Myanmar PM likely to attend summ

YANGON - MYANMAR'S junta cut Internet connections and axed the senior United Nations official here yesterday, clouding the atmosphere before a visit today by the world body's envoy over last month's violent crackdown. UN officials said country chief Charles Petrie had been summoned to Myanmar's new capital, Naypyidaw, for an official dressing-down over a statement he released on Oct 24

BANGKOK - FRANCE and Thailand say that immediate radical change in Myanmar is impossible and the world has to work more closely together to bring democracy to the country. 'We don't want to change the regime immediately, overnight

YANGON - MYANMAR has endorsed the appointment of the first North Korean ambassador to the country after 24 years of diplomatic rupture, a senior official said. Myanmar's government agreed to the appointment of Kim Sok Chol, 52, as Pyongyang's ambassador, a Myanmar foreign ministry official said on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to media

BANGKOK - MYANMAR'S military government, already under criticism for a violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, is recruiting children as young as 10 into its armed forces, a US rights group charged in a report on Wednesday. Government recruiters target children because of 'continued army expansion, high desertion rates and a lack of willing volunteers,' the 135-page report by New York-based Human Rights Watch said

MYANMAR'S newly appointed prime minister, Lieutenant-General Thein Sein, is likely to attend the Asean Summit here next month, said Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo. Mr Yeo, who is also currently chairman of the Asean Standing Committee, spoke to reporters yesterday after meeting his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner here

FRANCE will do all it can to help Myanmar's neighbours push the rogue state towards free and fair elections, said French Foreign and European Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner. 'It will not be possible for the generals to come back to the former situation

BANGKOK - FRANCE'S foreign minister was expected to meet with Thai officials on Tuesday in a bid to step up international pressure on Myanmar's junta after its bloody crushing of anti-regime protests in September. Bernard Kouchner is on the second leg of an Asian tour that began in Singapore, where on Monday he said incentives and sanctions were needed to bring about democratic change

BANGKOK - UN ENVOY Ibrahim Gambari's credibility with Western countries hinges on his mission to coax meaningful dialogue between Myanmar's junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, analysts say. If dialogue in Myanmar is seen to be cosmetic with no real change, the Gambari mission may be called a failure

FRANCE'S foreign minister on Monday proposed an international fund to provide economic aid to military-ruled Myanmar, saying incentives as well as sanctions were needed to bring about change. Bernard Kouchner, who is touring Asia to press for change in Myanmar, said the fund could be financed by the World Bank and based on one used to help with the reconstruction of Kosovo

BANGKOK - VETERAN Myanmar dissidents yesterday urged Asean to suspend the country's military regime if the junta continues to refuse international demands for reform. In a letter to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Minister George Yeo, leaders of the 88 Generation Students group urged Asean to push the junta into talks with the opposition

NEW DELHI - RIDING on its unapologetic refusal to condemn the Myanmar regime's bloody crackdown, India is poised to gain a larger strategic foothold in the reclusive nation with a major logistics hub centred at the old port of Sittwe. After three years of negotiations, the Kaladan multimodal project is set to go forward rapidly, people familiar with the negotiations said

ASEAN should help find the middle ground in Myanmar amid a continuing search for ways to encourage Yangon's generals to move along the path to change, according to the grouping's Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong. 'The most important thing is to not come across as a group putting tremendous pressure on Myanmar and there has to be a win-win kind of scenario that we should aspire to achieve, he said

I REFER to the article, 'Singapore's arms sales to Myanmar not substantial' (ST, Oct 23). Since Singapore is not a substantial supplier of military weapons to Myanmar, we should just stop all arms sales to the junta as a clear statement of our outrage at its recent violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators

TOKYO - SINGAPORE'S foreign minister said on Saturday the city-state and Japan were seeking a change in policy but not of regime in military-run Myanmar, according to a report. Foreign Minister George Yeo was visiting Tokyo, a key donor to Myanmar, in the wake of the the junta's crackdown on anti-government protests that left at least 13 people dead

TOKYO - THE United Nations mediator on Myanmar held talks in Japan, which has slashed but not ended aid to the military regime over its bloody crackdown on demonstrations. Professor Gambari was in Japan on Friday on a six-nation Asian tour after the junta crushed the protests, killing at least 13 people including monks and a Japanese journalist

IN BEIJING - CHINA, the main backer of Myanmar's defiant military junta, continues to give 'all-out support' to UN mediation efforts there, a senior Chinese foreign ministry official said yesterday. Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei gave this assurance to the United Nations' special envoy to Myanmar, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, during his two-day visit to Beijing

WASHINGTON - THE Bush administration praised Australia on Wednesday for enacting sanctions against 418 people associated with Myanmar's military-run government, which crushed pro-democracy protests last month. White House press secretary Dana Perino said the sanctions help send a message that the junta in Myanmar, also called Burma, 'cannot continue to oppress the Burmese people and that progress for democracy is necessary

