Monday, 29 September 2008, 9:51 am
Press Release: United Nations
Myanmar: Ban reviews latest developments with ‘Group of Friends’
27 September 2008 – Members of a group of nations helping Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in his efforts to spur change in Myanmar today encouraged the Government of the Asian country to work more closely with the UN to deal with issues of concern, including the release of the long-detained political prisoner Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Group of Friends on Myanmar, which comprises 14 countries and one regional bloc, also unanimously backed the Secretary-General’s good offices on this issue and its implementation through his Special Adviser, Ibrahim Gambari.
The Group’s comments were made in a statement issued by the spokesperson of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who convened and chaired a high-level meeting of the countries in New York today.
That statement described today’s meeting as “a useful and constructive discussion,” and noted that the involvement of so many high-level officials indicated “the importance that the international community attaches to the situation in Myanmar.”
The participants included the Secretary-General of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the High Representative of the European Union (EU), as well as government ministers from concerned countries, according to the statement.
“While noting the recent actions taken by the Government of Myanmar, members of the Group also further encouraged it to work more closely with and respond more positively with the United Nations good offices to address key issues of concern to the international community, especially the release of prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and the initiation of an all-inclusive dialogue between the Government and the opposition.”
Ms. Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years and her current period of detention started in 2003.
The Group of Friends also “encouraged all parties in Myanmar to seize the opportunity of the UN good offices, while stressing the responsibility of the Myanmar Government to demonstrate its stated commitment to cooperation with the good offices through further tangible results.”
The Group, founded in December last year, represents a balanced range of views on Myanmar and was set up to hold informal discussions and develop shared approaches to support UN efforts. The Friends are: Australia, China, the EU, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Russia, Singapore, the Republic of Korea, Thailand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Viet Nam.
ENDS
Monday, September 29, 2008
Ban Reviews Latest Developments In Myanmar
Increased Chinese Involvement Raises Concerns Over Potential Social and Environmental Impacts
ERI Releases Most Comprehensive Survey on Chinese Multinational Corporate Investment in Burma
September 29, 2008, Chiang Mai, Thailand and Washington, D.C. – A survey released by EarthRights International reveals an increase in the number of Chinese multinational corporations (MNCs) involved in hydropower, oil and natural gas, and mining projects in Burma (Myanmar).
The report, China in Burma (Myanmar): The Increasing Involvement of Chinese Multinational Corporations in Burma’s Hydropower, Oil and Natural Gas, and Mining Sectors, is the most comprehensive survey on Chinese investment in Burma to date and identifies 69 Chinese MNC’S involved in 90 completed, current and planned projects in the hydropower and extractive sectors in Burma.
Previous ERI research collected between May and August 2007 identified only 26 Chinese MNCs involved in 62 projects. This research, conducted over the last year, draws upon government statements, English and Chinese language news reports, and company press releases.
The report documents projects varying from small hydropower dams completed in the last two decades to planned dual oil and natural gas pipelines across Burma to southwestern China.
Ka Hsaw Wa, Executive Director of EarthRights International noted the importance of publishing the survey, stating, “We’ve repeatedly seen foreign companies coming into Burma with disregard for local people and the environment. Given what we know about development projects in Burma and the current situation, we’re concerned about this marked increase in the number of these projects.”
“We’re concerned about the lack of information about these projects available in the public domain,” said ERI Researcher Alek Nomi, principal author of the research. “We hope this research shines a light on these sectors and provides a resource for communities, NGOs, journalists, policymakers, and governments.”
Aggression, Retaliatory Behavior, and the Buddhist Sangha
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Aggression-Retaliatory-Be-by-J-M-Dharmakara-Bo-080926-307.html
by J.M. Dharmakara Boda
www.opednews.com
While everyone supports the need for change in Myanmar, there seems to be a "disconnect" in the reasoning of some people who have attempted to justify or just ignore behavior that is contrary to the Buddha-dharma, beginning with members of the Sangha who took hostages and set cars on fire in Pakokku [1], an overt act of retaliatory aggression clearly meant as intimidation and unbecoming of the spirit of the Buddhist tradition, then the most recent reports that some members of the Sangha are stockpiling firearms for their next encounter with military junta [2].
Most notable in all of this is the continued attempt to compare such aggressive behavior to an incident mentioned in the Parinibbana Sutta of the Digha Nikaya, where the Buddha is said to have stood in the middle of a river to stop two warring kingdoms who were about to fight over the supply of water.
I don't remember the Parinibbana Sutta mentioning any aggressive behavior by the Buddha, nor was it a protest or demonstration, but intervention in and of itself alone. When members of the laity don't know the difference between a peaceful demonstration and aggressive behavior it is sad enough, but when this appears within the Sangha it becomes even a greater tragedy.
Demonstrations can bring about reform, but real reform only exists when dialogue is pursued by all involved parties, not by one party attempting to intimidate the other, where demonstrations are typically the result of passion and intervention is typically the result of true compassion, not the mundane variety.
For all intents and purposes, any governmental administration would be an improvement to what's currently in place within Myanmar, but if someone believes that aggressive and/or retaliatory behavior will somehow solve all of their problems, then they're in for a very rude awakening and might be in need of "Buddhism 101" as a refresher course:
"He abused me, he beat me,
he defeated me, he robbed me,"
in those who harbour such thoughts
hatred will never cease.
"He abused me, he beat me,
he defeated me, he robbed me,"
in those who do not harbour such thoughts
hatred will cease.
The verses above are from the Dhammapada, a collection of profound wisdom for a confused world. Just as hatred does not cease through hatred, the same can be said that aggression does not cease through aggression, but only creates more suffering and hostility.
An example of this can be found within the Ghandian non-violent Satyagraha movement, where they refuse to inflict injury on others and must be willing to shoulder any sacrifice or suffering of the struggle they have initiated, rather than pushing such sacrifice or suffering onto their opponent, always providing a face-saving "way out" for their opponent.
It should also be noted that this was the path taken by Martin Luther King, apparently possessing a degree of wisdom which is lost to many activists today, Buddhist and non-Buddhist alike.
Without doubt, the economic problems and fuel prices which set off the unrest in Myanmar are related to the State Peace and Development Council, but very few people are looking at the cause of it or the realities that would have to be faced by any government, democratic or otherwise.
These matters were brought up by Dr. Alfred Oehlers, a respected security analyst of Asian-Pacific studies [3]:
"First, most of the gas contracts were negotiated some time ago and probably have much lower locked-in prices than those prevailing today. These lower gas prices cannot compensate for the higher spot prices for diesel.
"Second, revenues are not always obtained in such sales. Sources indicate that the deal with Petronas, for example, involves the SPDC bartering its share of gas production for diesel from the Malaysian company on pre-agreed terms, without any money being exchanged.
"Third, it should also be remembered that though revenues may be obtained from gas sales, expenditure on refined gas products are a drain on such income and can diminish what is available for diesel imports. It is a great irony that while Burma sells unrefined natural gas to neighboring countries, due to lack of capacity to purify such gas domestically, it must import refined gas products at substantially higher prices.
