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HEADLINES
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AP - APME honors AP coverage of Myanmar cyclone
AP - Thai anti-graft body files two new corruption charges against ex-PM Thaksin
Reuters - Southeast Asia body key to prising open Myanmar
Reuters - A slow boat to Myanmar - nearly
IRIN - Cyclone farmers await assistance
EARTHtimes.org - G8 urges Myanmar to accept cyclone aid, release Suu Kyi
Bernama - Myanmar Refutes Claims It Is Not Doing Enough To Help Cyclone Victims
The Star - Allow maids from China, Myanmar
Gulf Times - Bangladesh offers to settle core issues with Myanmar
Forbes - The World's Most Corrupt Countries: Somalia & Myanmar
Xinhua - Foot-and-mouth disease hits draught cattle in Myanmar's cyclone-hit areas
Irrawaddy - Suu Kyi Manga Released in English
Mizzima News - UNSC needs to shoulder responsibility of Burmese women's woes
DVB News - Detained activist injures herself in prison

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APME honors AP coverage of Myanmar cyclone
Thu Jun 26, 2:22 PM ET

NEW YORK (AP) - AP's coverage of the devastating Myanmar cyclone amid extraordinarily hazardous and harsh conditions has received top honors for deadline reporting from the Associated Press Managing Editors Association.

"No other story in this category was as difficult or as dangerous to report," APME officers and board members said after judging more than a dozen major breaking news stories of the past 11 months. "The military government was slow to say anything about the cyclone and certainly didn't want outside reporters to reveal the scope of the disaster."

The team coverage was led by Aye Aye Win, the AP's correspondent in Yangon, who had to use a weak landline and an emergency generator to get out her reports on Cyclone Nargis.

"Neither the danger nor the difficulty stopped Win or her colleagues from telling the world what happened," the judges said. "By phone and in person, they turned up dozens of sources who added piece after piece to build the terrible picture, a scene one U.S. meteorologist said was similar in scale to Hurricane Katrina. They even found people brave enough to criticize the government's failure to warn people about Nargis or to help afterward."

When Win collapsed from fatigue at one point, her mother listened to the radio and passed along updates.

The association of editors at AP's 1,500 member newspapers in the U.S. and newspapers served by the Canadian Press in Canada annually recognizes outstanding work by the company's journalists. The judges reviewed nominated work published between July 1, 2007, and June 30, and the winners were announced during the summer meeting of the association' s governing board of directors that ended this week.

The awards will be presented during the APME annual conference with the Associated Press Photo Managers Sept. 8-11 in Las Vegas.

Veteran correspondent Todd Pitman received the feature writing award for his narrative cataloging the rigors and horrors of war and the death of his friend, a Russian photojournalist killed in Iraq when the group they were on patrol with came under attack.

Best use of video went to a nine-part documentary shot, produced and edited by Raul Gallego Abellan looking at life in the Army and the challenges soldiers face guarding a mountainous area on the front line of the war. "Displaced Iraqis," a project by the AP multimedia team in Washington, reporters and editors in Baghdad and New York, and AP's research team, was honored for best use of multimedia.

Beijing-based photographer Oded Balilty received the news photography award for his dramatic and gripping photographs of the aftermath of the China earthquake. Alexandre Meneghini, a photographer in Mexico City, won the feature award for his compelling package of images on bullfighting.

Receiving the enterprise reporting award was a comprehensive, 50-state project that found America's schools often are the hunting grounds of sexual predators who happen to work in those buildings. National writers Martha Irvine and Robert Tanner led the team, with significant contributions from reporters across the country and AP's News Research Center.

A body of work earned New York-based Lauren McCullough, domestic coordinator for multimedia and graphics, the John L. Dougherty Award, given to an AP employee with less than three years of experience with AP and less than five years overall.

Ryan Keith, a newsman in Springfield, Ill., received the Charles Rowe Award for distinguished state bureau reporting for his investigation of troubled bridges in Illinois in the wake of the Minneapolis bridge collapse, along with a second package of stories on the state's troubled pension program.

The judges also awarded the following honorable mentions:

_Deadline Reporting: AP team reporting on the death of Benazir Bhutto.

_Feature Writing: national writer Sharon Cohen, for her story looking at life and death at the burn unit at Brooke Army Medical center in San Antonio; and Dakar's Rukmini Callimachi, for her story illustrating the horrid treatment of boys who are forced to beg in the name of Islam.

_Enterprise Writing: national writers Jeff Donn and Martha Mendoza, and Justin Pritchard of the Los Angeles bureau, for their three-part series uncovering the potential threat from medical wastes to our nation's drinking supply; and national writer Todd Lewan's reporting on human chip implants.

