Volume XXI, Number 214 14th Waxing of Tazaungmon 1375 ME Saturday, 16 November, 2013

THE MOST RELIABLE NEWSPAPER AROUND YOUNew Light of Myanmar

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov—President U Thein Sein addressed the Plenary Session of the Myanmar-EU Task Force Meeting at MICC, here, this morning.

It was attended by Un-ion Ministers, Chairperson of Pyithu Hluttaw’s Rule of Law and Tranquility Com-mittee Daw Aung San Suu

All national races and political forces in country to live in peace and harmony and join hands to build a more united

and more prosperous Myanmar: President

Kyi, representatives from political parties, Chairman of the Republic of the Un-ion of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry U Win Aung and CEC members, High Representative of the Eu-ropean Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Ms. Catherine Ashton, high

ranking officers, represent-atives and invited persons.

President U Thein Sein said in his opening address. He said: It was, indeed, a very significant visit for me, as it was not only my first visit to Europe but also had the opportunity to per-sonally express our sincere appreciation to our Euro-

pean partners and friends who had trust in us before and during the first months of our transition which have been quite challenging. We are grateful that you have all along supported us by showing trust, providing financial assistance and sharing much welcome ex-pertise.

It has given me addi-tional hope to witness what can be achieved after dec-ades of war—to overcome a deep-rooted climate of hos-tility, hate and skepticism and to find a new spirit of cooperation. A new Europe was built with all helping together—governments, businesses and civil socie-ties as well as international partners. This is unique and inspiring.

These developments in Europe over the last 60 years can be a shining ex-ample for us, but have to be put in a local context. We have embarked on an ex-citing journey of unprece-dented change in Myanmar: we want all national races and political forces in our country to live in peace and harmony and join hands to build a more united and more prosperous Myanmar. And you can see the chang-es of the last two years: today greater freedom of press is ensured, hundreds of trade unions established, political prisoners have been released, 14 cease-fire agreements have been signed and we are striving hard to sign ceasefire agree-

ments with the remaining two armed groups. With regard to the accountabil-ity and transparency of the government, there have been discussions about the work of the government in parliament and in public, thus strengthening both ac-countability and transpar-ency of the government.

In the economic front, we have reformed our mon-etary and banking system. We are modernizing the in-frastructure, laying ground-work for foreign invest-ments, cutting the red tape and revamping our admin-istrative, judicial and social systems.

All these would not have been possible without the support of the interna-tional partners including the European Union. The European Union has also supported the Myanmar Peace Centre and our peace process more broadly. In ad-dition, UE has considerably increased it development assistance to Myanmar and now has a full-fledged Del-egation here. This has led to an even more intensified and result—oriented partnership

(See page 8)

President U Thein Sein poses for group photo with Union ministers and EU officials at Plenary Session of Myanmar-EU Task Force Meeting at MICC.—mna

EU-Myanmar Task Force holds economic, political and inter-parliamentarian dialogues

yaNgoN, 15 Nov—The economic dialogue of EU-Myanmar Task Force took place at Myanmar Interna-

tional Convention Center (MICC) in Nay Pyi Taw this morning. Union Min-ister at President Office

U Soe Thane and Ms. Cath-erine Ashton, High Repre-sentative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs

and Security Policy Vice-President of the European Commission co-chaired the dialogue. The programs for the development of na-tional economy and invest-ment in private sector and EU-Myanmar cooperation programme to enhance sus-tainable development after lifting sanctions were dis-cussed at the dialogue.

Union Minister Dr Kan Zaw said that peace-making process was given prior-ity while initiating reforms in political, economic and social sectors. Emphasis is being placed on eight points of poverty alleviation, he added.

(See page 8)Economic dialogue of EU-Myanmar Task Force in progress at Myanmar

International Convention Center (MICC) in Nay Pyi Taw.—mna

Saturday, 16 November, 20132 New Light of MyanmarLOCAL NEWS

No. Sports Events Transmission plans News Agency Place

Live Delay

1. Football (men/women) a MRTV/ Forever/ Yangon/ Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw/ Mandalay 2. Judo a Forever Nay Pyi Taw 3. Pencak Silat a Forever Nay Pyi Taw 4. Volleyball a Forever Nay Pyi Taw 5. Wushu a Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw 6. Taekwondo a Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw 7. Karatedo a Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw 8. Sepak Takraw a Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw 9. Badminton a Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw10. Table Tennis a Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw11. Swimming/Diving a Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw12. Chinlone a Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw13. Body-Building a Forever Yangon14. Weightlifting a Forever Yangon15. Wrestling a Shwe Than Lwin Yangon16. Kempo a Shwe Than Lwin Yangon17. Hockey a Shwe Than Lwin Yangon18. Shooting a Shwe Than Lwin Yangon19. Water Polo a MRTV Nay Pyi Taw20. Archery a MRTV Nay Pyi Taw21. Billiard and Snooker a MRTV Nay Pyi Taw22. Golf a MRTV Nay Pyi Taw23. Chess a MRTV Nay Pyi Taw24. Canoeing/Kayak a MRTV Nay Pyi Taw25. Rowing a MRTV Nay Pyi Taw26. Traditional Boat Race a MRTV Nay Pyi Taw27. Basketball a Forever Nay Pyi Taw28. Vovinam a Forever Nay Pyi Taw29. Cycling a Forever Nay Pyi Taw30. Fustal (men/women) a Forever Nay Pyi Taw31. Boxing a Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw32. Muay a Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw33. Equestrian a Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw34. Petanque a Shwe Than Lwin Nay Pyi Taw35. Yachting a Forever Ngwehsaung

MNA

Opening, closing and sports events of 27th SEA Games to be broadcast live/delay

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov—The XXVII SEA Games will be held in Nay Pyi Taw, Yan-gon, Mandalay and Ngwehsaung Beach of Myanmar and all sports events will be broad-cast live/delay by MRTV, Forever and Shwe Than Lwin Co., for entire people of the nation. The broacast programs are as follow:-

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov—To set up Emergen-cy Response Centre in My-anmar, emergency response course organized by Euro-pean Union and Ministry of Home Affairs and led by

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov—Vice-Chairman of the Central Committee for Implementing Peace, Sta-bility and Development Tasks in Rakhine State Un-ion Minister Lt-Gen Thet Naing Win and Central Committee member Union Minister U Khin Yi, togeth-er with US Ambassador to Myanmar Mr Derek Mitch-ell, Swiss Ambassador to Myanmar Mr Christopher Burgener and delegates from the US and Australian embassies, visited Kyein-nipyin makeshift relief camps in Pauktaw Town-ship on 11 November.

The ambassadors and delegates from the embas-sies held talks on interna-

Foreign diplomats visit relief camps in Pauktaw Township

tional aids to the victims, accommodation and reset-tlements with the victims there.

Later, Union Minister U Khin Yi touched upon collecting household popu-lation and nation-wide cen-sus-taking at the temporary relief camps. And then the State Chief Minister gave a supplementary report.

In the evening, the Union ministers, the Chief Minister and the ambas-sadors held separate talks with responsible persons from Rakhine Nation-alities Development Party (RNDP) and Rakhine State Chambers of Commerce and Industry on stability, peace and regional devel-

opment, social harmony, socio-economic develop-ment and employment op-portunity, at Sittway Hotel.

MNA

Mr Bruno Maestracci, Ex-pert of Indonesia-based EU Emergency Response Cen-tre, was opened at Myan-mar International Conven-tion Center (MICC), here, yesterday morning with an

address by Deputy Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Kyaw Tun.

A total of 21 police of-ficers are attending the two-day course conducted by three trainers from EU.

MNA

NyauNgdoN, 15 Nov— With the work guideline of Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Myanmar Agri-cultural Development Bank will disburse loans to the farmers of 40 village-tracts of Nyaungdon Township of Ayeyawady Region.

Driver dead in plunge of vehicle into drain

Magway, 15 Nov—A trawlery plunged into a drain between mile posts 79 and 80 in the eastern part of Shwebo Ywathit Village of Pwintbyu Township at 9 am on 6 November, leaving the driver dead.

A vehicle driven by Ko Naing , 25 of Konzaung Village of Pwintbyu Town-ship together with two per-sons on board plunged into

the drain and sank, losing control of excessive speed.

The accident did not effect on the two persons on the board. But the driver got severe injuries to right thigh and left leg and died on the spot. Pwintbyu Myoma Po-lice Station opened a file of lawsuit against the reckless driver Ko Naing under the law.—Kyemon-Magway Hla Myint

Kalay, 15 Nov—Ka-lay of Sagaing Region is known as a door of Chin Hill and a city of Kabaw plain for its good transpor-tation and multi-develop-ment. Airways, one of the

Aviation contributes to development of tourism in KalayAir Bagan and KBZ land their flights at Kalay Air-port. The airplane of My-anma Airways operates lands there every Friday and Wednesday, that of Air Bagan every Saturday,

Monday and Wednesday and that of KBZ every Tuesday and Thursday, ac-cording to the Department of Civil Aviation. Myanma Airways charges K 49,000 per passenger to Mandalay

and K 94,000 to Yangon, Air Bagan K 60,000 to Mandalay and K 107,000 to Yangon and KBZ K 71,000 to Mandalay and K 128,000 to Yangon.

Kyemon-Linlet KyaL Sinn

essential modes of the pub-lic transportation, manages daily flights except Sunday.

Tourists at home and abroad visit Chin State by flight. They study and go shopping in Tamu and Mo-rah border markets. For-eigners remarked Kalay as a good place to study.

Myanma Airways,

MeiKTila, 15 Nov— A new building of Kanbawza Bank is being constructed by A.C.D Construction Co Ltd (Mandalay) near the eastern ward of the Myoma Market in Meiktila.

As Meiktila has seen economic development, private banks are mush-rooming in the district. Of the private banks in Meik-tila, Kanbawza Bank has launched two branches and is planning to open another two. The eight-storey build-ing would be the headquar-ters of KBZ in Meiktila.

The project is expected to complete in the second week of January, 2014.Kyemon-Chantha-Meiktila

Eight-storey KBZ headquarters under construction in Meiktila

MADB disburses agricultural loans for monsoon, cold season crops in Nyaungdon

The farmers are to take out K 100,000 per acre for summer paddy plots for 32207 acres and K 20,000 for cold season crops for 36214 acres, amounting to K 3944.98 million.

According to the bank manager, a total of 62 farm-

ers from Thazin/ Yekyaw village-tract have so far drawn K 45.5 million for 455 acres of summer from 4 to 6 November. A plan is underway to disburse loans to farmers of remaining vil-lages.

Kyemon-Bo Shwe

Emergency response course opened at MICC

Saturday, 16 November, 2013 3New Light of MyanmarWORLD

US aircraft carrier George Washington

US aircraft carrier in Philippine waters for typhoon relief

Washington, 15 Nov—US aircraft carrier George Washington has arrived in the vicinity of the Leyte Gulf Thursday to assist the Philip-pine government in response to the aftermath of the Super Typhoon Haiyan, the Navy said on Thursday.

The Commander Task Force 70, which is a part of the Seventh Fleet, said on its website that the car-rier has completed its high- speed transit and will go to a position just off the eastern coast of Samar island with the cruisers USS Antietam and USS Cowpens, in order

to begin to assess the dam-age and provide logistical and emergency support to include medical and water supplies.

In preparation to pro-vide relief support, the Nim-itz-class aircraft carrier and embarked Carrier Air Wing 5 flew a number of fixed winged aircraft to Naval Air Facility Atsugi Thursday morning creating more room on the carrier’s flight deck for helicopter operations.

“One of the best ca-pabilities the Strike Group brings is our 21 helicopters. These helicopters repre-

sent a good deal of lift to move emergency supplies around,” said Mark Mont-gomery, commander of the George Washington Strike Group.

On Monday, Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel ordered the George Wash-ington and other US Navy ships to head for the Philip-pines to aid disaster relief efforts there. Super Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines at the weekend. An estimated 10,000 people in the central Philippine Province of Leyte might have been killed.

Xinhua

Iran putting brakes on nuclear expansion under

Rouhaniteheran, 15 Nov —

Since Hassan Rouhani be-came president, Iran has stopped expanding its ura-nium enrichment capac-ity, a UN inspection report showed on Thursday, in a potential boost for diploma-cy to end Teheran’s nuclear dispute with the West.

The quarterly report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also said that since August no further major compo-nents had been added to a potential plutonium-pro-ducing reactor that worries the United States and its allies. The marked slow-down in the growth of ac-tivities of possible use in developing nuclear bombs may be intended to back up Rouhani’s warmer tone to-wards the West after years of worsening confrontation, and strengthen Teheran’s hand in talks with world powers due to resume on 20 November.

The six powers — the United States, France, Ger-many, Britain, Russia and China — are pressing Iran

Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani takes questions from journalists during a news conference in New York

on 27 Sept, 2013.—ReuteRs

to curb its nuclear pro-gramme to ease fears that it may be seeking to develop nuclear weapons, a charge Teheran denies.