"What we have currently is a conjuncture of these structural characteristics and circumstances that make it impossible to sustain subsidies at the previous level. Rising imports of diesel, gasoline and gas products at escalating prices cannot be paid for from existing gas revenues. Nor can an already weak state budget, depleted by projects such as a new capital, absorb such rising costs. The only solution is to slash the subsidies and raise fuel prices."
Does this excuse the ongoing oppression and behavior of the State Peace and Development Council? No, but on the other hand there isn't any excuse for the lack of objectivity either, especially when addressing the issues that caused the price hikes in the first place. It is always easier to look for a scapegoat than it is to find a solution.
Maybe the best summation of the events unfolding in Myanmar was offered by Matt Milligan in his blog Buddhologie: that (i) yes the monks are doing a good thing, (ii) the monks have a right to voice their opinion and strive for democracy for an oppressed people, but (iii) the monks are not entirely innocent. Why are they (probably) not entirely innocent? Well, they are choosing now, as opposed to last year, or the year before that, or the year before that, and so on, to protest. The fact is, they have been sustained by the Burmese government for decades and live quite comfortably compared to the rest of the population.
Taking into account the realities that face Myanmar and its ever growing dependency on diesel imports, who will be blamed for the suffering after the current regime is gone? What happens when the economy gets even worse than it already is? If history is any indicator, we can expect to see not only much more suffering, but also the decline of the institutionalized Sangha in Myanmar if retaliatory behavior begins to spread among its members, though this appears to have been an isolated incidents and hopefully won't happen again.
Within the Buddhist tradition, one does not fight aggression with aggression, no sooner than one fights fire with fire --- one fights aggression through open dialogue and compassionate intervention in total equanimity, even after one has been abused or mistreated.
Of equal concern should be the fact that the Burmese Sangha showed that it possessed the strength and support to lead these demonstrations in the first place, then likewise it should also have had the strength and support to pursue the greater path of intervention --- to enter the river as the Buddha is said to have done so many centuries ago, to find solutions and work with the people and the current regime to transform Myanmar into a free and productive society, doing so in accord with the spirit of the noble Sangha and not the political agendas of the pro-democracy movement.
To say otherwise, or believe that everything has reached the "point of no return", is to deny the power of the Dharma to transform ourselves and others.
And what will happen the first time a monk points a gun and pulls the trigger?
It will be the shot heard around the world, not only bringing about the end of the institutionalized Sangha within Myanmar, but also sending shockwaves through the international Buddhist community as whole, which begs only one question... When will we recognize that the greatest threat to Buddhism is not outside of the institution, but might actually be within?
[1] Monks Take Officials Hostage for hours in Upper Burma Standoff
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=51,4818,0,0,1,0
[2] Monks with guns? Burma's younger activists get bolder
http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=82,7147,0,0,1,0
[3] Behind Burma's Fuel Price Rise
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=8318
A respected teacher of dialects from the Mahabodhi Sunyata in Tarragona, Spain, the Ven. J.M. Dharmakara Boda is executive director of the Mahabodhi Maitri Mandala in America and a member of the Buddhist Brotherhood Assembly of Bangladesh.
Monks stage quiet protest as world powers call for Burma reform
P. Parameswaran, New York
September 29, 2008
Women in bamboo hats, symbol of the National League for Democracy, gather outside the organisation's Rangoon headquarters to mark its 20th anniversary. Photo: AP
ABOUT 100 Buddhist monks in western Burma staged a peaceful protest march to mark the anniversary of last year's bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators as world powers called on the junta to make "tangible" progress on political reforms.
Ahead of a possible visit by UN chief Ban Ki-moon to the country by the end of the year, the first ministerial meeting on Burma by the five permanent Security Council and mostly Asian nations urged the country's military rulers to co-operate with Mr Ban's special envoy to resolve the nation's political crisis.
Envoy Ibrahim Gambari has made four visits to Burma since the protests a year ago but failed to restart a dialogue between detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta or achieve significant gains.
In the country's biggest city, Rangoon, recently released political prisoners helped celebrate Saturday's 20th anniversary of the founding of the party led by Ms Suu Kyi, while police and other security personnel kept a close watch.
No protests directly related to the crackdown anniversary were noted in Rangoon, where last year's demonstrations attracted up to 100,000 people. The junta put down the protests with force, killing at least 31 people and detaining thousands.
But in the western port city of Sittwe, about 100 Buddhist monks marched peacefully in heavy rain for about 30 minutes, according to witnesses who asked not to be named.
The monks' march took the form of their morning round of begging for alms, but it is widely understood that such a large number of monks marching in an organised fashion represents a veiled protest.
In Rangoon, six truckloads of riot police were deployed near the opposition party offices. People attending the ceremony there were videotaped and watched by at least 50 plainclothes security personnel.
The ceremony, attended by about 350 people including party members, diplomats and reporters, was also a homecoming for a senior party member, Win Tin, released from jail a few days earlier.
In an anniversary statement, the party reiterated its call for the immediate release of all political prisoners, including Ms Suu Kyi — who has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention — and her deputy Tin Oo. It also called for the freedom of Buddhist monks and ethnic leaders arrested by the junta.
The party was founded in 1988 after an abortive pro-democracy uprising, and since then has faced nearly constant harassment from the ruling military. When the party's candidates won the most seats in 1990 general elections, the military refused to let it take power.
The anniversary coincided with UN talks, which Mr Ban's spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said underlined "the responsibility of the Myanmar (Burma) Government to demonstrate its stated commitment to co-operation with the good offices (of the UN Secretary General) through further tangible results".
The meeting of Mr Ban's so-called "group of friends on Myanmar" also wanted the generals to "respond more positively" to international demands for the release of political prisoners, including Ms Suu Kyi, and a dialogue with the opposition, Ms Montas said.
Mr Ban chaired the informal talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly amid little signs the military junta will embrace political reforms, one year after its bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests.
The group comprises permanent Security Council members — the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China — as well as Australia, the European Union, India, Norway, Japan and South Korea plus ASEAN states Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
AFP, AP
US-TECH Summary
http://asia.news.yahoo.com/080923/3/3pfcz.html
Monday September 29, 1:30 PM
Iraq signs billion-dollar power deals with GE, Siemens
DUBAI (Reuters) - Iraq has signed preliminary deals worth billions of dollars with General Electric Co and Siemens for equipment to almost double electricity generation capacity, an energy official said on Saturday. The deals with GE, Siemens and a third company would be worth a total of $7 billion to $8 billion, Iraq's Electricity Minister Karim Waheed told Reuters.
Nintendo to launch camera, music-capable DS: report
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese video game maker Nintendo Co Ltd plans to launch a new model of its DS handheld machine that can take pictures and play music by the end of the year, the Nikkei business daily said on Sunday. The move would pit the top-selling portable game gear with Apple Inc iPod and camera-embedded cellphones in general.
Hole in Adobe software allows free movie downloads
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A security hole in Adobe Systems Inc software, used to distribute movies and TV shows over the Internet, is giving users free access to record and copy from Amazon.com Inc's video streaming service. The problem exposes online video content to the rampant piracy that plagued the music industry during the Napster era and is undermining efforts by retailers, movie studios and television networks to cash in on a huge Web audience.