UNITED NATIONS - A TOP UN human rights official vowed on Wednesday to seek a 'honest picture' of the crisis in Myanmar during his visit next month, including an accounting of how many people died in recent anti-government protests. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN Human Rights Council's independent human rights expert or Special Rapporteur on Myanmar, said he planned to travel to Myanmar immediately after UN special Ibrahim Gambari, who is to return to the country early next month

BEIJING - THE United Nations envoy on Myanmar concluded talks with China on Thursday, with no indication Beijing had agreed to exert tougher pressure on the junta that runs the troubled Southeast Asian nation. UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari has been visiting Asia to press neighbours - especially India and China - to take a tougher line against Myanmar's military government, which harshly quelled pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist clergy

NEW DELHI - INDIA has promised to support UN efforts to resolve the crisis in Myanmar, but again stressed that any initiative should be aimed at maintaining peace and stability in the country. 'As a close and friendly neighbour, India has multi-dimensional linkages with Myanmar

UNITED NATIONS - MYANMAR'S military government has agreed to bring forward a visit by UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, who now expects to go there in the first week of November, a UN spokeswoman said on Tuesday. Mr Gambari will travel to Myanmar directly from the region, which he is currently touring to discuss the crisis following the junta's heavy-handed crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, spokeswoman Michele Montas told a news briefing

LONDON - SIX female Nobel Peace laureates called on the world to keep up pressure on Myanmar's military junta to restore liberty and democracy in the country. The seventh living female Peace Prize winner - Aung San Suu Kyi - is in detention in Myanmar, where she has spent nearly 12 of the last 18 years in prison or under house arrest

WASHINGTON - A KEY US congressional committee approved on Tuesday legislation tightening sanctions and visa bans on Myanmar's military junta and targeting the country's lucrative gemstone exports. Exiled Myanmar activists welcomed the Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act - the latest of a set of US moves following last month's violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters - but urged Washington to go after the bank accounts of junta generals and allied businessmen

NEW YORK - SOUTHEAST Asian nations should not impose economic sanctions on Myanmar despite the political upheaval there because such sanctions are not effective, Singapore's Second Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Tuesday. A violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar last month sparked international outrage, inciting calls for action among Myanmar's neighbours

NEW YORK - SOUTHEAST Asian nations should not impose economic sanctions on Myanmar despite the political upheaval there because such sanctions are not effective, Singapore's prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, said on Tuesday. A violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Myanmar last month sparked international outrage, inciting calls for action among Myanmar's neighbours

NEW DELHI - UN SPECIAL Envoy Ibrahim Gambari met senior Indian officials here yesterday, carrying hopes that India would help bring about national reconciliation in Myanmar. Professor Gambari, who arrived here late on Sunday on a two-day visit, held talks with India's top diplomat, Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, and other senior officials

SANCTIONS are not the answer to resolving the crisis in Myanmar, where the people are in desperate need of humanitarian aid, a leading Myanmar expert said yesterday. The economic sanctions imposed upon Myanmar by the international community are inconsequential and further sanctions would not work on an isolationist government, said Professor David Steinberg

A MORE hardline approach towards Myanmar - such as to expel it from Asean - may lead to an Iraq-like situation on the region's doorstep, said Foreign Minister George Yeo. Instead, it is far better to keep Myanmar within the Asean family, as this 'serves our long-term strategic self-interest'

SINGAPORE'S military sales and economic links with Myanmar were in the spotlight as MPs yesterday pressed for details and asked for tougher action, including sanctions against the junta. But Foreign Minister George Yeo, responding in Parliament, cautioned against applying more pressure, saying that sanctions or expelling Myanmar from Asean would make national reconciliation there harder to achieve

UNITED NATIONS - THE ruling generals in Myanmar have agreed to the first visit by the UN's top human rights official in four years, the United Nations said on Monday. The announcement comes in the aftermath of a violent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters that left at least 13 people dead and intensified international criticism of the military junta

KUALA LUMPUR - About 50 Myanmar nationals demonstrated outside the Singapore High Commission here on Tuesday to demand that the Republic break its business ties with Myanmar. Holding placards with bold red lettering and wearing red head bands, the group, who called themselves All Burma Democratic Force , chanted slogans like Free Burma under the watchful eyes of policemen

NEW DELHI - A UN envoy visiting India to urge the government to break its silence over the violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests in Myanmar said on Tuesday he was satisfied with the outcome of his meetings. Mr Ibrahim Gambari is on a six-nation tour of Asian nations to ask them to take the lead in resolving the crisis

MYANMAR airline Air Bagan will suspend flights to Singapore next month, travel agents said, making it one of the first casualties of increased international sanctions against's Myanmar's military junta. The airline, which is on a United States government blacklist because of its close ties to the junta, would stop flights to Singapore on Nov 5, an agent at Singapore's New Shan Travel Service said on Saturday, citing a memo the airline sent to travel agents

