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HEADLINES
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AP - Myanmar raises cyclone death toll to 84,500
AP - Cyclone relief efforts galvanize Myanmar's monks months after government crackdown
AFP - Myanmar launches 11-day gems auction
Reuters - Bush pledges typhoon aid to Philippine president
The Straits Times - Japanese protest killing of journalist in Myanmar
IANS - Number of dead and missing in Myanmar cyclone raised to 138,000
Bernama - Myanmar says worst of emergency crisis is over
Bernama - Second flash appeal conference for Myanmar on July 10
Bernama - Myanmar Appreciates International Assistance
Earthtimes - Myanmar cyclone report to be presented in Singapore
The Nation - Pttep signs deal to drill for gas in gulf of mataban
Mizzima News - Reporter arrested for covering cyclone news
Irrawaddy - Burma Drops New Operating Guidelines
DVB News - Officials charged under gambling laws
DVB News - Labourers forced to work on seized cyclone lands

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Myanmar raises cyclone death toll to 84,500
AP - Tuesday, June 24

YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar said Tuesday that 84,500 people perished in last month's cyclone, up from its last announcement that 77,700 had died in the devastating storm that drew international pleas for the insular government to accept outside help.

Meanwhile, a representative from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the regional bloc that includes Myanmar, said a recent assessment tour found the needs of the storm's survivors were being met.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu said in a speech that the official death toll now stood at 84,537 dead, with 53,836 still missing. The update was the first since May 17, when officials said 77,738 had died and 55,917 were missing.

The increased total represents victims of the storm itself rather then any new casualties due to disease or starvation in the cyclone's aftermath, he said, stating that the assessment found no such post-cyclone deaths.

"On the part of the government, there have been less and less requests for emergency assistance coming from communities and local authorities, " he added. "Various reports indicate that the worst of the crisis may have stabilized, although it is by no means over."

Foreign aid staffers, initially barred from the hardest-hit Irrawaddy river delta region, have not yet produced their own estimates of the dead and missing, some of them citing lack of access, personnel and the difficulty of traveling to many remote areas.

Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3 cut a swath of destruction through the delta and the region around the country's largest city, Yangon.

A major international effort is under way to aid some 2.4 million survivors of the natural disaster, the worst in Myanmar's modern history.

This includes a special three-party task force that has completed an assessment of the damage and needs of survivors. A final report on its findings is due around the third week of July.

The report is widely expected to put an optimistic light on the crisis, while presenting some criticism of the regime for hindering the international aid effort.

Some 300 representatives of the United Nations, the Myanmar government and ASEAN have been traveling to villages in the delta to accumulate information.

"Access was unlimited and unfettered. The basics needs of the victims are being met for their early recovery," Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN secretary-general and head of the bloc's humanitarian task force in Myanmar, said at a meeting Tuesday.

After an international outcry over the ruling junta's sluggish response to the disaster, the government later promised visiting U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon it would open the delta area to foreign aid workers.

The latest United Nations report said Tuesday that to date 1.3 million people are estimated to have been reached by international aid groups, the Red Cross and U.N. workers.

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Cyclone relief efforts galvanize Myanmar's monks months after government crackdown
AP - Tuesday, June 24

YANGON, Myanmar - In helping others, Myanmar's saffron-robed Buddhist monks have helped themselves.

The monks' critical role in providing relief after Cyclone Nargis has galvanized their ranks and strengthened their political voice _ just months after the junta quashed the democracy uprising spearheaded by the monks last fall.

The monks have channeled aid materials into stricken regions and turned monasteries into soup kitchens and refugee camps since the May 2-3 storm.

Their outreach to survivors _ many of whom received little or no government help _ highlighted the monks' power and the possibility they could clash again with Myanmar's ruling forces. Some monks are even building secret stashes of makeshift weapons, clerics say.

While Buddhism orders its clergy to shun violence and politics, monks in Myanmar and elsewhere in Asia have a history of militancy. The monk Saya San became a national hero in the 1930s by leading a revolt against the British colonialists who hanged him after fielding 12,000 troops to suppress his peasant army.