Theaters, studios near deal for digital projection
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - A consortium of the nation's top movie-theater chains will announce within two weeks a $1 billion-plus financing agreement with four major studios to equip more than 15,000 screens nationwide with digital-projection systems during the next three years. Universal, Paramount, Disney and Fox -- with financing backing from JPMorgan Securities -- are expected to announce the funding of systems to be rolled out by New York-based Digital Cinema Implementation Partners. Regal Cinemas, AMC Entertainment and Cinemark formed DCIP more than a year ago, but it has taken until recently to get a majority of the major studios to sign off on so-called virtual print fee (VPF) agreements to fund the digital rollout.
Nokia's iPhone rival due Oct. 2: sources
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Nokia will unveil its first touch-screen phone next week in a direct challenge to Apple's successful iPhone, two industry sources told Reuters on Friday. LG Electronics , Samsung Electronics and several smaller handset vendors have rolled out their own touch-screen phones over the last two years, while the first handset using Google's Android platform will also have a touch screen.
Tech industry still buoyant, Microsoft CEO says
SANTA CLARA (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp Chief Executive Steve Ballmer said on Thursday he still sees a "certain buoyancy" among technology and telecommunications customers worldwide, despite recent U.S. economic woes. "Our industry is not immune to what goes on in the global economy. And yet as I travel...given the current circumstances, people still see a certain buoyancy in the market," Ballmer told a meeting of Silicon Valley civic leaders.
DirecTV to market AT&T satellite service
NEW YORK (Reuters) - DirecTV Group , the largest U.S. satellite television provider, said on Friday it has reached an agreement with AT&T Inc to offer customers a co-branded package of video, home phone, wireless phone and Internet service from Feb 1 2009. DirecTV will begin selling the service once AT&T's current partnership with DISH Network expires on Jan 31. AT&T said current AT&T/DISH customers will continue to receive the same service after that date.
America Movil braces for iPhone shortage in Brazil
SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Mexico's America Movil is set to start selling Apple Inc's iPhone in Brazil on Friday but does not expect to have enough of the hugely popular devices to meet demand, an executive at the company's Brazilian unit said on Thursday. Claro, America Movil's Brazilian unit, received an initial lot of just 30,000 iPhones from Apple. It had hoped to receive a much larger number since more than 100,000 subscribers had already signed up for the phone by late July.
Studios and theaters seen announcing digital deal soon
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Walt Disney, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox and Universal are soon expected to announce a long-sought $1.1 billion digital cinema deal that Hollywood hopes will boost attendance, cut costs and enable more 3-D viewing, sources close to the deal said on Thursday. The studios declined to comment, but sources with knowledge of the talks said the deal to help co-finance the upgrade for a group of movie chains was virtually complete, with an announcement expected within days or weeks.
Russian retailers to start Apple iPhone sales Oct 3
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Major Russian home electronics and cell phone retailers said on Friday they would kick off Apple Inc's iPhone sales in Russia beginning on October 3, and estimated that 150,000 units could be sold by year end. "All retailers will begin sales of iPhone in Russia at the same time, during the night between October 2 and October 3. Our company will be also selling them," Nadezhda Senyuk, a PR director at retail chain Tekhnosila, said by telephone.
Hole in Adobe software allows free movie downloads
Photo: Reuters
Saturday September 27, 8:03 PM
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A security hole in Adobe Systems Inc software, used to distribute movies and TV shows over the Internet, is giving users free access to record and copy from Amazon.com Inc's video streaming service.
The problem exposes online video content to the rampant piracy that plagued the music industry during the Napster era and is undermining efforts by retailers, movie studios and television networks to cash in on a huge Web audience.
"It's a fundamental flaw in the Adobe design. This was designed stupidly," said Bruce Schneier, a security expert who is also the chief security technology officer at British Telecom.
The flaw rests in Adobe's Flash video servers that are connected to the company's players installed in nearly all of the world's Web-connected computers.
The software doesn't encrypt online content, but only orders sent to a video player such as start and stop play. To boost download speeds, Adobe dropped a stringent security feature that protects the connection between the Adobe software and its players.
"Adobe is committed to the security of all of our products, from our players to our server software. Adobe invests a considerable amount of ongoing effort to help protect users from potential vulnerabilities," it said in a statement.
Adobe said it issued a security bulletin earlier this month about how best to protect online content and called on its customers to couple its software security with a feature that verifies the validity of its video player.
An Amazon spokesman said content on the company's Video On Demand service, which offers as many as 40,000 movies and TV shows on its Web site, cannot be pirated using video stream catching software.
However, in tests by Reuters, at least one program to record online video, the Replay Media Catcher from Applian Technologies, recorded movies from Amazon and other sites that use Adobe's encryption technology together with its video player verification.
"Adobe's (stream) is not really encrypted," said Applian CEO Bill Dettering. "One of the downfalls with how they have architected the software is that people can capture the streams. I fully expect them to do something more robust in the near future."
HOW IT WORKS
The free demo version of Replay Media Catcher allows anyone to watch 75 percent of anything recorded and 100 percent of YouTube videos. For $39, a user can watch everything recorded.
One Web site -- www.tvadfree.com -- explains step-by-step how to use the video stream catching software.
Amazon.com's Adobe-powered Video On Demand service allows viewers to watch the first two minutes of a movie or TV show for free. It charges up to $3.99 to rent a movie for 24 hours and up to $14.99 to download a movie permanently.
Amazon starts to stream the entire movie during the free preview -- even though it pauses the video on the Web browser after the first two minutes -- so that users can start watching the rest of the video right away once they pay.
"It's the traditional trade-off, convenience on the one hand and security on the other," said Ray Valdes, analyst at research group Gartner.
However, even if a user doesn't pay, the stream still sends the movie to the video catching software, but not the browser.
Amazon's Video On Demand is the Web retailer's answer to declining sales of packaged movies and TV shows and the growth in demand for digital content that can be viewed and stored on the Internet.
Unlike Amazon, videos from Hulu.com, NBC.com and CBS.com are already free although the TV programs are interrupted by commercials. However, the stream catching software separates the commercials and the program into two separate folders, so people can keep the programs without the advertising.
Hulu.com, a video Web site owned by News Corp's Fox network and General Electric Co's NBC Universal, was the big networks' answer to YouTube, the popular video-sharing Web site where many users began uploading TV shows and other content owned by media companies.
The networks scrambled to post videos on their own sites in a bid to capture another stream of advertising revenue from a growing audience, but they have struggled with how best to show commercials which fund the programing when played on the Web.
YouTube, which started the online video boom before being bought by Google Inc for $1.65 billion in November 2006, has also struggled to cash in on its popularity even though its user base continues to mushroom.
DESTROYING BUSINESS MODELS
One possible solution would be to protect the video with a digital rights management (DRM) system. A Seattle-based company called Widevine Technologies has a DRM system that can encrypt online videos using Flash.
"The fundamental problem here is that Adobe's lack of technology is not allowing the business models to be preserved," said Widevine Chief Executive Brian Baker.
