research,diplomats said. The disputeover centrifuges highlightedthe huge challenges facingIran and the six powers innegotiating the precise termsof the 24 November interimagreement. If they succeed,they plan to start talks on a

of a new model of advancednuclear centrifuge that Iransays it has installed, diplo-mats said on condition ofanonymity. Centrifuges aremachines that purify urani-um for use as fuel in atomicpower plants or, if puri edto a high level, weapons.

“This issue (centrifuges)was among the main factorsin stopping the previous tech-nical discussions on 19-21December,” a Western dip-lomat told Reuters on con-dition of anonymity. OtherWestern diplomats con-

rmed that centrifuges

long-term deal to resolve amore than decade-long dis-pute over Teheran’s nuclearambitions.

Among the issues to beresolved in political discus-sions due to begin in Gene-va later this week is that ofresearch and development

remained a “sticking point”in the talks with Iran butnoted that last month’s dis-cussions were understand-ably adjourned ahead of theDecember holidays — notbecause of the centrifugeissue.

Reuters

Thai anti-government protesters march, consumerconfdence slumps

B ANGKOK , 9 Jan —Protesters trying to top-ple Thailand’s primeminister marched in Bang-kok again on Thursday,

Anti-government protesters gather in Bangkok’s business district on 8 Jan, 2014.— R EUTERS

testing support for a planned“shutdown” of the capitalnext week, and a surveyshowed consumer con -dence slumped last month

because of the crisis. Care-taker Prime Minister Yin-gluck Shinawatra has calledan election for February 2but the protesters, awareshe would probably win onthe back of support in therural north and northeast,want her to step down andbe replaced by an appointed“people’s council” to pushthrough electoral reforms.

The protests took offin November when thegovernment tried to forcethrough a political amnestybill that would have let for-mer premier Thaksin Shi-nawatra, Yingluck’s broth-er, return from self-exile

without serving jail time forcorruption.

On Thursday, the pro-testers marched from theircamp at Democracy Monu-ment in the historic quarter,drumming up support forMonday when they plan toblockade main roads andprevent government minis-tries from functioning.

The turmoil is the lat-est twist in a con ict pittingBangkok’s middle classand royalist establishmentagainst the mostly ruralsupporters of Yingluck andThaksin, who was ousted asprime minister in a militarycoup in 2006. — Reuters

Security alert in southern Russiaafer ve bodies ound

M OSCOW , 9 Jan —Russia has put securityforces on combat alert inthe southern Stavropol re-gion after the discovery of

ve bodies with gunshotwounds and an explosivedevice, a regional securityspokesman said.

Russia has alreadytightened security be-fore next month’s WinterOlympics in Sochi, onwhich President VladimirPutin has staked a lot ofpolitical and personalprestige, and is on highalert after suicide bomberskilled at least 34 peoplein separate attacks in the

southern city of Volgo-grad last month.The ve corpses were

discovered on Wednesdayin four cars in two separatedistricts outside the re-

gional capital Stavropol, agateway to the North Cau-casus, where Russia facesan insurgency by Islamistmilitants who have threat-ened to try to prevent theOlympics going ahead.

An unidenti ed explo -sive device was also foundnear one of the vehicles,said a spokesman for Rus-sia’s Federal Security Ser-vice (FSB) in Stavropol.No other details were im-mediately available.

Putin said after theVolgograd attacks that hewould annihilate all “ter-rorists” in Russia.

The Winter Olympics

open in Sochi on 7 Febru-ary. The Black Sea resortis on the western edge ofthe Caucasus mountainswhere the insurgents wantto carve out an Islamic

state.The head of Russia’s

Olympic Committee hassaid no more can be doneto safeguard the Gamesbecause every measurepossible is already inplace.

Russian forces wenton combat alert in Sochion Tuesday and about37,000 personnel are nowin place to provide secu-rity at the Games, Russianof cials say. — Reute rs

Photo from a Kyodo News helicopter shows a Mitsubishi Materials

Corp. plant in Yokkaichi, Mie Prefecture, central Japan, on 9 Jan, 2014. Five people died and 12

others were injured in anexplosion at the plant the

same day.— K YODO N EWS

Five dead, 12 injured in blast at MitsubishiMaterials plant

the Japanese material mak-er said.

The victims were in-volved in the operation,some as supervisors, itadded.

The factory, located inan industrial district in Yok-kaichi, produces siliconethat is used in semiconduc-tors for personal computers.

Kyodo News

T SU ( Japan), 9 Jan —Five people died and 12others were injured in anexplosion Thursday at aMitsubishi Materials Corp.plant in Yokkaichi, Mie

Prefecture, local police said.The explosion tookplace at around 2:10 p.m.,apparently after hydrogengas leaked during the demo-lition of a heat exchanger,

T OKYO , 9 Jan —The Ja-pan Atomic Energy Agencyis planning to melt a smallnuclear fuel rod in an experi-

ment at its research facilityin March to gure out howmeltdowns occurred at theFukushima Daiichi nuclearpower plant in 2011, of cialssaid Thursday. The experi-ment could offer clues about

Fuel meltdown experiment eyed to learnmore about Fukushima crisis

the state of the fuel left insidethe three crippled FukushimaDaiichi reactors, which re-mains uncertain. Removing

the fuel from the reactorswill be the biggest challengein dismantling the plant.

“We hope to use thedata obtained through theexperiment to improve theaccuracy of the analysis of

the Fukushima accident,” aJAEA of cial said.

During the experiment,to be conducted at the Nucle-

ar Safety Research Reactorin Tokaimura, Ibaraki Pre-fecture, nuclear ssion reac -tions will be triggered usinga 30-centimetre long test fuelrod placed inside a stainless-steel capsule.— Kyodo News

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Friday, 10 January, 20144

W O R L DNew Light of Myanmar

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan (L) meets with Japanese Emperor Akihito (R) at the Impe- rial Palace in Tokyo on 8 Jan, 2014, the last day of his

three-day visit to Japan. — K YODO NEWS

Aunt of N Koreanleader in

comaS EOUL , 9 Jan — Kim

Kyong Hui, aunt of NorthKorean leader Kim Jong Unand wife of the purged andexecuted of cial Jang SongTaek, is in a vegetative stateafter undergoing brain sur-gery, a Seoul daily reportedon Thursday.

Citing an intelligenceof cial in the United States,the JoongAng Daily saidthat Kim had surgery fora brain tumour in 2013 inParis. After the surgery, shelost a lot of weight, drop-ping to 35 kilograms, theof cial said.

North Korea’s statemedia announced Jang’sexecution last month, labe-ling him a “traitor for allages.” Her fate has beenthe focus of attention ofNorth Korea watchers sinceJang’s execution.

The younger sister ofKim Jong Un’s father, thelate leader Kim Jong Il, shewas seen last month in aKorean Central Television

lm purported to praise thecurrent leader’s achieve-ments. She appeared in ascene believed to have been

lmed when Kim Jong Unvisited, in December 2012,the Kumsusan Palace ofthe Sun, where the leader’sgrandfather Kim Il Sung,the founder of North Korea,and others are laid to rest.

Kyodo News

T OKYO , 9 Jan — ABank of Japan policymaker

said on Thursday the cen-tral bank should furtherease its monetary policy“without hesitation” if theeconomy and prices are

judged to move consider-ably below its projection.

“I believe additionalmonetary easing meas-ures should be taken with-out hesitation so as not to

jeopardize the BOJ’s cred-ibility, whenever downsiderisks to the BOJ’s baselinescenario are judged to havematerialized,” Sayuri Shiraisaid in her speech in Singa -pore, according to the textreleased by the BOJ.

The central bank intro-duced large-scale monetaryeasing policy in April lastyear, aiming to achieve 2

percent in ation in abouttwo years.

Japan’s consumer pric-es excluding fresh foodsrose 1.2 percent in Novem-ber from a year before forthe sixth straight month ofincrease.

Despite the continuedincrease in consumer pric-es, Shirai said there maybe “high uncertainty” aboutmeeting the goal in abouttwo years due to consum-ers’ concern about a rapiddecline in real disposableincome as well as rms’cautiousness about raisingsales prices.

“I personally considerthat it may take some time”before the impact of mon-etary easing fully material-izes, she said.

Kyodo News

A worker is seen at the construction site of the PanamaCanal Expansion project on the outskirts of Colon City

on 7 Jan, 2014.— R EUTERS

Panama Canal refuses to pay $1billion more for expansion work

P ANAMA C ITY , 9 Jan—The Panama Canal onWednesday rejected a pro-posal that it pay $1 billionto continue work on ex-panding the waterway, andwarned the building consor-tium behind the project thatit could bring in others to

nish the job.For the past week, the

Panama Canal Author-ity (PCA) has been ghtingwith the consortium led bySpanish builder Sacyr overcost overruns in the plan toinstall a third set of locksfor one of the world’s mostimportant cargo routes.