YANGON - MYANMAR'S military rulers are hunting for several 'bogus' Buddhist monks who led recent mass anti-government protests, state media reported. The people who organised the protests are 'ex-convicts' and they will be charged under existing laws, according to a report on Thursday in the New Light of Myanmar, the mouthpiece of the junta

SINGAPORE - SINGAPORE'S premier has congratulated Myanmar's new premier, Lieutenant-General Thein Sein, and invited him to attend the ASEAN bloc's upcoming summit, the foreign ministry said Friday. Lt-Gen Thein Sein took over as prime minister from General Soe Win, who died on October 12 after a long illness

BANGKOK - CHEVRON Corp, the second-largest US energy company, will keep its stake in a natural gas project in Myanmar, defying calls to leave following a crackdown on protesters by the country's ruling junta. The people around the Yadana gas project and pipeline have benefited from jobs and investments in health care and education, chief executive David O'Reilly said in an interview in Bangkok yesterday

YANGON - MYANMAR'S military government stepped up its propaganda campaign against the United States, accusing Washington of inciting last month's pro-democracy demonstrations in hopes of installing a puppet government. Demonstrations that began Aug 19 over high prices for fuel and consumer goods grew into a broad-based movement for democratic reform that attracted tens of thousands of people in Yangon, the country's biggest city

TOKYO - JAPAN on Thursday lowered its travel advisory for Myanmar, saying calm was returning after the junta's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators. The foreign ministry called for Japanese citizens to 'consider whether your travel is necessary,' down from a recommendation to postpone trips to the military-run nation

AN airline controlled by Mr Tay Za, one of the Myanmar military junta's most important business cronies, has been forced to suspend all flights to Singapore after the country's banks refused to deal with the carrier, The Sydney Morning Herald reported on Monday. The Herald said the move against Air Bagan by banks comes as the Singaporean Government maintains that the best way forward is through United Nations-sponsored dialogue with the regime to achieve national reconciliation, rather than economic sanctions

YET another episode in Myanmar's tragedy has come to pass. With their peaceful protests, the people of Myanmar have shown how hungry they are for change

MYANMAR'S Air Bagan, which has been blacklisted by the United States under fresh anti-junta sanctions, will suspend flights to and from Singapore starting next Sunday, airline staff said on Friday. A member of the staff at the airline's Singapore office who did not want to be named said employees were informed by the airline on Thursday not to accept any more bookings from next Sunday

CHINA has expressed full support for Asean's efforts to help bring about a process of national reconciliation in Myanmar, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said in a statement yesterday. It said China will also work closely together with Asean to assist United Nations Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari's mission as mediator

THE spotlight is being shone again on foreign companies operating in Myanmar's energy sector, in the wake of the violent repression by the country's military rulers of pro-democracy demonstrations. It is this sector which gains the most attention in talks over what action governments worldwide should take to encourage reform in Myanmar

YANGON - PRO-DEMOCRACY leader Aung San Suu Kyi - under house arrest for 12 of the last 18 years - met for about one hour with a Myanmar government official on Thursday afternoon, a diplomat said. Ms Suu Kyi was driven a few minutes from her home to a government guest house, where she held talks with newly appointed liaison minister, Mr Aung Kyi

BRUSSELS - TRADE unionists are calling for workers across the world to boycott companies that do business with Myanmar's repressive military regime, singling out French oil company Total SA. Myanmar's junta has arrested thousands people in a crackdown on pro-democracy protests in recent weeks, shooting dead at least 10 when troops fired into crowds of peaceful demonstrators last month

CANBERRA - AUSTRALIA on Wednesday announced financial sanctions against Myanmar's ruling generals and their families following a violent crackdown on pro-democracy supporters last month. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said the measures would apply to 418 individuals, including Senior General and State Peace and Development Council Chairman Than Shwe

FOREIGN Minister George Yeo will visit China and Japan from Thursday to Saturday for for informal consultations on Myanmar, said a statement from the Foreign Minstry on Wednesday. Mr Minister Yeo will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi on Friday in Beijing and Japanese Foreign MinisterMasahiko Koumura Saturday in Tokyo

Ms Irene Ng (Tampines GRC): Myanmar seemed to be in a state of denial and they are quite impervious to moral censure or economic sanctions

PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong has congratulated Lieutenant-General Thein Sein on his appointment as Prime Minister of Myanmar. Noting that Singapore and Myanmar enjoy friendly and long-standing ties, PM Lee said in his letter

BEIJING - UNITED Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari ended talks with Beijing yesterday, but there was no outward indication if China was willing to take tougher action against Myanmar's brutal military junta. Chinese State Councillor Tang Jiaxuan told Professor Gambari during their meeting yesterday afternoon that Beijing hoped to see a 'stable, developing, democratic and reconciled Myanmar', the official Xinhua news agency reported

TOKYO - CHINA and Japan are agreed that countries in the region can help to create an atmosphere conducive to national conciliation in Myanmar. This was disclosed here yesterday by Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo after informal consultations with his Japanese counterpart, Mr Masahiko Koumura