The lack of content protection, according to Baker, threatens all the business models used today to fund video on the Web.
Apple Inc, which sells movies and television shows at its online iTunes store, uses its own DRM technology called FairPlay, but it only works for video bought on iTunes.
Forrester analyst James McQuivey said he doesn't believe the video stream catching technology will entirely derail the advertising-supported business model used by the networks for online video.
"It's too complicated for most users," said McQuivey, noting that file-sharing services like BitTorrent already exist but only a small percentage of people use them.
"People want something easy to find and easy to use."
(Editing by Peter Henderson, Richard Chang)
Born to be wild, Indonesians hit the road for Eid
Photo: AFP
Monday September 29, 12:17 PM
JAKARTA (AFP) - With their daughter perched at the front of the motorbike and their son squashed between them, Purwanto and his wife set off from Jakarta for the 15-hour overnight ride home for their holidays.
It's the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and millions of Indonesians pack their children -- and whatever else they can -- onto their motorcycles and hit the road to spend the Eid al-Fitr holidays in their home villages.
Long journeys along dangerous roads in stifling heat and dust are no obstacle in a country where about 70 million people earn less than two dollars a day and the price of a bus or train ticket is just too much to bear.
"It's tiring but cheap," Purwanto told AFP as he packed his Yamaha 225cc motorbike for the 560-kilometre (350-mile) trip from the capital Jakarta, where he works in a paper factory, to his hometown of Madiun in East Java.
As the sun sinks into the smog over the traffic-choked city, Purwanto's seven-year-old daughter dons her oversized helmet and takes up the front position on the seat between her father's legs.
Wrapped in a jacket to protect her from the wind, she will bear the brunt of the grit and grime which the road will throw up as the family drives through the night to avoid the blazing tropical sun.
"The cost is very high if we take a bus. I have to buy four tickets that will cost me 800,000 rupiah (85.60 dollars). With a motorcycle, I only spend about 90,000 rupiah on fuel," Purwanto explained.
Bus and train fares sometimes double or even triple ahead of Eid al-Fitr due to demand, and the crowds are horrendous.
"Another benefit is that we can visit relatives in the village with the motorcycle. That also saves me money," added Purwanto, who earns a little more than three dollars a day in the paper mill.
Millions of people in the world's most populous Muslim country have taken advantage of cheap credit in recent years to buy motorcycles for the first time.
Transport ministry figures show that the number of Indonesians driving motorcycles home for Eid has more than tripled over the past five years.
"We recorded 2.1 million motorcycles leaving Jakarta and its surrounding areas last year and we predict that will increase to 2.5 million this year," transport official Ahmad Wahyudi said.
Hundreds of people will never make it home. According to police figures, three-quarters of the 789 people killed in road accidents in Indonesia last Eid were riding motorcycles.
National police traffic director Yudi Sushariyanto said the scooter-style motorcycles favoured by Indonesian workers were not designed for long journeys and were no match for the buses and trucks on the nation's highways.
"It's their right to ride motorcycles, we can't ban them from doing so. We only give them some recommendations for safe riding," he said, adding that driver fatigue on long journeys was a major cause of fatal accidents.
Father-of-two Firdaus said his wife left him no choice but to pack his family on his 125cc Honda scooter for the 12-hour Eid odyssey from south Jakarta to her home village near Palembang on Sumatra island -- even when his youngest son was only three months old.
"We don't have any choice. Everything is expensive and it's a must for my wife to spend Lebaran (Eid) with her family," said the 34-year-old Jakarta native who works with a cleaning service.
"Thank God everything has gone well. My baby was so quiet during the journey last year, he only cried when the heat was intolerable. My kids have never been sick because of the long journey."
From south Jakarta, Firdaus first drives two-and-a-half hours to the westernmost part of Java island, where the family boards a ferry across the Sunda Strait to the southern part of Sumatra.
They then continue for another seven hours to his wife's family home.
Purwanto said he understood the risks of the long road trip, but he felt they were worth taking to give his children time with their grandparents.
"I never drive at high speed and I'm always extra careful. I usually stop every three hours for a break," he said.
"I realise that it won't be easy for my children but we have to go home to see my parents and relatives. It's only once a year."
Japan's new PM pushes crisis package to boost economy
Photo: AFP
TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's new Prime Minister Taro Aso, off to a rocky start after a minister quit just days into the job, sought Monday to get back on track with crisis funding to revive Asia's largest economy.
Aso's cabinet, which took office last week, approved 17 billion dollars in emergency funding to help consumers, companies and farmers cope with high fuel costs and Wall Street's meltdown.
A champion of government spending to boost the economy, he was expected to outline his economic priorities in a policy speech to parliament -- customary for a new prime minister -- at 0500 GMT.
Japan is teetering on recession, and the 1.81-trillion-yen budget approved by cabinet Monday is part of an 11.7-trillion-yen emergency package announced by Aso's predecessor Yasuo Fukuda in late August.
But Aso can expect a tough battle with the opposition, which controls one house of parliament and scored an easy first blow when his transport minister quit Sunday over a series of controversial statements.
The opposition says it wants discussions with the government on the extra budget, which some economists argue is too small to boost the world's second largest economy, threatening a difficult passage through parliament.
Aso has vowed to make the emergency economic measures his first priority, and hinted he would call snap general elections if the budget gets too bogged down.
But Chief Cabinet Secretary Takeo Kawamura, spokesman for Aso's government, insisted the prime minister would not call general elections without at least starting debate on the budget.
"Our biggest task is to tackle this immediate issue. That stance has never changed," Kawamura told reporters.
Hiroyuki Hosoda, secretary general of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), declined to tie snap elections to Sunday's resignation of the transport minister.
"There is no direct impact," Hosoda said.
Kazuo Kitagawa, who is secretary general of the LDP's coalition partner New Komeito, said he wanted elections soon. "We have to ask for the people's voice as soon as possible."
The prime minister does not need to call general elections until September next year. But lawmakers in the LDP, which has led Japan almost continuously since 1955, have hoped to benefit from having a new premier.
The Aso government's initial approval ratings, however, were less than 50 percent -- a big jump from those for his beleaguered predecessor Fukuda, but below what some LDP strategists had wanted.
The lukewarm poll ratings came even before the furore over comments by the short-serving transport minister, Nariaki Nakayama.
Nakayama, who like Aso is known for nationalist views, said that Japan is "homogenous" -- a comment which offended the country's indigenous Ainu people, who have historically faced discrimination.
He also pledged to destroy the left-leaning teachers union, calling them a "cancer," and accused farmers whose land was forcibly purchased for airport construction of "making profits by whining."
