Thailand's government on Thursday signed its first-ever agreement with a rebel group in its Muslim-majority south, pledging to work toward peace talks aimed at ending a festering insurgency.
The potentially historic deal was signed in Kuala Lumpur between Thai officials and a representative of the Barisan Revolusi Nasional rebel group ahead of a visit to Malaysia by Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra.
Yingluck was to meet later in the day with her host, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, for annual talks set to include the nine-year insurgency and the possibility of Malaysia hosting future Thai negotiations with the militants.
There has been a recent spike in attacks along Thailand's border with Muslim-majority Malaysia, where the nine-year insurgency has claimed more than 5,500 lives.
The "general consensus document to launch a dialogue process for peace" was signed by Lieutenant-General Paradorn Pattanathabutr, secretary general of Thailand's National Security Council, and Hassan Taib of the BRN.
"Thank Allah we will do our best to solve the problem. We will tell our people to work together to solve the problems," Hassan told reporters after the ceremony.
Hassan was identified as the "chief of the BRN liaison office in Malaysia."
Officials involved in the ceremony otherwise offered little comment on the agreement and a text of the pledge was not handed out.
Barisan Revolusi Nasional, which in Malay means "National Revolutionary Front," is one of several shadowy groups blamed for the unrest in Thailand.
It remains to be seen whether other groups will fall in line behind the BRN.
Prospects for peace have been dogged by the complex make-up of the insurgency and doubts persist over the level of control that older, exiled leaders known to Thai authorities exert over the younger -- and more violent -- fighters on the ground.
On Wednesday, Paradorn said in Bangkok that he hoped peace talks could start "soon," with Malaysia providing the venue.
Thailand's southernmost provinces suffer almost daily gun and bomb attacks by shadowy insurgents fighting for greater autonomy, a demand Thai authorities have rejected.-Interaksyon (February 28, 2013 11:04AM)
South Korea could become Indonesia’s closest economic and political partner as the engine of global economic growth shifts to Asia, analysts say.
As the two countries celebrate the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations this year, experts are upbeat about the future.
“Under the new president, these relations will continue to flourish,” said Bantarto Bandoro, an international relations expert at Indonesian Defense University.
“Indonesia can learn from South Korea in its preparation to become a developed country, while South Korea needs Indonesia’s vast market and natural resource potential,” he added.
“South Korea and Indonesia fit each other. I think there are no countries in the region that perfectly match each other more than these two countries.”
At the same time, China and the United States are vying for influence in the region.
Indonesian Vice President Boediono this week attended the inauguration of Park Geun-hye — the first female president of South Korea.
Bantarto said that unlike relations with China or Japan, Indonesia harbored no past grudge with South Korea.
China, for instance, had troubled relations with Indonesia during the New Order era after the Suharto regime accused Beijing of being behind the failed 1965 communist coup.
Japan at one time occupied Indonesia.
“So, South Korea can speak freely to Indonesia, for instance to help them restrain North Korea, while Indonesia can ask South Korea to invest more and transfer technology to Indonesia,” Bantarto said.
Aleksius Jemadu, dean of Pelita Harapan University’s School of Social and Political Sciences, agreed that relations between Indonesia and South Korea could only intensify regardless of leadership changes.
He said that as Southeast Asia’s largest economy continued to grow, its influence in the international arena would naturally increase.
Indonesia is South Korea’s eighth-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade worth $30 billion in 2011, up from $20 billion in 2010.
Indonesia is also the biggest Southeast Asian buyer of South Korean military equipment.
The government in 2011 awarded two contracts to South Korea, one of them to purchase submarines and the other to purchase KAI T-50 Golden Eagle supersonic trainer jets.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and former South Korea President Lee Myung-bak vowed to expand trade to
$50 billion by 2015 and $100 billion by 2020.
After a 90-minute meeting with Park on Tuesday in Seoul, Boediono said Indonesia and South Korea would achieve a new level in their bilateral relations after four decades of diplomatic ties.
“Both countries can complement one another,” Boediono said.
“They have what we need and we have what they need,” he added, as quoted by Antara news agency.
Before meeting with Park, Boediono held discussions with several of South Korea’s biggest business leaders, including LG International chief executive Ha Young-bong and Cho Hwan-eik, president and chief executive of Korea Electric Power.-The Jakarta Globe (February 28, 2013)
Japan scrambled fighter jets on Thursday to head off a Chinese government plane flying towards disputed islands in the East China Sea, the defence ministry said.
It said the Y-12 propeller plane did not enter airspace around the Tokyo-controlled islands known as the Senkakus, which Beijing claims as the Diaoyus.
The aircraft headed back towards China after Japan's military planes became airborne, defence officials said, declining to give further details.
The incident came as three Chinese government ships sailed into territorial waters around the islands, Japan's coastguard said.
The three marine surveillance ships entered the 12-nautical-mile territorial zone off Uotsuri island shortly after 7:00 am (2200 GMT Wednesday), the coastguard said in a statement.
It said the trio left the zone after just over two hours.
Thursday's moves were the latest in a series by Chinese government ships since Tokyo nationalised three islands in the chain last September, reigniting the dispute.