In more recent times, monks were at the forefront of a 1988 uprising against the junta and led mass street demonstrations which the military crushed last fall.

An expert on Myanmar affairs, retired Rutgers University professor Josef Silverstein, said the monks' post-storm mobilization is consistent with beliefs of Buddhist in the country.

"These beliefs didn't disappear because the military hit them over the head last year," he said by telephone. "The monks are angry and they're seeing that no one else is stepping forward" to lead relief efforts _ or political opposition.

A Yangon monk _ one of a dozen interviewed by The Associated Press _ said it was impossible to "close our eyes to a government that cares so little for the people that it allows them to suffer and die." He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the intense government scrutiny of monks and the sensitivity of discussing anti-government action in this tightly controlled nation.

His monastery has collected and distributed truckloads of blankets, tarpaulins and food to storm survivors. And, like hundreds of other monasteries throughout Myanmar's storm-struck southwest, it also became a temporary shelter for those who lost their homes.

Short and wiry with fiery eyes, the monk spoke in hushed but urgent tones as he blamed the ruling generals for failing to adequately warn people of the cyclone, which killed at least 78,000 and left an additional 56,000 missing.

He also blamed government restrictions on foreign aid and humanitarian workers for putting millions of survivors at risk of starvation and disease.

"As monks, it's our responsibility to fight for a change," said the monk, as he fingered a scar that he said came from a melee with authorities during last September's crackdown.

He displayed part of a secret cache, consisting of a half-dozen slingshots, and said he was working with monks in several cities to collect more weapons for storage at other secret locations. Most of them were rudimentary devices patched together from everyday objects such as bamboo rods and bicycle spokes and chains, he said, declining to give numbers and other details for security reasons.

The extent of the weapons gathering could not be independently confirmed.

But other monks interviewed in Yangon and Mandalay said they had heard of colleagues building weapons stashes, though they stressed they were not hoarding weapons themselves.

Monks are also trying to obtain guns to make any clashes "less one-sided," said the Yangon monk.

At least 31 people were killed when troops opened fire on demonstrators in Yangon last year, according to the United Nations.

The "Saffron Revolution," which took its name from the color of the monks' traditional robes and began as a protest against high prices, was the largest show of dissent against the military regime in nearly two decades.

The junta's response was swift and stern. Monks were dragged from their monasteries in overnight raids, beaten, tortured and imprisoned, monks and human rights groups say. An unknown number remain behind bars, while many fled into exile. Those who stayed kept a low profile.

Inside the region hit hardest by Cyclone Nargis, the low-lying Irrawaddy delta, the homeless streamed into monasteries. Often the sole structures to survive the storm's 120 mph winds and towering waves, monasteries quickly became de facto refugee camps and aid distribution centers.

Even as the government clamped down on the flow of foreign assistance, monks worked to ferry vital supplies into the delta.

"Helping the people makes us stronger," said U Sumana, a 30-year-old monk from Mandalay, hundreds of miles north of the affected areas.

In his dormitory, piles of donated clothing and hundreds of bags of rice sit in neat stacks among bed rolls and clotheslines hung with the saffron robes. His monastery has organized two trips to the delta to distribute donations and a third is in the works, he said.

Since the storm, authorities have tried to play down the monks' relief efforts, even ordering newspapers not to publish stories on the clerics' work with storm victims.

The junta has tried to press individuals to give through government channels. But due in part to the respect monks command in Myanmar society, many donors still opt to give through the monasteries.

A wealthy businessman from Yangon who recently donated hundreds of cooking pans and woks to a city monastery called his choice "a simple matter of trust."

"We know the monks don't steal and that everything we give them will get to the people who need it," said the man, who declined to give his name for fear of government reprisals.

U Tiloka, the monastery's abbot, said the government "is scared of the monks" and has tried to hamper their distribution work. Plainclothes policemen have turned up as monks were distributing supplies, and the monastery's power was cut in apparent retribution for their work, he said.