100 Fastest-growing companies,Corporate America's supercharged performers
100 Fastest-growing companies
Corporate America's supercharged performers
Top 100Rank Company EPS growth* Revenue growth* Total return*
1 Arena Resources 85% 117% 107%
2 T-3 Energy Services 117% 47% 101%
3 Allis-Chalmers Energy 96% 124% 47%
4 Bucyrus International 71% 60% 80%
5 DXP Enterprises 74% 50% 83%
6 National Oilwell Varco 85% 52% 55%
7 Sigma Designs 294% 108% 22%
8 Atwood Oceanics 103% 43% 59%
9 Intuitive Surgical 47% 62% 79%
10 Freeport-McMoRan 51% 92% 53%
11 Darling International 101% 38% 64%
12 General Cable 91% 38% 60%
13 Hansen Natural 63% 62% 40%
14 Perini 103% 52% 26%
15 Superior Energy Services 86% 41% 46%
16 Helmerich & Payne 88% 39% 46%
17 NASDAQ OMX Group 184% 64% 12%
18 Ensco 95% 45% 31%
19 Atheros Communications 61% 44% 55%
20 Nutrisystem 149% 110% -1%
21 NRG Energy 86% 44% 32%
22 Guess 84% 33% 66%
23 Gulfport Energy 50% 75% 34%
24 Google 71% 66% 21%
25 BlackRock 50% 93% 32%
26 Metalico 35% 51% 73%
27 GameStop 50% 62% 35%
28 AZZ 83% 31% 66%
29 Natus Medical 64% 57% 23%
30 Hornbeck Offshore Services 214% 37% 28%
31 Apple 65% 33% 66%
32 Precision Castparts 129% 35% 35%
33 Manitowoc 107% 30% 47%
34 Cameron International 67% 34% 53%
35 Dawson Geophysical 43% 48% 41%
36 Dril-Quip 80% 26% 63%
37 PetroQuest Energy 31% 46% 60%
38 Lindsay 78% 27% 55%
39 OYO Geospace 90% 28% 42%
40 Gulf Island Fabrication 45% 45% 37%
41 Vasco Data Security International 75% 50% 3%
42 Oceaneering International 59% 30% 59%
43 Huron Consulting Group 47% 50% 25%
44 Dynamic Materials 58% 44% 20%
45 Team 63% 31% 47%
46 Gilead Sciences 44% 45% 34%
47 Iconix Brand Group 39% 81% 22%
48 Gardner Denver 59% 29% 48%
49 Central European Distribution 54% 32% 44%
50 Reliance Steel & Aluminum 29% 40% 62%
51 Steel Dynamics 27% 38% 84%
52 Ion Geophysical 44% 39% 41%
53 K-Tron International 51% 25% 64%
54 Concur Technologies 35% 40% 47%
55 Rowan Cos. 72% 37% 17%
56 Ceradyne 65% 43% 13%
57 RTI International Metals 122% 36% 4%
58 LKQ 33% 44% 39%
59 Helix Energy Solutions Group 45% 48% 17%
60 Western Digital 60% 29% 37%
61 Sepracor 228% 35% -31%
62 Cognizant Technology Solutions 46% 54% 11%
63 Layne Christensen 44% 39% 30%
64 Psychiatric Solutions 47% 44% 16%
65 Cohen & Steers 107% 32% 10%
66 Omnicell 145% 26% 14%
67 Kendle International 27% 44% 34%
68 Morningstar 42% 35% 37%
69 Gulfmark Offshore 74% 25% 29%
70 HealthExtras 29% 57% 15%
71 Copano energy 42% 36% 28%
72 XTO Energy 31% 34% 39%
73 Smith International 47% 25% 39%
74 Netflix 58% 32% 17%
75 Goldman Sachs Group 38% 39% 21%
76 Amedisys 30% 43% 22%
77 Atlantic Tele-Network 43% 31% 37%
78 BE Aerospace 49% 36% 14%
79 Perficient 34% 48% 11%
80 Ladish Co. 51% 25% 27%
81 Kansas City Southern 47% 26% 30%
82 Dolby Laboratories 56% 25% 22%
83 Baldor Electric 26% 46% 15%
84 Brush Engineered Materials 51% 27% 20%
85 First Advantage 45% 40% -12%
86 NII Holdings 41% 38% 14%
87 Jones Lang LaSalle 47% 33% 11%
88 Watson Wyatt Worldwide 31% 33% 28%
89 Genentech 50% 33% -2%
90 Greenhill 46% 33% 12%
91 optionsXpress Holdings 32% 37% 15%
92 Navigators Group 47% 28% 16%
93 Tower Group 30% 43% 11%
94 Allscripts Healthcare Solutions 28% 46% -9%
95 Titanium Metals 33% 31% 26%
96 Holly 44% 27% 17%
97 Zumiez 38% 36% 4%
98 Buffalo Wild Wings 44% 25% 17%
99 CB Richard Ellis Group 39% 34% 10%
100 CME Group 31% 36% 10%
From the Sept. 29th, 2008 issue
*Three-year annual rate
Honoring the Saffron Revolution-One Year Later,後でサフランの回転1年に名誉を与える
Honoring the Saffron Revolution-One Year Later
後でサフランの回転1年に名誉を与える
September 7, 2008
On the One-Year Anniversary of the Saffron Revolution — A Revolution of the Spirit
Friday, September 26, 2008
2008年9月7日
サフランの回転-精神金曜日の回転の1年記念日、
2008年9月26日
They may control the streets and monasteries, but they will
never be able to control our hearts and our determination.
— U Gambira (imprisoned monk)
通りおよび修道院を制御する決して私達の中心および私達の決定を制御できない。 - U Gambira (投獄された修道士)
One year ago, last September, 100,000 Buddhist monks and nuns poured into streets of Burma, chanting the sutra of loving-kindness or metta. Their Saffron Revolution aimed to change the hardened hearts and shameful policies of the generals who run one of the world’s most repressive regimes. The monks’ actions encouraged hundreds of thousands of ordinary Burmese to take to the streets and join their quest for justice. The world watched breathlessly as their nonviolent courage galvanized a nation. In the end over half a million people marched in over 24 cities in Burma. Within days, the military cracked down and thousands were imprisoned, scores killed, and monasteries were raided.
1年前に、この前の9月、100,000人の僧侶および尼僧はビルマの通りに注ぎ、loving-kindnessまたはmettaのsutraを詠唱する。 サフランの回転は世界の抑圧的政権の1つを動かす大将の堅くされた中心そして恥ずかしい方針を変えることを向けた。 修道士の行為は数十万人の通常のビルマ人を通りに取り、正義のための彼らの探求を結合するように励ました。 世界は非暴力的な勇気が国家に電流を通したと同時に息もつけないほど見た。 50万人上のついにビルマの24の都市に行進した。 幾日の中では、割れた軍隊およびたくさんは、殺されたスコア投獄され修道院は空襲された。
One year later, many monasteries remain closed and many monks remain missing or in hiding. Of the 2000 political prisoners languishing in Burmese prisons, 196 are monks. Some of these monks have been tortured and all of them have been forcibly disrobed. Burma’s monastic life is under threat. Over 400,000 monks and nuns are under surveillance and live in fear.
後で1年、多くの修道院は閉鎖している残り、多くの修道士は隠れることに残りまたは逃す。 ビルマの刑務所で憂鬱な生活を送っている2000人の政治犯の196は修道士である。 これらの修道士の何人か苦しみ、すべては強力に衣服を脱いだ。 ビルマの修道院の生命は脅威の下にある。 400,000人の修道士および尼僧に監視の下にあり、恐れに住みなさい。
The Burmese have suffered since 1962 under brutal military junta that has turned the “rice bowl of Asia” into a destitute country. Fear controls the people. Torture, imprisonment, forced labor, the burning of whole villages, and conscripting child soldiers are the norm.