On Tuesday, therewere signs the two sideswere narrowing their dif-ferences. But on Wednes-day, Italian builder SaliniImpregilo weighed intothe debate with a separate

and people,” he said of thecontingency plan.

The project was origi-nally expected to cost about$5.25 billion, but the over-runs could raise it to near$7 billion. Impregilo’sproposal showed signs ofa split in the consortiumthat has been expandingthe canal. People familiarwith the discussions saidthat Impregilo perceivedSacyr as too soft in nego -tiations and said the Italian

company could be trying towrest control of the project.

There was no imme-diate word from Sacyr onImpregilo’s move. Haltingconstruction on the projectwould be a setback for com-panies eager to move largerships through the century-old waterway such as liq-ue ed natural gas (LNG)producers who want to shipexports from the US Gulfcoast to Asian markets.

Reuters

Norway hopes for resumption ofpeace talks between Philippine

gov’t , leftist rebelsM ANILA , 9 Jan — Vis-

iting Norwegian ForeignMinister Borge Brende ex-pressed hope on Thursdaythat the Philippine gov-ernment and leftist rebelgroup Communist Partyof the Philippines (CPP)will resume stalled peacetalks in the coming months.Norway is the mediator inpeace negotiations betweenthe Philippine govern-ment and the leftist rebels.

“We’re committed to con-tinue as facilitator in (peacetalks) as long as this is theinterest of the governmentof the Philippines,” Brendetold reporters in an inter-view. He said he will bediscussing “opportunities”to resume the stalled nego-tiations during his meetingwith Philippine PresidentBenigno S Aquino III in theafternoon.

“I think the presidency

of Aquino is here for sev-eral years and we are look-ing into the opportunity toresume talks in the future,”said Brende. Talks betweenthe Philippine governmentand the CPP’s negotiatingarm, the National Demo-cratic Front of the Philip-pines, has been suspendedsince 2011 over the leftist re-bels’ demand for the releaseof some of their detainedcommanders.— Xinhua

proposal that suggested adeal was still some distanceaway. Impregilo said it hadput forward two alternativesolutions that involved theauthority paying $1 billionto the consortium known asGrupo Unidos por el Canal(GUPC) to complete thework. But that announce-ment from Italy promptedan immediate rebuff fromthe head of the PCA, JorgeQuijano. The $1 billionpayment “is impossible.It is outside the contract,”Quijano told reporters inPanama City.

The consortium hadthreatened to suspend workon the massive infrastruc-ture project by 20 Januaryunless the PCA paid for$1.6 billion in cost over-runs. The authority has re-

jected that demand but has

said it is willing to considerdetailed claims.

Quijano said the PCAhad a plan ready to bring ina third party to nish the ex -pansion if no deal is reachedwith the consortium to keepthe project running in theweeks ahead. Bechtel, a USengineering company whichlost out to Sacyr when theproject was awarded in 2009,had been tipped by some an-alysts as a likely bene ciaryof the dispute.

Quijano said the thirdparty was not Bechtel, butdid not elaborate on whichother companies could stepup. “We are not going tohave another contract likewe have with GUPC rightnow. We’ll have anothercontractor that works di-rectly for us to administerthe rest of the contractors

Libya’s PM warns maysink oil tankers

nearing east ports

An oil tanker is seen at the port and Zawiya Oil Re nery, 55 km (34 miles) west of the city of Tripoli

in this 22 Aug, 2013 le photo. — R EUTERS

T RIPOLI , 9 Jan —Libyamay sink tankers trying to

load at eastern ports seizedby armed protesters in anescalating confrontationover control of oil exports,Prime Minister Ali Zeidansaid on Wednesday.

His warning came afterLibya’s navy red shots atthe weekend to ward off atanker that the state-run Na-tional Oil Corp (NOC) saidtried to load at one port thathas been out of governmentcontrol for six months.

Brent crude rose above$107 a barrel on Wednes-day, supported by the newworries over Libyan sup -plies, which have beenslashed since summer bythe blockade of three keyeastern ports.

Negotiations to end

the protests have failed aseastern federalists, whose

self-styled Cyrenaica gov-ernment seeks more au-tonomy from Tripoli, havethreatened to ship oil inde-pendently to world marketsin de ance of Zeidan.

Protesters on Tuesdaysaid they would guaranteesecurity for vessels dockingat the three eastern ports,inviting foreign tankers toload crude and bypass gov-ernment control.

“Any country, or com-pany, or gang trying to sendtankers to take oil from theseized ports without coor-dinating with the NOC, wewill deal with them — evenif we are forced to destroyor sink them,” Zeidan said.“We warn all countriesthere will be no leniency.”

The confrontation is amajor challenge two yearsafter the fall of MuammarGadda in Libya, whereformer rebels, militias andtribesman have all resortedto force to make demandson a state that is still map-ping out the new democ-racy.

In the east, the Cyre-naica regional author-ity and its armed protestershave taken over Ras Lanuf,

Es Sider and Zueitina ports,which previously account-ed for 600,000 barrels perday in crude exports.

On Monday, the Liby -an navy said it red warningshots at a Maltese- aggedtanker trying to reach Libyato load oil at Es-Sider, butthe tanker’s owners ac-cused Libya forces of r -ing on them in internationalwaters.

Reuters

BOJ policymaker callsfor more easing if prices

move below forecast

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W O R L DNew Light of Myanmar

Two P3C Orion surveillance planes operated by Japan’s

Maritime Self-Defence Force y over the sea off the Kerama Islands in the

Japanese southernmost prefecture of Okinawa for training on 8 Jan, 2014.The drill, the rst of this

year, was open to the media and three P3Cs took

part.— K YODO N EWS

Japan marks record high 11.25million foreign visitors in 2013

T OKYO , 9 Jan — For-eign visitors to Japan to-taled a record high 11.25million in 2013, up 2.08million from a year earlierand topping the 10 millionthreshold for the rst time,according to preliminarydata released by the Jus-tice Ministry’s ImmigrationBureau of Japan.

Immigration of cialssaid the weak yen, whichhelped lower travellingcosts in Japan, as well as

eased visa requirements forSoutheast Asians was be-hind the increase.

The total includedthose who were staying inJapan for extended peri-ods of time and made re-entries after leaving thecountry. Excluding thosere-entrants, arrivals came toapproximately 9.55 million,also a record high and upabout 2 million from 2012.

South Koreans werethe largest group of visitors

to Japan, totaling 2.3 mil-lion, followed by 2.16 mil-lion Taiwanese and 980,000Chinese. The Chinese totalexcludes those from theHong Kong special admin-istrative region.

Chinese visitors gradu-ally increased after plum-meting in the wake ofTokyo’s purchase in Sep-tember 2012 of Japan-ad-ministered islets claimed byChina from a private Japa-nese owner.— Kyodo News

US President BarackObama waves after heurges Congress to act

and extend emergencyunemployment insurance

bene ts while at anevent in the East Room of the White House in

Washington, on 7 Jan, 2014.— R EUTERS

Obama edges closer to decisions onintelligence reforms

W ASHINGTON , 9 Jan —

President Barack Obamaconsulted intelligence of-cials on Wednesday on

ways to rein in US surveil-lance practices as he nearsthe end of a review likelyto lead to changes as tohow bulk telephone data is

how we move forward withkey intelligence collectionprograms,” said CaitlinHayden, spokeswoman forthe White House NationalSecurity Council.

Obama also met withmembers of the Privacy andCivil Liberties OversightBoard, a bipartisan inde-pendent panel that has beenreviewing US surveillancepractices, including the col-lection of telephone dataand the operations of theForeign Intelligence Sur-veillance Court.

The privacy oversightboard said it would offer its

ndings to Obama in lateJanuary or early February,meaning its recommenda-

tions will not get to thepresident until after he hasalready announced his re-form plans.

Obama is due to meetseveral US lawmakers onThursday as he rms up hisreview.— Reuters

handled as well as restric-tions to spying on foreignleaders.

Obama, who could an-nounce his intelligence re-forms in a speech as earlyas next week, is acting in anattempt to restore Ameri-cans’ con dence in USintelligence services afterdamaging disclosures fromformer spy contractor Ed-ward Snowden about thesweep of surveillance prac-tices.

Obama reviewed theprogress of the administra-tion’s review in a meetingwith James Clapper, thedirector of US intelligence,and Keith Alexander, theNational Security Agency

director, as well as AttorneyGeneral Eric Holder andVice President Joe Biden.