Iran halted a previously rapid increase in its capacity to refine uranium — which can fuel nuclear power plants but also bombs if processed much more — “when their team changed” in August, a senior diplomat familiar with the IAEA re-port said, referring to Rou-hani and his administration.

But Iran is still pressing ahead with its most sensi-tive nuclear activity, the enrichment of uranium to a fissile concentration of 20 percent, a relatively short technical step away from weapons-grade material, the report showed,

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu—who strongly opposes any deal with Iran that does not dis-mantle its entire enrichment programme — said he was “not impressed” as the Is-lamic state did not need to expand its programme.

Reuters

Venezuela jails 100 ‘bourgeois’ businessmen in crackdown

CaraCas, 15 Nov — Venezuela’s socialist gov-ernment has arrested more than 100 “bourgeois” busi-nessmen in a crackdown on alleged price-gouging at hundreds of shops and com-panies since the weekend, President Nicolas Maduro said on Thursday.

“They are barbaric, these capitalist parasites!” Maduro thundered in the latest of his lengthy daily speeches. “We have more than 100 of the bourgeoisie behind bars at the moment.”

The successor to the late Hugo Chavez also said his government was prepar-ing a law to limit Venezue-lan businesses’ profits to between 15 percent and 30 percent.

Officials say unscrupu-lous companies have been hiking prices of electronics and other goods more than 1,000 percent. Critics say

failed socialist economic policies and restricted ac-cess to foreign currency are behind Venezuela’s runa-way inflation.

“Goodyear has to low-er its prices even more, 15 percent is not enough, the inspectors have go there straightaway,” Maduro said in his evening address,

sending officials to check local operations of the US-based tire manufacturer.

Since the weekend, soldiers and inspectors have gone into 1,400 shops, taken over operations at an electronics firm and a battery-making company, and rounded up a handful of looters.

The move — Maduro’s boldest since taking office in April — is reminiscent of the dramatic govern-ing style of Chavez, who nationalized swaths of the OPEC member’s economy during his 14-year socialist rule.

Like Chavez, Maduro says he is defending the poor.

The inspections have shaken Venezuela three weeks before local elec-tions that his opponents are casting as a referendum on the 50-year-old former bus driver. Maduro has made preserving Chavez’s legacy the mainstay of his govern-ment and has been match-ing his former mentor’s anti-capitalist rhetoric.

“It’s time to deepen the offensive, go to the bone in this economic war,” he said.

Reuters

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro greets supporters during a meeting outside Miraflores Palace in Caracas

on 12 Nov, 2013.—ReuteRs

Diet OKs bill to use SDF land vehicles

in overseas rescue effortstokyo, 15 Nov — Japan’s parliament enacted legislation on Friday

to enable the Self-Defence Forces to use land vehicles to transport Japa-nese and foreign nationals in emergency situations abroad.

After the hostage crisis in Algeria in January in which dozens of peo-ple were killed, including 10 Japanese nationals, the Japanese govern-ment decided to revise the SDF law that only allowed Japanese people to be transported by sea and air.

Under the revised law, the SDF can now carry relatives and col-leagues of Japanese nationals caught in trouble abroad, as well as govern-ment officials and medical staff in rescue missions.

Along with the bill, the House of Councillors passed a resolution calling for ensuring safety in land transport missions abroad due to con-cerns that land transport could be more easily targeted in terrorist attacks than transport by air and sea.

Prior to Friday’s vote, Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera indicated that Japan will expand the list of weapons that SDF personnel can carry from guns, rifles and machine guns.

Kyodo News

Japan-S Korea relations

strategically important: Abe

tokyo, 15 Nov — Prime Minister Shin-zo Abe on Friday called for efforts to im-prove relations between Japan and South Ko-rea that have been marred by tensions over several issues.

“Give the current circumstances in East Asia, close cooperation between Japan and South Korea, both allies of the United States, as well as between all three nations is strategi-cally very important,” Abe told a meeting of lawmakers, business leaders and others from the two Asian neighbours. He was apparently referring to the need for the three nations to cooperate in addressing issues such as North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile devel-opment programmes and China’s increasing maritime assertiveness.—Kyodo News

4 Saturday, 16 November, 2013

Science & TechnologyNew Light of Myanmar

Arizona sets precedent for solar systems with new monthly fee

Los AngeLes, 15 Nov — Arizona on Thursday dealt a blow to the state’s largest utility by approving a monthly fee on custom-ers with solar panels that Arizona Public Service said was not enough to offset the costs that those rooftop systems have heaped on its remaining ratepayers. The measure, approved by the Arizona Corporation Com-mission in a 3-2 vote, was intended to serve as a com-promise between APS and the solar industry, which had fought to stop the util-ity’s efforts to change a solar incentive that has but-tressed the rapid growth of rooftop systems in one of the nation’s sunniest states.

The fee of 70 cents per kilowatt would equate to about $5 a month for the average solar customer in Arizona - an amount the so-lar companies at the hearing said they could live with. The charge will only apply to customers who install so-lar systems after December

The Arizona Corporations Commission listens to residents and solar employees in Phoenix on 13 Nov,

2013.—ReuteRs

31 of this year, meaning the 20,000 APS customers who already have solar panels will not see changes to their bills. The debate over the little-known solar subsidy called net metering was being watched closely by utility and solar players far beyond the Grand Canyon state.

The two industries are increasingly at odds over allowing homeowners with rooftop solar systems to sell the power they don’t use

back to their utilities at re-tail rates.

Rhone Resch, the head of the US solar trade group, the Solar Energy Industries Association, said in a state-ment following the vote that he was “deeply troubled by today’s precedent-setting action,” while at the same time applauding the deci-sion to allow customers to continue selling unused so-lar power back to the utility. Arizona is considered to be the biggest battleground on

the net metering debate, and APS spent $3.7 million on lobbying and advertising efforts leading up to the net metering hearing. Because of net metering, solar cus-tomers can end up with a credit on their utility bills at the end of the month. Typi-cally, however, they still pay some amount to their local utility.Throughout the proceedings, APS argued that net metering allows so-lar customers to avoid pay-ing their fair share of the cost to maintain the electric grid — thereby passing $18 million in annual costs onto non-solar customers.

The issue has come to a head recently because of the dramatic recent growth in rooftop solar. Systems are being added to APS’ service territory at a rate of about 500 a month, said APS, a unit of Pinnacle West Capital Corp. Arizona was the nation’s No. 2 state for solar installations in the second quarter of this year.

Reuters

Telefonica says no plans to take control of Telecom

ItaliaMiLAn, 15 Nov — Tele-

fonica (TEF.MC) will not exercise an option to in-crease to 100 percent its stake in Telco, the holding company that controls Tel-ecom Italia (TLIT.MI), the chairman of the Spanish tel-ecoms group told an Italian newspaper on Thursday.

In his first interview since Telefonica agreed on a deal to gradually take over its Italian rival by buy-ing out co-shareholders in Telco, Cesar Alierta said he expected other Telco share-holders to keep some or all of their stakes until February 2015. That is when a share-holder agreement among investors in Telco expires. “The structure of the new accords is very clear: Tel-efonica cannot own more than 49 percent of Telco,” he told business daily Il Sole 24 Ore. “We have no inten-tion of exercis-ing the call (op-tion).”

Alierta ruled out a merger between Telefonica and Telecom Italia. “There is no need for a merger be-tween Telefonica and Tel-ecom, and this is not under consideration,” he said. He also said there were no plans to merge Telecom Italia’s Brazilian unit TIM Partici-pacoes (TIMP3.SA) with Telefonica’s local unit Vivo (VIVT3.SA). Telefonica reached a deal in Septem-ber with its Italian partners in Telco - insurer Generali (GASI.MI) and banks In-tesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) and Mediobanca (MDBI.MI) - allowing it to take over the investment vehicle starting from 2014. Telco controls Telecom Italia with a 22.4

percent stake and ap-points a majority of

board members at the phone group.

Reuters A man talks on a

mobile phone as he walks past

Spanish telecom group Telefonica’s flagship store in

central Madrid on 8 Nov, 2013. —ReuteRs

Microsoft’s new Cybercrime Centre combines tactics against hacking groups

RedMond, (Wash-ington), 15 Nov — The maker of the most popular computer operating sys-tem in the world is launch-ing a new strategy against criminal hackers by bring-ing together security engi-neers, digital forensics ex-perts and lawyers trained in fighting software pirates under one roof at its new Cybercrime Centre. Mi-crosoft Corp’s expanded Digital Crimes Unit inside the 16,800-square foot, high-security facility com-bines a wide array of tac-tics that have worked the best: massive data gather-ing and analysis, gumshoe detective work, high-level diplomacy and creative lawyering.

The new approach, to be launched on Thursday,

is the latest attempt to close the gap created in the past decade as criminal hackers innovated in technology and business methods to stay ahead of adversaries mired in the slow-moving world of international law enforcement.

Already, many of the biggest victories against organized online criminals have come when private companies have worked together to seize control of the networks of hacked computers, called botnets, that carry out criminal op-erations. Though it is at times derided for the se-curity shortfalls in its own products, Microsoft has led more of those seizures than any other company.

“Cybercrime is get-ting worse,” Digital Crimes

Vishant Patel (2nd L), senior manager of investigations at the Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit, works in the unit’s Malware Lab as Associate General Counsel

David Finn (R), Security Operations employee Bruce Hembree (L) are reflected in a glass window while

giving a tour at the Microsoft Cybercrime Center in Redmond, Washington on 11 Nov, 2013.—ReuteRs

Unit chief David Finn told Reuters during an exclu-sive visit to the Redmond, Washington, campus build-ing this week. But Finn hopes that by mixing spe-cialists from various pro-

fessional arenas, Microsoft can get better. The centre features a lab for dissect-ing malicious software samples that is accessible only with fingerprint au-thorization.—Reuters

Comcast to sell digital movies through cable

boxes, websiteLos AngeLes, 15 Nov

— Comcast Corp plans to start selling movies for download and streaming through the cable operator’s set-top boxes and its Xfin-ity TV website, according to people with knowledge of the plan.

The effort will offer a new path for Hollywood studios to generate rev-enue from films after they leave theaters. For Comcast subscribers, it provides a way to purchase movies they can watch anytime on through a TV, computer or mobile devices.

The new service could start by the end of the year with a range of new releas-es, older movies and some TV shows from several Hollywood studios, one of

the people said.Customers will be able

to buy the titles through the on-demand menu accessi-ble with a Comcast set-top box, or on the Xfinity web-site, the person said. Once purchased, the movies will be watchable on TV, a com-puter or mobile devices. Some of the movies for sale will come from Comcast-owned Universal Pictures, including this year’s hit’s “Fast & Furious 6” and “Despicable Me 2,” accord-ing to one of the sources. A Comcast spokeswoman declined to comment. Now, Comcast and other cable operators offer on-demand movies for free viewing or rental to watch during a specific time period.

Reuters

The Comcast Corp logo is seen in this undated handout photo.—ReuteRs

Panthera blythea: oldest big cat fossil found in Tibet

Beijing, 15 Nov — US and Chinese paleontologists have unearthed world’s old-est cat fossil in SW China’s

Tibet Autonomous Region.The discovered skull frag-ment belonged to a recent-ly-named species Panthera blytheae dated back be-tween 4.1 million and 5.95 million years ago.Using anatomical and DNA data, researchers found out that the extinct species of a big cat was much like the mod-ern snow leopard

“This cat is a sister of

living snow leopards — it has a broad forehead and a short face. But it’s a lit-tle smaller — the size of clouded leopards,” said lead author Dr Jack Tseng of the University of South-ern California.”This ties up a lot of questions we had on how these animals evolved and spread throughout the world,” Tseng added

The finding offers

the most compelling sup-port that big cats evolved in Central Asia rather than Africa.”Biologists had hy-pothesised that big cats originated in Asia. But there was a division between the DNA data and the fossil record.” said Tseng.Dr. Tseng and his team plan to return to the fossil site in Tibet next summer for more specimens.—Xinhua

Saturday, 16 November, 2013 5

BUSINESS & HEALTHNew Light of Myanmar

Germany challenges use of euro zone cash to repair banks

Brussels, 15 Nov — Germany challenged a cen-tral plank of plans to forge a banking union in the euro zone on Thursday, arguing against the use of the cur-rency bloc’s funds to help lenders exposed as danger-ously weak by health checks next year. As finance minis-

French President Francois Hollande (L) German Chancellor Angela Merkel (R) and European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso leave after a news conference at the end of an international summit on youth unemployment attended by heads of states from EU countries at the Elysee Palace in Paris, on 12 Nov, 2013. — ReuteRs

ters gathered in Brussels to outline plans to deal with banks still in difficulty, Germany’s finance minister hardened his stance on the use of the bloc’s emergency fund, according to people close to the talks.