ビルマ人は貧困な国に「アジアの茶碗を」回した残酷な軍の会議の下でので1962苦しんだ。 恐れは人々を制御する。 全村の苦悶、投獄、強制労働、焼却、および徴集の子供の兵士は標準である。
It took years to bring change to South Africa’s brutal apartheid regime. It may still take more years to bring change to Burma. But in Burma we have the principled, powerful example of Aung San Suu Kyi and the Buddhist monks and nuns who have refused to hate or retaliate in the face of horrific violence and injustice.
南アフリカ共和国の残酷なアパルトヘイトの政体への変更を持って来るために年かかった。 まだビルマへの変更を持って来るためにより多くの年かかるかもしれない。 しかしビルマで恐しい暴力および不公平不公平に直面して憎むか、または報復することを断った私達はAung San Suu Kyiの理にかなった、強力な例および僧侶および尼僧がある。
Western Buddhists owe a debt of gratitude to the Burmese for helping to bring the Buddha’s teachings to the West. They have kept and treasured the dharma for two thousand years. Whether Theravadan, Mahayana or Vajrayana, all Western Buddhists have been touched by the depth of Burmese Buddhism. And now many monasteries remain closed and thousands of monks remain unaccounted for.
西部の仏教徒は西に仏の教授を持って来るのを助力のためのビルマ人に感謝の負債を負う。 彼らは二千年間dharmaを保ち、秘蔵した。 Theravadan、MahayanaまたはVajrayanaはビルマの仏教の深さによって、すべての西部の仏教徒触れられたかどうか。 そして今多くの修道院は閉鎖している残り、たくさんの修道士は不明に残る。
The Burmese act in near isolation from outside support. But backing for their quest for democracy grows. Through careful and quiet channels, the democracy movement in Burma knows what we do on their behalf here in the US. Our support is precious to them in their struggle. The Burmese need us to speak with them and for them.
外部サポートからの近い分離のビルマの行為。 しかし民主主義の探求のための裏付けは育つ。 注意深く、静かなチャネルを通して、ビルマの民主主義の動きは私達が米国の彼らの為でここにすることを知っている。 私達のサポートは苦闘のそれらに貴重である。 ビルマ語は私達がそれらとそしてそれらのために話すことを必要とする。
Keep the courage and heart of the Buddhist monks and nuns in Burma alive. Honor the Saffron Revolution though taking some action, however small to keep their struggle in awareness, knowing that the revolution is far from over. Let the Burmese regime and the world know that we will continue to raise our voices until the military junta yields to a free and civil Burma.
生きたビルマで僧侶および尼僧の勇気そして中心を保ちなさい。 小さいどんなに回転がから遠いことを知っている意識で苦闘をとるサフランの回転に保つためにしかし処置を名誉を与えなさい。 ビルマの政体および世界に軍の会議が自由な、市民ビルマにもたらすまで私達が私達の声を上げ続けることを知らせなさい。
The International Burmese Monks Organization (IBMO) has called for September 26 to be a Day of Action for Burma and they will hold an all day meditation at the United Nations in NYC on Friday September 26, along with other NYC public events. If you are in NYC, please join them. BPF website will post the event and others we know about. Below are some suggestions for actions. The BPF website will have materials to print and use for these. Thank you for all your good intentions and actions.
構成(IBMO)が9月26日をビルマおよび彼らのための行為の日であるために求めた国際的なビルマの修道士は他のNYCの公衆のでき事と共に金曜日9月26日のNYCの国際連合で終日の黙想を、保持する。 NYCにあったら、それらを結合しなさい。 BPFのウェブサイトはでき事を掲示し、私達が約知っている他。 行為のためのある提案は次ある。 BPFのウェブサイトにこれらのために印刷し、使用するべき材料がある。 すべてのあなたのよい意思および行為をありがとう。
In peace,
平和では、
Margaret Howe & Hozan Alan Senauke
Clear View Project
マルグレットHoweの& HozanアランSenauke
クリアビューのプロジェクト
707-360-8452 / margaret@clearviewproject.org
Correspondent visits Burma on anniversary of Saffron Revolution
ABC Online
Correspondents Report - Correspondent visits Burma on anniversary of Saffron Revolution
[This is the print version of story http://www.abc.net.au/correspondents/content/2008/s2375924.htm]
Correspondents Report - Sunday, 28 September , 2008
Reporter: Peter Cave
ELIZABETH JACKSON: It's now been a year since Burma's military junta brutally put down the so-called "Saffron Revolution" led by thousands of Buddhist Monks demanding democratic and economic reform.
30 monks and other protesters died according to the United Nations. 74 people have never been accounted for and thousands were arrested.
The regime bans most foreign reporters including those from the ABC, but our Foreign Affairs Editor Peter Cave went into the country as a tourist to report for ABC radio and television on the anniversary.
PETER CAVE: As I disembarked from my flight into Rangoon's surprisingly modern and efficient airport is was not without a little trepidation. Very few tourists are going to Burma these days and there were just a handful of Western faces on the plane.
I had a tourist visa, but I was painfully aware that a simple check of my name on Google by the Burmese embassy in Canberra or by the security officials in Burma would mean that I would be instantly arrested.
ABC cameraman, Erik Havnen, was coming in separately the next day just in case one of us was stopped. Each of us carried a small amateur video camera in our hand luggage, I had a laptop computer carefully cleared of any contacts, programs and emails that might prove incriminating. Each of us a brand new passport with no journalist visas.
In the end entry was surprisingly easy, straight through immigration and no baggage check at customs.
I had a pre-arranged meeting with our Burmese fixer, at the hotel we had booked through a Bangkok travel agency. The fixer's job is to help with translations, lining up interviews and providing the sort of local knowledge essential not to draw suspicions.
He had been lined up by the ABC's Bangkok office through carefully worded phone calls to provide tourist service for a Mr Peter who would be in a certain hotel lobby at a certain time. All I knew was the name he used, Johnny. He came well recommended and knew that we needed a dependable car and driver.
My task on day one was to act like a tourist taking lots of touristy pictures to have in the camera in case we were stopped. At the same time I had to shoot lots of overlay, the pretty pictures which help flesh out a television story and of course to check out the lie of the land.
I sat in the hotel lobby, nobody looked like an undercover fixer. Johnny was either good at his job or not there. Luckily it was the former. I quickly briefed him on the interviews I wanted. A monk involved in last year's demonstrations, a student leader, a member so-called "1988 Generation" who took part in the demonstrations then which were put down with tanks and guns with the loss of more than 3000 lives. I also needed an interview with an official of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy.
It was a tall order, but within an hour it had all been arranged. The monk though could only do the interview within the next few hours. He would leave his monastery in plain clothes to avoid the security forces which were always guarding it. He would change cars twice and then don his saffron robes in the relative safety of my hotel room.
Erik was still not due for a few hours, so I would have to shoot the interview myself, without a tripod or proper microphone. Thankfully Johnny had another skill. He knew how to operate a video camera.