_John L. Dougherty: Bolivia correspondent Dan Keane for a variety of work, including an examination of President Evo Morales' campaign to remake the country.

_News Photos: Dhaka's Pavel Rahman for coverage of the Bangladesh cyclone; and Islamabad's B.K. Bangash for coverage of the assassination of Benazir Bhutto.

_Feature Photos: Alvaro Barrientos in Pamplona, Spain, for a photo of revelers enjoying water thrown from a balcony in a fiesta; and Rodrigo Abd, Guatemala City, for images giving an inside look at Venezuela gangs.

_Best Use of Video: photographers Evan Vucci and Rick Bowmer, for a two-part video essay on the life and death of an American soldier killed in combat in Iraq.

_Best Use of Multimedia: Alex Brandon, Cain Burdeau, Nicolas Rapp and Jonathan Warren for a package showing how unmitigated drilling has played a big part in bringing Louisiana's wetlands to the brink of collapse, making New Orleans and other cities more vulnerable to hurricanes.

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Thai anti-graft body files two new corruption charges against ex-PM Thaksin
AP - Saturday, June 28

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- An anti-graft body whose mandate to probe the government of Thailand's ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra expires in a few days recommended Friday that he be prosecuted for two cases of alleged corruption.

A lawyer for the Assets Examination Committee, established after Thaksin was deposed by a September 2006 military coup, said the two cases involve a government loan to Myanmar for communications satellite services, and the procurement of rubber tree saplings.

Sitichok Sricharaen said the agency has filed lawsuits with the Supreme Court and that the court would decide whether to accept the cases.

Thaksin's legal representatives could not be reached for comment Friday, but Thaksin has consistently denied any wrongdoing.

The former premier already faces several other corruption-related charges.

Sitichok said the committee was filing a new lawsuit because it determined a 2004 loan to Myanmar by the state-controlled Export-Import Bank of Thailand was meant to benefit the Shin Satellite company, which was then owned by Thaksin's family.

The committee's charges against Thaksin in the loan case cover both conflict of interest and abuse of his official powers, committee spokesman Sak Korsaengruang said.

The committee alleges that Thaksin used his power as prime minister to instruct the Export-Import Bank to extend the US$127 million loan.

In the second case, the committee filed a lawsuit against Thaksin for alleged corruption in connection with the 2003 procurement of 90 million rubber saplings worth 1.44 billion baht (US$42.9 million), Sak said.

Thaksin is already facing conflict of interest and malfeasance charges related to his wife's purchase of a piece of prime Bangkok real estate in 2003. She bought the land from a state agency despite an anti-corruption law barring politicians and their spouses from doing business with government agencies.

In another court case, Thaksin is accused of concealing his ownership of shares in a company in violation of stock market regulations.

Thaksin was deposed in 2006 after months of street demonstrations in Bangkok demanding he step down because of alleged corruption and abuse of power. He returned to Thailand earlier this year after his political allies in the People's Power Party took office.

The mandate of the Assets Examination Committee will end on Monday, after which its work is expected to be taken up by the National Counter Corruption Commission, a permanent body.

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INTERVIEW-Southeast Asia body key to prising open Myanmar
27 Jun 2008 11:37:03 GMT
By Olivia Rondonuwu and Ed Davies

JAKARTA, June 27 (Reuters) - The impact of cyclone Nargis on Myanmar may not be as dire as initial assessments, but its ruling junta will still need to be coaxed into keeping vital aid flowing in, the ASEAN secretary general said on Friday.

The 10-nation Southeast Asian grouping played a key mediating role in getting Myanmar's military leaders to open up to foreign aid, ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said.

"I think a humanitarian space has been opened and I think the challenge is to maintain it and the challenge is to widen it a little bit if possible," Surin said in an interview.

Nargis slammed into the densely populated Irrawaddy delta on May 2, leaving more than 138,000 people dead or missing and 2.4 million destitute.

Despite the magnitude of the disaster, the reclusive junta has been reluctant to admit outside aid operations, particularly from Western donors.

The former Thai foreign minister, who had just returned from a visit to Myanmar, said despite "heartbreaking" scenes of devastation people were getting back on their feet.

"The situation is not as bleak as it was feared, partly because these people were resilient," he said, adding that feared disease pandemics had also not occurred so far.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, headquartered in Jakarta, has often been criticised for being a toothless organisation, but Surin said the Myanmar disaster was a "historic moment for ASEAN" to show it could lead an international humanitarian effort.

He said many in the former Burma's "rice bowl" had lost water buffaloes and since the sea surge had salinated a lot of land many people did not have enough or the right type of rice seeds.