Ministers had been drafting a joint statement

to outline their plan of ac-tion after bank health tests next year to draw a line un-der the region’s financial crisis. But sharp divisions emerged between France, which wants a euro zone safety net, and Germany, which is worried that it will shoulder much of the bur-

den if weak countries turn to the bloc’s emergency fund. Many consider a euro zone backstop central to building a banking union to avoid a repeat of events in Ireland, which required a sovereign bailout when it buckled under the weight of its banks’ debts.

Earlier this year, euro zone countries agreed that their rescue fund, the Euro-pean Stability Mechanism, could provide direct assis-tance to banks, not just indi-rectly by lending to govern-ments. This is a key demand of some of Europe’s biggest countries - France, Italy and Spain. On Thursday, Ger-many called that into ques-tion. Ahead of the meeting, French Finance Minister Pierre Moscovici told re-porters: “France continues to believe that we ... must not exclude direct recapi-talization by the European Stability Mechanism as a last resort.”

Reuters

China sets up first gene database of

birth defectsTaiyuan, 15 Nov —

China’s first gene chip data-base of birth defects will be launched in north China’s Shanxi Province soon.

“The database, first of its kind, will be complete by the end of this year,” said Guo Xingping, direc-tor of Shanxi provincial population and family plan-ning commisssion research institute.

Researchers are corre-lating data from 1,200 plus blood samples. Shanxi has China’s highest birth defect rate at around 1.9 percent with the national average level hovering around 1.3 percent. “Setting up of the database is just the start,” said Wang Wanheng, a re-searcher.

The database will deepen knowledge and recognition of the rela-tionship between disease

and genes.The Shanxi samples

are seen as highly rep-resentative and samples from other provinces and regions will be added to the database in the next five years.

Birth defect refers to a physiological or structural abnormality that developes at or before birth. Neural tube defects, congenital heart disease, cleft lip and hydrocephalus are among the most common defects. Birth defects are a serious problem in China, particu-larly in rural areas, and are the second-largest cause of infant death.

About 900,000 chil-dren are born with birth defects in China each year, accounting for 15 to 20 per-cent of affected newborns in the worldwide.

Xinhua

Buffett’s Berkshire buys sizable new Exxon Mobil stake

Warren Buffet, CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, leaves the first session of the annual Allen and Co conference at the

Sun Valley, Idaho Resort on 10 July, 2013.—ReuteRs

new york, 15 Nov — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc (BRKa.N) (BRKb.N) on Thursday disclosed a new $3.45 bil-lion stake in Exxon Mo-bil Corp (XOM.N), after buying 40.1 million shares in the world’s largest pub-

licly traded oil company. Although the investment represents just 0.9 percent of Houston-based Exxon’s shares, analysts said it re-flects strong support by the second-richest American of one of the world’s largest and most profitable compa-

nies.” When Warren Buffett gives his seal of approval to any company, that is never a bad thing,” said Pavel Molchanov, energy analyst at Raymond James & As-sociates, who rates Exxon shares a “strong buy.”

Exxon shares rose 84 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $94.06 in after-hours trad-ing following Berkshire’s disclosure of its stake in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing that listed most of its equity invest-ments as of 30 September. The shares had risen 63 cents during regular trading.” He likes buying big, established global brand names, and Exxon is a good flight-to-quality stock,” said Fadel Gheit, senior oil analyst at Oppenheimer & Co, refer-ring to Buffett. —Reuters

Sotheby’s, BofA, JC Penney attract hedge fund buyersnew york/BosTon, 15

Nov — Top US hedge fund managers in the third quar-ter zoned in on the consum-er sector, with investment plays ranging from Sothe-by’s (BID.N), a high-end auction house that caters to millionaires, to JC Penney Co (JCP.N), the struggling department store chain. Ellington Management Group LLC, a $5.5 billion investment firm founded

A buyer raises a bid during the sale of jewellery at Sotheby’s in Geneva on 13 Nov, 2013. — ReuteRs

by Michael Vranos, took a new position in Sotheby’s, as did Eric Mindich’s Eton Park Capital Management.

Ellington owned 71,500 shares at the end of the third quarter while Eton Park opened an 1.94 mil-lion stake. Daniel Loeb’s Third Point, the largest shareholder in New York City-based Sotheby’s with a 9.3 percent stake, has been pushing for a man-

agement shake-up.Faral-lon Capital Management, a San Francisco based-hedge fund, and activist investor Jana Partners LLC opened new positions in ailing retailer J.C. Penney with 500,000 shares and 489,600 shares, respectively.Da-vid Tepper’s Appaloosa Management also picked up a stake in JC Penney, 737,800 shares.

Patrick McCormack’s

Tiger Consumer Manage-ment, meanwhile, sold out of its entire JC Penney ex-posure, dumping roughly 5.4 million shares.The quar-terly disclosures of manager stock holdings - in so-called 13F filings with the US Se-curities and Exchange Com-mission - are always in-triguing for investors trying to divine a pattern in what savvy traders are selling and buying.—Reuters

News stories may exaggerate hope for vision treatments

new york, 15 Nov — News reports often over-hype the potential benefits of novel treatments for dis-abling eye diseases, a new study suggests. Broadcast and Internet news reports, in particular, tended to be more enthusiastic about so-called retinal implants than the studies they were based on, researchers found. And the stories weren’t always scientifically accurate. The hope is that such implants could one day help peo-ple who lose much of their eyesight due to macular de-generation or other diseases that damage the retina.

But scientists are still far from a guaranteed fix. Some of the implants have yet to be tested in humans. “The promise is real. The availability is non-existent

right now except in very limited trials, and the re-sults are encouraging but honestly fairly limited at this point,” Dr Jack Cioffi said. He is the head of oph-thalmology at Columbia University Medical Center in New York and wasn’t in-volved in the new research. Many people with vision loss might not get such a cautious perspective from reading news about retinal implants, Alice Chuang from Brown University’s Alpert Medical School in Providence, Rhode Island, and her colleagues found.

The researchers ana-lyzed 93 news reports pub-lished between 1999 and 2012 that covered studies by six different groups working on retinal implants. One of the implants, Argus II, was

approved by the US Food and Drug Administration earlier this year to treat a rare inherited disease that causes blindness. It was approved under a humanitarian device exemption, which means the implant has not been proven effective. The rest of the implants are still in de-velopment.The researchers judged the scientific accu-racy, neutrality and realistic outlook of news stories on a scale of 1 to 5. Higher scores meant the stories better rep-resented study findings.

Newspaper stories av-eraged scores of about 4 on each measure. Reports from cable, broadcast and Internet news outlets scored between 3 and 4 in every category, Chuang’s team wrote in JAMA Ophthal-mology.”—Reuters

Saturday, 16 November, 20136 New Light of MyanmarN A T I O N A L

“We are delighted to have launched today the joint EU-Myanmar Task Force as agreed on the occasion of the visit of President H.E. U Thein Sein to Brussels in March of this year.

The Task Force is the most visible expression of the strong partnership between the EU and Myanmar, and our joint commitment to taking forward reform in My-anmar. We will work together for a democratic and prosperous Myanmar in which diversity and respect for human rights contribute to a dynamic and plural society, in which democracy brings inclusion of all political and ethnic groups on an equal foot-ing, and in which an open and stable political community makes Myanmar a magnet for foreign investment and job creation. In this spirit we look together with confidence to the election in 2015 as an important milestone on road towards the realization of this vision.

Over the last two days we have discussed all aspects of transition with leading representatives of Government, business and civil society from the EU and Myanmar. President of Myanmar, H.E. U Thein Sein, addressed the opening plenary and a par-ticipants list is attached. Political aspects of transition

The Task Force welcomed the significant progress that has been made in restor-ing peace and promoting reconciliation among Myanmar’s different ethnic groups and stressed the importance of launching an inclusive political dialogue aimed at achieving a lasting peace for the first time in sixty years.

The Task Force underlined its condemnation of all inter-communal violence and expressed its strong support for all efforts aimed at addressing its root causes and at promoting peace and reconciliation. In a more open society, all political leaders and the media have the responsibility to promote greater tolerance. The Task Force un-derlined the importance of defending human rights and the rule of law for all people living in Myanmar, in the spirit of mutual respect of diversity.

The Task Force supports on-going efforts to transform Myanmar into a modern democracy a key part of which is the constitutional review under way, as well as credible, transparent and inclusive elections in 2015. In line with the President’s com-mitment, the release of all prisoners of conscience by the end of this year will be an important landmark.

Both sides agreed that strong and representative Parliaments are essential for modern democracies and welcomed the open and substantial political dialogue that took place earlier today between representatives of the Hluttaws and the European Parliament. Members of both chambers discussed the role of Parliaments in support-ing the transition, promoting reconciliation, and ensuring effective representation and accountability. They also agreed to develop an institutional partnership covering po-litical, policy and administrative issues. Future cooperation will include technical and institutional assistance to enhance the capacity of the Hluttaws to effectively perform their oversight, representation and lawmaking functions.

The Task Force welcomed the contribution made by Civil Society representatives to its discussions, including at the forum in Yangon, and will continue to ensure their voice is heard in the future. The Task Force agreed to launch a Myanmar-EU Human Rights Dialogue early next year, allowing for constructive and open discussions and for the exchange of best practices and expertise on issues of mutual interest and con-cern, based on equality and cooperation.

As a further demonstration of the EU’s commitment to accompany the transition and reforms in Myanmar, the Task Force welcomed the recent upgrading of EU’s presence to a full-fledged Delegation. The appointment of a resident Ambassador to Myanmar for the first time, with a substantial increase in Delegation staffing, will greatly strengthen our exchanges and cooperation on the ground.

The Task Force stressed the importance of building-up the country’s emergency response and early warning capability and welcomed the joint work on the establish-ment of the Myanmar Crisis Response Centre with properly-trained personnel.

The Task Force will support Myanmar as it takes over the rotating presidency of ASEAN in 2014 in addition to its full integration in the ASEAN political, economic and socio-cultural communities by 2015. Economic aspects of transition

The Task Force recalled the recent lifting of sanctions and the reinstatement of

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov—The Plenary Session of the Myanmar-EU Task Force Meeting was held at MICC here today. The Joint Press statement by the co-Chairs Union Min-ister U Soe Thane and Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative/Vice President of the Commission is as follows:-

EU-Myanmar Task Force:Joint Press statement by co-Chairs

Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative/Vice President of the Commission

U Soe Thane, Union Minister from Ministry of President’s Office

GSP trade preferences for exporters as the most visible signals of EU’s support for the continuing reform under way in Myanmar. Looking ahead, both sides committed to deepening their economic partnership for mutual benefit.

The Task Force welcomed the progress towards EU joint programming of de-velopment aid for Myanmar, with a particular focus on health, education, rural de-velopment and food security, trade and private sector development, governance and the peace process. Joint programming by the EU and Member States responds to the commitments undertaken with Myanmar authorities to support the National Develop-ment Strategy and endorsed in the Nay Pyi Taw Accord for Effective Development Cooperation of last January.

The fruitful debate held with the donor community, civil society and the private sector as part of the Development Forum confirmed the willingness of the interna-tional community and Myanmar stakeholders to join forces and coordinate activities to promote sustainable and comprehensive development in Myanmar over the coming years.

For the coming seven years (2014-2020) Myanmar is expected to be one of the leading beneficiaries of EU development co-operation in Asia. Subject to final pro-gramming decisions and EU budgetary approval this should be around 90 million per annum—a 20% increase from current levels.

The Task Force welcomed the agreement in principle to extend the lending opera-tions of the European Investment Bank to Myanmar as of 2014 and looked forward to the conclusion of the Framework Agreement within the next weeks. EIB will focus its activities on infrastructure projects including transport and energy, on environmental projects perhaps including forestry, as well as credit lines to selected local banks for on lending to SMEs. Subject to final legislative approval, lending volumes could fluc-tuate between Euro 30-100 million per year.

The Task Force welcomed the success of the Business Forum and the high turn-out of European companies. More than 100 EU business leaders have come to Myan-mar to explore investment opportunities and build economic partnerships. Dedicated sectoral groups in Yangon discussed many specific opportunities for increased trade and co-operation between EU and Myanmar businesses.

The Task Force noted that the Myanmar government’s intentions to boost invest-ment in key sectors of the economy, and particularly in infrastructure, will bring new job opportunities for Myanmar and new opportunities for investment from—and joint ventures with—European industry. The Task Force noted the recommendations of European enterprises doing business in Myanmar, or considering doing business in the country, on the need to foster a stable and predictable business environment. To this end, the Task Force agreed on the importance of reducing administrative burdens, improving access to finance, protecting property rights, increasing skills and training capacities, ensuring corporate social responsibility, stabilizing electricity supply and on supporting the development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Myanmar.