They also came the day Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking about the islands dispute, cited British former premier Margaret Thatcher and her thoughts on a 1982 war with Argentina over the Falkland Islands.- Channel News Asia (February 28, 2013 1759hrs)
Malaysian security forces briefly entered the village in Lahad Datu town where followers of the Sulu sultanate have been holding out for the last two weeks but were driven off, the leader of the group said Wednesday.
Raja Muda (crown prince) Agbimuddin Kiram, said in a radio interview that he was in a meeting when six Malaysian soldiers entered the village of Tanduo.
However, Agbimuddin said, the soldiers retreated when his followers went to meet them.
The incident happened soon after a Malaysian aircraft dropped leaflets on Lahad Datu's Tanduao village containing a “last warning” for Agbimuddin, brother of Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, and his followers to “surrender now.”
The crown prince led close to 200 of the sultanate’s followers to Sabah.
"Anim nagpunta sa area namin (Six of them went to our area) while we were conducting (a) meeting in the house where I'm staying … tapos nakapunta diyan ‘yung kasama namin nag-inform sa’min. ‘Yung mga kawal namin immediately ran. Sabi nila raw anim ang Malaysian soldiers armed with Armalite. ‘Nung nakita sila ay tumakbo (then one of our companions informed us. Our warriors immediately ran. They said there were six Malaysian soldiers armed with Armalite rifles. When they saw our men they ran away)," Agbimuddin said.
The leaflet drop happened around 2 p.m.
Datu Abdil Nasser Kiram, second to the youngest brother of Kiram III, translated excerpts from the message, written in Tausug that Agbimuddin relayed to him.
"This is our last warning to you or you will regret what will happen to you," the leaflets said. "Think of the loved ones you have left behind in the Philippines."
The message also said the leaflets would serve as a safe conduct pass for those who want to leave Sabah.
The leaflets were dropped after Malaysian authorities said they were “set to end” the standoff with the Sulu sultan’s followers, possibly within the next 24 hours, as reported by Malaysian news site The Star.
The possibility came after the sultan rejected calls on Tuesday, including one from President Benigno Aquino III, for him to order his followers home.
In his other text messages to his family in the Philippines, Agbimuddin said he and his group were leaving everything to Allah, do or die, make or break.”
Also, Agbimuddin said the Malaysian soldiers who wento to Tanduao were “either provoking them or testing their strength or capability.”
Malaysia had also given the sultan’s followers three deadlines the last of which expired Tuesday night, to leave.
Asked by The Star if a move against the Sulu sultan’s followers would be made within the next 24 hours, Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Khalid Abu Bakar replied: “Maybe. We are set to end the standoff.”
The Star also managed to interview the sultan’s brother by phone and quoted him as saying they expected to be attacked but were “ready to defend ourselves, we are not afraid.”
“We are not afraid because we know we are right. This is our land,” he told the Malaysian news outfit.
He also said he would take orders only from his brother the sultan.
The Star reported that Malaysian security forces had deployed “at several strategic locations in and outside the surrounding Feld plantations” on Tuesday and that “government and army medical teams are on standby should the green light be given to deport the Sulu group.”-Interaksyon (February 27, 2013 12:00PM)
A Vietnamese journalist working for a state-run newspaper has been fired and threatened with prosecution after criticizing a Communist Party leader on his personal website.
Nguyen Dac Kien was let go by the official Family and Society newspaper on Tuesday, less than 24 hours after writing a blog post that took issue with a speech by General-Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong.
In the nationally televised speech Monday, the general-secretary said those who call for pluralism, a multi-party system and separation of power represent a "deterioration" of Vietnamese society.
Kien's blog post, which went viral , said the leader had "no right" to address the people of Vietnam like this, saying state corruption was the real problem with Vietnam.
The paper, where Kien had worked since 2008, quickly put out a statement saying the reporter had "violated the operating rules" of the publication and had been fired. It warned he will be "held accountable before the law for his words and behavior."
Kien, who is married and has a small child, says he had done nothing wrong, but that he is not surprised by the firing. He says he will continue fighting for democracy in Vietnam and is prepared to face the ramifications of writing the article.
Vietnam is a one-party Communist state that strictly forbids criticism of its leaders. It increasingly has jailed political dissidents and activists who question the party's authority.-Voice of America (February 27, 2013)
Thailand's national security chief says the country is working to hold peace talks with Muslim insurgents based in neighboring Malaysia who are behind unrest in southern Thailand that has lasted nearly a decade.
Paradorn Pattanathabutr, secretary general of the National Security Council, says the two countries are working to set up the talks with militant leaders. Malaysia would act as a facilitator, helping to bring the insurgents to the table.
Paradorn says fewer than 1,000 insurgents are living on the Malaysian side of the border.
His comments Wednesday came ahead of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's visit to Kuala Lumpur this week.
More than 5,000 people have been killed in Thailand's three southernmost provinces since an Islamic insurgency erupted in 2004.-The Jakarta Post (February 27, 2013)
Laos will host the 6th CLMV Summit (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) and the 5th ACMECS Summit (Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy) in Vientiane from March 11-13.