A joint assessment team ASEAN is heading had been given good access by Myanmar across the delta area, Surin said.

They found villages where no aid had been delivered and "they called in WFP (the U.N.'s World Food Programme). Help was ferried in in the next 36 hours," he said.

Asked if ASEAN should have put more pressure on Myanmar, Surin said despite the length of time it had taken, the junta had followed up what the Southeast Asian body had recommended.

"Right now I guess we are working on the transitional phase between relief and rescue into early recovery," he added.

He said that, as was the case of the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004, the aid effort after Cyclone Nargis would be needed for years.

"I think the challenge is for us to work together if the world is ready and if it's what the leadership in Myanmar wants we can rehabilitate that region into the traditional rice bowl."

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A slow boat to Myanmar - nearly
Reuters.uk June 27th, 2008
Posted by: vivek prakash
Reuters Photographers, CHOW, malacca strait, Myanmar, Singapore, u s navy, us navy ships, uss essex

I was at the airport shooting pictures to illustrate a Singapore Airlines story when the office rang to say there was an opportunity, if we could move quickly enough, to embed with the U.S. Naval relief operation heading to cyclone hit Myanmar.

Early the next morning I was aboard a U.S. Navy supply ship heading up the Malacca Strait. There were 8 journalists on board - writers, a BBC tv reporter and cameramen, and 3 photographers. It was a 2 day trip up to the USS Essex, and with little else to do on board, I photographed the crew preparing supplies which would be transferred when we arrived. With only experience of ferries to go on I’d feared getting horribly seasick - but was holding up okay, and excited about what we’d find when we got to the Navy ships.

We transferred to the Essex by helicopter. I quickly learned to use the word “helo” - pronounced “heelow” - as no one seemed to understand me when I said “chopper”. The supply ship had been crewed by ex-navy “civilian mariners”, but I’d been warned that things would be “different” on the real Navy ship. And they were.

If there’s one thing this experience has given me it is an indelible association between US Navy ships and disinfectant. Where the supply ship had been pretty crusty, the interiors of the Essex were sparkling clean - floors, walls, ceilings, everything - spotless. Every time I descended a set of stairs or a ladder (of which there were many) and my nose reached the same level as the deck, I’d get a heady whiff of disinfectant. A few days ago I visited the lavatories in a Singapore shopping centre and the smell took me right back to the Essex - I guess they were both using the same floor cleaner!

On the Essex and later on the Harpers Ferry, we were always “escorted” by either Navy or Marine media liaisons. Although we were ”free to move about the ship,” the reality was slightly different. This was good in some ways - on occasions when I managed to evade my escorts, I got lost in the labyrinth of corridors and hallways on each deck and it took me forever to find my way. Hunt-for-Red- October lighting at night and a flashlight strapped to my head, I’d wander around in circles.

Then there was the food. The man from the Wall Street Journal got lost and asked a passing Marine for the ”mess hall” to which he got the barked response, ”YOU MEAN THE CHOW HALL!!!” before being politely escorted to the right place on the right deck.

The “chow hall” resembled a high school cafetaria, complete  with cliques of cool and not-so-cool kids (I was later told that majority of the crew of the Essex and some 90% of the crew on the Harpers Ferry were under 21). You had to be quick when you got in line - there were dozens of hungry sailors and marines behind you, and neither they nor the chow hall folks had time for a sense of humour. If you didn’t know what you wanted, you got either dirty looks or something you really didn’t want. I became good at barking out my meal preferences in seconds: “Meatloaf! Potatoes! Gravy!” It was true American cooking - and at meal times you could just smell your way to the chow hall.  I had to reset my body clock to the ship’s meal times - breakfast at 6am, lunch at 11am and dinner at 4.30pm.

My first time in line as I got to the top of the queue, I took a plate from the stack but seeing that the cook already had a plate for me, was about to return mine to the stack when the Marine behind me behind me muttered, “You touch it, You take it!”, so I spent the next 20 minutes pretending it was perfectly normal to be carrying two plates about.
 
The bunks were cramped - 4 to a tiny room, shared showers with everyone else staying in “officers county”. Our Marine escorts remarked on how luxurious this was. They were living in “trees” the next deck down, 3-stacks of bunks on either side of a two-foot corridor. I wondered how sailors and marines manage it - at sea for months at a time, no privacy and no space, on a metal hulk rocking in the waves.

Trying to tell the story of the aftermath of the cyclone from the Essex was limiting - there was only so much I could do without making landfall. We photographed the navy preparing drinking water for delivery, helicopters shackled to the decks not going anywhere, and resupply trips between ships. You could feel the frustration among the crew - everyone I talked to spoke of feeling helpless, even angry, that here was a ship loaded with clean water, food and shelter only 50 nautical miles from the disaster area, yet the stubborness of the Myanmar junta was preventing its use.