Looking ahead the Task Force agreed to establish an EU-Myanmar Business Council to advise the Government on ways to facilitate these business links. The Task Force also welcomed the decision to support the initiative of a European Business Support Services Network in Myanmar, which aims to facilitate contacts between businesses and to promote Myanmar as a high-potential trade and investment partner and gateway to the ASEAN regional market among European companies.

Given the importance of small and medium-sized enterprises, tourism and the raw materials/mining sector, the Task Force welcomed the signature of letters on intent in these areas with a view to deepening co-operation between the EU and Myanmar.

The Task Force reiterated the importance of an open and non–discriminatory investment climate and their attachment to a strong system of investment protection. They confirmed their commitment to continue their respective preparatory work to-wards the launch of negotiations of an investment agreement by the first semester 2014.

The Task Force stressed the key role of agriculture in Myanmar. Rural develop-ment and food security are essential to ensure safe and secure food for all, but also improve the livelihoods of farmers and provide opportunities for rural communities. Development cooperation assistance will be urgently targeted towards designing agri-cultural policies and programmes which can deliver on this. This policy dialogue and exchanges of technical know-how will form part of a long term programme, and a first mission of high level agriculture and development experts will take place shortly to launch this process.

Finally, both sides underlined the importance of the ensuring highest standards in measures aimed at countering money laundering and terrorist financing. The EU and Myanmar will work together to address the issues raised in the recent Financial Action Task Force report.

The Task Force will convene again in 2014 to confirm delivery of the above com-mitments and to maintain momentum in the transition.”Nay Pyi Taw15 November, 2013

EU Task Force agrees to establish an EU-Myanmar Business Council to advise Government on ways to facilitate business links

7Saturday, 16 November, 2013New Light of MyanmarL O C A L N E W S

Flowery plants thriving in Kalay, earning incomeSome people residing in wards adjacent to outskirt of Kalay grow flowery plants on vacant and virgin lands. Very thriving flowery plants earn income for them. The plants on the great number of acres are pleasant scene for viewers.

In open season, arrival of tourists is increasing day by day in Myanmar. On

10 November, a flock of globetrotters going sightseeing at downtown Yangon.

MMAL-Tin Soe (MyAnMA ALinn)

Various flowery plants seen outside Kalay.

Agriculture

Myanmar badminton players to show off brilliant efforts in SEA Games

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov—Myanmar badminton team will pour its vigorous efforts for securing achievement to some extent in the coming SEA Games, said U Robin Tin, Secretary of Myanmar Badminton Federation recently.

“ We h a v e m a d e preparations based on experiences in competitions at home and abroad. The team made a trip to Malaysia to take joint training from 28 October to 11 November. As Myanmar is host, Myanmar badminton team hopes to take part in the games with its best efforts,” he said.

In the SEA Games, five classes will be included in the badminton event. Five gold medals will be awarded to the winners in the men’s and women’s singles events, men’s and women’s doubles events and mixed doubles event.

At present, Thailand,

Taking experience from the coming SEA Games, it should turn out new generation youth badminton players for the nation.

MMAL-Maung Shwe Yoe

Malaysia and Indonesia are standing at the world class positions. Myanmar should place emphasis on playing against these teams carefully.

Kalay, 15 Nov—The vacant and virgin lands are placed under various colours of chrysanthemum, rose, gladiolus, aster and whitish gardenia plantations.

Especially, colourful chrysanthemum is grown in early June. The plants bear flowers at the end of September. From then on, flowers cover all acres.

Flower growers can earn K 5 million per year, said U Tun Tun, flower grower of Myotha Ward in Kalay.

Kyemon-Joe Net

Preparedness for flood-ravaged region disseminated

Lewe, 15 Nov—Mehaw Creek and Sittoung River flooded Lewe Township in heavy rains on 27 October.

To be able to present floods next years, a talk on preventive measures was disseminated at the monastery in Bawdigon

Village on 13 November.The talks emphasized

p l a n s o f t h e U n i o n government for prevention of floods and assistance for cultivation of crops on flood-ravaged areas.

The talk was attended by Nay Pyi Taw Council

Na y Py i Ta w , 15 Nov—A workshop on H1N1 Flu Preparedness was held at Myat Taw Wun Hotel, here, yesterday morning, with an address by Union Minister for Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development U Ohn Myint.

FAO and the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department under the Ministry of Livestock, F i s h e r i e s a n d R u r a l D e v e l o p m e n t j o i n t l y organized the workshop with the support of USAID.

The Union minister said that H1N1 flu is a rapidly spreading viral disease. Its outbreak is common and widespread among animals such as swine, chickens and birds, he added.

He said that the flu

Workshop on H1N1 Flu Preparedness held

hits profits of breeding of chickens. Besides, the fatal virus can directly transmit from birds to humans, he noted.

He continued that therefore, i t needs to cooperate with outside organizations in taking measures for prevention and control of animal diseases.

H e c a l l e d f o r dis tr ibut ing educat ive pamphlets to the public and for taking further steeps towards the preparedness tasks through suggestions of those present.

Next, Director Ms. Elenora De Guzman of PREVENT Project pledged to provide cash and technical assistance for the disease control.

FAO’s Representative Dr Myat Kyaw reported on undertakings for not occurring HPAI, H5N1 and H7N9 among the public.

It was attended by representatives of FAO, Prevent Project, WHO, M y a n m a r V e t e r i n a r y Association, Myanmar Livestock Federation and departmental officials.

MNA

member U Myint Swe, in-charge of Agriculture Sector member of Nay Pyi Taw Council U Myint Swe and officials, local people totalling 250.

MMAL-Township IPRD

NationalSports

Two

players

seen in

training

session

for taking

part in

SEA

Games.

Union Minister U Ohn

Myint and those of

workshop on H1N1

Flu Preparedness seen

in group photo.—MnA

Talks on preventive measures against floods in progress in Lewe Township of Nay Pyi Taw

Council Area.

Saturday, 16 November, 20138 New Light of MyanmarN A T I O N A L

Saturday, 16 November, 2013

Women’s rights Glass ceiling for women seems to exist in eve-

ry society; otherwise the phrase “women’s rights” should not have been born after her brother “hu-man rights.” So, is there a glass ceiling in Myanmar for women?

In Myanmar, women enjoy a greater degree of equality with men compared to their counterparts from many Asian countries. But, a quick look into the parliament and government ministries will make it clear that Myanmar women just have a small pres-ence in leadership and decision-making positions.

With unprecedented reforms taking shape in Myanmar, women are now able to stand up for their rights in unison. A lady lawmaker has once proposed reserving 30 % of seats for women in the parliament just to receive the amusing answer of the house speaker that women would be able to make up the entire parliament if lady politicians contested and won in all constituencies.

In Myanmar society, women traditionally have taken the back seat until 2000s when the increas-ing living expenses forced many women from their homes to the workplace to become earners them-selves. Before this, male sex superiority was deeply entrenched in our society and both men and women thought it was normal. The time-honoured maxim for housewives “Treat son as the master, treat hus-band as the Lord” highlights the traditional role of women.

Now, Myanmar women are trying to shatter this age-old glass ceiling by themselves. Women’s forum and dialogue that are never before in Myanmar are testimony to this. As women and girls constitute the half of the national population, they should and must have a much bigger say in decision-making process. Though it is not possible to increase the proportion of women in the legislature and political leadership immediately overnight, their rights can be best pro-tected with the help of women’s rights organizations and CSOs for the time being.

While women and girls are most vulnerable to human trafficking worldwide, the never-heard-be-fore cases of rape of child girls have come as a terri-ble shock to Myanmar society. Urgent measures are required to ensure women and girls are protected from sexual abuse and domestic violence while en-couraging and empowering more women to find a voice for themselves.

(from page 1)with my Government and other stakeholders. With regard to the capacity build-ing, the European Union has been assisting us in capac-ity developments of our civil servants of various Minis-tries and helping to make the police fit for tasks lying ahead. You have given us better access to EU markets and at the same time assisted us to make our markets fitter for the challenge of sustain-able economic growth and prepare for the chairmanship of ASEAN.

But, there is a lot of work ahead. Firstly, we are working towards the “Peace-Dialogue Framework” which should pave way to sign a “Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement” by 2015. This is one of my key priorities, to bring for the first time since our independence peace to all inhabitants of Myanmar.

Secondly, in the eco-nomic sphere, we focus on poverty alleviation—espe-

cially in the rural areas. This means investments in and reform of the agricultural sector, a need to diversifica-tion of our energy base and creation of employment opportunities based on a stronger local economy and international investments. In this respect, please con-tinue to encourage European companies to invest more in Myanmar—sustainably, re-sponsibly and rapidly.

Thirdly, a special focus in the following years will be youth. We want to pro-vide more opportunities to Myanmar’s youths who are talented and eager to learn. We have recently revived the “Boy Scout Clubs” and the “outstanding students awards”. We would like to express our sincere apprecia-tion to the European partners for supporting these efforts by providing scholarships and other initiatives.

In concluding, so please, put international best practic-es and lessons leant together

in the Myanmar context to see how they can best benefit our people.

On her speech at the opening ceremony, Vice-President of the European Commission High Repre-sentative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy of the European Union Ms. Cath-erine Ashton said the aim of holding forums is to provide assistance to Myanmar for the future of its people, vow-ing to assist in the areas of improving investment, job creation, economic growth, national unity, human right and education reforms.

She stressed the need of ensuring political and eco-nomic development in har-mony. As democratization and national reconciliation are inseparable, it is neces-sary to realize the two tasks harmoniously, she added.

Next, Union Ministers U Maung Myint, Dr Myint Aung, U Htay Aung and Dr Kan Zaw and EU officials signed 1. the Letter of Intent on an SME policy Dialogue between the Republic of

the Union of Myanmar and the European Union. 2. the Letter of Intent for a Policy Dialogue on Raw Materi-als between the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the European Union. 3. the Letter of Intent on Coopera-tion in the Field of Sustain-able Tourism between the Republic of the Union of Myanmar and the European Union. 4. the Joint Statement on development assistance in the presence of President U Thein Sein and Vice-Presi-dent Ms. Catherine Ashton and exchanged the notes.

Then, Governor of the Central Bank of Myanmar U Kyaw Kyaw Maung and an EU official exchanged the notes on cooperation be-tween the European Invest-ment Bank and Myanmar. Union Minister U Ohn My-int received an agreement on cooperation in agriculture sector handed over by an EU official. Afterwards, the President and EU officials led by Ms. Catherine Ashton posed for documentary pho-tos.—MNA

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov— Speaker of Pyidaungsu Hluttaw and Pyithu Hlut-

People’s voice is the establishment of federal union based on genuine democracy and institutions

taw Thura U Shwe Mann received a delegation led by Ms. Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the European Union for For-eign Affairs and Security Policy Vice-President of the European Commission, at Hluttaw building here this morning.

Also present were chairs of Hluttaw commit-tees Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Maung Maung Thein and U Hla Myint Oo, committee secretary Daw Dwebu, com-mission member Daw Aye Aye Mu and Vice-President of European Parliament Ms. Isabelle Durant.

They discussed EU

cooperation in economic and democracy reforms of Myanmar. Later he de-livered address at the EU-Myanmar parliamentary cooperation conference at MICC. He said the meet-ing will enhance Myanmar MPs knowledge on the Eu-ropean Parliament as they can exchange views on a firm parliament for modern democracy. I would like to add the word “modern” to “firm parliament” for the flourishing of democracy. Legislation were carried out during the last three years for a modernized and good democracy. Although suc-cess has been achieved to

a certain degree, there still remain requirements.

Now we have formed Constitution Review Joint Committee and the commit-tee is doing its job. The leg-islative assembly is formed by various ethnic races of Myanmar. The main duty of Hluttaw is to listen to the public voices and fulfill their requirements. The voice of the people the Hluttaw is hearing is the establish-ment of federal union based on genuine democracy and institutions. The Hluttaw is paving the way for national reconciliation and long-term peace and stability through a constitution truly reflecting the people’s aspirations.

Europe is the place where the parliamentary democracy, socialism, com-munism and federalism came out from the very fa-mous thoughts.

The Hluttaw should be model in serving public in-terest. I believe that Myan-mar EU Task Force, all the friends and good-hearted people will help us.

The signing of the Joint parliament declaration on cooperation will surely pro-mote the functions of the Hluttaw. He then attended the signing ceremony of the declaration.—MNA

Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Speaker Thura U Shwe Mann receives Ms. Catherine Ashton, High Representative of EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.—mna EU-Myanmar Task Force...

(from page 1)Union Minister U Soe

Thane called for the help of EU in the endeavours which are agreed with the interest of the people of Myanmar, say-ing that Myanmar welcomes advices of EU.