“This was an impor-tant chance for the presi-dent to hear directly fromhis team as he begins tomake nal decisions about

Turkish police purge reachestop ranks amid graf scandal

A NKARA , 9 Jan — Tur-key’s deputy police chiefhas been sacked, the most

senior commander yet tar-geted in a purge of a forceheavily in uenced by acleric accused by PrimeMinister Tayyip Erdogan ofplotting to seize the leversof state power.

Erdogan’s AK Partymeanwhile submitted plansto parliament to allow gov-ernment more say over thenaming of prosecutors and

judges. Erdogan arguesthat a judiciary and police

Turkey’s Prime MinisterTayyip Erdogan

A tank is transported towards Anbar, to reinforce Iraqi troops in the province, west of Baghdad,

on 6 Jan, 2014.— R EUTERS

Iraqi prime minister says victory certain

as Falluja assault looms

B AGHDAD , 9 Jan —Iraqi Prime Minister Nurial-Maliki vowed to eradi-cate al-Qaeda in Iraq and

in the sway of the Hizmet(Service) movement ofcleric Fethullah Gulen con-

trived a graft investigationnow shaking his adminis-tration.

The police websitesaid the deputy head ofthe national police, Muam-mer Bucak, and provincialchiefs, among them thecommanders in the capi-tal Ankara and the Aegeanprovince of Izmir, wereremoved from their postsovernight.

The government has

ousted hundreds of po-lice since the graft affairerupted on 17 December

with the detention of doz-ens of people includingbusinessmen close to thegovernment and three cabi-net ministers’ sons. Amongthe dozens questioned,most have been released.A remaining 24, includingtwo of the ministers’ sons,remain in custody, accord-ing to local media. Thescandal has shaken investorcon dence in Turkey be -fore elections this year and

Jordan on “alert”as tension riseson borders with

Iraq, SyriaA MMAN , 9 Jan — Jor-danian of cials said thisweek that the country isclosely following up thesituation on borders withIraq and Syria after radi-cal groups took control ofsome of these areas.

In a Lower Housesession on Tuesday, Jor-dan’s Prime MinisterAbdullah Ensour saidhis country is concernedabout terrorism and isclosely following up thedevelopments in Iraq’sAnbar Province, where al-Qaeda-linked groups tookcontrol of some areas bor-dering Jordan.

Jordan’s security ispart of the region’s se-curity, he said during thesession.

“Terrorism is an is-sue of concern to Jordan,”said Ensour, referring tothe emergence of radicalgroups inside Iraqi andSyrian territories border-ing Jordan.

In an interview withstate-owned Jordan Tel-evision, Foreign MinisterNasser Judeh said Jordanis “on alert” in the eld

and at the political level,”referring to the ghting inIraq and al-Qaeda-linkedgroup’s control of sometowns there and its impacton the kingdom.

The Islamic State ofIraq and Levant (ISIL),which is an al-Qaeda-linked faction, currentlyhas control over Fallu-

jah and parts of Ramadiin Iraq’s western Anbarprovince, which bordersJordan.

On Tuesday, at least10 al-Qaeda militantswere killed in clashes be-tween Sunni tribes and al-Qaeda ghters in two ma -

jor cities of Iraq’s westernprovince of Anbar, securi-ty sources and of cial TVsaid. Anbar Province hasbeen the scene of sporadicclashes between Iraqi se-curity forces, tribesmenand al-Qaeda militants.The security situation de-teriorated in the provincelast week, when Iraqi po-

lice dismantled an anti-government protest siteoutside Ramadi, Anbar’sprovincial capital city.

Xinhua

heightened concern aboutthe erosion of judicial inde-pendence, something whichin the longer term coulddamage Ankara’s bid formembership of the Euro-pean Union.— Reuters

predicted victory as hisarmy prepared to launch amajor assault against theSunni Islamist militants

who have taken over partsof the city of Falluja.

Fighters from theal-Qaeda-af liated IslamicState of Iraq and the Levant(ISIL), which is also activeacross the border in Syria,overran police stations inFalluja and another city inIraq’s western Anbar prov-ince last week.

The campaign byal-Qaeda gunmen to forma radical Islamic state inparts of Iraq and Syria hasrung alarm bells in Westerncapitals and provided fur-ther evidence that the Syr-ian civil war is exportinginstability throughout theregion.

In a televised addresson Wednesday, Maliki alsothanked the internationalcommunity for its supportin the ght against al-Qae -da and urged the group’smembers and supporters tosurrender, promising clem-ency.

The prime ministerspoke for the second timethis week with US VicePresident Joe Biden, theWhite House said in a state -ment. Biden urged Malikito keep working with localleaders and welcomed a de-cision to compensate tribalmilitiamen who may bewounded or killed in actionagainst ISIL.— Reuters

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People participate in an aerobics class at the gymnasium of a sports centre in Cartago, east of San

Jose in this 10 July, 2012 fle photo.— R EUTERS

Food, beverage companiesslash calories in obesity

fghtN EW Y ORK , 9 Jan —

A voluntary effort by the

world’s largest food andbeverage companies to re-move billions of caloriesfrom the products they sellin the United States to helpcombat the nation’s obesityepidemic has far exceededits ve-year goal, accordingto an independent evalua-tion released on Thursday.

In May 2010, 16 of thenation’s biggest food andbeverage companies, fromCoca-Cola Co to Kraft FoodsGroup, pledged to remove 1trillion calories from the USmarketplace by 2012 and 1.5trillion by 2015, comparedwith a 2007 baseline. In fact,as of 2012 they sold 6.4 tril-lion fewer calories, found ananalysis by researchers at the

University of North Carolinaat Chapel Hill (UNC).

“Reports like this, andthe fact that they exceededtheir commitment by four-fold, really shows that youcan make progress in giv-ing American families morehealthy options,” said Lar-ry Soler, president of thePartnership for a Health-ier America, a non-pro tchaired by rst lady Mi -chelle Obama. The groupwas formed in 2010 to workwith the private sector onanti-obesity strategies.

At the time, critics saidthe Partnership relied tooheavily on the good willof the industry and couldnot replace the role oftighter regulation on howfood is manufactured and

marketed. Such voluntaryefforts by industry “arenot a magic bullet,” saidJeff Levi, executive direc-tor of Trust for America’sHealth, a non-pro t policygroup. “Particularly withkids, there is a role forregulation” in reducing de-mand for unhealthy, high-calorie fare. It is not clearyet how the companiesaccomplished the dramatic

calorie reduction, said UNCpublic health researcherBarry Popkin, who led theanalysis funded by the Rob-ert Wood Johnson Founda-tion, the nation’s largestpublic health philanthropy.Some of the decline mayhave come from the reces-sion, as nancially-strappedfamilies cut back on junkfood.

Reuters

Malaysian government

to help people copewith rising

cost of living K UALA L UMPUR , 9 Jan

— The Malaysian govern-ment has prepared 10 typesof aid packages to help peo-ple cope with the currentand future rising costs ofliving, an government of -cial said on Thursday.

Deputy Finance Min-ister Datuk Ahmad Maslantold reporters that the 10 aidpackages include basic sub-sidies, assistance to farm-ers, shermen, oil palmworkers and rubber tappers,reduction of income tax

cuts, health subsidies, edu-cational assistance, afford-able housing projects, as-sistance to the poor, fundsfor the development of en-trepreneurs as well as salaryincreases and bonuses forcivil servants.

He did not deny that ra-tionalization of the budgetmade by the government inreducing the national de citrecently had caused pricesof three types of items torise, namely oil, sugar andelectricity.

But he said the aidpackages had been createdto help people to achieve ahigh level of income so asnot to be burdened with ris-ing costs in the future.

Xinhua

Asian shares ease, dollar rms;Friday’s US jobs in focus

A pedestrian walks past electronic boards showing the picture of Japanese 10000 yen banknotes and 100 US

dollar banknotes outside a brokerage in Tokyo on 9 Jan, 2014.— R EUTERS

T OKYO , 9 Jan — Asianshares wavered on Thurs-day after a lackluster per-formance on Wall Streetovernight and ahead of akey US jobs report due outthe following day, while

the dollar hovered near aseven-week high against abasket of currencies.

Market reaction wasmuted to a slowdown inChina’s annual consumerin ation in December,which decelerated to 2.5

percent from the previousmonth’s 3 percent, morethan the market had ex-pected.