The Navy had been prepared to let media on board in the event of an aid mission, but when it became clear that just wasn’t going to happen, we were transferred back to the crusty supply ship for the slow 2 and a half day trip back to Singapore.

On the return journey there was none of the anticipation of the journey out. Most of us felt frustrated being stuck on a ship with nothing to do and no story to tell. We resigned ourselves to the trip and found ways to keep ourselves busy. What do journalists do on a slow boat back to Singapore? They play the American version of Trivial Pursuit against one another, they play ping pong against the crew, they count down the hours until the next chow time, they read books while trying not to look at the clock too often.

The hardest thing of all was once back on terra firma, trying to drop off in a stationary bed, with no rocking of the boat or groan of the engines to lull you asleep.

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MYANMAR: Cyclone farmers await assistance

KUNCHANKONE, 27 June 2008 (IRIN) - A 24-year-old farmer lost most of his family, as well as his prized water buffaloes, to the cyclone but says he is still waiting for the power tillers local authorities promised to distribute in Kunchankone, one of the worst-affected townships in Yangon Division.

He had come to Kunchankone from his village in the hopes of rebuilding his livelihood, only to return home empty-handed, after an announcement of a government scheme for farmers to purchase power tillers in three separate instalments over the next few years.

According to a recent assessment by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), some 52,000 farmers will be unable to cultivate monsoon crops this year unless they receive help.

“If this is translated to hectares, based on the average farm size, and on the average paddy land size, we are roughly talking about 183,000 hectares of paddy land which would be lost for this particular season,” Albert Lieberg, mission leader for the FAO’s needs assessment, said.

Cyclone Nargis devastated Ayeyarwady Delta as well as parts of Yangon Division on 2 and 3 May. An estimated 120,000 water buffaloes and draught animals, vital to plough the agricultural heartland of Myanmar, were lost in the storm.

With the majority of cyclone survivors largely dependent on agriculture and having lost their production assets, including seeds, fertilisers, tools and draught animals, they will need outside support.

“They will remain dependent on external aid for a long time,” said Hiroyuki Konuma, the FAO’s deputy regional representative, in Bangkok.

Bleak prospects

Farmers fear they will miss this year’s rice planting season altogether.

“There is a silent Nargis waiting ahead,” said one. “We are sure to starve if we miss this season.”

The category four storm affected 60 percent of 1.3 million hectares of rice paddy; 16 percent “seriously”, the FAO reported.

According to Myanmar’s Agriculture Ministry, some 13,600 power tillers are needed in the cyclone-affected area, with each tilling machine expected to plough two hectares per day in the coming weeks.

So far, the government has distributed 5,000 power tillers, in addition to those tillers provided by private donors and the humanitarian community at large.

But with the end of the planting season fast approaching, even if farmers have the machines they need, it is unlikely they will be able to complete the task.

Buffalo vs tiller

Many farmers complain they do not know how to operate the equipment. Others still prefer to use the more traditional water buffalo – if they survived the storm. Another factor is the rising cost of diesel fuel. Before Nargis, one gallon of diesel cost approximately US$4; now it is almost $6.

In addition, most farmers lack seeds, with some reports suggesting that up to 85 percent of seed stocks in the affected area were destroyed, leaving farmers dependent on seeds brought in from outside.

Another factor is an expected shortage of labour. Farmers said there would not be sufficient employees to work their fields since tens of thousands of landless farmers were killed in the storm.

However, the government is adamant there is no shortage. At a meeting with international relief agencies on 10 June, National Planning Minister Soe Tha said: “Some organisations were spreading groundless information such as there is or will be a shortage of rice in Myanmar. We have enough rice and we can distribute sufficiently.”

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G8 urges Myanmar to accept cyclone aid, release Suu Kyi
EARTHtimes.org
Posted : Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:38:02 GMT

Kyoto, Japan - The foreign ministers of the world's seven biggest economies and Russia urged Myanmar Friday to lift aid restrictions and relase political detainees. In a statement issued at the Group of Eight (G8) foreign ministers' meeting in Kyoto, they called for lifting "all remaining restrictions on the flow of aid and to improve access for foreign aid workers" to ensure help for those affected by cyclone Nargis.

The cyclone, which hit the isolated state in May, left about 138,000 dead or missing. Myanmar's junta faced international accusations that it was worsening the storm victims' plight by stalling on foreign aid.

Myanmar's leaders were "encouraged" to engage all stakeholders to foster a peaceful transition to a "legitimate, democratic, civilian government."