The participants from EU side discussed matters on development of Myanmar’s tourism industry, agriculture and mining sectors, environ-mental conservation, more arrival of tourists from EU countries to Myanmar, edu-cational development pro-grammes, rule of law and judicial sector development in the country, health sector, farmland ownership, rural

development programme, socioeconomic enhancement programmes and efforts to ensure transparency in finan-cial sectors.

The political dialogue of the task force chaired by Union Minister U Aung Min and Ms. Catherine Ashton followed. It was attended by the union ministers, Chair-person of Pyithu Hluttaw Rule of Law and Tranquility Committee Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, high ranking offi-cials from EU and guests.

At the dialogue, rule of law, constitutional amend-ment, human rights, holding of free and fair election in 2015, national reconciliation

and peace-making process in the country were discussed.

The parliamentary dia-logue was chaired by Py-idaungsu Hluttaw Deputy Speaker U Nanda Kyaw Swa, Amyotha Hluttaw Dep-uty Speaker U Mya Nyein and Vice-President of Euro-pean Parliament Ms. Isabelle Durant.

Union Minister U Soe Thane and Ms. Catherine Ashton held a press confer-ence on the launch of My-anmar-EU Task Force in the evening.—MNA

All national races and political ...

9Saturday, 16 November, 2013New Light of Myanmarn a t i o n a l

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov — Accompanied by Union ministers, chief ministers, deputy minister and depart-mental heads, President U Thein Sein visited Shwe-taung research and propa-gation farm near Shwe-taung village in Wundwin Township this evening.

Union Minister for Ag-riculture and Irrigation U Myint Hlaing and officials conducted the President and party round the farm.

At the briefing hall, Union Minister U Myint

President U Thein Sein visits Shwetaung research and propagation farm

Hlaing gave an account of the farm and explained works running under Pub-lic-Private Partnership (P.P.P).

In his address, the President called for food sufficiency to be able to feed the population of 100 million in 2050, saying that export of surplus food will be able to contribute to-wards food sufficiency in other countries. He called on international organiza-tion and agriculture experts to scale up support for the

development of Myanmar agriculture sector by ren-dering technical assistance and making investments in the sector.

Shwetaung research and propagation farm is lo-cated on an area of 1054.27 acres. With the aim of pro-ducing hybrid paddy strains and quality cotton and sun-flower strains and conduct-ing research on agriculture methods, research and seed production are being car-ried out at the farm.

MNA

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov—Amyotha Hluttaw Speaker U Khin Aung My-int received a delegation led by Mr Sawada Hideo, Chairman of Asian Busi-ness Leader Association at the hall of Amyotha Hlut-taw building, here, this

Amyotha Hluttaw Speaker meets with Chairman of ABLA

morning.The visiting delega-

tion will cooperate in My-anmar’s development tasks under the arrangement of Myanmar-Japan Friendship Association.

Present at the call to-gether with the Amyotha

Hluttaw Speaker were Chairman Dr Khin Shwe, Secretary U Win Naing Shein and members of Japan-Myanmar Parlia-mentarian Friendship Asso-ciation and officials of the Hluttaw office.

MNA

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov—A friendly football match between the Myan-mar Selected U-19 Football Team and Malaysian Armed Forces Football Team took place at Zeyathiri Tatmad-aw Sports Ground, here, this afternoon.

Among the spectators were Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Min Aung Hlaing and wife Daw Kyu Kyu

Malaysian Armed Forces team wins Myanmar U-19 in football friendly

Hla, Deputy Commander-in-Chief of Defence Ser-vices Commander-in-Chief (Army) Vice-Senior Gen-eral Soe Win and wife Daw Than Than Nwe, Chief of the General Staff (Army, Navy and Air) General Hla Htay Win and wife Daw Mar Mar Wai, sen-ior military officers of the Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services’s Office and their wives, the Com-

mander of Nay Pyi Taw Command, Maj-Gen Dato Hi Khilr bin Hj Mohd Nor and senior military offic-ers of Malaysian Armed Forces, war veterans, ser-vicemen and families of six stations under Nay Pyi Taw Command.

Malaysian Armed Forces Football Team beat the Myanmar Selected U-19 Football Team 3-1.

Myawady

Amyotha Hluttaw

Speaker U Khin Aung

Myint shakes hands with Mr Sawada

Hideo, Chair-man of Asian

Business Leader

Association.mna

President

of the

Republic

of the

Union of

Myanmar

U Thein

Sein pre-

sents gifts

to staff of

Shwetaung

research

and propa-

gation

farm.

mna

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov—Nine police members were injured and windscreens of two police vehicles destroyed as villagers catapulted the members of Myanmar Police Force who were on security duty and threw the stones at them at Ingyintaung protest camp in Salingyi Township of Sagaing Region at yester-day night.

Police personnel led by Police Major Zaw Win Aung

Nine police members injured in villagers’ attack with stones and catapults at Latpadaungtaung region

came under attack in the line of duty at mile post No (440/4) on Pathein-Monywa road heading to Ingyintaung protest camp from Moegy-opyin Village at about 7.30 pm yesterday. About 150 villagers from the village who catapulted and threw the stones at the police left the scene as the police fired warning shots.

As villagers catapulted and threw the stones at the

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov— Together with Vice-Chair-man of the Central Commit-tee for Implementation of Peace and Stability and De-velopment of Rakhine State Union Minister Lt-Gen Thet Naing Win, Union Ministers U Wunna Maung Lwin and U Khin Yi, a delegation led by Secretary-General of the Organization of Islamic Co-operation (OIC) Mr Ekme-leddin Ihsanoglu left here for Sittway of Rakhine State by air this morning.

On their arrival at Sit-tway, State Chief Minister U Hla Maung Tin explained resettlement and rehabili-tation works to the Union ministers, the OIC Secretary-General and party at the air-port lounge.

Then, they flew to Maungtaw where they met

OIC Secretary-General and party visits relief camps in Rakhine Statetownselders of the two com-munities at teh office of the Maungtaw district deputy commissioner.

The OIC Secretary-Gen-eral gave an account of OIC, saying that the two commu-nities will be provided with assistance in accord with the policy of Myanmar govern-ment and assistance will be given to the 2014 census tak-ing process. OIC's humani-tarian aids will be presented through the government, nei-ther other organizations nor OIC directly, he added.

Next, the Turkish For-eign Affairs Minister stressed the need not to base on reli-gious differences.

Then, the OIC Secre-tary-General and party pre-sented supplies to responsi-ble persons. After visiting Thetkelpyin relief camp, they

held separate talks with townselders of the two com-munities at Sittway airport lounge.

They arrived back in Nay Pyi Taw in the evening.

In an interview with Abul Harsat, a local from Ywathit Village in Maung-taw Township, he expressed his view on OIC's visit to Rakhine State, saying that the two communities have been living together peace-fully since many years ago. Co-existence is not a prob-lem for the majority of local people, but for a small num-ber of them. We are willing to continue to live together peacefully. I would like OIC to give a helping hand in re-gional development tasks. He also stressed the importance of peace and stability in the region.—MNA

police vehicles while two police platoons arrived at the scene to carry out nec-essary arrangements, the police fired warning shots. Due to the attack of villagers, nine police members were wounded and windscreens and rear-view mirrors dam-aged. The injured police were taken to the People’s Hospital in Monywa and are being given treatment there.

MNA

Myanmar Selected U-19 Football Team plays against Malaysian Armed Forces Team.—mna

Saturday, 16 November, 2013

L O C A L N E W S10 New Light of Myanmar

Skill demonstration on Myanmar traditional cane-ball sport presented in MyeikMyeik, 15 Nov—The skill demonstration on Myanmar traditional cane-ball sports (play-ing circular cane-ball sport) was presented at Mingala Zeyon Monas-tic Education School in Kyaukpyutaung Village of Sandawuk Village-tract of Myeik Township in Tanin-thayi Region on 12 November evening.

The demonstration is aimed at preserving the fading out of Myanmar traditional cane-ball sports and handing down its skills to new generation youths.

In commemoration of the ceremony of communal Kathina robe offering cer-

emony of the village, the traditional cane-ball sport was demonstrated yearly.

This year, a committee was formed with village elders for organizing the traditional cane-ball sport contest under the aegis of the abbot of Mingala Zeyon Monastic Education School in commemoration of the communal Kathina robe offering ceremony of the village.

At the traditional cane-ball demonstration, the cane-ball teams fromKy-weku Youth Team, Ingy-inkhaing Team, Pyokhin Team, Triangle Team and New Leave Team partici-pated in the skill demon-stration.

Kyemon-Moe Hein (My-eik)

NationalSports

Construction

Myeik Township DAC repaves asphalt roads

Myeik, 15 Nov—Myeik Township Development Affairs Committee funded repaving of asphalt roads as of 1 November for ensuring smooth transport of the local people.

The committee spent K 1,510,000 on repaving of 800 feet long and 20 feet wide U Myat Lay Road.

Likewise, K 9.8 million fund of the committee was spent on 1200 feet long and

12 feet wide Aung San Street on 7 November and K 4,59 million on 1100 feet long and 13 feet wide Phayakaing Road.

Kyemon-Myeik Dis-trict IPRD

Ambulances donors honoured in Taikkyi TspTaikkyi, 15 Nov—A

ceremony to open the am-bulance service office was held in conjunction with the ceremony to present certificates to ambulance donors in Bawdigon ward of Taikkyi in Yangon Region yesterday.

Chairman of Brick Entrepreneurs Associa-tion U Tun Yi explained emergence of ambulance service office. Secretary U Chit Oo explained cash donation lists and cost of ambulance. officials pre-sented certificates of honour to ambulance donors, and Vice-Chairman U Hla Tin spoke words of thanks.

Under the leadership

of Brick Entrepreneurs Association, a total of 115 wellwishers from Taikkyi donated K 51.9 million for purchase of two ambu-lances.

Also present on the oc-casion were Yangon Region MPs U Soe Win Maung and U Myint Aung, Township Administrator U Zaw Soe and departmental officials.

The ambulances are facilitated with patient bed, oxygen cylinder, suck machine, emergency medicines.

The service cost K 45 million for two ambulances and K 5 million for the office.

The service will trans-

port patients from Taikkyi to Yangon General Hospi-tal and specialist hospitals charging K 20000 for fuel, but not charge cost for fuel for emergency patients of traffic accidents on the road and needy persons. Driver service is free. Seven volunteers will be assigned for ambulances daily.

For seeking help, may dial 055-20700, 095394176 (Sunday) , 095079135 (Monday), 095349592 (Tuesday), 095394396 (Wednesday), 095394696 (Thursday), 095394346 (Friday) and 095394498 (Saturday).—Kyemon-Tun Hlaing (Myaing)

Voluntary Activities

Taunggyi’s Tazaungdine hot air balloon festival

FestivalTaunggyi, 15 Nov—

The releasing of hot air balloon was held as festiv-ities in Taunggyi as of 10 November.

In the moon light, hot air balloons were released one after another with various shapes.

Announcer of the festi-val declared the title of hot air balloons and creaters and themes of the works, saying sizes and weights at night diamond shape and lighting event of Taunggyi Tazaung-dine hot air balloon releasing ceremony.

The announcement of the ceremony attracted the guests to enjoy the festival joyfully as of 10 Novem-ber.—Kyemon-Hsaung Hnin Latt (Langkho)

Livestock and Fisheries youth course opened in Myeik

Myeik, 15 Nov—The Myeik District livestock and fisheries youth training course was conducted at the hall of Myeik District Rural Development Department in Myeik of Taninthayi Region on 13 November.

Deputy Commissioner U Kwin Ko Oo of District GAD made a speech.

A total of 40 trainees from villages of Myeik Dis-trict attended the training course that ran from 13 to 15 November.

Officials gave lectures on instruction of the Minis-try of Livestock, Fisheries and Rural Development for meat sector, animal health development law, model village development mat-ters, facts about Fisheries Department, control of in-fectious diseases for cattle and poultry, matters related to Rural Development De-partment, collection of data and fish resources.

Kyemon-Myeik Dis-trict IPRD

HRD

Athletes

concentrate

playing

traditional

cane-ball

demon-stra-

tion to show

off excel-

lent perfor-

mence to

audience at

the festival.

Workers

repaving

local roads in

Myeik under

supervision

of Township

DAC.

Hot air

balloons

releasing

ceremony

at Taung-

gyi in tradi-

tion.

Saturday, 16 November, 2013 11New Light of MyanmarRegional

A passenger appreciates plants at Changi International Airport in Singapore, on 12 Nov, 2013. Changi International Airport has been decorated with lots of flowers

and plants.—Xinhua

Commonwealth leaders’ summit begins in Colombo amidst controversy

Colombo, 15 Nov — Sri Lanka formally assumed the Chair of the 53-member Commonwealth as the Com-monwealth Heads of Gov-ernment Meeting (CHOGM) kicked off here on Friday in an unprecedented move for the post-war nation.