MSCI’s broadest in-dex of Asia-Paci c sharesoutside Japan .MIAPJ-

0000PUS shed 0.4 percentafter snapping a ve-daylosing streak on Wednes-day. Despite the yen’sweakness, Japan’s Nikkeibenchmark .N225 shed 1.5percent, giving up some ofits 1.9 percent bounce in

the previous session afterlosing nearly 3 percent inthe rst two trading days of2014. Financial bookmak-ers expected UK, Germanand French shares .FTSE.GDAXI .FCHI to open

steady on Thursday, aheadof the European CentralBank’s policy meeting. An-alysts doubt it will do morethan ag its readiness to actwhen needed, despite an-other surprising fall in eurozone in ation.

Overnight, the USStandard & Poor’s 500 .SPX

nished nearly at, while theDow Jones industrial aver-age . DJI slipped 0.4 percent.The dollar .DXY was littlechanged at 81.031 againsta basket of major curren-cies, not far from a seven-week high of 81.166 set onWednesday after payrollsprocessor ADP said USprivate employers added abigger-than-expected 238,-000 jobs in December, thestrongest increase in 13months.— Reuters

A customer picks up a shoe at a shop where posters advertising price discounts are hung, outside a

department store in Beijing, in this 23 Oct, 2013 fle photo.— R EUTERS

China in ation hits7-month low, eases

tightening fearsB EIJING , 9 Jan —Chi-

na’s annual consumer in a -tion slowed more sharplythan expected to a seven-month low of 2.5 percent inDecember, easing marketfears of monetary policytightening although thecentral bank is tapping thebrakes on bank liquidity.

Rising money marketrates and bond yields indi-cate the People’s Bank ofChina (PBOC) is targetingbank liquidity conditionsto reduce debt levels andcontain credit growth, butthere is little sign of a sharp

turnaround in its policystance.The central bank has

pledged to continue tomaintain prudent monetarypolicy in 2014 and keepreasonable money and cred-it growth to support the realeconomy.

“In ation pressuresremain modest, which willallow policymakers to con-tinue focusing on policiesto support growth whileimplementing structuralreform measures in 2014,”said Xiaoping Ma, an econ-omist at HSBC in Beijing.

The drop in in ationlast month, from Novem-ber’s print of 3 percent, wassharper than a fall to the 2.7percent rate expected by themarket, slowed by volatilefood costs.

Food prices rose 4.1

percent in December froma year earlier, slowing fromNovember’s 5.9 percentrise, the National Bureau ofStatistics said on Thursday.

Month-on-month, con-sumer prices rose 0.3 per-cent versus 0.4 percent ex-pected by economists.

But analysts warn in a -tion may quicken in comingmonths as the governmentpushes market-oriented re-forms to liberalize energyand utility prices.

“While CPI in a -tion came in lower than

expected, the January gurewill likely exceed 3 percentagain due to the ChineseNew Year effect,” saidZhou Hao, an economist atANZ in Shanghai.

“In ation could exceed3.5 percent in the secondhalf of 2014, as upcomingpricing reforms could pushup commodity and publicutility prices.

Therefore, we thinkthat CPI in ation will be3.2-3.4 percent on averagethis year.” China’s in ationwas 2.6 percent over thewhole of 2013, well withinthe government’s targetlimit of 3.5 percent, the bu-reau said. Analysts believethe government will alsostick with the 3.5 percentin ation target this year.

Reuters

Bone marrow stem cells could defeat drug-resistant tuberculosisL ONDON , 9 Jan — Pa-

tients with potentially fatal“superbug” forms of tuber-culosis (TB) could in futurebe treated using stem cellstaken from their own bonemarrow, according to theresults of an early-stagetrial of the technique.

The nding, made byBritish and Swedish scien-tists, could pave the way forthe development of a new

treatment for the estimated450,000 people worldwidewho have multi drug-resist-ant (MDR) or extensivelydrug-resistant (XDR) TB.

In a study in The Lancet medical journalon Thursday, researcherssaid more than half of 30drug-resistant TB patientstreated with a transfusionof their own bone marrowstem cells were cured of the

disease after six months.“The results ... show

that the current challengesand dif culties of treatingMDR-TB are not insur-mountable, and they bringa unique opportunity witha fresh solution to treathundreds of thousands ofpeople who die unneces-sarily,” said TB expert Al-imuddin Zumla at Univer-sity College London, who

co-led the study. TB, whichinfects the lungs and canspread from one person toanother through coughingand sneezing, is often false-ly thought of as a disease ofthe past.

In recent years, drug-resistant strains of the dis-ease have spread aroundthe world, batting off stand-ard antibiotic drug treat-ments. The World Health

Organisation (WHO) esti-mates that in Eastern Eu-rope, Asia and South Af-rica 450,000 people haveMDR-TB, and around halfof these will fail to respondto existing treatments. TBbacteria trigger an in am -matory response in im-mune cells and surroundinglung tissue that can causeimmune dysfunction andtissue damage.— Reuters

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Obama agrees to 4-year extension forInternational Space Station

W ASHINGTON , 9 Jan —The Obama administrationwants to keep the Interna-tional Space Station , a $100billion orbital research out-post that is a project of 15nations, ying until at least2024, four years beyond aprevious target, NASA saidon Wednesday.

The extension willgive the US space agencymore time to develop thetechnologies needed foreventual human missions to

Backdropped by Earth, the International Space Stationis seen in this image photographed by an STS-130

crew member on space shuttle Endeavour after the station and shuttle began their post-undocking relative

separation, in this undated NASA handout photo.R EUTERS

Mars, the long-term goal ofNASA’s human space pro -gramme.

Keeping the stationin orbit beyond 2020 alsoopens a window for com-mercial companies and re-searchers to bene t fromhefty US investment in theoutpost. NASA’s costs foroperating the station, which

ies about 250 miles aboveEarth, run about $3 billion ayear. About half that sum isspent on transporting crew

and cargo.“Ten years from today

is a pretty far-reaching,pretty strategic-looking vi -sion,” NASA AssociateAdministrator Bill Gersten -maier told reporters on aconference call.

“This extension…opens up a large avenue ofresearch onboard station. Italso changes the perspec -tive for the commercial(transportation) provid-ers. Now they can see a

market that extends to atleast 2024,” he said.

In addition to com -mercial US cargo ships andplanned passenger spacetaxis, companies and re-search organizations are be -ginning to make use of thestation’s unique micrograv -ity environment to developa range of new productsand technologies, includingmedications and off-the-shelf, shoebox-sized satel -lites.— Reuters

Alibaba to set up mobile gamingplatform in China

B EIJING , 9 Jan — E-commerce giant AlibabaGroup Holding Ltd said onWednesday it would set upa mobile gaming platformin China, venturing into afast growing sector domi -nated by tech rival TencentHoldings Ltd.

Mobile gaming ishugely popular in China,home to the largest num -ber of smartphone users in

An employee walks past a logo of Alibaba Group at

its headquarters on the outskirts of Hangzhou, Zhe-

jiang province, in this 17 May, 2010

le photo.R EUTERS

the world. In 2013, mobilegaming revenue account -ed for 11.24 billion yuan($1.86 billion), or 13.5 per -cent of the overall Chinesevideo gaming market, theworld’s third largest.

Liu Chunning, a for -mer Tencent executivewho now heads Alibaba’sdigital entertainment busi -ness, said in a statement themobile gaming platform

would be offered free to de-velopers for the rst year.He did not say, how -

ever, when it would be setup and the statement gavefew other details.

Alibaba spokeswomanFlorence Shih said the plat -form would be launchedin the near future. “We’renot making mobile games,we’re the platform opera -tor,” she added.

A person familiar withthe matter said the platformmay have its own dedicatedapp or could be integrat -ed into existing Alibabaapps such as e-commerceapp Mobile Taobao orLaiwang, a social messag -ing app.

Reuters

Francenes

Googleover dataprivacy P ARIS , 9 Jan — France’s

data protection watchdoghas ned Google 150,000euros after the US searchengine ignored a three-month ultimatum to bringits practices on tracking andstoring user information inline with local law.

The privacy watch -dog, known as CNIL, hasalso ordered Google to postthe decision on its google.fr homepage for 48 hourswithin eight days of beingof cially noti ed of the rul -ing.

At issue was the newapproach to user data thatGoogle began in March2012, in which it consoli-dated its 60 privacy poli -cies into one and startedcombining data collectedon individual users acrossits services, including You -Tube, Gmail and social net -work Google+.