BANGKOK - WITH the possible exception of oil company Chevron, pressure on companies to stop doing business in Myanmar is having little effect. From logs and rubies to electricity and gas, Myanmar's natural resources, dangled in front of hungry neighbours, are keeping the junta afloat

TOKYO - A UNITED States envoy hailed talks between detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and a newly appointed official of Myanmar's military junta, but said Friday that the meeting was just the beginning. 'We welcome that,' said Ibrahim Gambari, in Tokyo for talks with top Japanese officials as part of a six-nation tour to drum up international pressure on Myanmar to end its crackdown on pro-democracy activists

A NEWCOMER'S high hopes have been brought down to earth by the recent unrest in Myanmar. Air Bagan, a private airline, had launched flights between Yangon and Singapore on Sept 7, joining SilkAir and Jetstar Asia to service that route

I VISITED the Pearl River Delta last week after many years. My last time was in April 1992, three months after Deng Xiaoping's famous southern tour which put China back on its path of reform and opening-up

A POLICE request for two people here to take off their T-shirts splashed with comments about the Myanmar crisis was 'probably an overreaction', said Senior Minister of State (Home Affairs) Ho Peng Kee. But the police were 'not totally unjustified' given the tense situation in the Myanmar community here at the time, he added

ABOUT 20 years ago, there were frequent demonstrations on American campuses to demand that university endowments 'divest' from companies that had dealings in White supremacist-controlled South Africa. A friend of mine, a teacher at an Ivy League school, used to encourage his students to attend these demonstrations thus

UN ENVOY Ibrahim Gambari yesterday called for ongoing dialogue between Myanmar's junta and detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, following her first meeting on Thursday with a general designated to talk with her. 'This is only a first step,' Professor Gambari said in Tokyo after meeting Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda

UNITED NATIONS - MYANMAR'S rulers have agreed to bring forward to early November a return visit by UN mediator Ibrahim Gambari. The move came one day after the military junta allowed Mr Paulo Sergio Pinheiro of Brazil, the UN's human rights rapporteur for Myanmar, to visit the country for the first time in four years

UNITED NATIONS - THE ruling generals in Myanmar have agreed to the first visit by the United Nations' top human rights official in four years, the UN said. The junta agreed to a visit by Mr Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN special rapporteur on human rights, and suggested that it take place before the Asean summit in Singapore next month, UN spokesman Michele Montas said on Monday

YANGON - MYANMAR'S military rulers are hunting for several 'bogus' Buddhist monks who led recent mass anti-government protests, state media reported. The military will also be taking action against people who organised the protests whom they described as 'ex-convicts' who had joined the order, according to a report on Thursday in the New Light Of Myanmar, the mouthpiece of the junta

NEW DELHI - THERE is no reason to think Myanmar will stay away from next month's Asean Summit in Singapore, United Nations envoy Ibrahim Gambari said. 'In the past summits, the very top leader of Myanmar has not always attended,' Professor Gambari told The Straits Times yesterday

THAI-MYANMAR BORDER - MR HLAING MOE THAN is among a handful of activist group leaders who have emerged recently on the Thai side of the 1,800km border with Myanmar. They fled their homeland during the recent government crackdown, often making harrowing escapes

BRUSSELS - TRADE unionists are calling for workers across the world to boycott companies that do business with Myanmar's repressive military regime. The inward-looking military elite has largely ignored world opinion and pressure during its 45 years in power but makes money from allowing foreign companies such as French oil company Total SA to pump out some of its vast reserves of oil and natural gas

YANGON (Myanmar) - HUNDREDS of riot police, armed with assault rifles and tear gas, moved into position at sites in Yangon where protesters staged a bloody, pro-democracy demonstration a month ago, on Friday. The sudden show of force after several weeks of relative quiet in Myanmar's largest city appeared aimed at forestalling any protests to mark the one-month anniversary of a key day in the anti-regime uprising by Buddhist monks, activists and ordinary citizens angry at the country's entrenched junta

SENIOR Minister of State Ho Peng Kee said that police 'probably overreacted' when Myanmese nationals here were asked to take off their T-shirts bearing messages of protest against the Myanmar regime. In Parliament on Monday afternoon, Associate Professor Ho highlighted the context of the police's request - it was a tense situation involving local Myanmese nationals' frustration against the junta's harsh crackdown on peaceful protests

WHAT IT IS UNITED Nations human rights expert Paulo Sergio Pinheiro visits Thailand today in preparation for his trip to Myanmar, the first since he was barred from the country in 2003. WHY IT MATTERS UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari has not been able to bring about any decisive dialogue between the junta and the opposition National League of Democracy, led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S Astral Asia has agreed to lead a US$200 million (S$290 million) project to develop oil palm plots in Myanmar to take advantage of lower production costs. It said the project would enable the group to expand its oil palm plantation in a big way, in line with its long-term plan to expand its plantation and provide considerable profit growth potential