The opening ceremony of CHOGM, the most im-portant meeting of the Com-monwealth, got underway at the China donated Nelum Pokuna Theatre.

Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa will re-main the Chair of the Com-monwealth till the end of 2014 when it will be handed over to Mauritius.

World leaders and heads of delegations of 53

Commonwealth countries gathered at the lotus-shaped auditorium for a colorful opening ceremony.

The event was presided over by Britain’s Prince Charles who represents his mother Queen Elizabeth as Head of the Commonwealth at the CHOGM for the first time.

The Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, ar-rived in Colombo on Thurs-day.

Soon after the hour-long ceremony, heads of govern-ment and delegation heads posed for pictures with the Prince of Wales also at the Nelum Pokuna Theatre.

The heads of govern-

ment will then attend execu-tive sessions throughout the day. A dinner reception will also be hosted for heads of government by the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.

On Saturday the heads of government will be on a retreat.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa will host a state banquet for heads of gov-ernment on Saturday even-ing before CHOGM wraps up on Sunday.

The run up to the iconic event has been marred by controversy over Sri Lan-ka’s mediocre human rights record with prime ministers from Canada, India and Mauritius absenting them-

1 in 5 people in Japan avoid produce from radiation-exposed

areasTsukuba, 15 Nov —

About 20 percent of adults avoid buying farm produce grown in places they think likely to be contaminated with radiation, a nation-wide survey by the Na-tional Institute for Environ-mental Studies has found.

The survey with re-plies from 1,121 people aged 20-79 was conducted in February, about two years after the multiple nuclear meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant following the

11 March, 2011 quake and tsunami.

“While (produce) is strictly inspected in the shipping and distribution phases, there is much mis-understanding,” said Mi-dori Aoyagi, head of the environmental planning section at the institute in Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefec-ture.

Asked if they avoid lo-calities with the likelihood of radioactive contamina-tion when buying farm pro-duce, 20.7 percent said they

“always” do so and 15.4 percent said they “often” so do, while those who said they “do not do so at all” came to 34.9 percent.

Asked to what extent the spread of radioactive materials through the ac-cident will affect the health of children and grandchil-dren, 49.9 percent said it will have a “big impact” and 39.5 percent said there will be “somewhat of an impact,” together account-ing for nearly 90 percent of the total.—Kyodo News

selves from the event.British Prime Minister

David Cameron will visit the country’s former war zone in the north to see the situation firsthand and sev-eral leaders have pledged to have discussions with Raja-paksa on the slow pace of reconciliation in the island.

Sri Lanka’s govern-ment ended a three-decade war against Tamil Tiger re-bels in 2009 but has faced severe criticism from the in-ternational community over its failure to have credible investigations into human rights abuses that include allegations of killing thou-sands of civilians during the last phase of the conflict.

Xinhua

A 36-meter-high Christmas tree is

illuminated at Universal Studios Japan in

Osaka’s Konohana Ward on the night of on

14 Nov, 2013.Kyodo news

Southeast Asian countires share anti-corruption experiences at meeting

VienTiane, 15 Nov— The ninth annual South East Asia Parties Against Corruption (SEA-PAC) meeting is going on here Friday with parties sharing experience in fighting cor-ruption in the region.

Around 200 partici-pants including delegates from member countries and representatives from inter-national organizations con-vened on Thursday for the two-day meeting.

The first day of the

A stamp collector visits the 2013 Stamp Week in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 14 Nov, 2013. The 2013 Stamp Week held by Malaysia Post Bureau started from on

13 November.—Xinhua

Indonesia, Thailand agree to strengthen ties at

various levelsJakarTa, 15 Nov —

Indonesian Foreign Affairs Minister Marty Natalegawa said on Thursday that In-donesia and Thailand have agreed to increase their co-operation at various levels and identify further oppor-tunities aimed at nurturing bilateral ties between the two countries. Speaking on the sidelines of the 8th Joint Commission Meeting ( JCM) between Indonesia and Thailand in Bangkok, Marty said that the meet-ing has stepped up efforts to further increase cooperation between the two countries.

“The 8th Indonesia-Thailand Joint Commis-sion Meeting has identified the opportunities so as to improve the ties between the two countries in bilat-eral, regional and multi-lateral levels,” Marty said in a statement released by the Foreign Affairs Minis-try here. Marty said during the meeting attended by his Thai counterpart Surapong Tovichakcaikul, both of them agreed to turn the JCM into an annual event.

Besides, the two minis-ters also agreed to increase economic, trade, tourism and investment cooperation by identifying opportunities that can be further explored and facilitates business rela-tions of both countries, said the statement. A reflection of stronger ties between Indonesia and Thailand, the two countries have signed several important cooperation agreements in the last three years, in-cluding Memorandum of Understandings (MoUs) on education, legal, anti-corruption and trade coop-eration, Marty said. During his official visit to Bangkok, Marty also paid an official visit to Thai Prime Minis-ter Yingluck Shinawatra. During their meeting, they discussed various bilateral and global issues of com-mon interest. Indonesia of-ficially established bilateral ties with Thailand in 1950, and commenced the JCM in 1992. Indonesia is now the second largest trade partner of Thailand in the ASEAN region.—Xinhua

meeting saw Myanmar sign a memorandum of un-derstanding to enter SEA-PAC, bringing the number of its member nations to 10.

Lao Deputy Prime Minister Asang Laoly said that the meeting was an im-portant platform that gave participating nations the opportunity to share lessons learned and the best prac-tices for use in combating corruption.

Participants are expect-ed to discuss and explore

stricter measures to prevent and fight corruption, state-run daily Vientiane Times reported on Friday.

Laoly said corruption was a threat to the security of a nation that hinders de-velopment. The Lao gov-ernment has attached great importance to combating corruption and had intro-duced a number of laws and regulations in order to stem corruption in the country, he said.

Xinhua

Thai military to send aid to typhoon-hit Philippinesbangkok, 15 Nov —

Thailand’s armed forces will airlift medical assistance and supplies to Typhoon Haiyan-stricken Philippines, local media reported on Thursday.

Currently, people in the Philippines are in ur-

gent need of medical aid, Supreme Commander Gen Thanasak Pratimakorn was quoted by the Nation news-paper as saying. Financial assistance is also being of-fered, he said. According to the latest update from

the government of the Phil-ippines, the typhoon has claimed 2,357 lives across the country.

Other countries includ-ing China and Australia are also offering assistance to the Philippines. —Xinhua

Saturday, 16 November, 201312

advertisement & GeneraLNew Light of Myanmar

Claims Day NotiCemV DyNamiC oCeaN-09 Voy No ( )

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

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damaged cargo will be surveyed daily from 8 am to 11:20 am and 12 noon to 4 pm to Claims day now declared as the thir2d day after final discharge of cargo from the Vessel.

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Assad’s forces make further gains around Damascus

Damascus, 15 nov — Forces loyal to President Bashar al-assad captured the southern damascus sub-urb of hujaira on wednes-day, part of a broader ad-vance that has brought him major gains south of the capital before proposed in-ternational peace talks.

syrian state television and al-Manar, the chan-nel of the Lebanese group Hezbollah whose fighters helped drive rebels out hu-jaira, broadcast live footage showing soldiers in control of otherwise empty streets flanked by shelled buildings and ruins.

A soldier loyal to Syria’s President Bashar

al-Assad poses with the national flag in Hujaira town, south

of Damascus, after the soldiers took control of it from the rebel fighters,in this handout photograph

distributed by Syria’s national news agency

SANA on 13 Nov, 2013.ReuteRs

People gathered at the blast site in southern Pakistani port city of Karachi, on 13 Nov,

2013. At least ten people were injured in twin bomb blasts that went off near a Shiite Muslims’ mosque in

North Nazimabad area of Karachi on

Wednesday night, local media reported.

Xinhua

Foreign soldier killed in blast in Afghanistan

Kabul, 15 nov—one soldier of the naTo-led isaF coalition was killed on wednesday in a blast in southern afghanistan, the coalition forces confirmed early on Thursday.

“an international se-curity assistance Force service member died fol-lowing an improvised ex-plosive device (ied) attack in southern afghanistan yesterday,” the coalition said in a Press release.

however, it did not re-veal the nationality of the victim under the isaF poli-cy. More than 86,000 isaF forces have been stationed in afghanistan, down form the peak of 140,000 in 2010. The Majority of them will leave the country by the end of 2014.

The latest casualty brings the number of for-eign soldiers killed in af-ghanistan to 147 this year.

Xinhua

Four US Marines die in accident at Camp

Pendleton in CaliforniaWashington, 15 nov

— Four Us Marines were killed on wednesday in an accident while clearing a training area used as an ar-tillery and aerial bombing range at Camp Pendleton in southern California, a mili-tary spokesman said.

nBC news reported the Marines were killed when unexploded ordnance unexpectedly detonated, but the spokesman could not immediately confirm that, saying only the Ma-rines had been clearing the area.

Marines spokesman Lieutenant Ryan Finnegan said the clearance operation would have involved any-thing necessary to keep the range free of obstructions, which could include dispos-ing of ordnance.

But he could not say they were handling ord-nance when the accident occurred.

The cause of the ac-cident, which happened on wednesday morning at the Zulu impact area in the in-terior part of the base, was under investigation.

No live-fire exercise was under way at Zulu at the time, and while such an exercise was occurring at neighbouring whiskey impact area, it played no role in the deaths, Finnegan

said.“we offer our heartfelt

prayers and condolences to the families of the Marines lost today in this tragic ac-cident,” Brigadier General John Bullard, commanding general of the base, said in a statement. “Our first prior-ity is to provide the families with the support they need during this difficult time.”

Finnegan said the Ma-rines killed were not new recruits and were based at Camp Pendleton, but the military did not release their ages or other details about them.

Training at Camp Pen-dleton, including the live fire at Whiskey Impact area, continued after the fatalities, he said.

The Zulu impact area is a restricted zone because of the danger of unexploded ordnance, ac-cording to Camp Pendle-ton’s website. as a result, efforts to contain wildfires and study biology there are limited, the website description stated.

seven Marines were killed in an accidental mu-nitions depot blast in ne-vada in March. in May, a Us navy seaL was killed in a vehicle accident during a training exercise at Fort Knox in Kentucky.

Reuters

“southern districts that have been under rebel con-trol for more than a year are falling one by one,” da-mascus-based activist Rami al-sayyed said, referring to gains by assad’s forces around the capital. The cap-ture of hujaira came a day after islamist rebels in alep-po declared an emergency and summoned all fighters to confront assad’s forces who have taken towns to the southeast of the contested northern city and also chal-lenged rebel control in the centre of aleppo itself.

since september’s deal between the United states and Russia to eliminate syrian chemical weapons averted the threat of west-ern attack, assad’s forces have also consolidated con-trol around other cities along syria’s north-south highway such as deraa and homs.

Large, mostly rural and desert, regions remain under the control of rebel brigades, mainly in the eastern syria and in the countryside bor-dering Turkey.—Reuters

Saturday, 16 November, 2013

ENTERTAINMENT

13New Light of Myanmar

Trip Tips: Nashville, the music lover’s paradise

Nashville, (Tennessee) 15 Nov — From legendary concert halls and recording studios to raucous honky-tonks and other clubs that resound with country, blues, rock and jazz, Nashville lives and breathes its repu-tation as Music City USA.

Your waiters are prob-ably musicians and even bankers have at least one pair of cowboy boots to wear with their power suits. Don’t be surprised that the bellhop at your hotel is a guitar-slinging songwriter waiting for his big break.

Here are tips about get-ting the most out of a trip to Nashville from Reuters, whose 2,600 journalists

Patrons visit Ernest Tubb Record Shop in downtown Nashville,

Tennessee on 19 June, 2013.—ReuteRs

in all parts of the world offer visitors the best lo-cal insights. Nashville is a free-wheeling music smor-gasbord. It’s the home of country music but also of rocker Jack White and his Third Man Records, along with a flourishing R&B scene that historically in-cluded Jimi Hendrix and Bobby “Sunny” Hebb.

It’s the kind of place where Vince Gill performs with a world-class sympho-ny, is accompanied by pedal steel guitars and banjos at The Grand Ole Opry and drops in with his guitar “to pick” with friends at clubs.

When Gill is not on the road, he makes regular

Monday night appearances with country traditionalists The Time Jumpers at the 3rd & Lindsley club at 818 3rd Avenue South. The state capital of Tennessee, Nash-ville also features a great deal of history — from the

recreation of the Fort Nash-borough settlement on the Cumberland River and The Hermitage, home of Presi-dent Andrew Jackson, to Fort Negley and other Civil War sites.

Reuters

Rome Film Festival market opening marks halfway

point for rejuvenated eventRome, 15 Nov — At

the halfway point of the Rome Film Festival, the event is starting to get down to business. The eight-year-old event is off to a strong start so far, with sold out shows and events, ticket sales higher than a year ago, and much more of a buzz in the local media. Multiple films in the festival’s lineup have earned praise from Italian critics.