Other monks say authorities have tried to block their access to the delta.

"But the people have too much respect for the monks," said U Sumana of the monastery in Mandalay. "Even if the soldiers have orders to stop us, when they see our robes they wave us through."

International aid agencies, hampered by government rules and red tape, have come to rely on the monks to get aid to those in need.

Christian charity World Vision has set up food and supply distribution points and day care centers at dozens of monasteries in the delta.

"To reach a community, you have to reach its heart and, in Myanmar, the monastery is that heart," said spokesman Chris Webster. "Without the monks, there's no way we would have been able to reach the number of people we've reached."

Though Myanmar's monks often explain their relief work in religious terms, some acknowledge its political undertones.

"Whenever you do things for the people, you are engaging in politics," said U Zaw Ti Ka, an elderly abbot at another monastery in Mandalay. "Here the government is against the people, so if you do something for the people, you are also doing it against the government."

He said he abhors the violence that marred September's protests _ but understands those who want to use force against the government.

"To make a Christian comparison, this is a real David and Goliath situation," said the bespectacled monk. "What we need now are not slingshots. What we need are real guns."

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Myanmar launches 11-day gems auction: report
AFP - Wednesday, June 25

YANGON (AFP) - - Military-run Myanmar on Tuesday launched an 11-day auction of precious gems in Yangon, state media said, as the country struggles to recover from last month's devastating cyclone.

The New Light of Myanmar announced that the sale of gems, jade and pearls would run until July 4 in the economic hub, where some buildings remain in ruins and fallen trees litter the roads seven weeks after Cyclone Nargis.

The junta-run daily gave no further details of the sale, but a staff member at the Myanmar Convention Centre confirmed an auction opened there this morning that was attended by both local and foreign dealers.

Myanmar auctioned off more than 7,700 lots of precious stones, which officials valued at more than 100 million euros (153 million dollars), in March.

Myanmar, one of the world's poorest countries, is the source of some of the globe's most beautiful rubies. Each auction brings in more than 100 million dollars, making it a key source of revenue for the ruling junta.

The military regime has estimated it will need 10.7 billion dollars to rebuild after the cyclone struck in early May, leaving more than 138,000 people dead or missing when it pummelled the southwest delta and Yangon.

An international donor conference in late May only garnered a small proportion of those funds.

International donors have historically been reluctant to pump money into Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962 and keeps opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest.

The United States and Europe intensified economic sanctions on the regime after a deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protesters last year, while Washington and human rights groups have urged gem buyers to boycott the sales.

Myanmar's two biggest customers, China and Thailand, have continued to attend the frequent gem auctions despite an international outcry over the bloody suppression of pro-democracy protests last September.

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Bush pledges typhoon aid to Philippine president
Reuters - Wednesday, June 25

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Tuesday pledged U.S. help to Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo in the aftermath of a typhoon, saying he was sending an aircraft carrier to aid in the relief effort.

Bush, after White House talks with Arroyo, expressed condolences for victims of Typhoon Fengshen, which hit over the weekend. Hopes were fading for around 800 people still missing after a ferry capsized in huge waves off Sibyuan.

"I know there are families that are hurting, some are wondering whether or not their loved ones will reappear," Bush told reporters in the Oval Office with Arroyo at his side. "We want to help our friends in a time of need."

He said Defense Secretary Robert Gates had informed Arroyo that the United States would move the carrier USS Ronald Reagan and other Navy assets to provide assistance.

Bush also voiced support for Arroyo's counterterrorism efforts. The United States and the Philippines are close allies in the fight against Islamic militants.

"I congratulated the president on her strong stand on counterterrorism -- more than strong stand, effective stand, on counterterrorism -- as well as laying out a vision for peace," Bush said.

He commended Arroyo for what he called a "carrots and sticks approach" in dealing with rebel groups.

"The sticks of course say 'we're not going to allow for people to terrorize our citizens.' The carrot approach is that there's peace available," Bush said.