MYANMAR'S pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was yesterday taken from her residence in Yangon to a government guesthouse where she met the minister tasked by the junta to open a dialogue with her. The 62-year-old Nobel peace laureate and leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), who has spent 12 of the past 18 years under house arrest or in prison, was later taken back to her lakeside house on Yangon's heavily guarded University Avenue

WHAT IT IS FRENCH Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is on a three-day working trip here. He arrived yesterday evening en route to his first official trip to China on Wednesday

SENIOR Minister of State Ho Peng Kee's parliamentary reply to the recent incident of police demanding that two Myanmar nationals remove their T-shirts printed with 'emotive words' pertaining to the military crackdown in Myanmar is great cause for concern. Associate Professor Ho said that the police were 'perhaps being overly cautious' and that their actions were 'probably an over-reaction', but he then contradicted himself by saying that under the tense situation which he judged could lead to trouble, the police action was 'not totally unjustified'

AT THE stroke of midnight last Saturday, the final touches were put to the Asean Charter. In Vientiane, capital of Laos, the group of five senior Asean officials, two Asean directors-general and three former ambassadors, breathed a sigh of relief and happiness

JAKARTA - A LEADING global anti-corruption movement yesterday urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to lead a regional fight against graft despite flagging public confidence in the Indonesian leader's ability to do so at home. Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) made the call during a meeting with Dr Yudhoyono at the state palace here yesterday

AMERICAN FOOTBALL NFL: Indianapolis 31 Carolina 7, Detroit 16 Chicago 7, Pittsburgh 24 Cincinnati 13, NY Giants 13 Miami 10, Philadelphia 23 Minnesota 16, Cleveland 27 St Louis 20, Tennessee 13 Oakland 9, Buffalo 13 NY Jets 3, San Diego 35 Houston 10, Jacksonville 24 Tampa Bay 23, New England 52 Washington 7, New Orleans 31 San Francisco 10

AMERICAN strategic preoccupation in Iraq, however necessary, is adversely affecting its credibility and relations with South-east Asia - in particular, the Association of South- east Asian Nations (Asean). While Washington grapples with myriad strategic challenges in the Middle East and with extremism globally, its influence is beginning to wane even as the Asian strategic landscape undergoes unprecedented change

CIVIL society groups are urging Asean leaders to speed up the creation of a body to protect migrant workers and prevent human trafficking - problems they say will mount with regional integration. This was among the key recommendations made at a two-day Asean Civil Society conference, organised by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) with support from the Asean Secretariat, called to discuss issues of common concern and ways to deepen ties

NANNING (CHINA) - BEIJING yesterday pushed for an early conclusion to talks on a China-Asean free trade zone, which will enhance investment flows between the two sides. 'The two sides should continue to step up dialogue on investment policies and work for an early conclusion of talks on a China-Asean free trade area investment agreement,' Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan said in his keynote speech at the opening of the Fourth China-Asean Business and Investment Summit in Nanning

NAIROBI - SOMALI pirates have hijacked a Japanese-owned chemical tanker in the latest such seizure in the Horn of Africa nation's notoriously lawless waters, a regional maritime official and a piracy watchdog said on Monday. Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, said shipping sources in both Somalia and Japan had confirmed the vessel was seized eight nautical miles offshore on Sunday morning

Nothing is secret that shalt not be made manifest. - From the New Testament (Luke 8

SUNDAY SPACEMAN RETURNS Malaysia's first man in space, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, lands in a remote Kazakhstan swamp at 6

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA may axe a visa programme that has enabled more than 40,000 foreigners to stay in the country illegally in the past year, a report said yesterday. Some 120,000 visitors have entered Malaysia under the programme, which began in September last year and allows visitors to apply for a one-month visa when they arrive, Home Affairs Minister Mohammad Radzi Sheikh Ahmad told The Star

NEW YORK - THE UN expert on Myanmar's human rights crisis is taking a combative approach ahead of his first visit to the country in four years. Mr Paulo Sergio Pinheiro did not mince his words when describing the junta's continuing crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, and asked whether he was worried that the generals would restrict his movements, simply said

THE shortlist for the inaugural 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize was announced yesterday, with five authors picked from a longlist of 23. The five are

KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA might axe a visa programme that has enabled more than 40,000 foreigners to stay in the country illegally in the last year, a report said on Thursday. Some 120,000 visitors have entered Malaysia under the programme, which began in September 2006 and allows visitors to apply for a one-month visa when they arrive, Home Affairs Minister Mohammad Radzi Sheikh Ahmad told The Star daily

IN THE profane world of politics, 'Knowledge Is Power' seems like something of an empty slogan, at least if we consider recent and ongoing trends in much of Asia. Indeed, for all the spread of information via the Internet and the expansion of education in Asia over the past decade, little seems to have changed in terms of the broad structures of political power in the region

Top UN official in Myanmar told to leave - Nov 3, 2007 YANGON - MYANMAR'S junta cut Internet connections and axed the senior United Nations official here yesterday, clouding the atmosphere before a visit today by the world body's envoy over last month's violent crackdown. UN officials said country chief Charles Petrie had been summoned to Myanmar's new capital, Naypyidaw, for an official dressing-down over a statement he released on Oct 24	Find Similar