Add to that The Busi-ness Street — the Rome festival’s market event — which got underway Wednesday.

The Business Street’s name comes from Via Veneto, one of the best known and most beautiful avenues in the Italian capi-tal. The initiative is housed in that part of town rather than the Auditorum Parco della Musica venue on the northern edge of town that’s the festival’s home base. The Business Street provides a context for buy-ers and sellers to meet and discuss future film deals. It runs through 17 Novem-ber, when the festival con-cludes.

The first initiative from The Business Street

is aimed at promoting the reach of Italian film.

“We won’t survive if we aren’t open to new ways of spreading a passion for Italian films,” said Silvio Maselli, the newly appoint-ed head of the Italian audio-visual association ANICA.

The Business Street gets underway riding the momentum of a resurgent festival, where several films have garnered more than their share of attention, including “Her,” an in-competition selection from Spike Jonze, which tells the story of a man who falls in love with a computer op-erating system, and “Hard to be a God,” the magnum opus from the late Russian maestro Aleksy German. On Wednesday, German became the first cinema figure ever posthumously honoured with a career achievement award by an international film festival.

On Wednesday, direc-tors Wes Anderson and Ro-man Coppola (son of multi-ple Oscar winning director Francis Ford Coppola) par-ticipated in a Master Class discussion that was the lat-est in a series of sold out events.—Xinhua

Chinese actress Ni Hongjie poses during a photo call for the film “Blue Sky Bones” at the 8th Rome

International Film Festival in Rome, Italy, on 13 Nov, 2013.—Xinhua

‘The Best Man Holiday’ probes marriage, friendship in sequel

los aNgeles, 15 Nov — Waiting 14 years to de-liver the sequel to wedding film “The Best Man” gave director Malcolm D Lee an advantage few sequels in franchise-happy Holly-

sell his latest novel. Foot-ball player Lance Sullivan, played by Morris Chestnut, is now a professional star on the cusp of breaking an all-time rushing record; and Jordan Armstrong, portrayed by Nia Long, is an Emmy-winning execu-tive at TV news network MSNBC.

The film, which is dis-tributed by Comcast Corp’s Universal Pictures, is ex-pected to debut in second place at the North Ameri-can box office this weekend with an estimated $24.5 million in sales, behind big-budget action film “Thor: The Dark World”, accord-ing to boxoffice.com.

The movie’s action is set in motion when Lance’s wife Mia (Monica Calhoun) invites the seven old friends who have grown apart by jobs, distance and personal grudges to their mansion for Christmas, all while Lance chases the record.

Reuters

Director of the movie Malcolm D Lee poses at the premiere of “The Best Man Holiday’’ in Hollywood,

California on 5 Nov, 2013. The movie opens in the US on 15 November.—RetueRs

Fans pay tribute to rocker Lou Reed at NY memoriaNew YoRk, 15 Nov—

Hundreds of fans gathered at a public memorial in New York on Thursday for rocker Lou Reed, the frontman of the 1960s band The Velvet Underground who died last month of liver disease at the age of 71.

As music blared from speakers at the outdoor me-morial on the terrace at Lin-coln Center for the Perform-ing Arts, fans danced, sat and listened to Reed’s music and strolled through the crowd

Mourners attend a public memorial for singer Lou Reed at Lincoln Centre in New York, on

14 Nov, 2013.—ReuteRs

wood enjoy: time to let his characters mature and grow before thrusting them back onto the big screen.

Now Lee is back with “The Best Man Holiday,” a Christmas-themed comedy-

drama in US cinemas on Friday that brings back the nine stars of 1999’s “The Best Man” for a reunion that tests marriages and friendships at their lowest moments.

“I never really wanted to do a sequel,” said Lee, who has also directed 2002 African-American com-edy “Undercover Brother” and the 2013 horror satire “Scary Movie 5.”

“I set out to make a movie that would stand the test of time,” the 43-year-old filmmaker added. “If I would ever consider doing a sequel, it would be like 10 years later when they (the characters) had a chance to live some life.”

And living life they have. Main character Harp-er Stewart, played by Taye Diggs, was about to strike it big as an author in “The Best Man,” but the sequel finds him out of work, laid off from his university pro-fessorship, and unable to

while his wife, performance artist Laurie Anderson, greet-ed friends and well-wishers.

“I love Lou Reed. I al-ways felt like he was a ge-nius and he always will be,” said Janet Baletti, 66, a fan of 40 years who traveled from Weehawken, New Jersey with a friend for the memo-rial. “He had such a beautiful aura about him.”

Reed, who died on Oc-tober 27, months after a liver transplant, wrote songs that were a form of provocative

dark poetry. They invoked his native New York and touched on androgyny, il-licit sex and drug abuse, and he delivered them in a trademark monotone singing voice. Thursday’s memorial was announced on Reed’s Facebook page as a simple celebration. “No speeches. No live performances, just Lou’s voice, guitar music and songs — playing the re-cordings selected by his fam-ily and friends,” it said.

For Alan Bako, 65, of

New York, the memorial was an opportunity to listen to Reed’s music, whose solo hits included “Walk on the Wild Side” and “Perfect Day,” and to remember the legendary rocker. “I like his music and I like the idea that he’s a real New Yorker,” Bako said.

“I remember when I saw him at the Fillmore East with the Underground in the late ‘60s,” he said, referring to the landmark New York club.—Reuters

Saturday, 16 November, 2013

SPORTS 14 New Light of Myanmar

Golden Lampard leads experimental England against Chile

London, 15 Nov — Frank Lampard will receive a special golden cap to mark 100 appearances for England on Friday when he captains what is expected to be a largely experimen-tal team against Chile in a friendly at Wembley.

Coach Roy Hodgson, speaking to the media at England’s base at Watford, north of London, would only reveal on Thurs-day that Lampard would

definitely start, but did strongly hint the team would look rather differ-ent than usual as he contin-ues to plan for next year’s World Cup finals.

Both Friday’s oppo-nents Chile, and Germany, who play England at Wem-bley next Tuesday, have also already qualified for next year’s finals.

Although England have lost only once in open play in 22 matches under

Hodgson — and not been beaten for 10 games since they lost a friendly to Swe-den a year ago this week — Hodgson said he was prepared to sacrifice that unbeaten run for the greater good.

“I think I have got to put the performances ahead of the good run,” he said. “I think in these two games I need to have a look at one or two players who are knocking heavily on the door and deserve a chance to show what they can do.

“There are only these two matches to do that and one in March, so I can’t dis-miss the need to give some playing time to people to know more about them.

“I am not trying to play down the importance of winning games and to keep the unbeaten run going, but I am not going to do it and have an unbeaten record to boast of if it is going to be at the detriment of looking at other players.—Reuters

England’s Frank Lampard (L) and Tom Cleverley attend a training session at London Colney, north of

London on 13 Nov, 2013.—ReuteRs

Italy forward Rossi out of Germany clash

Rome, 15 Nov — Serie A topscorer Giuseppe Rossi will miss Italy’s friendly at home to Germany on Fri-day while midfielder Dan-iele De Rossi will start on the bench, coach Cesare Prandelli said on Thursday.

Rossi, who has scored 11 league goals for Fioren-tina this season on his return from an injury nightmare, is still recovering from tonsil-litis while tough-tackling AS Roma midfielder De Rossi has been struggling with a foot injury.

“Rossi definitely won’t be there, even though he took part in the first training session today (Thursday),” Prandelli told a news con-ference. “De Rossi is avail-able but will most likely start on the bench.”

United States-born Rossi joined Fiorentina from Villarreal in January and has returned to action this season after successive knee injuries effectively cost him two years’ of his career.

Fiorentina’s Giuseppe Rossi scores a penalty against Napoli during their Italian Serie A soccer match at the Artemio Franchi stadium in Florence on 30 Oct, 2013.

ReuteRs

His absence means that Prandelli will have to wait before testing Rossi and Mario Balotelli in attack.

Prandelli also shrugged off worries about Balotelli’s recent loss of form, which has also seen the maverick forward suspended twice.

“I’ve never seen him so well and so motivated,” said Prandelli. “A great player knows that he is al-ways under scrutiny and

that each match hides pit-falls. He is a player who is feared all the world. “

Prandelli also an-nounced that Southamp-ton striker Pablo Osvaldo would take Rossi’s place alongside Balotelli in at-tack, while Claudio Mar-chisio and Thiago Motta will join Andrea Pirlo and Riccardo Montolivo in midfield.

Reuters

Swede Stenson steady in Race to Dubai climaxdubai, 15 Nov — Hen-

rik Stenson was the best of those vying to win the Euro-pean money list with a four-under 68 in Thursday’s first round of the $8 million DP World Tour Championship, two shots behind surprise leader Alejandro Canizares.

World number three Stenson, England’s Justin Rose and Northern Ireland’s Graeme McDowell can clinch the Race to Dubai, formerly the European Order of Merit, with victory in the season finale.

The Swede — the Race to Dubai leader — sunk three birdies in the opening seven holes and was steady on the back nine before three-putting on the final hole at the Greg Norman-designed Earth course.

“I’m playing nicely and I just let my focus slip on the last — I’m tired and it’s hard work out there,” Stenson, 37, told reporters. “I hit a lot of fairways and some nice ap-

proach shots into the green, it’s just tough to read them - everyone had a few chances that went by.

“All the guys are run-ning on fumes — probably a quarter of the field is battling injuries at this point of the season.”

Rose admitted he was not at his best as the US Open champion finished two-under 70 in a solid, if unspectacular, round that saw him drop his first shot of the day on the 17th.

“I mishit a lot of shots today — they weren’t really getting me into trouble, but I wasn’t firing on all cylin-ders,” said Rose. “Patience is a big part of it so at no point today was I worried about where Henrik was.”

McDowell has never made the top-10 in Dubai and he started poorly to be three-over with five holes to play.

But the world number 11 sunk a short birdie on

Henrik Stenson of Sweden hits the ball on the second hole during the first round

of the DP World Tour Championship golf tour-

nament in Dubai on 14 Nov, 2013.—ReuteRs

the 14th, clawed back an-other shot on the 15th with a 15-footer and claimed a third birdie in successive holes on the 16th with a 25-foot putt for round of 72.

“That was key to get-ting back into the middle of the pack,” said McDowell. “I could have shot myself out of it. It’s very much a case of not letting this golf course get to me too early in the week. I’ve let these greens get in my head in the past.”

England’s Ian Poulter and Welshman Jamie Don-aldson, who can also win the money list should they prevail in Dubai and Sten-son finishes third or lower, scored 69 and 68 respective-ly. “Every time I had a putt it was a slippery little put,” said Poulter. “Downhill, left-to-right, right-to-left - really awkward and the greens are quick so it’s hard to hit it as firm as you want to because if it misses it’s going five feet past.—Reuters

Phelps back in American drug testing programme

new YoRk, 15 Nov — Michael Phelps has rejoined the US Anti-Doping Agen-cy’s drug testing programme in a signal the most decorated Olympian could be consider-ing a return to the swimming pool in time for the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016.

Phelps retired after win-ning four gold and two silver medals at the 2012 London Olympics to take his career tally to 22, 18 of which were gold. The 28-year-old was tested twice in the quar-ter ended 30 Sep-tember, according to data released by USADA. World swim-ming governing body FINA re-quires athletes to be tested for a mini-mum of nine months before competing in sanc-tioned events.

Phelps had repeat-

US Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps

edly said before the London Games he would not con-template a comeback after he retired and his coach Bob Bowman downplayed any suggestions he was consid-ering a return to compete at what would be his fifth Olympics in Rio. “It’s pre-mature to say that,” Bowman told USA TODAY Sports on Thursday. “What we’re do-ing is kind of letting him have his options.—Reuters

Magnussen will sink or swim, says Buttonnew YoRk, 15 Nov

— Kevin Magnussen will be thrown into the For-mula One deep end when he replaces Sergio Perez at McLaren next season and it will be up to the young Dane whether he sinks or swims, future team mate Jenson Button said on Thursday.

“It’s one of those posi-tions where it could light up your career or put an end

to your career very early if things don’t go well,” Button told reporters ahead of this weekend’s US Grand Prix.

“It’s a massive risk to be put in the deep end,

if you like, with a team that

should be fighting for a ti-tle. “But if a driver is will-ing to take that risk, he has a lot of confidence in himself and his ability.

“It could go one way or another and I hope it goes the positive way,” said the 2009 world champion, who made his debut as a 20-year-old with Williams

in 2000.The 21-year-old Dane

is the son of former McLar-en and Stewart racer Jan Magnussen and will be the first rookie to make his F1 debut with McLaren since Britain’s Lewis Hamilton in 2007.

He steps into the seat vacated by Mexican Perez

amid high praise and even higher expectations.