The 7th Cambodia-Laos-Vietnam Summit, which will be hosted by Vietnam, will also take place in Vientiane at the same time.
Vietnam had originally planned to host this summit last year but decided to postpone the meeting. Vietnam now takes this opportunity to host the summit as regional leaders gather together.
Yesterday, the CLMV Senior Officials' Meeting and the ACMECS Senior Officials' Meeting took place in Vientiane chaired by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Bounkeut Sangsomsak.
Senior officials from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam met to prepare for the CLMV Summit and senior officials from the four countries and Thailand met to discuss the ACMECS Summit.
“Today, officials discussed and exchanged opinions on several matters in preparation for the two summits. Regarding the CLMV, we discussed issues related to connectivity within the four countries and agreed to make full use of the roads we have built for our ultimate benefit, including Road No. 9,” Bounkeut told media yesterday.
“One of the important things is to address our shortcomings, such as practical problems with the one-stop service.
This service is considered very important as it provides quicker results and facilitates the passage of goods and people, contributing to the effective use of the East-West and North-South Economic Corridors as well as other major road links. We have discussed how to address this issue.”
Bounkeut said CLMV senior officials have also discussed tourism cooperation, accepting that tourism in the four countries has grown rapidly over the past few years.
In 2012, the CLMV countries received over 14.8 million international visitors, an increase of more than 19.7 per cent compared to 2011.
The senior officials also touched upon 16 cooperation projects between the CLMV countries. Of the total, eight are underway and some have been completed. The remaining projects will start within the next two years.
They also discussed assistance provided to the CLMV countries by the Japanese government worth US$20 million.
Of this, Laos received funding to finance five projects and to improve services along Road No. 9 in Savannakhet province.
The CLMV Summit is a very important meeting under the Asean framework. The first CLMV Summit was held in November 2004 in Vientiane and saw the adoption of the Vientiane Declaration on enhancing economic cooperation and integration among the member countries.
Currently, the priority areas for cooperation include trade and investment, transportation, industry and energy, human resource development, agriculture, ICT, health, and regional economic integration.
ACMECS is a cooperation framework between Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam to utilise member countries' diverse strengths and to promote balanced development in the sub-region.
The first ACMECS Summit was held in 2003 in Bagan, Myanmar. Currently, eight priority areas of cooperation include facilitation for trade and investment, agriculture, industry and energy, road connectivity, tourism, human resource development, health and the environment.- Asia News Network (February 27, 2013)
Thai authorities and separatist rebels could be inching towards talks after nine years of violence and the loss of more than 5,000 lives in Thailand's Muslim-dominated southern provinces bordering Malaysia.
Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is meeting her Malaysian counterpart, Najib Razak, in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday and may seek his help to make contact with rebel groups.
"There are insurgent groups operating within Malaysia and Thailand that want to talk to the Thai government," Paradorn Pattanathabutr, secretary-general of the National Security Council of Thailand (NSC), told Reuters.
"We want Malaysia to facilitate these talks."
The NSC brings together government ministers and officials charged with coordinating security matters with the military. In a 2012 paper it acknowledged a political dimension to the violence and proposed dialogue with the insurgents, but the military, which has a big presence in the south, is lukewarm.
"The military has had regular contact with Malaysia. We are not involved with the meeting on Thursday, because this is a government initiative," Udomchai Thammasarorat, commander of the Fourth Army in southern Thailand, told Reuters.
"Our military strategy is clear and we are making good progress towards resolving the conflict," he said.
Independent analysts see little evidence that the military is winning, despite its success in thwarting an attack on a marine base on February 13 in which 16 insurgents were killed, with no loss of life among the marines.
The rebels have hit back with a string of attacks. Two bombs on Saturday in Narathiwat province, about 1,150 km (715 miles) south of Bangkok, and a drive-by shooting in neighboring Pattani injured five people. An explosion in Pattani's commercial district on February 17 killed two security volunteers.
Yingluck has said she would discuss the southern unrest in Malaysia but government officials are not using the term "peace talks" and some senior ministers are opposed to such an idea.
Deputy Prime Minister Chalerm Yoobumrung ruled out negotiations with the insurgents, saying that "if insurgent groups come to us with conditions, we will not accept them".
"ENCOURAGING"
The provinces were once part of an independent Malay sultanate before being annexed by Thailand in 1909.
Resistance to Buddhist rule from Bangkok has existed for decades, waning briefly in the 1990s before resurfacing violently in January 2004.
Buddhist monks, teachers and farmers have been singled out as targets in a conflict that has killed 5,300 people, according to Deep South Watch, which monitors the violence.
Thai authorities say the attacks in the south are organized by the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN) Coordinate, an offshoot of the Patani Malay National Revolutionary Front established in the 1960s to seek greater autonomy.
Some within the military and government remain suspicious of Malaysia, accusing it of providing a refuge for insurgents.
"It's encouraging that the Thai government is working seriously on establishing dialogue. But there are doubts about whether Malaysia can play a productive role as mediator," said Matthew Wheeler, a Southeast Asia analyst at the International Crisis Group.
Najib, facing a general election that has to be held by called by the end of April, could benefit from any move towards a settlement.