It gave users no meansto opt out. “The companydoes not suf ciently informits users of the conditionsin which their personal dataare processed, nor of thepurposes of this process-ing,” CNIL said in a state -ment.— Reuters

A Google logo is seen at the entrance to the company’s of ces inToronto in this 6 Sept,

2013 le photo.— R EUTERS

Wearable technology leadsfuture trend in 2014 CES

L AS V EGAS , 9 Jan —Wearable devices make upthis year’s hottest technolo -gy in the International Con -sumer Electronics Show(CES), which kicked offTuesday at the Las VegasConvention Centre.

More than a dozenrms displayed new weara -

ble products, most directedat health and tness. Thesedevices are equipped withcomputer chips that canmonitor users’ heart rate,steps taken, and even loca-tion.

People in the nearfuture could choose theirwearable devices from headto toe, use it to manage theirlife, and track their healthcondition.

Not only a recordor output device, morewearable gadgets sup -port inter-communicationwith wearers. Intel CEOBrian Krzanich unveiled anew “personal assistant”

A model presents thelatest wearable camera

equipment of Panasonic at the 2014 international

CES in Las Vegas, theUnited States, on 6 Jan,

2014.— X INHUA

Apple, Samsung CEOsagree to mediation in

US patent ghtS AN F RANCISCO , 9 Jan

— Apple Inc(AAPL.O) andSamsung Electronics haveagreed to attend a media -tion session to be held on orbefore 19 February, as theyprepare to clash in courtin March over smartphonepatents.

Apple CEO Tim Cookand Samsung CEO Oh-Hyun Kwon will attendthe session with in-houselawyers only, according toa Wednesday court ling.Their legal teams had meton 6 January to “discusssettlement opportunities,”the ling read.

Neither company im -mediately return messagesseeking comment.

Apple and Samsungare embroiled in a legal bat -tle over smartphone patentsacross several countries thatmirrors their global battle

for supremacy in the mobiledevice market.

The technology rivalsare facing a March trial datein the United States overApple’s claims that Sam -sung infringed its patents.

In the last two years,Apple and Samsung havegone to trial twice in SanJose, California federalcourt, and juries haveawarded Apple a total ofroughly $930 million.

Apple said in courtdocuments led in De -cember that its has paid itsleading outside law rmapproximately $60 millionto wage patent litigationagainst Samsung.

The case is Apple

Inc v Samsung Electron -ics Co Ltd, US DistrictCourt, Northern District ofCalifornia, 11-1846.

Reuters

earpiece named Jarvis,which is Intel’s answer tothe voice-activated GoogleNow and Apple’s Siri.

Almost all wearabledevices are as companionsto smartphones. There isone exception that the Nep -tune Pine is a stand-alone

device. This Android-basedsmart watch is a social-me-dia hub, video game con -sole, media player and plat -form for two cameras, all ina 2.4-inch device that rideson a person’s wrist withoutthe need of a connectionwith a phone.

In addition to develop -ing reference devices forwearable technology, Intelwill offer a number of ac-cessible, low-cost entryplatforms from 2014 on.

During the trade show,Krzanich also unveiled IntelEdison, a Pentium-class PCthe size and shape of an SDcard with built-in wirelesscapabilities and support formultiple operating systems.These products are aimed athelping lower entry barriersfor individuals and smallcompanies to create inno-vative Internet-connectedwearables or other smallform factor devices.

Xinhua

Photo taken on 6 Jan, 2014 shows Toyota’s FCV hydrogen electric concept car at a media previewevent of the International Consumer Electronics

Show in Las Vegas, the United States, Jan. 6, 2014.Toyota announced the car would be available to US

consumers in 2015.X INHUA

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Friday, 10 January, 20148 New Light of MyanmarNATIONAL

Friday, 10 January, 2014

Civic education neededin reform process

(Edited by KW)Nowadays, our country is on the right

track to democracy. A wealth of reforms istaking place in every administrative body ofthe country since the new government hastaken of ce. But the people at the grassrootslevel still do not enjoy the fruits of these dem-ocratic reforms.

Every country in the world has to face chal-lenges and dif culties in a transitional period.It is normal that every country that carries outtransformation from one system to another hassimilar problems.

Myanmar has been dealing with the con-

sequences of armed con icts since the countryregained independence in 1948. That is whythe country has long been lacking democraticpractices.

Democracy and civic education are inter-twined. Civic responsibility is de ned as the “re -sponsibility of a citizen”. It is comprised of ac-tions and attitudes associated with democraticgovernance and social participation. The impor-tance of civic responsibility is paramount to thesuccess of democracy and philanthropy.

Schools should teach civic responsibilityto students with the goal of producing respon-sible citizens and active players at a commu-nity and government level. Civic responsibil-

ity is tied to the philanthropic sector in manyways. Civic education is a method to teachcivic responsibility. It is a way to promoteand enlighten responsible citizens committedto democratic principles. Civic education is ameans to actively engage people in the prac-tice of democracy.

(We value your feedback. If you have any com-ments and suggestions or would like to submit yourown articles and editorials, please email the chiefeditor at wallace.tun@gmail.com)

Name Appointment(a) U Tin Tun Director-General Union Election Commis-

sion Of ce(b) Dr Myo Thein Gyi Director-General Department of Myanmar

Education Research Bureau Ministry of Education

Myanmar GazetteN AY P YI T AW , 9 Jan—The President of the Republic

of the Union of Myanmar has con rmed the appointmentof the following heads of service organizations on expiryof the one-year probationary period.

(c) U Ko Ko Tin Director-General Educational Planning and

Training Department Ministry of Education(d) U Kyaw Swa Soe Director-General Advanced Science and

Technology Department Ministry of Science and

Technology

(e) U Win Khaing Moe Director-GeneralMyanma AdvancedScience andTechnology ResearchDepartment

Ministry of Science andTechnology

N AY P YI T AW , 9 Jan—A cash donation ceremonyfor Myanmar athletes ofthe 7 th ASEAN Para Gameswas held at the sports train-

ing camp in Nay Pyi Tawthis morning.

Patrons of the My-anmar Women’s SportsFederation and the wivesof several high-rankingof cials, including DawKhin Khin Win, wife of thePresident, donated aroundK 20.9 million to the ath-letes, with the President ofthe Myanmar ParalympicsFederation Maj-Gen NayLin accepting the cash do-nations.

MNA edited by KW

Cash donated to Myanmar athletes of ASEANPara Games

Patron of Myanmar Women’s Sports Federation Daw Khin Khin Win and party cordially greet Myanmar athletes for 7 th ASEAN Para Games.— MNA

N AY P YI T AW , 9 Jan—Union Attorney-GeneralDr Tun Shin held a meetingwith Associate Vice-Pres-ident Colette L. Rauschof the Washington-basedUnited States Institute ofPeace this morning to dis-cuss ways of implementingrule of law in Myanmar.

The Union attorney-general said that Myanmarhas hosted workshops andseminars for legal experts,adding that Myanmar isstriving for rule of law and

dissemination of the con-cept of rule of law to thepeople across the coun-try in coordination withUNDP, Allen & Overy andIJC.

MNA ed ited by KW

Myanmar, US discuss rule of law

N AY P YI T AW , 9 Jan—Acting Union Minister forEducation Dr Myo Myintmet with a Research Pro-fessor from the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatoryof Columbia Universityyesterday to discuss arseniccontamination of ground-water and ways to deal withthe issue.

Prof. Alexander VanGeen elaborated on coop-eration possibilities and

projects aimed at reduc-ing arsenic contaminationof groundwater with thesupport of the Geographyand Geology Departments

Acting Union Education Minis-ter discusses contamination ofground water with U.S. expert

from Yangon, Sittway andPathein Universities in col-laboration with ColumbiaUniversity.

MNA ed ited by KW

Union Attorney-General Dr Tun Shin meets Associate Vice-PresidentColette L. Rausch of the Washington-based United States

Institute of Peace.— MNA

M EIKTILA , 9 Jan—Of-cials said that 30 toilets

will be installed at No.2Basic Education HighSchool in Meiktila Town-ship, located near theYangon-Mandalay Road.

Ekari Cho Construc-tion Co. is currently con-structing two new school

Thirty toilets to beinstalled at Meiktila school

Y ANGON , 9 Jan—Aceremony to present K20 million to Myanmarmen’s and women’s hock-

Victorious Myanmar hockey teamshonoured

ey teams who grabbedbronze medals at the 27 th

SEA Games took placeat Theinbyu arti cial turfpitch in Yangon today.

President of Myan-mar Hockey FederationCol Htin Zaw Win (Retd)awarded the cash to 46people, including athletes,

the manager, coach andassistant coach at a cer-emony in front of fans.

Before the SEAGames here, Myanmar

had never won any medalsin hockey event sat SEAPGame and SEA Games.

Than Swe (Pabedan)edited by KW

buildings therewhich areexpected to be completedon7 March.