No miracle solution to Myanmar: French minister - Oct 31, 2007 BANGKOK - FRANCE and Thailand say that immediate radical change in Myanmar is impossible and the world has to work more closely together to bring democracy to the country. 'We don't want to change the regime immediately, overnight	Find Similar

New N. Korean ambassador to Myanmar after 24-year gap - Oct 31, 2007 YANGON - MYANMAR has endorsed the appointment of the first North Korean ambassador to the country after 24 years of diplomatic rupture, a senior official said. Myanmar's government agreed to the appointment of Kim Sok Chol, 52, as Pyongyang's ambassador, a Myanmar foreign ministry official said on Tuesday, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to media	Find Similar

Rights group slams Myanmar for recruiting children into army - Oct 31, 2007 BANGKOK - MYANMAR'S military government, already under criticism for a violent crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, is recruiting children as young as 10 into its armed forces, a US rights group charged in a report on Wednesday. Government recruiters target children because of 'continued army expansion, high desertion rates and a lack of willing volunteers,' the 135-page report by New York-based Human Rights Watch said	Find Similar

Myanmar PM likely to attend summit - Oct 30, 2007 MYANMAR'S newly appointed prime minister, Lieutenant-General Thein Sein, is likely to attend the Asean Summit here next month, said Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo. Mr Yeo, who is also currently chairman of the Asean Standing Committee, spoke to reporters yesterday after meeting his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner here	Find Similar

Back to the past for Myanmar? No way: France - Oct 30, 2007 FRANCE will do all it can to help Myanmar's neighbours push the rogue state towards free and fair elections, said French Foreign and European Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner. 'It will not be possible for the generals to come back to the former situation	Find Similar

France's Kouchner in Thailand to discuss Myanmar crisis - Oct 30, 2007 BANGKOK - FRANCE'S foreign minister was expected to meet with Thai officials on Tuesday in a bid to step up international pressure on Myanmar's junta after its bloody crushing of anti-regime protests in September. Bernard Kouchner is on the second leg of an Asian tour that began in Singapore, where on Monday he said incentives and sanctions were needed to bring about democratic change	Find Similar

Envoy Gambari's credibility on the line - Oct 29, 2007 BANGKOK - UN ENVOY Ibrahim Gambari's credibility with Western countries hinges on his mission to coax meaningful dialogue between Myanmar's junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, analysts say. If dialogue in Myanmar is seen to be cosmetic with no real change, the Gambari mission may be called a failure	Find Similar

French FM proposes Myanmar fund - Oct 29, 2007 FRANCE'S foreign minister on Monday proposed an international fund to provide economic aid to military-ruled Myanmar, saying incentives as well as sanctions were needed to bring about change. Bernard Kouchner, who is touring Asia to press for change in Myanmar, said the fund could be financed by the World Bank and based on one used to help with the reconstruction of Kosovo	Find Similar

Asean urged to suspend Myanmar - Nov 2, 2007 BANGKOK - VETERAN Myanmar dissidents yesterday urged Asean to suspend the country's military regime if the junta continues to refuse international demands for reform. In a letter to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Minister George Yeo, leaders of the 88 Generation Students group urged Asean to push the junta into talks with the opposition	Find Similar

Myanmar PM likely to attend summit - Oct 30, 2007 MYANMAR'S newly appointed prime minister, Lieutenant-General Thein Sein, is likely to attend the Asean Summit here next month, said Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo. Mr Yeo, who is also currently chairman of the Asean Standing Committee, spoke to reporters yesterday after meeting his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner here	Find Similar

Back to the past for Myanmar? No way: France - Oct 30, 2007 FRANCE will do all it can to help Myanmar's neighbours push the rogue state towards free and fair elections, said French Foreign and European Affairs Minister Bernard Kouchner. 'It will not be possible for the generals to come back to the former situation	Find Similar

Envoy Gambari's credibility on the line - Oct 29, 2007 BANGKOK - UN ENVOY Ibrahim Gambari's credibility with Western countries hinges on his mission to coax meaningful dialogue between Myanmar's junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, analysts say. If dialogue in Myanmar is seen to be cosmetic with no real change, the Gambari mission may be called a failure	Find Similar

French FM proposes Myanmar fund - Oct 29, 2007 FRANCE'S foreign minister on Monday proposed an international fund to provide economic aid to military-ruled Myanmar, saying incentives as well as sanctions were needed to bring about change. Bernard Kouchner, who is touring Asia to press for change in Myanmar, said the fund could be financed by the World Bank and based on one used to help with the reconstruction of Kosovo	Find Similar

India gains bigger foothold in Myanmar - Oct 27, 2007 NEW DELHI - RIDING on its unapologetic refusal to condemn the Myanmar regime's bloody crackdown, India is poised to gain a larger strategic foothold in the reclusive nation with a major logistics hub centred at the old port of Sittwe. After three years of negotiations, the Kaladan multimodal project is set to go forward rapidly, people familiar with the negotiations said	Find Similar