"For Najib, an agreement with Thailand could be presented as a major foreign policy achievement to show that the southern crisis can be resolved peacefully," said Sunai Phasuk of Human Rights Watch.-Reuters (February 26, 2013 7:41AM)
Cambodian Defense Minister Tea Banh and his Thai counterpart Sukumpol Suwanatat informally met and had lunch near Cambodia's Preah Vihear temple on Tuesday, aiming to reduce tensions ahead of the World Court's hearing over the disputed border around the temple in April.
"The two defense ministers just met and had lunch together in front of the Preah Vihear temple to create a closer atmosphere between the two sides' troops," Chan Punloek, an assistant to Royal Cambodian Armed Forces commander in Preah Vihear, Chea Tara, told Xinhua over telephone. "The meeting could cool tensions along the border ahead of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling over the disputed border," he said.
"The two ministers agreed to solve all issues peacefully based on existing mechanisms," said Chan Punloek, who also attended the meeting. "They also reiterated their commitment to complying with the decision of the ICJ."
The ICJ awarded the 11th century Preah Vihear temple to Cambodia in 1962.
The two neighbors have had sporadic border conflicts over territorial dispute near the temple since the UNESCO listed the temple as a World Heritage Site on July 7, 2008, but Thailand claims the ownership of 4.6 square kilometers of scrub next to the temple.
Fierce clashes between the two sides' troops happened in February and April 2011 under Thailand's Democrat Party rule.
However, the two nations have seen improving ties since August, 2011 when former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's Pheu Thai Party won the general election and led the current government.
At Cambodia's request, the ICJ is expected to issue a decision on who owns the disputed land around the Preah Vihear temple later this year.
The two countries are scheduled to give their oral statements on the dispute to the ICJ in the Netherlands on April 15-19.-Xinhua News (February 26, 2013 17:00:19)
Back then, students were asked to bring out a pen and a sheet of paper whenever a teacher announces a pop quiz, whether it’s about Math, Science or Filipino.
But in a school in Batangas, second-year students are able to take a quiz using tablet computers, and get their scores right after they submit their answers.
Diwa Learning Systems, a Philippine educational resource provider, recently held a special demonstration of its newest product, the YoPad, at First Asia Institute of Technology and Humanities (FAITH) in Tanauan, Batangas. Teachers can put anything in the seven-inch Android tablet, from lectures to digital textbooks and magazines.
Since the YoPads are connected to each other via Diwa’s Internet-dependent classroom management software, teachers can also create a multiple-choice quiz for their students, see which of them are already done answering, and compute their scores.
“The teacher is able to track in real-time if the students are doing the quiz, and if they are done. Right away, the teacher will know what the scores of their students are,” Diwa’s executive director Brian Belen told ABS-CBNnews.com.
The YoPads can also be used during lectures instead of notes written on Manila paper, with the teacher able to effectively manage the flow of the discussion by controlling the shift from one PowerPoint slide to the next.
Diwa will offer the device to schools across the country this coming academic year, with the tablet priced at around P10,000. High school students at FAITH, in particular, are targeted to use YoPads by May of this year.
“We already accepted orders from schools as far down as Mindanao, some also in northern Luzon and Metro Manila,” he said.
Tablets are already used in a number of schools in Metro Manila, such as La Salle Green Hills in Mandaluyong City and selected public schools in Makati City, but these are only used as replacements for bulky textbooks.
Belen stressed that unlike these, the YoPad comes equipped with Diwa’s other educational products to make sure that these are used by students for learning and not just for games.
He added that teachers in partner schools will also be regularly trained how to use the device so they can “keep up” with today’s tech-savvy youth.
Immersed in technology
The main idea behind the YoPad, said Belen, is for schools to be able to adjust to the changing needs of students, who are now heavily immersed in technology. He noted that children as young as two or three years old already know how to use tablets and smartphones, whether for learning or for play.
The YoPad complements Diwa’s flagship e-learning product, Genyo, which is a learning management system for basic education. It is pre-packaged with lessons in major subject areas such as Math, Science, English, Araling Panlipunan and Filipino, and adhere to the standards of the Department of Education.
Launched in 2008, Genyo is used by over 150 schools across the country.
“For Genyo, the content is a tie-up between Diwa and Singapore groups,” Belen explained. “We make sure the content is appropriate for the Philippine curriculum and, specifically, appropriate for K to 12. All the content within Genyo, which will run in the YoPad or any other device we’re working on, is already suited to the Philippine setting.”
Tablets over books?
With the success of Genyo and the rolling out of YoPads in the coming months, will tablets soon invade classrooms in the Philippines and outnumber the traditional printed materials?
Belen said that while this is what they want to achieve, the country has yet to reach this stage, citing problems with Internet access, among others.
“In an ideal setting, that would probably be the case. But what we see now is that it’s difficult to have a setup where there’s absolutely no books,” he explained.
“It’s not that easy because what we have to understand is since you’re dealing with hardware that comes with content, you have to develop an entire ecosystem within the school for these devices. So it entails setting up Wi-Fi hotspots and understanding how the students will charge their devices inside the school," he ended.-ABS-CBN News (February 26, 2013 4:05PM)
Myanmar might be on the hot list of places to visit, but visitors should be wary of touching down in Yangon without a hotel reservation.