The Ministry of Edu-cation allocated K 64.8million to construct the twobuildings and install twentytoilets, while former stu -dentshave donatedmoney-for ten more toilets, said a

teacher. Around 2,250 stu -dents from wards and vil-lages of the township areattending the school.

MMAL-Chan Tha(Meiktila) edited by KW

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P HAKANT , 9 Jan—Are broke out at a house in

Ward 3 of Lonkhin Villageof Phakant Township,Myitkyina District, KachinState, in the north of thenation, at 9 a.m. on 2January. The fire wastriggered by a cheroot leftin the bedroom of the houseat No. 48/B in Ward 3. The

re caused loss of propertyworth K 5.7 million.

Commander of the

Fire causes loss of propertyworth K 5.7 million

local military divisionB r i g - G e n T h a i k S o esupervised putting outthe re, which was handledby re ghters and localpeople using four firetrucks. The re was put outwithin one hour withoutengul ng other buildings.

L o n k h i n P o l i c eStation led a lawsuit overnegligence.

MMAL-Soe Naing Oo(Phakant) Edited by KW

As part of preventive measures against dengue hemorrhagic fever, workers of Yangon City

Development Committee headed by Assistant Administrator of YCDC and health staff Daw

Ohnma Lwin together with local authorities performed fumigation at streets and drains in

Ward 94 of Yuzana Garden City in Dagon Myothit(Seikkan) Township of Yangon Region on 8

January.— MMAL-081

K YUNHLA , 9 Jan—An“interfaith friendship group”was set up in KyunhlaTownship in Sagaing Regionon 7 January with the aim ofestablishing a bond betweenreligious groups and ensuringpeaceful co-existence in thetownship.

Under the supervisiono f t h e T o w n s h i pManagement CommitteeChairman and the TownshipDevelopment SupportiveCommittee Chairman,the interfaith friendship

group was formed by threeprominent people from eachreligion.

A ceremony to markthe occasion was attendedby the Commander of theTownship, Police MajorAung Myint, Head of theTownship Immigrationand National RegistrationDepartment U Saw NaingOo, ward authorities andpeople of different religiousbackground.

MMAL-Myo Win Nyo(Kyunhla) edited by KW

Kyunhla Tsp to establish bondsbetween religions groups

M YINGYAN , 9 Jan—Ade lega t ion o f depu tyministers responsible forinfrastructure projects metwith locals from several

townships in the MandalayRegion on 6 January todiscuss future projects.

M o r e t h a n 3 8 0r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s f r o mMyingyan, Kyaukpadaung,Taungtha, Natogyi and

Deputy ministers meet locals in MyingyanDistrict to discuss infrastructure

Ngazun townships held talkswith the Deputy Minister forConstruction U Soe Tint,Deputy Minister for RailTransportation U Myint

Thein, Deputy Ministerfor Communications andInformation Technology UWin Than and MandalayRegion Minister for TransportU Kyaw Hsan.

Replying to queries

by local people, the deputyministers said the will improveconnecting roads by puttingasphalt on them, improvinginternet access, building

more internet networks, andbuild a train track to directlylink Myingyan to Yangonand Myingyan to Nay PyiTaw.

People from NgazunTownship said they neededroad and bridge construction,telephone networks andconstruction of car parks.

Those from NgazunTo w n s h i p s u b m i t t e dreports on the need of anasphalt road extension fromNgazun to Myotha, repairof culverts, construction

of a Myotha creek crossingbridge, construction of newroads and electri cation.Dwellers from TaungthaTownship requested theconstruction of culverts

Talk on literature held forPyay residents

P YAY , 9 Jan—To markMyanmar Literary Day,a talk on literature wasorganized in Pyay, a city inwestern Bago Region, bythe Pyay Township WritersAssociation and the FortuneLife Computer Centre on 6

January.Many residents attended

the talk given by writersTharawun from Pyay, MyaHnaung Nyo and Lin ThaikNyunt from the MyanmarLand.

Part of the event wasan award ceremony forthe best essays and artsperformance by residents,with Chairperson of theassociation Dr Yin Wai Lwinpresenting prizes.

Following the talks,several donors handed overcash donations to the townshiplibrary.— MMAL-U Shwe Win edited by KW

Scout training underway inKyunhla Township

N ATOGYI , 9 Jan—Morethan 100 young peopleat Letwe Myinni BasicEducation High School inKyunhla Township haveparticipated in a severaltraining on 7 January.

They practiced buildingmakeshift shelters amongother activities.

“ T h e y h a v e a l s oreceived training to beable to participate in thescout activities. They havehad endurance training,including a 20-mile walk,”said school official Daw

Nyein Nyein Aye, who is incharge of the activity.

Among all the schools inKyunhla Township, studentsof the Letwe Myinni BasicEducation High Schoolwere the rst to take theopportunity to join the scoutorganization. The school setup a scout squad with 100middle school students.

It was the rst time in50 years, that Myanmar hasorganized scout activities.

MMAL-Khin Zar Mon Myint (Law) edited by KW

and the handling of inter-district roads to PublicWo r k s . L o c a l s f r o mNatogyi Township askedabout an extension ofthe Myingyan-Natogyi-Yaywun road section andtarmacking of roads.

Deputy Minister U SoeTint reassured the locals

that the deputy ministerswould return again to meetthe requirements of the localpeople.— MMAL-Zaw Min

Naing (Myingyan) edited by KW

Women giving birth on 66 th Independence Day given gifts

in Kyunhla TownshipK Y U N H L A , 9 Jan—

Women who gave birthon the 66 th Anniversaryof Independence Day on 4January have received gifts

by the Kyunhla TownshipMaternal and Child WelfareAssociation.

Chairman Daw HtarHtar Aye presented thegifts on 7 January during aceremony at the maternityward of the People’s Hospitalin Kyunhla Township,Sagaing Region.

Townsh ip medica lof cer Dr Saw San Htayand his staff successfullyperformed several C-sectionson 4 January. Daw Oo ofInma Village gave birth totwin girls weighing fivepounds each, Daw Nyo Nyo

of Nyauggaing Village hada baby boy weighing sixpounds and Daw Phyu Phyuof Kyar-in Village fromKawlin Township, gave

birth to a boy weighing 7.5pounds.— MMAL-Myo Win

Nyo (Kyunhla) edited by KW

Youth ActivityHRD

Fire

Of cials present aid to a mother.

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W O R L D

New Light of MyanmarFriday, 10 January, 201410

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang

Yi (R Front), accompanied

by his Ghana-ian counterpart Hanna Tetteh(2nd L), visits

the Ghanaian Foreign Ministry of ce building,whose construc-

tion was aided byChina, in Accra,

capital of Ghana, on 8 Jan, 2014.

X INHUA

China, Ghana to deepen traditionalfriendship, cooperation

Wang said his visit toGhana was aimed at en-couraging the traditionalfriendship between the two

countries, which was a val-uable asset and an impor-tant advantage that the twosides must draw to furtherdevelop.

“We must do it as wecan to cement the tradition-al friendship and pass it tofuture generations,” he toldreporters after holding talkswith Tetteh.

Wang said he also dis-cussed with Tetteh the waysto deepen the practical co-operation between Chinaand Ghana “so that we can

contribute even more toGhana’s economic and so-cial development, so as tolet the people of Ghana tobene t more from coopera -tion with China.”

The Chinese foreignminister was in Ghana for atwo-day visit at the invita-

tion of Tetteh.Wang said China, as abrother and partner of Gha-na, has contributed withinits realm of capability toGhana’s development overthe years.

Tetteh, for her part,said that Ghana was look-ing forward to having op-portunities to exchangewith China on importantmatters of mutual concern.

“And we not only focuson the relationship betweenGhana and China, but also

acknowledge China’s sup-port for Africa in a multi-ple areas — economy, de-fence, security, and scienceand technology, and insupporting our key objec-tives by helping accelerateour development withinthe shortest possible time,”

said Tetteh.She said her meet-ing with Wang focused onbringing about a greatercommitment to deal withchallenges. “We engagein a practical way so thatwe are able to enhance andbuild our relationship fur-ther,” she said.

Wang is expected tohold talks with PresidentJohn Dramani Mahama atthe Flagstaff House in Ac-cra on Thursday.

Xinhua

A CCRA , 9 Jan — Vis-iting Chinese ForeignMinister Wang Yi and his

Ghanaian counterpart Han-nah Tetteh agreed here onWednesday to enhance the

bilateral traditional friend-ship and discussed ways tobolster bilateral cooperation.