"In this context, we call on Myanmar to immediately release political detainees, including Aung San Suu Kyi," the G8 said, adding that they were prepared to respond positively to substantive political progress.

Movement by Myanmar's regime could be met with incentives, Japanese officials said at the sidelines of the meeting.

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Myanmar Refutes Claims It Is Not Doing Enough To Help Cyclone Victims
June 27, 2008 20:42 PM 
By D. Arul Rajoo

SATSAN, (Delta Irrawaddy, Myanmar), June 27 (Bernama) -- The Myanmar Government has refuted claims that it was not doing enough to help victims of 'Cyclone Nargis'.

It says temporary shelters, food, schools, medical care and livelihood have been provided while long-term plan for re-construction and rehabilitation were underway.

Deputy Foreign Minister U Kyaw Thu, who chairs the Asean Humanitarian Task Force, said permanent houses were being built, according to the need, in each affected area, and at least two private construction companies - Htou Trading and Diamond Mercury - had already begun work in several townships.

"The Government is building permanent houses for victims whose houses were totally destroyed. We have three types of houses according to the size of the family," he told a group of Asean journalists invited by the Myanmar Government and Asean Secretariat to tour the May 2 and 3 Cyclone Nargis-affected areas in Delta Irrawaddy.

He said many private donors had also come forward to fund the construction of houses.

U Kyaw cited a hotelier - owning the Silver Elephant Company in the new capital of Naw Pyi Taw - who donated funds to build 111 houses here while another 116 were being built in Kyein Chaung Gyi where over 850 people died.

At the Samsat township which lost 300 people and hundreds of buffalos used for ploughing, the government sent about 100 tillers to ensure at least 10,000 acres of the total 36,000 acres of padi field could be planted before the end of planting season in July.

"About 5,000 gallons of diesel were also provided to farmers," he said after accompanying United Nations' (UN) top official in Asia, Noeleen Heyzer and Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan on a tour of Bogale, Satsan and Kyein Chaung Gyi townships.

Close to 140,000 people were killed or missing in the deadly cyclone which struck south of Yangon and the country's rice bowl, submerging thousands of homes, agriculture areas and destroying schools, hospitals, fishing boats and equipments in one of the most under-developed areas in the region.

The military junta has come under heavy criticism from the international community after it was initially reluctant to grant visa to international relief workers.

After persuasion by UN and Asean, it relented, allowing access to over 660 foreign experts, as well as 10 helicopters from the World Food Programme, to deliver food to areas not accessible by land.

It also supported an Asean-led Post Nargis Joint Assessment for Response, Recovery and Reconstruction (Ponja) to conduct assessment on the ground while the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) also made a three-week assessment to survey the impact on the agriculture sector and find ways to assist the farmers and fishermen.

The findings of the two agencies would provide an input to potential donors when they meet at the second pledging conference in New York on July 10.

U Kyaw said all victims who lost their homes have been resettled in temporary shelters while cash, farming equipments, salt water, resilient seeds and fishing net were also provided.

"Our priority is on hospitals and schools. More than half are operating in either temporary shelters, monasteries or exisiting buildings which have been repaired.

"This area used to be the biggest salt production in the country but now, we have to send salt to them. However, the production is resuming," he said.

As part of its long term to minimise risks from flooding, the government wants to construct embarkment, replant trees and provide emergency shelter where school and hospital land would be raised from between six and 10 metres from the ground, as the wave from the cyclone reached as high as five meters, he said.

Almost two months after the cyclone, most of the areas are still under water, cutting off land transporation as river and canals remain the only means of travelling.

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‘Allow maids from China, Myanmar’
The Star Online - Friday June 27, 2008
By LOONG MENG YEE

KUALA LUMPUR: The Government must seriously consider allowing in maids from China and Myanmar as recruitment agencies in Indonesia have pushed the fees so high that it may reach an astonishing RM8,000 soon.

“We know some quarters are against hiring maids from China, fearing it may spark social problems and marital havoc.

“But, we have reached a point where we either continue to quietly suffer and pay the increasing rates imposed by Indonesian agents or, we try out maids from China,” said Association of Foreign Housemaids Recruitment Agencies (Papa) secretary Foo Yong Hooi.

He added that there was a ready market for maids from China. Employers, especially those in the higher income bracket, had asked local agencies to hire such maids for them because of the similarity in language and culture.

Foo said he understood the concerns raised and suggested a trial period. The Government could allow in 5,000 maids from China and monitor the development.

“We can impose conditions, such as the consent of wives and a minimum age requirement for the maids,” said Foo.