If Magnussen has any doubts about what is ex-pected of him then he need only consider the fate of Perez, a once highly tout-ed prospect who has been jettisoned by the former champions after one disap-pointing season.—Reuters

McLaren Formula One driver Jenson

Button

R/489 Printed and published by the New Light of Myanmar press in Nay Pyi Taw, the News and Periodicals Enterprise, Ministry of Information.

Saturday, 16 November, 2013 15

GENERALNew Light of Myanmar

16-11-13 09:30 am ~17-11-13 09:30 am) MST

MYANMAR INTERNATIONAL

* Local News* “Great Shwedagon”

Historic And Mysterious Places

* World News* Doctor Painter* Local News* Extraordinary Taunggyi

Tazaungdaing* World News* Travelling To Shan

Mountain Ranges (Shan Traditional Food)

* Local News* Youth Of The Future

(Episode-14) Audio Mixer (Khy Htoo)

* Guiding Star of Song Birds

* Local News* Food Trip-(Episode-5)

(Part-1)* World News* The Untouched

footprint of Buddha* Trend of Kachin Dress* The Photographer:

Portraiture (Aung Kyaw Moe)

* Local News* While I visited around

Taunggyi* Product of Myanmar

- Shin Ma Taung Thanakhar

* Myanmar Wedding Dresses

* Shop Shop Shop - Bogyoke Market

* Local News* Myanmar Traditional

Instruments - Myanma Harp (Episode-1)

* The Pride of Myanmar “Traditional Handicraft”

(16-11-2013, Saturday)6:00 am1. Paritta by Venerable

Mingun Sayadaw6:30 am2. Physical Exercises6:40 am3. Documentary7:00 am4. News7:20 am5. Business News7:45 am6. Hyper Sports8:00 am7. News8:25 am8. India Drama Series9:00 am9. News/International

News9:25 am10. Documentary

(Traveller)9:40 am11. Tazaungdaing Festival

Songs10:00 am12. News10:15 am13. Documentary10:25 am14. Shwe Yin Khone Than10:55 am15. Teleplay (Health)11:30 am16. Game for Children12:00 pm17. News/International

News/Weather Report12:25 pm18. Round Up of The

Week’s TV Local News

1:00 pm19. Round Up of The

Week’s HlutTaw News

2:30 pm20. Tazaungdaing Festival

Songs3:00 pm21. News3:15 pm22. Teleplay (SEA Games)3:50 pm23. Documentary4:00 pm24. News4:15 pm25. Business News4:30 pm26. University of Distance

Education (TV Lectures)

-First Years (Mathematics)

4:45 pm27. Documentary

(SEA Games)5:00 pm28. News5:30 pm29. Game for Children6:00 pm30. News6:40 pm31. Documentary (Part-3)7:00 pm32. News7:15 pm33. Teleplay8:00 pm34. News8:35 pm35. Business News8:50 pm36. Hit Songs of Stars9:00 pm37. News38. Myanmar Series39. Gitadagale

Phwintbaohn

MYANMAR TV

Syria accuses rebels of attacking cities with mortars

Damascus, 15 Nov — Syria’s Foreign Ministry on Thursday complained to the UN about the rebels’ escalating mortar attacks against Syrian cities, urging it to hold accountable the countries that support the armed rebels.

The ministry made the complaint in a letter ad-dressing the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the head of the Security Council.

“The random mortars launched at the Syrian cit-ies have become one of the preferred methods for the

terrorist groups to kill in-nocent Syrian civilians, es-pecially in Damascus city which proved unreachable for the terrorist groups,” the ministry said.

“Children and their schools are bearing the brunt of the indiscrimi-nate acts of terrorism,” it added.

It said “the Ministry of Education had to suspend teaching for three days, starting from 13 Novem-ber in a number of targeted schools to protect children from the terrorist shells, which has a negative im-

pact on the educational pro-cess.”

Meanwhile, the minis-try urged the international community to help “issu-ing a clear condemnation of terrorist groups and the countries backing them, especially Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and take the necessary measures to dry out the sources of ter-rorism.”

SANA said five people were killed Thursday by multiple mortar attacks on Damascus and the central city of Homs.

Xinhua

Red-crowned cranes fly the state nature reserve of rare birds in Yancheng, east China’s Jiangsu Province, on 12 Nov, 2013. A great many rare birds have migrated

to the nature to overwinter, including red-crowned cranes, oriental storks, and hooded cranes.—Xinhua

Manchester United to benefit from rising value of TV deals

Shoppers walk past a Manchester United merchandise store at a mall in Singapore on 14 June, 2012.—ReuteRs

LonDon, 15 Nov —English football champi-ons Manchester United highlighted the soaring value of television rights for live games on Thurs-day after broadcast and sponsorship deals pushed quarterly revenues to a re-cord high.

English Premier League clubs are benefit-ing from a battle between pay TV company BSkyB and former state telecoms company BT for suprema-cy in the sports market.

BT, expanding ag-gressively into a mar-ket long dominated by BSkyB, last weekend agreed to pay 900 million pounds ($1.44 billion) for rights to Europe’s Cham-pions League and Europa League competitions for

three years from 2015. That is more than double what BSkyB and ITV cur-rently pay.

“The value of content is rising. Sport is the must-have content and football is the world’s No 1 sport,” said Ed Woodward, Unit-ed’s executive vice-chair-man.

Woodward said the new BT deal would be worth upwards of 10 mil-lion pounds a season to English clubs playing in the Champions League, the most prestigious European competition.

United generated reve-nue of 98.5 million pounds in the three months to Sep-tember 30, the first quarter of its financial year and a period that included the start of the football season.

The figure was boost-ed by new sponsorship deals with Russian air-line Aeroflot and US soft drinks company PepsiCo, businesses keen to associ-ate with one of the world’s best-known sports teams.

United, controlled by the American Glazer fam-ily, reported core profit (EBITDA) of 22 million pounds in the quarter, up 36 percent year on year and ahead of forecasts.

The club is forecast-ing full-year revenue of 420-430 million pounds, closing the gap on Euro-pean rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona, who benefit from negotiating their own TV deals rather than the pooled deals agreed by the Premier League.

United stand fifth in

the Premier League but their form under new man-ager David Moyes has im-proved in recent weeks and they beat leaders Arsenal on Sunday.

The club’s shares, listed on the New York Stock Exchange since Au-

gust 2012, closed at $15.75 on Wednesday, valuing United at $2.6 billion. The stock has risen from its market debut price of $14 and has defied critics who argue that football clubs are a risky investment best left to fans.

Staff costs rose 31 percent to 53 million pounds, reflecting a play-ing staff that includes in-ternational stars such as Dutch striker Robin van Persie and England for-ward Wayne Rooney.

Reuters

14th Waxing of Tazaungmon 1375 ME Saturday, 16 November, 2013 New Light of MyanmarNay Pyi Taw, 15

Nov—Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham and party inspected the site chosen for construction of Institute of Sports and Physical Edu-cation in Ayethaya Myothit of Taunggyi this morning.

K 1500 million from the Union budget for 2013-2014 FY was allot-ted to construction of SPEI (Taunggyi). The institute will train 150 trainees from Shan and Kayah Sates in football, volleyball, basket-ball, Sepak Takraw, track & field, Karatedo, martial arts, Taekwondo, Judo and table tennis sports in 2014-15 ac-ademic year. A plan is un-derway to receive 300 train-ees in next academic year and demand more fund.

At the meeting at the hall of State Government, the Vice-President said that the government has secured achievements in its mid-term and it is nec-essary to review the weak points. In decentralization system, restrictions have

Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham on inspection tour of development tasks in Shan State

been relaxed for budget and authority and town-ship development sup-portive committee and the development affairs committees. He urged the state government to imple-ment the tasks in a fair and prompt way.

The Vice-President also inspected the site for University of Medicine (Taunggyi) in Taunggyi.

Deputy Director-Gen-eral Dr Daw Tin Tin Lay of Medical Science De-partment reported on con-struction of the building at Naunglay Village-tract.

The government will allot K 5000 million on construction in 2013-14 FY. The university will admit students in 2015-16 academic year. A plan is underway to admit 100-200 students yearly.

MNA

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov—Relevant ministries are to place emphasis on loans from abroad for long-term interest of the nation and to agree borrowing of US$ 115.874 million loan from the Republic of Ko-rea, said U Zaw Myint Pe, Vice-Chairman of the Joint Bill Committee at today’s Pyidaungsu Hluttaw.

Regarding the commit-tee’s report on borrowing US$ 115.874 million with soft interest rate from EDCF of the Republic of Korea to be spent on pro-jects of Communications

Taking foreign loans to help develop the nation in long runand Information Technol-ogy and the Ministry of Electric Power, the vice-chairman of the committee said that although there was no objection for the loans, it needs to review significant points of the foreign loans.

Pyithu Hluttaw Pro-jects and Financial Com-mittee member U Aye Mauk discussed matters re-lated to loan and sought the approval of the Hluttaw.

The Speaker of Py-idaungsu Hluttaw put three messages sent by the Presi-dent on record.

The message sent by

the President described the collection of electric me-ter bill at increased rate. Collection of increased rate is to enable the people across the nation to enjoy equal rights of power sup-ply and to develop State economy in long run. The bill at increased rate will be collected in 2014-2015 FY.

Deputy Attorney-Gen-eral U Tun Tun Oo said that the office of Attorney-Gen-eral of the Union gave legal advices to the government not to suffer loss in signing the contracts regarding foreign investment be-

tween two countries after scrutinizing international laws and rules and existing laws of the nation.

The Hluttaw put the signing of investment agreements on report. The Pyidaungsu Hluttaw ap-proved the Bill Amending the Pyidaungsu Hluttaw Law approved by Pyithu Hluttaw and Amyotha Hlut-taw with amendments.

In the afternoon, the eighth regular session of first Pyidaungsu Hluttaw came to an end success-fully.

MNA

Vice-President Dr Sai Mauk Kham views the site chosen for construction of University of Medicine (Taunggyi) in Taunggyi.—mna

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov — Aiming at placing em-phasis on humanitarian grounds and encouraging them to make their contri-butions to the nation-build-ing endeavours after real-izing the magnanimity of the State, the President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar has granted an amnesty for 69 prisoners who were in the list of the committee for scrutinizing political prisoners in ac-cordance with Section 204 (a) of the Constitution and Section 401, Subsection (i) of Code of Criminal Proce-dure as of today.

Sixty-nine prisoners who have been granted amnesty are three from Insein correctional facil-ity, 10 from Mandalay, three from Myingyan, two from Thayawady, six from Toungoo, four from Shwebo, two from Mo-nywa, one from Pathein, one from Thaton, one from Ingabo work camp, two from Bhamo, five from

Amnesty grantedMyitkyina, three from Hsi-paw, one from Kengtung, 10 from Kyaukpyu, four from Thandwe, two from Buthidaung and nine from Sittway.

The committee for scrutinizing political pris-oners will continue to work for all political prisoners to be granted amnesty before the end of December, 2013, it is learnt.

MNA

yaNgoN, 15 Nov—In commemoration of 65th

anniversary of establish-ment of Russia-Myanmar diplomatic relations, Rus-sian musical evenings was held at National Theatre in Dagon Township, here, yesterday evening with an opening remarks by Rus-sian Ambassador to Myan-mar Mr Vasily Borisovich Pospelov.

Russian artists and per-formers from ASW Ship-Admiral Vinogradov pre-sented the songs.

After that Region Chief Minister U Myint Swe and Russian Ambassador's wife Md Irina Pospelov and re-sponsible persons presented the baskets of flowers to

65th anniversary of establishment of Russia-Myanmar diplomatic relations marks

them.This morning, the Re-

gion Chief Minister started to ignite the torch and ob-served the third drill of state flag hoisting, torch relay for opening and closing

ceremony of the 27th SEA Games and presenting the souvenirs to sport teams from 11 countries at Youth Training Centre (Thuwun-na).

MNA

24 days to XXVII SEA Games

Nay Pyi Taw, 15 Nov—According to the observations at 17:30 hrs MST today, the depres-sion over Southwest Bay of Bengal is centered at about 290 miles Southeast of Chennai (India), 230 miles Southeast of Nagapatti-nam (India) and 640 miles

Weather forecastSouthwest of Cocogyun (Myanmar). It is moving Southwest wards and fore-cast to recurve West-North-west wards and then likely to cross North Tamil Nadu coast near Nagapattinam during next 24 hrs.

Occasional squalls with rough seas will be

experienced Deltaic, Gulf of Mottama, off and along Mon-Taninthayi Coasts. Surface wind speed in squalls may reach 40 m.p.h.

The present stage of the depression is coded yellow stage and it is not moving towards Myanmar coasts.—NLM

Photo shows prisoners leaving Central Prison Insein.—mna Russian musical evenings in progress.—mna