A person passes by the burnt coaches of Mumbai-Deh- radun Express which caught re at Dahanu in Thane District of Maharashtra, India, on 8 Jan, 2014. Nine

people, including one woman, were charred to death in a major re which broke out on the express train in thewestern Indian state of Maharashtra in the early hours of Wednesday, a senior police of cer said.— X INHUA

White House defends Biden, Obama overformer Pentagon chief’s memoir controversyW ASHINGTON , 9 Jan

— The White House onWednesday continued todefend Vice President JoeBiden and President BarackObama amid an escalatingcontroversy over formerDefence Secretary RobertGates’ new memoir.

Questions related toGates’ criticism in his newmemoir against Biden,Obama and top aides in theWhite House dominated theWhite House daily brie ngon Wednesday.

White House spokes-

man Jay Carney stressedthat Obama and the restof the White House team“simply just disagree withthat assessment” of Gatesabout Biden.

Gates unleashed severecriticism against Biden, ac-cording to excerpts of thebook which were releasedby several leading USnewspapers on Tuesday andWednesday.

“I think he has beenwrong on nearly every ma-

jor foreign policy and na-tional security issue over

the past four decades,”Gates wrote.

In defending Biden,Carney said, “As a sena-tor and as a vice president,Joe Biden has been one ofthe leading statesmen ofhis time and he has been anexcellent counselor and ad-viser to the president for thepast ve years.”

In his memoir, Gatesalso doubted Obama’s lead-ership and commitment tohis own Afghanistan strat-egy and accused the WhiteHouse staff of being too

controlling over nationalsecurity issues, who “tookmicromanagement and op-erational meddling to a newlevel.”

Gates described a piv-otal meeting in March 2011to discuss the US with-drawal timetable. “As I satthere, I thought: The presi-dent doesn’t trust his com-mander, can’t stand Karzai,doesn’t believe in his ownstrategy and doesn’t con-sider the war to be his,”he wrote. “For him, it’s allabout getting out.”— Xinhua

Fiji appoints ElectoralCommission members

S UVA , 9 Jan — Fiji hasappointed the members ofthe Electoral Commissionthat will supervise the 2014general election, the gov-ernment announced Thurs-day. The commission ismade up of seven “promi-nent” citizens from variouswalks of life headed by its

chair, leading legal practi-tioner Chen Bunn Young,former president of the FijiLaw Society, said the Min-istry of Information.

Aiyaz Sayed-Khai-yum, Fiji’s attorney gen-eral and minister responsi-ble for elections, said eachmember of the commissionbrings a unique perspectiveand set of skills to the taskof supervising the upcom-ing general election.

“I want to thank themall for accepting their roleson the commission, whichis a vital component of the(Voreqe) Bainimaramagovernment’s plan to hold afree and fair election to thevery highest internationalstandards,” said Sayed-

Khaiyum. Under the termsof the 2013 Constitution,which was endorsed by Fi-

jian President Ratu EpeliNailatikau on 6 Sept lastyear, the Electoral Com-mission is responsible forthe registration of votersand the conduct of free andfair elections.

The commission is alsoresponsible for voter edu-cation, the registration ofcandidates for election, thesettlement of electoral dis-putes and monitoring andenforcing compliance withany written law governingelections and political par-ties.

Under the Constitution,the chair of the commissionneeds to either be a judge ora legal practitioner who isable to become a judge.

Fijian Prime MinisterVoreqe Bainimarama hassaid he will form a politicalparty and run for the up-coming general election,which will be held by 30September this year.

Xinhua

US judge denies request for delay in Indian diplomat caseN EW Y ORK , 9 Jan — A

federal judge has denieda request by a lawyer forIndian diplomat DevyaniKhobragade to delay pro-ceedings in a visa fraudcase that has strained rela-tions between the UnitedStates and India.

In an order issued onWednesday, US Magis-trate Judge Sarah Netburnin Manhattan refused toextend the 13 January dead-line by which a preliminaryhearing must be held or anindictment led in the case.

In asking Netburn onMonday to extend the dead-line, Khobragade’s lawyer,Daniel Arshack, said it was

negatively interfering withplea negotiations with thegovernment. But Netburnruled that Arshack had onlysought a delay of the pre-liminary hearing and thatsuch an extension wouldnot alter the deadline for l -ing an indictment.

Arshack said he and hisclient are considering their

options. Preet Bharara, theUS Attorney in Manhattan,whose of ce is handling thecase, opposed the delay, ar-guing that plea discussionscan continue following in-dictment in the case.

A spokeswoman forBharara’s of ce did not im -mediately return a messageseeking comment.

Khobragade, who wasdeputy consul-general inNew York, was arrested on12 December and chargedwith one count of visa fraudand one count of makingfalse statements about howmuch she paid her house-keeper.

Her arrest enragedIndia, which is demand-ing that all charges bedropped against her. Onthe day of her arrest, shewas strip searched. The ar-resting authority, the USMarshals Service, said thestrip search was a routineprocedure imposed on anynew arrestee at the federalcourthouse.— Reuters

India’s DeputyConsul General in

New York, Devyani Khobragade, at- tends a Rutgers

University event at India’s Consulate

General in NewYork, on 19 June, 2013.— R EUTERS

Poland tobe in top20 richestcountriesby 2022

W ARSAW , 9 Jan — Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk claimed that Poland will jointhe 20 richest nations in the world by 2022, local press reported on Wednesday.

This would happen thanks to investments made possible by funds from the EuropeanUnion (EU) allocated for Poland in the years 2014-2020, said Tusk, following the cabinetmeeting which approved spending programmes within the current long-term EU budget.

“Poland’s GDP per capita should reach 80 percent of the EU average” by the year2022 which would put Poland among the world’s 20 richest nations, he told a Press con-ference after the meeting.

“Currently Poland’s GDP is at 67 percent (of the EU average) and we had more orless 50 percent at the start” when Poland joined the EU in 2004, he added.

Tusk said that EU funds for Poland would reach almost 500 billion PLN (170 mil-lion US dollars) in the years 2014-2020.— Xinhua

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Friday, 10 January, 2014 11New Light of MyanmarR E G I O N A L

Photo shows former Prime

Minister Morihiro

Hosokawa. He is

considering running in the 9 Feb,

2014, Tokyo gubernatorial

election, sources close to him said on 9 Jan.

K YODO N EWS

Ex-Prime MinisterHosokawa mulls running

for Tokyo governorT OKYO , 9 Jan — For-

mer Prime Minister Morihi-ro Hosokawa is consideringrunning in the 9 FebruaryTokyo gubernatorial elec-tion, sources close to himsaid on Thursday.

Hosokawa plans topropose an end to Japan’sdependence on nuclearpower generation and islooking to see if he can gainsupport from Junichiro Koi-zumi, another former primeminister known for his anti-nuclear stance. Hosokawa,75, is expected to run as anindependent, without run-ning on any party’s ticket.

The Liberal DemocraticParty and its ruling coalitionpartner, the New Komeitoparty, have moved toward

backing former health min-ister Yoichi Masuzoe, butLDP members might bedivided over their stance ifKoizumi decides to supportHosokawa.

Hosokawa joining therace would likely affectthe power balance sincehe could also gain supportfrom opposition partiessuch as the Democratic Par-ty of Japan and the People’sLife Party, which share theidea of phasing out nuclearpower entirely. Also withinthe Japan Restoration Party,lawmakers who belonged tothe former Hosokawa-led

Japan New Party in the pasthave expressed their inten-tion to lend personal sup-port to his campaign.

Hosokawa, who servedas prime minister betweenAugust 1993 and April1994, has been away frompolitics since he resignedas a House of Representa-tives member in May 1998.He made his antinuclearstance clear following thetsunami-triggered Fuku-

shima Daiichi nuclear cri-sis in March 2011. Amongthose running for the Tokyogovernorship are Kenji Ut-

sunomiya, a former headof the Japan Federation ofBar Associations, and for-mer Air Self-Defence Forcechief Toshio Tamogami.

Of cial campaigningfor the election to chooseNaoki Inose’s successor isscheduled to start 23 Janu-ary. Inose resigned last

month over his receipt of50 million yen from scan-dal-tainted hospital chainTokushukai.— Kyodo News

Singapore to set basicwages for c leaners,

security guardsS INGAPORE , 9 Jan —

Singapore’s government is

going to introduce a com-pulsory licensing schemeleading to mandatory ba-sic wages for cleaners andworkers in security sector,Deputy Prime MinisterTharman Shanmugaratnamsaid on Wednesday.

Nevertheless, the min-ister said that the movesare targeted approaches touse the industry licensingschemes to raise wages incertain sectors and that itis not a national minimumwage.