He added that maids from China could be sourced from the northern provinces such as Szechuan and Wunan. Foo estimated the monthly salary would have to be about RM1,000.

He also urged the Government to consider maids from Myanmar. Currently, only male general workers are allowed to work here.

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Gulf Times - Bangladesh offers to settle core issues with Myanmar
Published: Friday, 27 June, 2008, 07:00 AM Doha Time
By Mizan Rahman

Dhaka:  Chief Adviser Dr Fakhruddin Ahmed yesterday said Bangladesh likes to resolve pending issues with Myanmar through discussion, particularly stating that the issues of repatriation of the Rohingya Muslim refugees and maritime border demarcation could be amicably solved through talks.

The head of the caretaker government made the remarks when outgoing Myanmar Ambassador in Dhaka U Nyan Lynn called on him at the Chief Adviser’s office.

Emphasising exchange of high-level visits between the two neighbouring countries, the Chief Adviser said he is looking forward to the visit of Vice-chairman of State Peace and Development Council of the Union of Myanmar Senior General Maung Aye to Bangladesh.

The visit was tentatively scheduled to take place last year but, for due to unavoidable  circumstances, was postponed, said an official.

The Ambassador apprised that the visit of Senior General Maung Aye most likely could take place at the end of this year.

The Chief Adviser added that Bangladesh is interested in early conclusion of farming agreement with Myanmar for using its arable land for co-operation in the field of agriculture.

“There might as well be co-operation between the two countries in some other areas, including direct banking arrangement and enriching shipping link for enhancing trade,” he told the envoy.

On road link, he said Bangladesh is keen to open the trans-border land route through Myanmar up to China, which would help the people in the region.

The Ambassador said road link would facilitate trade andpeople-to- people contact as well. He also said Myanmar has indicated China about the tripartite road link.

The Chief Adviser opined that annual consultation between Bangladesh and Myanmar would be held more regularly, which demonstrates keen interest in further deepening the bilateral relations.

The Myanmar diplomat thanked the Chief Adviser for the prompt sending of relief supplies to Myanmar shortly after the powerful cyclone ‘Nargis’ hit the country in May.

Food, medicine, Oral Rehydration Solution, garments, water-purification tablets and medical teams were sent for the help of the cyclone victims.

The Chief Adviser expressed heartfelt sympathy for people of Myanmar and their government over tragic deaths, injuries and widespread loss of property in the deadly strike by the ‘Nargis’.

“Bangladesh, as a next-door neighbour, would stand beside Myanmar in its challenging time,” he added.

Dr Fakhruddin also expressed his gratitude as Myanmar had sent rice to Bangladesh after the super-cyclone ‘Sidr, according to Chief Adviser’s Press Secretary Syed Fahim Munaim.

As the ambassador mentioned that still Bangladesh’s teams are helping in rehabilitation process in Myanmar, the Chief Adviser said they can “feel free to ask for any co-operation from Bangladesh”.

Bangladesh, which has a population of nearly 150mn people, produces some 30mn tonnes of rice annually, but it often faces scarcity due to natural calamities.

The country lost around 3mn tonnes of its main staple rice due to flooding last year and from Cyclone Sidr in November which killed around 4,500 people, displacedmns and damaged infrastructure worth billions of dollars.

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Forbes - The World's Most Corrupt Countries
Liz Moyer and Andrew Farrell
06.26.08, 6:00 PM ET

Corruption continues to intensify in two-fifths of the world's nations, nurtured by persistent poverty, political instability and crime.

In percentage terms, the number of countries perceived to be corrupt fell slightly, according to recent surveys by Transparency International, an international watchdog group. But that's only because the sample size of its annual study has gotten larger with the addition of 17 countries.

Of the 180 countries looked at in its most recent rankings, 132 had index scores below 5, including Greece, India, Mexico, Brazil, Saudi Arabia and Thailand. Some 56 countries were rated below 3, a level that indicates rampant corruption, including Argentina, Pakistan and Russia.

Transparency International developed its index on a scale from 0 to 10, with the lowest number indicating the highest perception of corruption. The index is based on worldwide surveys of country specialists, business officials, human rights monitors and others.

For the most recent index, the best-scoring countries were New Zealand, Denmark and Finland, sharing an index ranking of 9.4. At the bottom of the heap, where perceptions of corruption were highest, Somalia and Myanmar are tied with an index ranking of 1.4.

Of course it's easy to see the difference between the two ends of the spectrum. New Zealand, Denmark and Finland have wealth and stable economies and governments, and don't stoke a lot of international controversy. Somalia and Myanmar are torn by armed conflict and political oppression.