Bush said the two leaders also discussed the situation in Myanmar but did not elaborate. He has led a campaign of sanctions against Myanmar's military rulers and has sharply criticized the junta for obstructing international relief efforts after last month's devastating cyclone.

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Japanese protest killing of journalist in Myanmar
The Straits Times - June 24, 2008 

TOKYO - PROTESTERS against the killing of a Japanese journalist in Yangon last year on Tuesday submitted a petition signed by 40,000 people to the Myanmar embassy here calling for the return of his video camera.

The Myanmar embassy refused to admit a group of about 10 protesters, including the sister of Kenji Nagai, who was killed in September while filming a crackdown by Myanmar's junta on demonstrations led by Buddhist monks.

'I am disappointed to see this insincere attitude after we came here to bring the voices of many people who offered us support,' said Nagai's sister Noriko Ogawa, 48, who was holding a photograph of the late journalist.

Television footage showed Mr Nagai apparently being shot at close range by security forces, although nobody has been charged in relation to his death.

'Mr Nagai's videotape must show facts about the unrest in Myanmar that everyone has the right to watch,' said Ryosai Kishino, one of the protesters.

'We also demand the Myanmar government conduct a sincere investigation into the case,' he said.

The protesters were forced to drop some of the signatures in a post box and slip the rest under the embassy gate after trying in vain to persuade officials to take them.

Some 10,000 signatures were already submitted last year, organisers said.

'We made a telephone call and sent a fax to you yesterday about this.

Please bring someone here who is responsible for the matter,' Mr Kishino said at the embassy gate.

An autopsy by the Japanese police showed that Nagai, 50, was likely shot dead from a close range of just within one metre.

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Number of dead and missing in Myanmar cyclone raised to 138,000
Tue, Jun 24 02:37 AM

Yangon, June 24 (IANS) A total of 138,373 people were killed or reported missing when Cyclone Nargis smashed into Myanmar's central coast last month, a joint assessment of the disaster revealed Tuesday.

The government's previous estimate for the dead and missing was slightly below 134,000, comprising about 78,000 dead and 56,000 missing, most of them drowned or swept away by the tidal waves that accompanied the cyclone.

The May 2-3 cyclone's official toll now stands at 84,537 dead with 53,836 missing and about 20,000 injured, Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu said.

Kyaw Thu announced the new estimates at the first meeting in Yangon of an assessment team comprising 250 members from the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean), the United Nations and Myanmar government.

Members of the post-Nargis Joint Assessment Team returned to Yangon over the weekend after completing data collection in 30 cyclone-affected townships across Yangon and the Irrawaddy Delta.

The data they gathered is to be used to launch a revised UN humanitarian appeal in July in Geneva.

The team's report was scheduled for release July 18.

The team was initiated after the Asean-UN International Pledging Conference May 25 in Yangon to raise relief and recovery aid for the cyclone's victims.

The initiative, the first such for 10-member Asean, was seen as a means of getting around the distrust Myanmar's military junta feels for Western democracies by allowing ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member, to play an intermediate role and provide a 'diplomatic umbrella' in assessing the damage done by the cyclone.

The junta was sharply criticized by the international community for hindering an international disaster relief effort for their own people by restricting imports of necessities and foreign experts skilled in facilitating emergency operations.

The junta's interference has already slowed international contributions to the UN's first 'flash appeal' for aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis and is likely to put a damper on more expensive rehabilitation plans that the joint team's assessment is designed to facilitate, aid workers said.

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Myanmar says worst of emergency crisis is over
By D. Arul Rajoo
Bernama - Tuesday, June 24

YANGON, June 24 (Bernama) -- Almost two months after the deadly 'Cyclone Nargis' claimed about 140,000 lives, the Myanmar Government says there are several indications that the worst of the emergency crisis may be over.

Myanmar's Deputy Foreign Minister, U Kyaw Thu Thu said the Asean-led Post Nargis Joint Assessment for Response, Recovery and Reconstruction (Ponja) confirmed that no death was reported over the past several weeks.

"On the part of the government, there has been less and less request for emergency assistance coming from communities and local governments, " he said at the Asean Roundtable on Ponja held here today.