The monk arrived in jeans and a t-shirt, his shaven head concealed under a hat. He disappeared into my bathroom and emerged minutes later in his flowing saffron robes. The interview was conducted quickly and the memory card containing the sound and vision quickly removed and hidden. That would be the standard operating procedure for the next few days. No incriminating footage was ever left in the camera.
The interviews with the student leaders was more problematical. The Burmese junta has spies and informers everywhere, but again Johnny had a plan. He would arrange an excursion to a wildlife reserve in the jungle an hour's drive from Rangoon and the interviewees would meet us there.
Erik was now in town having successfully evaded detection at the airport.
We already had plenty of street shots, and shots of the breathtaking Shwedagon Pagoda the heart of Burmese Buddhism. We had even managed to secretly film the security forces at work from a moving car.
The drive to the wildlife reserve provided some shots of huge stacks of teak logs ripped from the jungle and awaiting export for the further enrichment of the military junta.
When we got there however, Johnny and the interviewees were tense. In the clearing we had chosen for the interview were a young couple canoodling on a motorbike. I soon learned the reason for the tension as Johnny explained that only members of the security forces were allowed to own a motorbike and the young man was no doubt an off duty soldier.
Luckily the couple soon moved on and the interviews were safely recorded and quickly hidden away.
The interview with the politician was again conducted in a hotel room. All that was let now was to record my pieces to camera and here a monsoonal downpour came to our aid.
Erik sat in the front seat of our car and filmed me talking in the back seat as we drove through central Rangoon. The windows misted with rain also kept the police and their spies under cover and their prying eyes off the streets.
Our job was finished, and thankfully airport security was just as lax going out as it had been going in.
ELIZABETH JACKSON: Peter Cave there reporting from Burma.
© 2008 Australian Broadcasting Corporation
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To Implement Amendments to the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 (September 26, 2008 )
For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 26, 2008
To Implement Amendments to the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003
A Proclamation by the President of the United States of America
1. Section 3A(b)(1) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 (Public Law 108-61) (the "Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act"), as amended by section 6(a) of the Tom Lantos Block Burmese JADE (Junta's Anti-Democratic Efforts) Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-286) (the "JADE Act"), directs the President to prohibit the importation of jadeite and rubies mined or extracted from Burma, as well as the importation of articles of jewelry containing jadeite and rubies mined or extracted from Burma (Burmese covered articles), until such time as the President determines and certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that Burma has met the conditions described in section 3(a)(3) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act.
2. Sections 3A(c)(1) and 3A(c)(2) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, set forth certain conditions for the importation of jadeite and rubies mined or extracted from countries other than Burma, as well as for the importation of articles of jewelry containing jadeite and rubies mined or extracted from countries other than Burma (non-Burmese covered articles).
3. Section 3A(c)(2) of the Act, as amended, also permits the President to waive the conditions for importation set forth in section 3A(c)(1) of non-Burmese covered articles from any country with respect to which the President determines and certifies to the appropriate congressional committees that the country has implemented certain measures to prevent the trade in Burmese covered articles.
4. In order to implement the prohibitions on the importation of Burmese covered articles and the conditions for importation of non-Burmese covered articles set forth in sections 3A(b)(1), 3A(c)(1), and 3A(c)(2) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, it is necessary to modify the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States (HTS) to include an additional U.S. Note to chapter 71.
5. Section 604 of the Trade Act of 1974, as amended (the "1974 Act") (19 U.S.C. 2483), authorizes the President to embody in the HTS the substance of relevant provisions of that Act, or other acts affecting import treatment, and of actions taken thereunder, including the removal, modification, continuance, or imposition of any rate of duty or other import restriction.
6. Sections 3A(b)(2) and 3A(c)(3) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, authorize the President to issue such proclamations, regulations, licenses, and orders, and conduct such investigations, as may be necessary to implement the prohibition on Burmese covered articles set forth in section 3A(b)(1) of that Act and the conditions for importation of non-Burmese covered articles set forth in sections 3A(c)(1) and 3A(c)(2) of that Act.
7. I have determined that it is appropriate to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Homeland Security, pursuant to sections 3A(b)(2) and 3A(c)(3) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, to issue regulations, licenses, and orders, and conduct such investigations as may be necessary, to implement the prohibition on importation of Burmese covered articles set forth in section 3A(b)(1) of that Act and the conditions for importation of non-Burmese covered articles set forth in sections 3A(c)(1) and 3A(c)(2) of that Act. I further determine that it is appropriate to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Homeland Security to redelegate, as necessary, any of these functions to other officers and agencies of the United States Government consistent with applicable law.
8. I have determined that it is appropriate to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to perform the functions set forth in section 3A(c)(2)(A) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, relating to the issuance waivers of the conditions for importation set forth in section 3A(c)(1) of non-Burmese covered articles from any country that has implemented certain measures to prevent the trade in Burmese covered articles. I further determine that it is appropriate to authorize the Secretary of the Treasury to redelegate, as necessary, any of these functions to other officers and agencies of the United States Government consistent with applicable law.
9. Section 3A(b)(3)(A) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, directs the President to take all appropriate actions to seek issuance of a draft waiver decision by the Council for Trade in Goods of the World Trade Organization (WTO) granting a waiver of the applicable WTO obligations with respect to the provisions of section 3A of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, and any measures taken to implement it.
10. I have determined that it is appropriate to authorize the United States Trade Representative to perform the functions specified in section 3A(b)(3)(A) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended.
11. Section 3A(b)(3)(B) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, directs the President to take all appropriate actions to seek the adoption of a resolution by the United Nations General Assembly expressing the need to address trade in Burmese covered articles and calling for the creation and implementation of a workable certification scheme for non-Burmese covered articles to prevent the trade in Burmese covered articles.
12. I have determined that it is appropriate to authorize the Secretary of State to perform the functions specified in section 3A(b)(3)(B) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended.
13. Section 3A(g) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, directs the President to, not later than January 26, 2009, transmit to the appropriate congressional committees a report describing what actions the United States has taken during the 60-day period beginning on the date of the enactment of the JADE Act to seek (i) the issuance of a draft waiver decision by the Council for Trade in Goods of the WTO, as specified in section 3A(b)(3)(A) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended; (ii) the adoption of a resolution by the United Nations General Assembly, as specified in section 3A(b)(3)(B) of that Act; and (iii) the negotiation of an international arrangement, as specified in section 3A(f)(1) of that Act.
14. I have determined that it is appropriate to authorize the Secretary of State, in consultation with the United States Trade Representative, to perform the functions specified in section 3A(g) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended.
15. Under section 3(b) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended by section 6(c) of the JADE Act, the President may waive the restrictions described above if the President determines and notifies the Committees on Appropriations, Finance, and Foreign Relations of the Senate and the Committees on Appropriations, Foreign Affairs, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives that to do so is in the national interest of the United States.