Asean needs to help find a 'win-win scenario for Myanmar' - Oct 27, 2007 ASEAN should help find the middle ground in Myanmar amid a continuing search for ways to encourage Yangon's generals to move along the path to change, according to the grouping's Secretary-General Ong Keng Yong. 'The most important thing is to not come across as a group putting tremendous pressure on Myanmar and there has to be a win-win kind of scenario that we should aspire to achieve, he said	Find Similar

Stop all arms sales to Myanmar - Oct 27, 2007 I REFER to the article, 'Singapore's arms sales to Myanmar not substantial' (ST, Oct 23). Since Singapore is not a substantial supplier of military weapons to Myanmar, we should just stop all arms sales to the junta as a clear statement of our outrage at its recent violent crackdown on peaceful demonstrators	Find Similar

Singapore, Japan seek stability in Myanmar - Oct 27, 2007 TOKYO - SINGAPORE'S foreign minister said on Saturday the city-state and Japan were seeking a change in policy but not of regime in military-run Myanmar, according to a report. Foreign Minister George Yeo was visiting Tokyo, a key donor to Myanmar, in the wake of the the junta's crackdown on anti-government protests that left at least 13 people dead	Find Similar

UN envoy on Myanmar holds talks in Japan - Oct 26, 2007 TOKYO - THE United Nations mediator on Myanmar held talks in Japan, which has slashed but not ended aid to the military regime over its bloody crackdown on demonstrations. Professor Gambari was in Japan on Friday on a six-nation Asian tour after the junta crushed the protests, killing at least 13 people including monks and a Japanese journalist	Find Similar

Beijing supports UN efforts in Myanmar - Oct 25, 2007 IN BEIJING - CHINA, the main backer of Myanmar's defiant military junta, continues to give 'all-out support' to UN mediation efforts there, a senior Chinese foreign ministry official said yesterday. Assistant Foreign Minister He Yafei gave this assurance to the United Nations' special envoy to Myanmar, Professor Ibrahim Gambari, during his two-day visit to Beijing

Police 'over-reacted' by asking protesters to remove T-shirts - Oct 23, 2007 SENIOR Minister of State Ho Peng Kee said that police 'probably overreacted' when Myanmese nationals here were asked to take off their T-shirts bearing messages of protest against the Myanmar regime. In Parliament on Monday afternoon, Associate Professor Ho highlighted the context of the police's request - it was a tense situation involving local Myanmese nationals' frustration against the junta's harsh crackdown on peaceful protests	Find Similar

UN rights expert prepares for Yangon trip - Oct 29, 2007 WHAT IT IS UNITED Nations human rights expert Paulo Sergio Pinheiro visits Thailand today in preparation for his trip to Myanmar, the first since he was barred from the country in 2003. WHY IT MATTERS UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari has not been able to bring about any decisive dialogue between the junta and the opposition National League of Democracy, led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi	Find Similar

KL and Yangon firms in $290m joint venture - Oct 28, 2007 KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA'S Astral Asia has agreed to lead a US$200 million (S$290 million) project to develop oil palm plots in Myanmar to take advantage of lower production costs. It said the project would enable the group to expand its oil palm plantation in a big way, in line with its long-term plan to expand its plantation and provide considerable profit growth potential	Find Similar

Suu Kyi holds talks with junta official - Oct 26, 2007 MYANMAR'S pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi was yesterday taken from her residence in Yangon to a government guesthouse where she met the minister tasked by the junta to open a dialogue with her. The 62-year-old Nobel peace laureate and leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), who has spent 12 of the past 18 years under house arrest or in prison, was later taken back to her lakeside house on Yangon's heavily guarded University Avenue	Find Similar

French Foreign Minister visits - Oct 29, 2007 WHAT IT IS FRENCH Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is on a three-day working trip here. He arrived yesterday evening en route to his first official trip to China on Wednesday	Find Similar

No 'maybe's, police action should be sound - Oct 27, 2007 SENIOR Minister of State Ho Peng Kee's parliamentary reply to the recent incident of police demanding that two Myanmar nationals remove their T-shirts printed with 'emotive words' pertaining to the military crackdown in Myanmar is great cause for concern. Associate Professor Ho said that the police were 'perhaps being overly cautious' and that their actions were 'probably an over-reaction', but he then contradicted himself by saying that under the tense situation which he judged could lead to trouble, the police action was 'not totally unjustified'	Find Similar

Asean Charter: Draft completed - Oct 23, 2007 AT THE stroke of midnight last Saturday, the final touches were put to the Asean Charter. In Vientiane, capital of Laos, the group of five senior Asean officials, two Asean directors-general and three former ambassadors, breathed a sigh of relief and happiness	Find Similar