The surge in visitor numbers in the last few years has vastly outstripped hotel room supply, and the city is struggling to meet demand.
It’s an issue that’s not going away any time soon -- the major hotel shortage is expected to continue for the next five to 10 years.
Visitor numbers have been steadily increasing for some time. Between 2009 and 2011, international visitor figures grew about 25 percent each year.
Last year saw a 54 percent increase in arrivals, as the country undertook economic and social reforms.
What does all this mean for travelers?
Not only do they need to book well ahead, they've got to be prepared to pay comparably big bucks for a room. Two- and three-star hotels are charging more than US$100 a night for average rooms.
Rising accommodation costs
Average daily rates increased 350 percent from 2007 to 2012, according to a report by Jones Lang LaSalle Hotels.
The company’s senior vice president Andrew Langdon has direct experience. When he visited Yangon in 2011, he stayed in a four-star hotel and paid US$70 a night. He returned in December 2012 and paid US$260 for the same room.
“In the space of about 12 months the rate had gone up almost 400 percent -- and it’s going to go higher,” says Langdon.
It’s a simple matter of supply and demand. In 2012, hotels were running at an average 70 percent occupancy. This year, occupancy is expected to run at 80 percent, according to Jones Lang LaSalle research.
Meanwhile, last year’s room rates were up 50 percent on 2011. That will likely increase another 20-25 percent this year.
Myanmar’s Ministry of Tourism estimates there are 8,000 hotel rooms in Yangon, of which 1,500 to 2,500 are of international standard. The few name brand hotel groups that do have a presence are almost exclusively Asian -- large American and European hotel groups have been kept out by strict economic sanctions.
Thomas Henseler, general manager of one of Yangon’s most exclusive hotels, The Governor’s Residence, recommends guests book at least six months in advance.
“Last year was extremely busy with average occupancy for the year going up from 55 percent in 2011 to 75 percent in 2012,” says Henseler.
Among the current crop of big brand hotels are the Parkroyal from Singapore, The Chatrium Hotel from Thailand and the Sedona Hotel from Malaysia.
Hong Kong-based Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts is one player that's ahead of the game. In 1996, the group opened a 22-story property in Yangon’s central business district -- Traders Hotel Yangon.
A year later, the group built two 21-story towers near Kandawgyi Lake, intended as serviced apartments. The project was put on hold as the Asian financial crisis struck, but last year work restarted on the project, which will put 240 two-, three- and four-bedroom apartments on the market.
No room at the inn? Build more inns
“The Shangri-La apartments are scheduled to be completed in mid-2013,” says the hotel’s general manager Philip Couvaras.
The serviced apartment market is strong, according to Langdon. Yangon has only a handful of quality serviced apartments and they're running at 100 percent occupancy, with a waiting list of more than 100 people.
“A friend told me that there are lots of new expats being sent there, they’re in their early thirties and they’re being given a US$10,000 per month housing allowance because that’s what it costs to rent anything decent there,” says Langdon.
Other upcoming hotels include the 270-room Centrepoint Towers Hotel, set to open in April, and the 100-room Nawarat Hotel in Hlaing Township, which is also scheduled in the spring.
Vivienne Gan, public relations vice president at Langham Hospitality Group, says the group is looking at a number of sites in Yangon.
But hotels take time to build -- three years on average -- and even those groups that manage to buy the land soon or do a joint venture hotel still won’t be up and running until 2016 at the earliest.
The message to tourists is clear: book your accommodation well before you fly, especially during the peak season from November to February.
There have been reports of unprepared visitors who have found themselves on the streets or knocking on monastery doors, but this isn't only ill advised, it's against the law. International visitors are required to register with local authorities before they arrive at a private residence.
Myanmar Travel agent Nway Nway stresses the importance of booking a hotel room in advance.
“In truth, we don’t allow our tourists to stay in local houses or monasteries for their own security,” she says.-Cable News Network (February 26, 2013)
A hot air balloon caught fire and exploded as it was flying over Egypt's ancient temple city of Luxor on Tuesday, February 26, killing 19 tourists, a security official said.
An employee at the company operating the balloon told AFP the tourists were from Korea, Japan and Britain, as well as one Egyptian.
"This is terrible, just terrible," the employee told AFP by telephone in floods of tears, declining to give her name.
"We don't yet know what happened exactly or what went wrong," she said.
Earlier a security official said that 19 people had died but said they were from Hong Kong, Japan, France and Britain.
The balloon which was carrying 21 people was flying at 300 meters (1,000 feet) over Qurna, in Luxor's West Bank, when it caught fire before exploding, the official said.
The two survivors, including the balloon's pilot, have been taken to hospital, he said.-Rappler (February 26, 2013 3:31PM)
Singapore granted its highest number of citizenships last year in more than a decade, even as it has tightened its intake of permanent residents (PRs) in recent years.
In all, 20,693 became Singaporeans last year, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Grace Fu revealed yesterday in Parliament.
This is higher than the previous year's 15,777 and follows an uptrend in the number of new citizens.