The divide runs along economic realities. Forty percent of the countries rated below 3 are classified by the World Bank as low income. It doesn't help if the governments are weak or engaged in a struggle for power.

"Countries torn apart by conflict pay a huge toll in their capacity to govern," says Huguette Labelle, chairman of Transparency International. "With public institutions crippled or nonexistent, mercenary individuals help themselves to public resources, and corruption thrives."

Myanmar, also known as Burma, probably wins the prize for worst public relations of the year. Last fall, the military-led government cracked down on protesting monks, killing a few in the riots that broke out as the government rounded up protesters. Internet access was blocked to prevent news from getting out to the outside world.

To top it off, in May the Burmese government hindered international relief efforts after the most damaging cyclone in its history, which killed an estimated 130,000. America's first lady, Laura Bush, has led an active campaign against the military junta, calling on international bodies to pressure it to move toward democracy.

Somalia has its own problems, not least of which is persistent and growing piracy in the waters off its shores. There have been more than two dozen piracy attacks reported in the Gulf of Aden since the beginning of this year.

The double whammy of weak government and abundant natural resources also stokes corruption, particularly where personal greed can run rampant without fear of recrimination. In Equatorial Guinea, 10th on the Transparency International list, 30% of the profits from recently discovered offshore oil fields goes straight into the state officials' pockets.

Nearby in the Democratic Republic of Congo, tied for 10th with Guinea, government officials demand payments from mining companies. The country has abundant reserves of some of the most sought-after commodities: copper, gold, uranium and coltan.

There is hope, however. Several African countries showed marked improvement in their rankings over one year, including Seychelles (to 57 from 63), South Africa (to 43 from 51) and Swaziland (to 84 from 121). Transparency International said the jumps mean genuine reform efforts can help combat perceptions of corruption.

Outside Africa, many countries that improved over the year are in Eastern Europe: Croatia (to 64 from 69), the Czech Republic (to 41 from 46), Macedonia (to 84 from 105) and Romania (to 69 from 84). Italy went to 41 from 45.

"The concentration of gainers in Southeast and Eastern Europe testifies to the galvanizing effect of the European Union accession process on the fight against corruption," says Transparency International.

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Foot-and-mouth disease hits draught cattle in Myanmar's cyclone-hit areas

YANGON, June 27 (Xinhua) -- Foot-and-mouth disease has hit draught cattle in Myanmar's cyclone-hit areas, the local Biweekly Eleven reported Friday, quoting the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department.

The disease has recently been found in buffaloes and cows used in recultivation of agricultural fields in four storm-hit townships, namely, Laputta, Kyonmange, Wakema and Kawmu in Ayeyawaddy delta and Yangon division, the report said.

The animal-borne- disease was said to have been caused by sustained touching of cattle's foot with sea water, especially buffaloes which were inflicted the heaviest blow by the storm.

The authorities said medics are visiting the cyclone-hit region to render vaccination services on the buffaloes, and more measures were to be taken including education to prevent the foot-and-mouth virus-O spreading from the already-infected cattle to other animals.

Such disease mostly occurs in the months of June and July in Myanmar, the start of the wet and muddy monsoon season, and the rate of infection is higher than other months, the report said.

So far, no cattle has been reported to have died of the disease.

According to official statistics, during the cyclone storm, more than 200,000 heads of cattle including buffalo, cow, sheep and pig, and over 2.27 million livestock including chicken and ducks were killed in the two divisions.

Deadly cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states -- Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on May 2-3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon suffered the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructure damage.

The storm has killed 84,537 people and left 53,836 missing and 19,359 injured according to the latest official statistics.

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Suu Kyi Manga Released in English
The Irrawaddy - Friday, June 27, 2008

In the 20 years since Aung San Suu Kyi first emerged as the leader of Burma’s pro-democracy movement, she has inspired admiration in people around the world. She has also captured the imagination of artists, filmmakers and songwriters, making her not only a political but also a cultural icon.

In 1994, she even made it into the world of manga, the book-length comics that are a ubiquitous feature of Japanese pop culture.

Aung San Suu Kyi: Tatakau Kujaku (“Aung San Suu Kyi: The Fighting Peacock”), by cartoonist Akazu Mizuha, was first released by publisher Oakla Shuppan as part of a series of manga on Nobel Prize winners. It depicts Suu Kyi’s early life, examining the impact of the political legacy of her father, assassinated independence leader Aung San, and ends with her receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

Although it has been mentioned in scholarly works as a reflection of Suu Kyi’s international appeal, it has rarely been seen, even in Japan, where it has long been out of print.

Then, earlier this year, a publisher who specializes in Thai translations of Japanese comic books discovered the manga, and decided to make it available to readers outside Japan.