Jakarta urged to lead regional anti-graft fight - Oct 30, 2007 JAKARTA - A LEADING global anti-corruption movement yesterday urged President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to lead a regional fight against graft despite flagging public confidence in the Indonesian leader's ability to do so at home. Berlin-based Transparency International (TI) made the call during a meeting with Dr Yudhoyono at the state palace here yesterday	Find Similar

AMERICAN FOOTBALL NFL: Indianapolis 31 C... - Oct 30, 2007 AMERICAN FOOTBALL NFL: Indianapolis 31 Carolina 7, Detroit 16 Chicago 7, Pittsburgh 24 Cincinnati 13, NY Giants 13 Miami 10, Philadelphia 23 Minnesota 16, Cleveland 27 St Louis 20, Tennessee 13 Oakland 9, Buffalo 13 NY Jets 3, San Diego 35 Houston 10, Jacksonville 24 Tampa Bay 23, New England 52 Washington 7, New Orleans 31 San Francisco 10	Find Similar

America must re-engage Asean - Oct 29, 2007 AMERICAN strategic preoccupation in Iraq, however necessary, is adversely affecting its credibility and relations with South-east Asia - in particular, the Association of South- east Asian Nations (Asean). While Washington grapples with myriad strategic challenges in the Middle East and with extremism globally, its influence is beginning to wane even as the Asian strategic landscape undergoes unprecedented change	Find Similar

Human rights: Asean urged to speed up - Oct 29, 2007 CIVIL society groups are urging Asean leaders to speed up the creation of a body to protect migrant workers and prevent human trafficking - problems they say will mount with regional integration. This was among the key recommendations made at a two-day Asean Civil Society conference, organised by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs (SIIA) with support from the Asean Secretariat, called to discuss issues of common concern and ways to deepen ties	Find Similar

Step up China-Asean FTA talks, says Beijing - Oct 29, 2007 NANNING (CHINA) - BEIJING yesterday pushed for an early conclusion to talks on a China-Asean free trade zone, which will enhance investment flows between the two sides. 'The two sides should continue to step up dialogue on investment policies and work for an early conclusion of talks on a China-Asean free trade area investment agreement,' Chinese Vice-Premier Zeng Peiyan said in his keynote speech at the opening of the Fourth China-Asean Business and Investment Summit in Nanning	Find Similar

Japanese tanker hijacked off Somalia - Oct 29, 2007 NAIROBI - SOMALI pirates have hijacked a Japanese-owned chemical tanker in the latest such seizure in the Horn of Africa nation's notoriously lawless waters, a regional maritime official and a piracy watchdog said on Monday. Andrew Mwangura, head of the East African Seafarers' Assistance Programme, said shipping sources in both Somalia and Japan had confirmed the vessel was seized eight nautical miles offshore on Sunday morning	Find Similar

The secrets of McAvoy, my friend the CIA spy - Oct 27, 2007 Nothing is secret that shalt not be made manifest. - From the New Testament (Luke 8	Find Similar

Week in review: Oct 20 - 26 - Oct 27, 2007 SUNDAY SPACEMAN RETURNS Malaysia's first man in space, Dr Sheikh Muszaphar Shukor, lands in a remote Kazakhstan swamp at 6	Find Similar

KL may axe visa-on-arrival programme - Oct 26, 2007 KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA may axe a visa programme that has enabled more than 40,000 foreigners to stay in the country illegally in the past year, a report said yesterday. Some 120,000 visitors have entered Malaysia under the programme, which began in September last year and allows visitors to apply for a one-month visa when they arrive, Home Affairs Minister Mohammad Radzi Sheikh Ahmad told The Star	Find Similar

UN rights expert vows to have his way during visit - Oct 26, 2007 NEW YORK - THE UN expert on Myanmar's human rights crisis is taking a combative approach ahead of his first visit to the country in four years. Mr Paulo Sergio Pinheiro did not mince his words when describing the junta's continuing crackdown on pro-democracy protesters, and asked whether he was worried that the generals would restrict his movements, simply said	Find Similar

THE shortlist for the inaugural 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize w... - Oct 26, 2007 THE shortlist for the inaugural 2007 Man Asian Literary Prize was announced yesterday, with five authors picked from a longlist of 23. The five are	Find Similar

M'sia mulls axing 'problematic' visa-on-arrival system - Oct 25, 2007 KUALA LUMPUR - MALAYSIA might axe a visa programme that has enabled more than 40,000 foreigners to stay in the country illegally in the last year, a report said on Thursday. Some 120,000 visitors have entered Malaysia under the programme, which began in September 2006 and allows visitors to apply for a one-month visa when they arrive, Home Affairs Minister Mohammad Radzi Sheikh Ahmad told The Star daily	Find Similar

The new trinity: Religion, knowledge and power - Oct 24, 2007 IN THE profane world of politics, 'Knowledge Is Power' seems like something of an empty slogan, at least if we consider recent and ongoing trends in much of Asia. Indeed, for all the spread of information via the Internet and the expansion of education in Asia over the past decade, little seems to have changed in terms of the broad structures of political power in the region	Find Similar