Between 1987 and 2006, about 8,200 people were given citizenship papers a year. From 2007 to 2011, that number grew to 18,500 a year, according to statistics previously released by the National Population and Talent Division (NPTD).
An NPTD spokesman told The Straits Times yesterday that the number of citizenships granted each year fluctuates depending on factors such as the number and quality of applicants.
Last year's successful applications were within the 15,000 to 25,000 range it expects to grant yearly, she said.
The lower number of new citizenships granted in 2011, she noted, was due to the introduction of the Singapore Citizenship Journey, a programme to help new citizens better appreciate the country's history, norms and values. "This process takes about two months to complete. Hence, about 4,000 applicants who began their citizenship formalities in late 2011 were only granted citizenship in early 2012," she said.
Last year's new citizenship figure also includes 2,735 minors under the age of 21, most of whom were born overseas to Singaporean parents, Ms Fu said.
Excluding minors, eight in 10 new citizens who took the oath last year had lived in Singapore for more than five years, while five in 10 had been here for more than a decade, Fu said.
She was responding to questions on citizenship and permanent resident applications by David Ong (Jurong GRC), Mr Baey Yam Keng (Tampines GRC) and Dr Lily Neo (Tanjong Pagar GRC).
To Dr Neo, who felt that only those contributing to society and "not draining our limited resources" should become new citizens, Fu gave assurances that a set of selection criteria is in place.
She assured Ong that citizenships are not granted to people before they start living here. But exceptions are made for some dependants, she said.
"These are all considered as a family unit and, from time to time, their children, their wives, their parents may be granted Singapore citizenship before they have a long extended period of stay in Singapore."
Fu also revealed that 4,100 new citizens a year were foreign spouses sponsored by Singaporeans, while another 4,100 spouses became permanent residents. These figures are averaged over 2008 to last year. The bulk were foreign wives of Singaporean husbands - nine in 10 for new citizens and eight in 10 for permanent residents.
Rejections made up 10 per cent of applications for citizenship, or 580 a year, but slightly more than half of applications for PRs - or 4,400 a year.
Baey was concerned for these Singaporeans whose spouses do not meet the conditions to stay on as PRs.
"Are they expected to migrate, leave Singapore or maybe they shouldn't marry a foreigner in the first place?" he asked.
Fu acknowledged the difficulty that comes with matters of the heart, like marriage, but added: "Hard as it may be, we need to have certain rules.
"We have to make sure that the immigrants that we take in do not strain our financial resources and also... have a very good chance of assimilating into our society."
She added that the spouses still get long-term social visit passes to stay on and, over time, if the Singaporean partner is able to support his family and the marriage is stable, their chances of approval are higher than that of those without family nor children.-Asia News Network (February 26, 2013)
Malaysian security forces have received the green light to disarm followers of the Sulu sultanate who have occupied a village in Sabah, a Malaysian news site reported Tuesday.
The Star quoted Sabah police commissioner Datuk Hamza Taib as saying: “It is only a question of right timing for us to act.”
Since the sultanate’s followers, led by Raja Muda Azzimudie Kiram, occupied a village in Lahad Datu town three weeks ago, Malaysian authorities have so far set three deadlines for them to return to Sulu, but have decided not to act as efforts continue to seek a peaceful resolution to the matter.
However, on Tuesday, President Benigno Aquino III appealed to them to leave Sabah, saying the “point of no return” was “fast approaching.”
Kiram is brother to Sulu Sultan Jamalul Kiram III, who has refused to order his followers to return from Sabah, saying they were determined to stake their claim to the territory, which is historically part of the sultanate but was ceded by the British to its former colony, Malaysia.
The Philippines has sent a ship and offered to ferry back the sultanate’s followers but the Kirams have declined.-Interaksyon (February 26, 2013 9:59AM)
China will launch routine fishery patrols around Nansha waters in South China Sea this year to better protect the legitimate interests of Chinese fishermen in the area, the Chinese fishery administration said on Sunday. Wu Zhuang, chief of the South China Sea Fishery Bureau under the Ministry of Agriculture, said promoting fishery patrols around the Nansha Islands on a regular basis is the main priority of fishery law enforcement this year.
"In face of many concentrated new challenges, the fishery-protection work this year includes guarding the Huangyan Islands and the Meiji Reef, strengthening the supervision and administration of Xisha waters and Beibu Gulf, and developing regular-based fishery patrols in around Nansha Islands," Wu said.
Along with the perfection of vessel equipment and personnel, China is expected to accelerate its pace in terms of fishery patrols in the South China Sea, Wu said, adding that the bureau has taken a very strong position regarding fishery patrols and protection.
Analysts said regular patrols in the South China Sea highlight great advances in China's law enforcement capability in relevant waters, as Beijing seeks to safeguard its sovereignty and national interests in the region.
Yang Baoyun, an expert on Southeast Asian studies at Peking University, said that apart from sending naval patrols that provide protection to domestic fishermen, flexible policies and diplomacy by government leaders are also needed in dealing with islands disputes with Southeast Asian counties, as fishing rights and regional stability should both be taken into account.