“I wanted to do something for the Burmese people,” said Hidekazu Kondo, president of the Bangkok-based Negibose Thailand Co., Ltd., which occasionally produces translations of comics on political topics that have cross-cultural significance, such as North Korea’s abduction of foreign nationals in the late 1970s.

To reach a wider audience, Kondo decided to publish the comic on Aung San Suu Kyi in English, and The Irrawaddy agreed to host an electronic version on its Web site.

“It seemed like an interesting project, and it may be helpful for people who want to use it for educational purposes,” said Irrawaddy staffer Neil Lawrence, who translated the manga.

In a book on Japan-Burma relations published last year, Burma specialist Donald M. Seekins refers to the comic’s “detailed depiction of the events of Democracy Summer, including [Suu Kyi’s] speech at the Shwe Dagon Pagoda, and her 1989 house arrest.”

Although it was originally scheduled for release on June 19, Aung San Suu Kyi’s birthday, production delays forced a one-week postponement of the planned launch. The book is now available on The Irrawaddy Web site for a fee of US $3/download for individuals or $30 for institutional customers.

The fee will cover production, licensing and hosting costs. Profits from the sale of the comic will be used to support Burmese relief activities.

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UNSC needs to shoulder responsibility of Burmese women's woes
Mizzima News - Friday, 27 June 2008 20:24
Solomon

New Delhi – To stop Burmese military rulers from its unabated use of rape as a 'weapon of war' in its campaign against ethnic minorities, there is a lot that the international community and United Nations Security Council needs to do. The appeal comes from an ethnic Chin woman activist at a press conference on Friday in Hong Kong's Foreign Correspondent Club.

Her impassioned appeal highlights the vulnerability of women in Burma, a country living through nearly 50 years of unrest and civil war where women continue to be targets of lust and humiliation of a depraved section of the military. All as a 'weapon of war' and attempt at subjugation.

Cheery Zahau, coordinator of the Women's League for Chinland said women, particularly in areas where ethnic minorities live, are the ones who are the worst affected by the junta's relentless campaign against its own people to cling to power.

In its campaign, Zahau said, the junta uses sexual violence and rape as a 'weapon of war' to terrorize and to create fear psychosis against the military. And this has been on by the junta to extend its rule for nearly half a century.

"In one case," Zahua said, "a woman [in Chin state, western Burma] was stripped naked and hung on a cross, in a deliberate and perverse act of mockery and persecution against her Christian religion."

The junta, which grabbed power in a military coup in 1962, in order to perpetuate its rule, has notoriously launched campaigns against its own population, with its main target being ethnic minorities.

Systematic sexual violence, torture and rape are commonly practiced by the Burmese military without any reservation or punitive action, Zahua said.

"I want to make sure people know about this," said Zahau adding that the world community, particularly the UNSC should pressure the Burmese government to stop its rampant human rights violation.

She added that the voices of Burmese women crying for help had gone unheard for a long time and that UNSC should shoulder the responsibility and come to the aid of Burmese women.

"They [junta] does not care because the international community has not mounted pressure which is strong enough," Zahau added.

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Detained activist injures herself in prison

Jun 27, 2008 (DVB)–Detained human rights activist Su Su Nway banged her head against the wall of her cell on Wednesday, slightly injuring herself, after an argument with prison officials, according to her lawyer.

Su Su Nway's lawyer Daw Khin Htay Kywe said the detained activist was disappointed with the prison authorities after they decided to reduce her exercise time from the usual four hours down to two.

On 25 June, Su Su Nway asked prison officials to open her cell door as she was having trouble breathing due to her heart condition.

Daw Khin Htay Kywe said the prison officials agreed to her demand and opened the cell door but then did something that upset her and so she banged her head against the wall and collapsed.

Su Su Nway's sister said the family was worried after they heard about the incident from a close friend.

"We heard she had an argument with prison officials and banged her head against her cell's wall," she said.

"This is a very worrying situation – there is no proper medical treatment and she seems to be under great stress."

She said Su Su Nway was suffering from high blood pressure earlier this week but she was getting better when the family visited her on Tuesday.

Su Su Nway and her co-worker, activist Bo Bo Win Naing, were arrested by authorities in November last year while hanging anti-government posters in front of the Mya Yeik Nyo hotel in Bahan township.

She was charged with joining an assembly intended to cause public unrest under sections 143 and 147 of the penal code and on two other charges along with Bo Bo Win Hlaing under sections 142(a) and 505(b).

Su Su Nway and Bo Bo Win Maung appeared on Insein prison court on Wednesday but their court hearing was cancelled due to a change of judges on the case.

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet

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