16. I have determined that it is appropriate to authorize the Secretary of State to perform the functions and authorities specified in section 3(b) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, acting under the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including sections 3 and 3A of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended by section 6 of the JADE Act, section 604 of the 1974 Act, and section 301 of title 3, United States Code, do proclaim that:
(1) In order to implement the prohibition on the importation of Burmese covered articles and the conditions for the importation of non-Burmese covered articles provided for in sections 3A(b)(1) and 3A(c)(1) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, an additional U.S. Note as set forth in the Annex to this proclamation is included in chapter 71 of the HTS.
(2) Beginning on September 27, 2008, the importation into the United States of any Burmese covered article shall be prohibited, except as provided for (i) in section 3A(d) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended; (ii) in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses that may be issued pursuant to this proclamation and section 3A(b)(2) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended; or (iii) by waiver issued pursuant to section 3(b) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended.
(3) Beginning on September 27, 2008, as a condition for the importation into the United States of any non-Burmese covered article, the importer and exporter of such article must meet the conditions set forth in section 3A(c)(1) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, except as provided for (i) in section 3A(d) of that Act; (ii) in regulations, orders, directives, or licenses issued pursuant to this proclamation and section 3A(c)(3) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended; or (iii) by waiver issued pursuant to either section 3(b) or section 3A(c)(2) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended.
(4) The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Homeland Security are hereby authorized, pursuant to sections 3A(b)(2) and 3A(c)(3) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, to issue regulations, licenses, and orders, and conduct such investigations as may be necessary, to implement the prohibition on Burmese covered articles set forth in section 3A(b)(1) of that Act and the conditions for importation of non-Burmese covered articles set forth in sections 3A(c)(1) and 3A(c)(2) of that Act. The Secretary of the Treasury and the Secretary of Homeland Security are further authorized to redelegate, as necessary, any of these functions to other officers and agencies of the United States Government consistent with applicable law.
(5) The Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, is hereby authorized to perform the functions set forth in section 3A(c)(2)(A) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended, relating to the issuance of waivers of the conditions for importation set forth in section 3A(c)(1) of non-Burmese covered articles from any country that has implemented certain measures to prevent the trade in Burmese covered articles. The Secretary of the Treasury may redelegate any of these functions to other officers and agencies of the United States Government consistent with applicable law.
(6) The United States Trade Representative is hereby authorized to perform the functions specified in section 3A(b)(3)(A) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended.
(7) The Secretary of State is hereby authorized to perform the functions specified in section 3A(b)(3)(B) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended.
(8) The Secretary of State is hereby authorized, in consultation with the United States Trade Representative, to perform the functions specified in section 3A(g) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended.
(9) The Secretary of State is hereby authorized to perform the functions specified in section 3(b) of the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act, as amended.
(10) Any provisions of previous proclamations and Executive Orders that are inconsistent with the actions taken in this proclamation are superseded to the extent of such inconsistency.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-sixth day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-third.
GEORGE W. BUSH
# # #
Rebuke for Burma from world powers
September 29, 2008
NEW YORK: A year after Burma's military leaders cracked down violently on pro-democracy demonstrators, world powers have called on the country's junta to make tangible progress on political reforms.
The first ministerial meeting of the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and other, mostly Asian, nations urged the junta to co-operate with a UN special envoy to resolve the nation's crisis.
The call came before a possible visit by the UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, to Burma by the end of the year.
A UN envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, has made four visits to the country since the bloody uprising a year ago, but failed to restart a dialogue between the detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta.
The talks on Saturday underlined "the responsibility of the Myanmar [Burma] Government to demonstrate its stated commitment to co-operation with the good offices [of the UN Secretary General] through further tangible results," Mr Ban's spokeswoman, Michele Montas, said.
The meeting of Mr Ban's so-called "group of friends on Myanmar" wanted the generals to "respond more positively" to demands for the release of political prisoners and a dialogue with the opposition, Ms Montas said.
Mr Ban chaired the informal talks on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly amid little sign the military junta would embrace political reforms.
The British Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, expressed dismay that the junta continued to defy international demands for the release of political prisoners and an end to repression.
"The most important message today is that the people of Burma have not been forgotten by the international community and they remain high on the thoughts of many governments," Mr Miliband said.
Agence France-Presse
British Foreign Office warns Lloyd's over Burma
အဂၤလိပ္နိုင္ငံျခားေရးဝန္ႀကီးက အဂၤလိပ္အာမခံဂ်ိဳင္းရင့္ လိဳြက္ ကို ဗမာစစ္အစိုးရနဲ ့စီးပြားေရးဆက္ဆံမွဳေတြဆက္လက္ျပဳလုပ္ေနလို ့
ကန္ ့ကြက္ေႀကာင္းေျပာႀကားလိုက္ပါတယ္၊ မလုပ္ရဘူးလို ့ေတာ့ေျပာတာမဟုတ္ပါဘူး လက္ရိွ EU ရဲ့ျမန္မာနိုင္ငံအေပၚပိတ္ဆို ့အေရး
ယူမွဳေတြထဲမွာ ေငြေႀကးနဲ ့ စြမ္းအင္ ဆိုင္ရာပိတ္ဆို ့မွဳေတြမပါဝင္တာေႀကာင့္ လိဳြက္ကို တားဆီးဖို ့ဆို တာ အဂၤလိပ္အစိုးရအေနနဲ ့ကိုယ့္
သေဘာနဲ ့ကိုယ္လုပ္မွျဖစ္ပါလိမ့္မယ္ က်ြန္ေတာ္တိုအဂၤလန္ကျမန္မာအေရးေဆာင္ရြက္ေနတဲ့ ေခါင္းေဆာင္မ်ားအဆိုအရ လိဳြက္ သာ
ေနာက္ဆုတ္သြားရင္ စစ္အစိုးရ ရဲ ့စီးပြားေရးဆိုင္ရာအေျခအေနေတြဟာအႀကီးအက်ယ္ကေမာက္ကမျဖစ္နိုင္ေႀကာင္းေျပာဆိုေနႀကပါ
တယ္။
ဘုန္းလိွဳင္-fwubc
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/28/insurance.foreignpolicy
FO warns Lloyd's over Burma
Nick Mathiason The Observer,
Sunday September 28 2008
The Foreign Office has written to Lloyd's of London chairman Lord Levene to outline its disapproval that Lloyd's brokers are trading with the Burmese military dictatorship.
The letter has forced Levene to write to the insurance market's managing agents last week 'urging them to consider' their involvement with the repressive regime.
Levene's intervention has fallen short of suggesting an outright boycott but is still a significant development. Lloyd's has historically been involved in Burma, despite international boycotts. Its syndicates reinsure the junta's aviation and shipping interests, and its involvement is pivotal because it is a 'market maker' encouraging other reinsurers to share risk on Burmese government interests. Without Lloyd's, campaigners believe the repressive regime would be in economic turmoil.
Johnny Chatterton of the Burma Campaign said: 'This is totally humiliating for Lloyd's. For years it has refused to accept that its members are helping to fund the Burmese regime. We welcome the British government's intervention. Lloyd's is now under colossal pressure to cut its links.'
The US government has also recently placed pressure on American insurers to cease trading with the regime. The EU's existing sanctions against Burma do not extend to financial services or energy.
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