China's fishery administration began exploring ways to protect fishermen's interests in the South China Sea in 2012, as rows between Chinese fishermen and naval vessels of neighboring countries constantly flared up in the area. Due to the frequent patrols and quick response of the vessels, no illegal foreign detentions of Chinese fishing boats were reported around Nansha waters last year, Wu said.
According to Xinhua, more than 400 fishing vessels are currently operating in the South China Sea.
"Where there is a fishing vessel, there is our patrol ship. We will overcome all difficulties to protect fishermen," said Captain Yang Jia'en, head of the patrol vessel Yuzheng 302.- Xinhua-China Daily (February 25, 2013)
Myanmar leader Thein Sein was on Monday set to embark on his first visit to Europe as president which will include high level EU talks, officials said, as the fast-reforming country deepens ties with the West.
Thein Sein was scheduled to leave Yangon on Monday evening and would fly to Norway, followed by Finland, Austria, Belgium and Italy, officials said.
The trip to Belgium would include both bilateral and “EU high level meetings”, a European diplomat told AFP.
A second European diplomatic source said the topics to be discussed would include sanctions and development aid as well as economic reforms, the country’s human rights record and efforts to negotiate peace in ongoing conflicts.
A Myanmar government official confirmed the destinations on the tour, adding that it would be the president’s “first trip to Europe.”
Thein Sein has impressed the international community with a string of reforms since coming to power in early 2011, including welcoming long-detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi into parliament and freeing hundreds of political prisoners.
The European Union responded last April by suspending all sanctions apart from an arms embargo against the former pariah state, while the United States has also dismantled many of its key trade and investment sanctions.
But concerns remain over an ongoing conflict in the northern state of Kachin and communal Buddhist-Muslim unrest in the western state of Rakhine.
Suu Kyi visited Norway as part of a landmark European tour last June that was seen as a key sign of change for Myanmar, where she had spent a total of 15 years under house arrest.
In Oslo the Nobel laureate was finally able to collect her peace prize in person, after being awarded the honor in 1991. She had previously declined to leave the country for fear she would never be allowed to return.
Signs of increasingly warm ties between Suu Kyi and Thein Sein, a former junta general, were apparent when the pair met in New York in September during historic separate visits to the United States.
Thein Sein is due to return to Myanmar on March 8.- The Jakarta Globe (February 25, 2013)
The Philippine government is set to dispatch a humanitarian ship to Lahud Datu to pick up the 155 civilians who sailed to Sabah with the royal army two weeks ago.
A well-placed Philippine Daily Inquirer source said the ship was set to leave Sunday night. Malaysia was sticking to its Sunday deadline for Filipino Muslims from Sulu who had “occupied” Sabah, to leave the region. (Editor’s Note: The Philippine Daily Inquirer is correcting its earlier post indicating another 48-hour deadline extension from Sunday because the Malaysian government was keeping its Sunday [Feb. 24] deadline.)
“The clock is ticking away for the Sulu armed group holed up at the Tanduo village as the Sunday deadline draws near with no sign of them giving up peacefully,” the Star reported on its website http://thestar.com.my/news.
The report was posted at 12:10 p.m. on Sunday.
“The earlier Friday deadline was extended by 48-hours after the Philippines government requested for a four-day extension till Tuesday on the grounds that Manila was trying to persuade the Sulu group to give up their stand,” the report said.
The report prompted a senior Philippine diplomat to lament the “irresponsibility and recklessness” of the heirs of the Sultanate of Sulu in the dispatch of a group of an estimated 180 Muslim-Filipinos to Lahad Datu, with some 30 of them armed.
The diplomat requested anonymity as only the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) was authorized to release statements at this point.
For the diplomat, the stubborn order of Sultan Jamalul Kiram III for his brother and their followers to stand down in Sabah showed their family’s “irresponsibility and lack of concern for civilian lives.”
The diplomat noted that the Kirams sent “women and unarmed civilians to Lahad Datu.”
“If there is a forced deportation, have they thought of what will happen to the civilians, some of whom joined up after being promised lands in Sabah?” the diplomat said.
The diplomat also said that the group’s claim of having peaceful objectives was “illogical and irrational,” given the fact they were escorted by armed men and they intruded into a neighboring country.
“If there is bloodshed, it would be on the Kiram’s hands and not on government’s,” the diplomat said.
“With their quixotic and reckless move, they have placed at risk not only the Mindanao peace process but also the overall peace and security situation in Mindanao, which all Filipinos have worked and hoped for and Filipino-Muslims have long deserved,” the diplomat added.
Kiram had said that his brother and their royal army would remain in Lahad Datu. In a press conference Friday, Kiram’s wife, Princess Fatima Cecilia Kiram, said that their family would like to negotiate the Sabah claim with Malaysia and settle the dispute before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the United Nations.-Philippine Daily Inquirer (February 24, 2013 9:23PM)
North Korea on Sunday warned the top U.S. military commander stationed in South Korea that his forces would "meet a miserable destruction" if they go ahead with scheduled military drills with South Korean troops, North Korean state media said.
Pak Rim-su, chief delegate of the North Korean military mission to the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, gave the message by phone to Gen. James Thurman, the commander of the U.S. Forces Korea, KCNA news agency said.