Also present were Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan, Noeleen Heyzer, the Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and representatives from Asean countries, including Malaysian Ambassador to Myanmar, Datuk Mazlan Mohamad.

U, who chairs the Triparte Core Group established by Asean to undertake the recovery and reconstruction of the cyclone affected areas, also said that various reports indicated that the worst of the emergency crisis might have stabilised, although by no means, over.

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Second flash appeal conference for Myanmar on July 10
By FROM D. ARUL RAJOO
Bernama - Wednesday, June 25

YANGON, June 24 (Bernama) -- The second flash appeal conference for the immediate recovery for Cyclone Nargis victims in Myanmar will be held in New York on July 10 as latest surveys showed 42 percent of all food stocks in the affected areas have been destroyed.

The Asean-led Post Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) assessment team found that 11 percent of food stocks were partially destroyed.

Dr Puji Pujono, a member of the Asean Triparte Core Group established by Asean to undertake the recovery and reconstruction of the cyclone affected areas, said 56 percent of the people obtained their food from the market while 45 percent through humanitarian distribution.

The World Food Programme (WFP) had told Asean officials that their stock of rice could only last until end of June and another 50,000 metric tonnes were needed to help the victims.

He told the Asean Roundtable on Ponja held here today that 60 percent of the people surveyed considered their access to clean water was inadequate and people are shifting from ponds to rain water due to salinisation.

Close 140,000 people were killed or missing after the deadly Cyclone Nargis on May 2 and 3 while 2.4 million people in south of Yangon and the Irrawaddy delta were affected.

But one Asean official said contrary to fear of a second wave of disaster from diseases, no pandemic broke out as verified by an advanced team sent by Asean in the first week of June.

The first flash appeal was held here on May 25 when the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) requested for US$201 million (RM663 million). Last month, the Myanmar Government had said that US$11 billion (RM36.3) was needed to undertake reconstruction and rehabilitation but Asean officials were tightlipped when asked if Ponja had verified that claim.

While the preliminary findings were based on only 60 percent of the households, Ponja said the cyclone had severe impact on the livelihood, agriculture, shelter, sanitation, clean water and health of the population.

It said 22 percent of households reported psychological stress, the majority of whom shifted to bamboo houses with a maximum life span of two years while 60 percent village leaders said there was not enough seeds for the next planting season.

But report by Ponja showed that 47 percent of arable land was not flooded while part of the flooded land could still be cropped.

Among the main reasons cited for the destruction was strong winds and storm surges in certain geographical areas.

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Myanmar Appreciates International Assistance

YANGON, June 24 (Bernama) -- Myanmar has expressed its appreciation over the assistance rendered by international medics including those from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the healthcare services for cyclone victims, China's Xinhua news agency said quoting state media reports Tuesday.

The New Light of Myanmar quoted Myanmar Minister of Health Dr. Kyaw Myint as saying that the visits by the foreigners have enhanced cooperation between Myanmar and the international medical circle.

The newspaper said that such a move also promoted an understanding between Myanmar and the world nations as well as the exchange of knowledge and experiences.

Kyaw Myint, who is also member of the National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee, said this at a workshop of a Myanmar-ASEAN- UN tripartite core group on medical missions feedback in post-storm relief, response and early recovery.

He said that various domestic healthcare associations, international non-governmental organizations, private clinics and Myanmar traditional medicine practitioners have made field trips to storm-hit areas and carried out treatment for survivors.

In the post-Nargis period, dozens of foreign medics were allowed in Myanmar to render medical services to the cyclone victims.

These groups have respectively served in such disaster-hit townships as Laputta, Myaungmya, Bogalay, Phyapon, Kyauktan, Kungyangon and Maubin. The Chinese and Thai doctors have completed their missions in Myanmar.

Meanwhile, state media reported no outbreak of other contagious and epidemic diseases in the storm-hit areas, saying that a total of 206,039 storm patients had received medical treatment during a month after the cyclone storm hit the country early last month.

Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states -- Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage. The storm has killed 77,738 people and left 55,917 missing and 19,359 injured according to official death toll.

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Myanmar cyclone report to be presented in Singapore - Summary
Earthtimes.org
Posted on : 2008-06-24 | Author : DPA

Yangon - Results of an assessment of the damage wrought by Cyclone Nargis on Myanmar will be presented next month at an Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting in Singapore, a tripartite assessment team announced Tuesday. A 350 member tripartite team from ASEAN, the United Nations, Myanmar government with advisors form the World Bank and Asian Development Bank have finished collecting data for a "credible and independent" assessment of the damage wrought by Cyclone Nargis, which hit Myanmar's central coast on May 2-3.

The assesment report "will be submitted to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers meeting in Singapore on July 20-21," said a statement issued by the Tripartite Core Group, representing the joint effort, at a press conference in Yangon.

"This will allow donors to fulfil their pledge commitments to the cyclone victims and help in recovery and reconstruction, " it added.

Based on the data collected, the UN is expected to issue a revised Humanitarian Appeal from Geneva later in July.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's junta revised the official estimate of the dead and missing from the catastrophe up to 138,373 people.

The government's previous estimate for the dead and missing was slightly below 134,000, comprising about 78,000 dead and 56,000 missing, most of them drowned or swept away by the tidal waves that accompanied the cyclone.

The cyclone's official death toll now stands at 84,537 with 53,836 missing and about 20,000 injured, Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu said.

Kyaw Thu announced the new estimates at the first meeting in Yangon of an the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment team, which returned to Yangon over the weekend after completing data collection in 380 cyclone-affected villages across Yangon and the Irrawaddy Delta.

The team used 10 helicopters provided by the World Food Programme (WFP) to visit the villages and collect data. The helicopters, initally meant for emergency relief operations, were used by the joint team between June 11-20.

The joint team was initiated after the ASEAN-UN International Pledging Conference May 25 in Yangon to raise relief and recovery aid for the cyclone's victims.

The initiative, the first such for 10-member ASEAN, was seen as a means of getting around the distrust Myanmar's military junta feels for Western democracies by allowing ASEAN, of which Myanmar is a member, to play an intermediate role and provide a "diplomatic umbrella" in assessing the damage done by the cyclone.

The junta was sharply criticized by the international community for hindering an international disaster relief effort for their own people by restricting imports of necessities and foreign experts skilled in facilitating emergency operations.

All visas for foreign aid experts is now being handled by the Tripartite Core Group, comprising three representatives from ASEAN, the UN and Myanmar ministries.

The junta's interference has already slowed international contributions to the UN's first "flash appeal" for aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis and is likely to put a damper on more expensive rehabilitation plans that the joint team's assessment is designed to facilitate, aid workers said.

So far only about 60 per cent of the UN's initial flash appeal has been met by donors and there are worries that funding will dry up, stranding the WFP helicopters by early July, WFP sources said.

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Pttep signs deal to drill for gas in gulf of mataban
The Nation
Published on Jun 25, 2008

PTT Exploration and Production (PTTEP) has signed a heads of agreement (HoA) with Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, paving the way for the drilling and supply of natural gas from offshore Block 9 to PTT, which could entail an investment of US$2 billion (Bt67 billion).

Under the HoA, a non-binding document outlining the main issues relevant to a tentative partnership, PTTEP's wholly owned subsidiary PTTEP International would drill natural gas from Block 9, so-called M9, in the Gulf of Mataban, Burma.

"This contract is of mutual interest and vital for Thailand's gas sourcing in response to increasing gas demand and an attempt to establish long-term energy security," said Energy Minister Poonpirom Liptapanlop.

The Energy Ministry estimated that Thailand's gas demand would expand from 3,600 million cubic feet per day (mcfpd) to 5,350 mcfpd in 2012 and over 7,300 mcfpd in 2021.
The signing marks two years of negotiation for Block 9 exploration. Under the HoA, average sales volume of natural gas from M9 will be 300 mcfpd. Around 240 mcfpd will be exported to Thailand and 60 mcfpd supplied to Burma. The gas price will be based on the existing price under the current Gas Sales Agreement between Burma and Thailand.

