World focus on Burma (26 December 2008)

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Multiple China quakes cause mass evacuations
ABC Online, Australia –
Xinhua news agency reports that an earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter scale struck near Ruili, a town on the China-Burma border. …

Thousands evacuated after quakes hit SW China
ABC Online, Australia –
A 4.9-magnitude earthquake struck at 4:20am (local time) about 10 kilometres from Ruili, a town on the China-Burma border, Xinhua said, …

Counterfeit Money is a Genuine Worry for Thailand
Scoop.co.nz, New Zealand –
The informal training will be expanded to Thailand’s border zones, where huge amounts of money changes hands daily during overland trade with Burma, Laos, …

RM1m aid for cyclone victims
Malaysia Star, Malaysia –
Seck Boon Keng said the committee would channel all the funds through the Burmese Shangha Organisation to launch the Myanmar Cyclone Recovery Project. …

Canada-based Party Linked to Controversial Businessman
The Irrawaddy News Magazine, Thailand –
After the UWSA reached a ceasefire agreement with Burma’s ruling military junta in 1991, Kyaw Myint became the head of Myanmar Kyone Yeom Group, …

Weather Eye: 2008: the tenth hottest year on record
Times Online, UK –
The worst natural disaster of the year struck Burma on May 2, when Cyclone Nargis drove a 3.6m (12ft) storm surge 40km (25 miles) deep inland. …

Warming fuels rise in tropical storms
The Canberra Times, Australia –
… natural disasters were weather-related, with the global damage bill topped by Cyclone Nargis, which left a trail of wreckage across Burma in May. …

Earthquake Hits Ruili
The Irrawaddy News Magazine, Thailand –
By LAWI WENG Nine people were injured when a 4.9 magnitude earthquake rocked the area around Ruili in Yunnan Province on the Burma-China border at 2:30 am …

China Signs Burmese Gas Deal for 30-year Supply
The Irrawaddy News Magazine, Thailand –
“Under the agreement, which cements a preliminary deal reached in June, pipelines will be constructed to export natural gas from Myanmar [Burma] to China’s …

Chiswick man helps out in cyclone damaged Burma
Richmond and Twickenham Times, UK –
“When the opportunity arose to go back to Myanmar for a five month placement with Merlin, I jumped at the chance. “I certainly miss my family and friends, …

MYANMAR: WFP to launch food-for-work programme
IRINnews.org, NY –
These activities will play a critical role in restoring food security in the wake of Nargis, which left close to 140000 people dead or missing in May 2008. …

China moves to make yuan global currency
domain-B, India –
… to settle trade payments with ASEAN countries like Thailand, Laos, Burma, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Cambodia, Brunei, Vietnam and Indonesia. …

Bangladesh accuses Indian ships of entering its waters
Australia Network News, Australia –
Last month a similar row between Bangladesh and its eastern neighbour Burma flared over another disputed stretch in the bay.

Year of Discovery competition: swept away by the Ayeyarwaddy
Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom –

Camera poised in the lifebelt’s centre, I await the dawn of yet another glorious Myanmar day. Only the melodious slap of the river’s current against …

Australia: Growing opposition to Labor’s Internet censorship
World Socialist Web Site, MI –
Stuart Hargreaves: “Every country in the world has been going backwards in terms of fundamental human rights and this is just another example of that. …

2008: The year in review
guardian.co.uk, UK –
As the drought in Australia entered its sixth year, and Cyclone Nargis tore through the rice fields of Burma in May, killing more than 100000, …

The King – Wild, Wild 2008
Cairns Post, Australia –
The world turned a blind eye to China’s human rights abuses and instead watched people run, jump and swim at the Beijing Olympics. …

A pretty good year
Himal Southasian, Nepal –
It is a victory of Nepali democracy, and a sign of its power to accommodate and absorb, that those who viscerally challenged the Nepali state have today …

Daewoo Signs Agreement to Sell Myanmar Gas to China
Bloomberg –
… Thailand, South Korea and Japan for a share of Myanmar’s gas supply. Proven gas reserves in the country formerly known as Burma jumped 39 times to 21.19 …

A Brother’s Plea: Remember Burma
Wall Street Journal –
My brother is the editor in chief of a weekly journal you’ve likely never heard of called the Myanmar Nation. On Feb. 15, the military raided his office and …

Clinton’s wish list for State
Boston Globe, United States –
The State Department should have a seat at the table when US and Chinese officials discuss China’s pursuit of energy resources in places like Sudan, Burma, …

United Nations Condemns Rights Abuses in Burma
조선일보(영문판), South Korea –

It also urged Burma’s military leaders to free Aung San Suu Kyi — the prominent opposition leader and head of the National League for Democracy — and all …

Government criticises Channel 4 for homophobe Ahmadinejad’s …
PinkNews.co.uk, UK –

… on this criminal despot, who ranks with Robert Mugabe, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and the Burmese military junta as one of the world’s most bloody rulers. …

Iranian leader’s Christmas message prompts outcry
Independent, UK –
The human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell had urged Channel 4 to “pull the plug on this criminal despot, who ranks with Robert Mugabe, Omar al-Bashir of …

Burmese struggle to survive
Bangkok Post, Thailand –
The storm left 138000 people dead or missing and affected more than 2.5 million, while the Burmese military junta provoked outrage by initially hampering …

Doctors Without Borders Lists Top Ten Humanitarian Crises at End …
CafeSentido.com, NJ –
… severe health risks to the populations of Zimbabwe, Burma (Myanmar) and DR Congo, and the constant danger of violence against civilians in Iraq, …

Decline is far from reality as US set to shine in leading role
The Canberra Times, Australia –
… been bogged down in Iraq; after Cyclone Nargis, US ships would have provided large-scale relief, had Burma’s military regime allowed them to proceed. …

Fury at Iran president’s broadcast
The Press Association –
… this criminal despot, who ranks with Robert Mugabe, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and the Burmese military junta as one of the world’s most bloody tyrants”. …

Dealing with neighbour Myanmar
The New Nation, Bangladesh –
But once the war cloud evaporated Bangladesh failed to take any lesson from that incident where Myanmar junta analyzed every aspect and rapidly took …

An undecided question
The Post, Pakistan –
… 1960 declared “…the subjection of people to alien subjugation, domination and exploitation constitutes a denial of fundamental human rights, …

United Nations Condemns Rights Abuses in Burma
Voice of America –
By VOA News The United Nations General Assembly has issued a resolution condemning widespread human rights violations in military-ruled Burma, and urging …

Ahmadinejad C4 speech condemned
BBC News, UK –
… this criminal despot, who ranks with Robert Mugabe, Omar al-Bashir of Sudan and the Burmese military junta as one of the world’s most bloody tyrants”. …