It came amid escalating tension on the divided Korean peninsula after the North's third nuclear test earlier this month, in defiance of U.N. resolutions, drew harsh international condemnation.
A direct message from the North's Panmunjom mission to the U.S. commander is rare.
North and South Korea are technically still at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
The U.S.-South Korean Combined Forces Command is holding an annual computer-based simulation war drill, Key Resolve, from March 11 to 25, involving 10,000 South Korean and 3,500 U.S. troops.
The command also plans to hold Foal Eagle joint military exercises involving land, sea and air manoeuvres. About 200,000 Korean troops and 10,000 U.S. forces are expected to be mobilized for the two month-long exercise which starts on March 1.
"If your side ignites a war of aggression by staging the reckless joint military exercises...at this dangerous time, from that moment your fate will be hung by a thread with every hour," Pak was quoted as saying.
"You had better bear in mind that those igniting a war are destined to meet a miserable destruction."
Washington and Seoul regularly hold military exercises which they say are purely defensive. North Korea, which has stepped up its bellicose threats towards the United States and South Korea in recent months, sees them as rehearsals for invasion.
North Korea threatened South Korea with "final destruction" during a debate at the U.N. Conference on Disarmament on Tuesday.-Interaksyon (February 24, 2013 1:15AM)
Agriculture-related firms from Japan, South Korea and Vietnam are planning to make investment in Myanmar's agricultural sector, local media reported Sunday.
MITSUI & Co., Ltd. from Japan and Vina Capital from Vietnam have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Myanmar Agribusiness Public Corporation Limited (MAPCO) for cooperation in agricultural development, said the Biweekly Eleven News.
MAPCO will set up the Integrated Food and Energy Production factories in Yangon, Ayeyawady and Bago regions as well as Nay Pyi Taw.
An Integrated Food and Energy Production Complex factory will be located in Yangon region, which would be jointly constructed by MITSUI & Co., Ltd and MAPCO, the report said.
The Japanese company is planning arrangements to establish advanced rice grinding and purifying mills.
Though South Korean Dawoo Company has not reached agreement with Myanmar yet, it is expected to do so during this year.
As of July 2012, foreign investment in the country's agricultural sector totaled 182.75 million U.S. dollars in nine projects, accounting for only 0.44 percent of the total since the country opened to such investment in late 1988.
Myanmar exported over 1.2 million tons of rice, gaining nearly $500 million in the first 10 months (April-January) of the fiscal year 2012-13, according to earlier report.-The Philippine Star (February 24, 2013 3:00PM)
Several people were killed when twin blasts tore through a residential street and destroyed three houses in south Vietnam early Sunday, police said, with reports putting the death toll at around 10.
"We have been informed of two explosions this morning that killed about ten people... but we need to check the exact number of the victims," a local policeman told AFP following the blasts, which left many more victims trapped in rubble, according to reports.
The policeman said authorities were investigating the cause of the explosions in a district of the southern metropolis of Ho Chi Minh City, adding that they were believed to have been accidental.
State mouthpiece Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on its website that a family of seven was among those killed and many people remained trapped in the rubble.
It said local people heard two large explosions within five minutes of each other -- causing shockwaves that rattled homes up to several hundred metres away. They discovered three homes ablaze and partially destroyed.
Hundreds of firefighters on more than a dozen fire trucks rushed to the scene and were leading rescue efforts, the newspaper said.-Channel News Asia (February 24, 2013 1644hrs)
China's military has introduced new rules to combat "extravagance and waste" in spending, state media said Sunday, February 24, as the country's new leaders stress austerity to fight official corruption.
New Communist Party chief Xi Jinping, who is also chairman of the Central Military Commission, approved the rules which aim to promote austerity and control expenditure, the official Xinhua news agency said.
Xi, who is set to become president next month, has repeatedly pledged to fight graft amid rising social discontent at government corruption and political scandals that have tarnished the ruling party.
The new rules require strict control of spending on non-essential infrastructure, procurement and official receptions, Xinhua said.
The military must "resolutely prevent redundant construction, the craving for things big and foreign, extravagance and waste", it said.
Spending should be directed towards the military's core mission, including being able to fight and win a battle, Xinhua said, repeating a slogan which has been described by state media as a key goal for this year.
China is due to announce its annual military budget in early March at a meeting of the National People's Congress, the country's legislature.
Last year it projected the military budget would rise 11.2 percent year-on-year to $106 billion, an increase that has caused unease among Asian neighbours including Japan, which is locked in a territorial dispute with China.
In December the military banned high-ranking officers from being treated to receptions featuring expensive liquor and luxury banquets, in line with similar rules for party officials.
Those rules also called on military officers to prevent family members and associates from accepting bribes.
A corruption watchdog, Transparency International, said last month that China's military is battling a major corruption problem, with little political oversight and no whistleblower mechanism to counter graft.
One of the major problems was the absence of private military defence contractors, meaning less scope for competition, the Berlin-based group said.
It claimed thousands of military-linked enterprises in China were engaged in profit-oriented business.-Rappler (February 24, 2013 6:49PM)