The conditions in the HoA will be the essence of the Gas Sales Agreement, expected to be concluded this year.

Thanatthep Chantakarn, an analyst at Bualuang Securities, said the M9 project would require an investment of around US$2 billion for the drilling and pipeline. The work is expected to be complete in the next three years and the company will start to realise revenue in 2012.

He also said that PTTEP told securities houses recently that it may seek partners for the subsidiary as the investment in the M9 project is huge. This could lead to a share dilution in PTT International.

"As the additional gas will be supplied to PTT, this will allow PTT to maintain retail gas prices in the future," he said.

Kitichan Sirisukarcha, an analyst at Kim Eng Securities (Thailand), said PTTEP would not realise revenue from the new investment until 2012.

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Reporter arrested for covering cyclone news
Mizzima News - Tuesday, 24 June 2008 20:38
Nem Davies

New Delhi - A woman journalist covering Cyclone Nargis victims asking for aid from international NGOs in Rangoon has been detained by for over two weeks, according to her publication.

Eint Khin Oo (24) from 'Ecovision' weekly journal was arrested on 10 June while she was covering cyclone victims going to INGOs and asking for aid, an official from 'Ecovision' who wished not to be named said.

Eint Khin Oo joined the publication two months ago. She is in custody at Tamwe police station and will be produced before the Tamwe Township court on Wednesday.

The police accused her of taking photographs of cyclone victims with the intention of selling these to foreign based Burmese media organizations, according to her office.

"The police accusation is fabricated. She has no contact with foreign media and she had no intention of selling the pictures. She was arrested while she was performing her work as a journalist," a senior official of Ecovision said.

"She was inducted to our weekly journal only two months ago. She was very energetic and active. Like other journalists, she wanted to get a scoop and couldn't envisage danger," he added.

The 48-page 'Ecovision' was first brought out in a tabloid format on September 2006. It covered mainly economic issues initially. However, the journal changed to a magazine style layout and covered not only business reports but also domestic and international news. Health and opinion articles also appeared.

A group of cyclone victims, mostly from South Dagon Township, were about to ask for aid from Rangoon based international NGOs, but some victims were arrested on their way. But the news of the arrest of the journalist appeared only today.

According to journalist sources in the former capital, Eint Khin Oo was arrested in front of the UNDP office at Natmauk Road, Tamwe Township.

Nargis cyclone lashed Burma on May 2 and 3. Irrawaddy and Rangoon divisions were the worst hit.

Burma's Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu told reporters on 23 June that the updated official figure was now 84,537 people killed and 53,836 missing.

On June 10, about 30 cyclone victims, mostly from a Rangoon suburb South Dagon township were looking for aid from NGOs including the UNDP. Refugees claimed that little aid reached from the government.

The refugees initially came from different quarters of South Dagon township such as Quarter 1, 2, 3, 7 and 8 and gathered at a pre-arranged place and hired a truck and went to the NGOs. Soon afterwards the police saw the group. Intelligence personnel arrested some of them. But some were reportedly released a few days later.

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Burma Drops New Operating Guidelines
The Irrawaddy - Tuesday, June 24, 2008
By WAI MOE

The United Nations agencies and international nongovernmental organizations will return to the old operating guidelines in effect before Burma issued new regulations on June 10, in agreement with the Burmese authorities, a UN agency said on Monday.

According to a report by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Burmese military junta issued new operating guidelines on June 10 for UN agencies and international nongovernmental organizations.

But following a meeting of the Tripartite Core Group (TCG) made up of the Burmese regime, Asean and the UN, it was agreed to revert to the regulations in effect before June 10.

Under the policy currently in place, all visa requests from UN agencies and NGOs will be handled by the TCG and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Requests by UN agencies and NGOs for travel authorization will again be handled by the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.

Meanwhile, Burma’s Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu informed a meeting of government and foreign aid workers that that the official death toll now stood at 84,537 dead, with 53,836 still missing.