The scheme willmake it mandatory forspecified sectors toadopt a progressive wage

model with basic wagelevels set in accordance

with the role of the em-ployees, so as to raisewages progressively asworkers’ productivityimproves through skillsupgrading and training.

All cleaning companieswill come under the schemein September, with theentry-level pay for clean-ers set at 1,000 Singaporedollars (800 US dollars)monthly. This is about 20percent higher than the cur-rent median basic wage forcleaners.

Details for the securitysector are still being workedout.

Xinhua

Photo taken on 8 Jan, 2014 shows a tiger in awoven bag in downtown Wenzhou City, east China’s

Zhejiang Province. An alleged amur tiger was found dead in downtown Wenzhou, the owner of which was summoned by local police for further investigation.

X INHUA

Pakistan’s former President Zardariappears in court in corruption cases

I SLAMABAD , 9 Jan —Pakistan’s former PresidentAsif Ali Zardari on Thurs-day appeared before ananti-graft court in corrup-tion cases for the rst timesince he has stepped downin September.

Judge of the NationalAccountability Court didnot frame charges againstZardari and adjourned thehearing until 18 January, histwo defence lawyers said.The National Account-ability Bureau (NAB) hadordered reopening of vecorruption cases against theformer president in Octo-ber just few weeks after hestepped down on comple-tion of his ve- year term.

Zardari’s defence law-yer, Farooq H Naek said hisclient appeared in a case re-

lated to the illegal construc-tion of a Polo Ground inthe Prime Minister’s Housefrom government moneyduring the government ofhis spouse Benazir Bhutto.

Farooq Naek told re-porters that he would le anapplication for exemptionof Zardari from personalappearance if the courtagain ordered his appear-ance. “The former Presi-dent appeared before thecourt as we believe in therule of law. Asif Zardari isa brave man and if neces-sary he would again appearin the court,” he said.

Former Interior Minis-ter and a leader of Zardari’sPakistan Peoples Party,Senator Rehman Malik,said that Zardari appearedin the court despite secu-rity threats. None of thecase had been heard for

ve years due to Zardari’simmunity as the president.The former president, theco-chairman of the main

opposition Pakistan Peo-ple’s Party, now eyes a big-gest political role.

Zardari faces vecorruption cases that arerelated to favouratism,

misuse of power by Zard-rai during his party’s pre-vious government of hisslain spouse Prime MinisterBenazir Bhutto and alleg-edly receiving kickbacks inawards of contracts.

Of cials say the gov -ernment of Prime Minis-ter Nawaz Sharif had notapproached the court forreopening of the cases asministers say it does notwant political polarization.However, the anti- graft bu-reau had reopened the vereferences cases.

Former President Per-vez Musharraf had with-drawn all cases againstZardari under a controver-sial amnesty deal in 2007.The Supreme Court hadlater canceled the NationalReconciliation Ordinance

and reopened all corruptioncases against Zardari andnearly 8,000 other peopleincluding political leadersand former government of-

cials.— Xinhua

Contestants make ice sculpture

during the 28thChina Harbin International Ice Sculpting

Contest in Harbin, capital

of northeastChina’s

Heilongjiang Province, on8 Jan, 2014.

X INHUA

PH gov’t assures safety ofcoming Black Nazarene

feastM ANILA , 9 Jan — The

Philippine government as-

sured on Wednesday thatsecurity measures havebeen in place for the annualfeast of the Black Nazarenein Manila city where hun-dreds of thousands of devo-tees are expected to ock toon Thursday.

Philippine PresidentialSpokesperson Edwin Laci-erda said that police andtraf c personnel have beendeployed to ensure the safe-ty and smooth ow of theBlack Nazarene’s proces-sion from Quirino Grand-stand to Quiapo Church,both in Manila, a city ofPhilippine capital of MetroManila.

He said there is no planto jam phone signals inareas where the procession

will take place since therewas no terrorist threat being

monitored.In 2012, the govern-ment had to jam phone sig-nals following reports ofterrorist attack during theannual feast of the BlackNazarene.

“There is no such planthis year (of jamming thephone signals),” Lacierdasaid, adding that the author-ities will maintain healthstation at strategic points ofthe procession route.

On Thursday, devoteesof the Black Nazarene areexpected to ock to Manilato take part in the almostdaylong procession, alsoknown as the grand Trasla-cion, which highlights theyearly event.

Xinhua

China boosts pensions for

corporate retirees

B EIJING , 9 Jan — TheState Council will increaseenterprises’ retirees’ pen-sions by 10 percent.

The decision was madeat the Cabinet’s executivemeeting led by Premier LiKeqiang on Wednesday.The move will bene t morethan 74 million people whohave retired from domesticenterprises.

The State Councilurged government depart-ments to reform their en-dowment insurance andpension systems. The meet-ing also pledged to improvethe social assistance sys-tem, which helps disadvan-taged groups. The socialassistance system, when re-

vamped, will offer nancialaid that will meet the disad-vantaged groups’ standardsof living.

The central govern-ment has allocated morethan 98 billion yuan ($16billion) to help disadvan-taged groups, and the gov-ernment has asked that lo-cal authorities make surethe money will be given tothe needy in a timely man-ner. It also encouraged non-pro t organizations to takepart in the relief effort.

Wang Xiuling, 56, a re-tired worker in Beijing, saidshe welcomed the govern-ment’s move to increase herpension and expected morefavourable measures.

Xinhua

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Friday, 10 January, 2014

E N T E RTA I N M E N T

13New Light of Myanmar

Singer Beyonce

Beyonce ‘Frozen’ out oftop spot on Billboard 200

L OS A NGELES , 9 Jan —Disney princesses oustedQueen Bey from her three-week reign atop the weeklyBillboard 200 album charton Wednesday, as thesoundtrack to Disney’s lat-est lm “Frozen” knockedBeyonce’s self-titled albumfrom the top spot.

The “Frozen”soundtrack sold 165,000copies in the week ending 5January, and follows on the

lm’s continued box of cesuccess since its Novemberrelease, taking in more than$600 million worldwide.The soundtrack has soldmore than 500,000 copiessince its release in Decem-ber.

“Frozen” follows thestory of two princess sis-ters, one of whom later be-comes queen of her Nordickingdom but has specialfreezing powers, acciden -tally casting an eternal win-ter over their realm, whichher sister tries to overturn.

R&B star Beyonce’sself-titled album, releasedas a surprise without anyfanfare last month, slippedto No 2 this week withsales of 130,000. The al-bum, which was releasedexclusively through AppleInc’s iTunes digital store on13 December and was notavailable to other retailersuntil 21 December, toppedthe chart for three consecu-

tive weeks over the USChristmas and New Year’sholiday period.

No new albumscracked the top 10 of theBillboard 200 chart thisweek, following a quiet re-lease week in the rst weekof the year. Overall albumsales totaled 5.4 millionover the past week, down43 percent from the com-parable sales week in 2013,Billboard said.

Reuters

Angelina Jolie likely to playcelebrity chef Nigella Lawson in

biopicL OS A NGELES , 9 Jan —

A lm on the life of interna -tional celebrity chef NigellaLawson is being plannedand actress Angelina Jolie,who is said to be complete-ly gripped by the former’slife, might play the lead in

The chef had a tough

time for past few months,

Angelina Jolie

fnds it gripping.

Bullock, Timberlake sweep 2014 People’sChoice Awards

L OS A NGELES , 9 Jan— Actress Sandra Bull -ock swept the 40th Peo-ple’s Choice awards onWednesday with fourwins, cementing her sta-tus as a favourite amongthe fan-selected winners,while singer Justin Tim-berlake dominated the mu-sic categories with threewins.

Bullock, 49, pickedup three awards forfavourite movie ac-tress, dramatic movieactress and comedymovie actress for her

roles in existential spacedrama “Gravity” and infemale buddy-comedy“The Heat.” She also wonfavorite movie duo along-side her “Gravity” co-starGeorge Clooney, while the

lm won favorite dramamovie.

“An actor can’t dowhat they do without hun-dreds of amazing peopleworking for them and

stage during his acceptancespeech.

Adam Sandler won fa -vourite comedic actor for

the fourth consecutive time,this year for “Grown Ups2.” While his lms havefailed to gain much favorwith critics in recent years,Sandler is a favourite at thePeople’s Choice awards.

“This means a lot tome. I appreciate this, I re-ally do, I really do. I thinkabout the fans out there andhow nice you’ve been to meall these years,” the come -dian said.

world would string me upand leave me there, and Istill had an amazing time,”the Oscar-winning actress

said.Bullock later joinedMcCarthy on stage topick up the favorite com-edy movi