As of June 19, more than 230 visas had been granted to UN international staff in response to Cyclone Nargis, and more than 200 operational UN staff had traveled to the affected areas, the report noted. 

The report said the Asean roundtable group was scheduled to meet on Tuesday in Rangoon to hear a Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) team report based on data collected in 30 affected townships in the Irrawaddy delta.

More than 1,000 schools are still in need of construction or repair, although 256 primary schools in the Irrawaddy delta and 166 primary schools in Rangoon had been repaired, the UN said in its report.

The report said 310,000 plastic sheets had been distributed to some of the 2.4 million people affected by Nargis.

“Accounting for distributions continues to be challenging with distributions difficult to track in all areas,” the report said. “Obtaining pipeline data from cluster agencies and keeping it up-to-date remains critical.”

The embargo placed on local procurement of rice has required agencies to obtain rice from outside of the country and is now a priority, the report noted. Frequent population movements make the targeting of food assistance challenging, although 9,197 metric tons of food aid had been distributed to 729,000 beneficiaries.

The international sector had contributed US $30 million, including US $10 million from UNICEF; the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, $3 million; and Total Oil, $2 million.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) contributed an additional $3 million to the World Food Program.

About 66 percent of the UN’s funding appeal for $201 million had been received as of June 23, according to the report.

Meanwhile, the use of US military aircraft to airlift cyclone relief supplies from Thailand to Burma ended on June 22, after 40 days of operation. A military press release said the estimated cost of the operation and the supplies was more than $13 million.

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Officials charged under gambling laws

Jun 24, 2008 (DVB)–Four local officials in Rangoon's San Chaung township have been charged under gambling laws after police went to arrest them for aid misappropriation and found them in the middle of a card game.

The four officials included the township Peace and Development Council chairman and the PDC secretary, locals said.

Locals alleged that the officials had misappropriated rice and zinc sheets intended to be given as aid to cyclone victims and sold them on the black market.

Although the Burmese regime has stated that anyone found to have stolen or hoarded aid will face charges, the officials were instead detained for violating gambling laws.

The officials appeared at San Chaung township court to hear the charges under section 14(a) of the gambling law and were told they are not eligible for bail.

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Labourers forced to work on seized cyclone lands

Jun 24, 2008 (DVB)–Government authorities have forced unemployed people across Burma to work for low pay cultivating farmlands seized from cyclone victims in the Irrawaddy delta, according to locals.

A resident of Bogalay told DVB daily paid labourers from Mandalay had been brought to the township in military trucks in recent days by people wearing Union Solidarity and Development Association clothing to work on farmlands seized by the authorities after their owners were killed during the cyclone in May.

"Apparently the labourers were told they were to give assistance to farmers in devastated areas," said the Bogalay resident.

"The people are from Mandalay – the authorities demanded one person from each household in their neighbourhood."

He said government authorities had claimed ownership of farmlands left without owners after the cyclone but they have also been seizing land belonging to farmers who survived the cyclone.

"They were also seizing plots owned by farmers who are still alive, which are located in between the ownerless lands," he said.

He added that more labourers had been brought into the area from Rangoon's Hlaing Tharyar township with a promise of 10,000 kyat for a day's work, but they were only given 1000 kyat a day after starting work on the Bogalay farms.

"Between 400 and 500 labourers were seen this morning at the port area – they said they had to sign agreement letters with the authorities and they couldn’t leave until they finished all the work," he said.

"They want to go back to their homes now but they have no money to travel and they don't get proper meals either – some even had their ID cards taken away by the officials."

A resident of Hlaing Tharyar township said the local USDA had been persuading people in the township to go and work in the Irrawaddy delta.

"A female USDA member in ward 14 told people here the labourers would be paid 10,000 kyat a day for cleaning out shrimp breeding tanks in the Irrawaddy delta," the resident said.

"Of the first group of about 100 people who went to work there, 90 people have already come back here as they couldn't stand the rotting smell and the presence of the spirits of lost souls."

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw

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