Senior General Than Shwe visits relief camps in Yangon Division Over K 50 billion spent on relief and rehabilitation tasks so far

NAY PYI TAW, 18 May – Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council Commander-in-Chief of Defence Services Senior General Than Shwe accompanied by General Thura Shwe Mann of the Ministry of Defence, member of SPDC Lt-Gen Tin Aye, Commander-in-Chief (Navy)Vice-Admiral Soe Thein, Commander-in-Chief (Air) Lt-Gen Myat Hein, Deputy Minister for Health Dr Paing Soe, senior military officers and officials of SPDC Office flew to Yangon from Nay Pyi Taw by special flight to inspect storm-hit areas of Yangon and Ayeyawady Division this afternoon. At Yangon Command HQ Chairman of National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee Prime Minister General Thein Sein reported on relief works and rehabilitation tasks in storm-stricken regions to Senior General Than Shwe. Senior General Than Shwe made discussions on the reports and gave guidance on works to be done.
Next, Senior General Than Shwe and party visited relief camps in Hlinethaya, Dagon Myothit (South) and Dagon Myothit (North) and comforted the storm victims. State Peace and Development Council formed National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee led by the Prime Minister as the severe cyclone ‘Nargis’ hit Myanmar and the Government immediately allocated 5 billion kyats as initial fund for relief works. So far, over 50 billion kyats have been spent on relief works and rehabilitation tasks and the State will allocate
funds as necessary later.

National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee issues News Release No 2

The National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee issued News Release No 2 today.

The News Release No 2 is as follows:

News Release No 2

1. As the severe cyclone “Nargis” hit the Union of Myanmar, internal and international wellwishers have been donating cash and kind for the storm victims continuously.

2. The donations for the victims are accepted systematically by the Donation Accepting and Supervision Body and distributed without delay to the storm-hit regions by the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Committee. The distribution of donations to the storm-hit regions up to 16th May 2008 is as follows.

(a) 363.924 tons of foods, medicines, purified water bottles, clothes and tents by helicopters and aeroplanes of Tatmadaw (Air).

(b) 872.8 tons of foods, medicines, construction materials, clothes and tents by vessels of Tatmadaw (Navy)

(c) 1,471.5 tons of foods, medicines, purified water bottles, construction materials, water purifiers, clothes and tents by Tatmadaw vehicles.

(d) 2,905.5 tons of foods, medicines, construction materials, clothes and tents by vessels of Inland Water Transport.

(e) Over 500 truck loads of construction materials by 35 private construction companies daily.

3. Though it is difficult to send the relief items to different places fully and immediately, forward camps and middle camps are kept open to see that there are no needless delays.

4. Hence, the news is released that the donated relief items sent by local and international wellwishers are distributed promptly to the storm victims. The relief items reaching the victims in time and consumed by them were shown to foreign guests, foreign diplomats in the country, INGO members and the EU Commissioner. In addition, officials of UN agencies, representatives of donor countries, personnel of INGOs and individual wellwishers are also invited to witness the relief work.

National Disaster Preparedness

Central Committee

Dated: 17-5-2008
Place: Nay Pyi Taw

National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee issues News Release No 1

The National Disaster PreparednessCentral Committee issued News Release No 1 today.

The News Release No 1 is as follows:

News Release No 1

1. In the Union of Myanmar, a severe cyclone “Nargis” hit the coastal areas of Ayeyawady Division on 2nd and 3rd May 2008 causing tremendous casualties and devastation and also swept Yangon Division causing loss and damages.

2. The National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee held its meeting at 8.30 am on 3rd May 2008 in Nay Pyi Taw and the Central Committee Chairman the Prime Minister and member Ministers rushed to the storm-hit regions to provide close supervision on rescue and relief works for the victims.

3. The Government immediately allocated 5 billion kyats as initial fund and over 20 billion kyats have been spent so far. Moreover, the Government accepted donations from local and foreign wellwishers immediately and the donations were accepted as follows.

(a) Cash amounting to 5.588 billion kyats and relief items worth 1.79 billion kyats totalling 7.378 billion kyats from internal wellwishers up to 16th May.

(b) Cash amounting to 1.62 million US dollars and 2,096.71 tons of relief supplies from foreign donors up to 16th May.

4. However, some foreign news agencies broadcast false information and thus some international and regional organizations are assuming that the Government has been rejecting and preventing

aids for storm victims. Those who have been to Myanmar understand the actual fact.

5. Hence, the information is released that the Government and the people of Myanmar with thanks are accepting donations in cash and kind for the storm victims.

National Disaster Preparedness

Central Committee

Dated: 17-5-2008
Place: Nay Pyi Taw

US charges 19 in alleged nationwide mortgage scam

SACRAMENTO, 25 March —US officials said on Monday that they had charged 19 people with targeting desperate homeowners facing foreclosure and stealing at least 12.6 million US dollars through illegal mortgage and loan activities. At a news conference in the California capital Sacramento, US Attorney McGregor Scott said “Operation Homewrecker” investigated one of the largest mortgage frauds ever probed by the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service. “The markets in this country are tottering because nobody knows how much fraud is out there,” he said. The prosecution comes as foreclosures have risen sharply across the United States, especially in places such as California’s Central Valley. Stockton, south of Sacramento, has experienced the highest foreclosure rate in the nation. Sealed indictments were filed 13 March and 28 February against 19 people — including three licensed mortgage brokers charged with cheating homeowners across the country out of their homes

US ship fires to deter Egyptian boat in Suez

ISMAILIA (Egypt), 26 March — A cargo ship chartered by the US Navy opened fire when approached by an Egyptian motorboat late on Monday near the Suez Canal, and Egyptian and US officials gave conflicting reports on Tuesday on casualties. Egyptian security sources and witnesses said the gunfire killed an Egyptian trader on the motorboat and wounded two other people. The US Navy said it had recorded no casualties. The small Egyptian craft had been trying to sell goods to ships passing through the Suez Canal, the Egyptian sources said. The US Navy said the Global Patriot, on shortterm charter to the military, had fired warning shots near the Egyptian boat after it ignored verbal orders and a signal flare telling it to stay away. “Global Patriot was approached by several boats while preparing to transit the Suez Canal,” the Navy said in a statement. “The boats were hailed and warned by a native Arabic speaker on the Globa Patriot to advise them to turn away... One small boat continued to approach the ship and received two sets of warning shots 20-30 metres in front of the boat’s bow.” All shots were accounted for as they entered the water, and there were no reports of casualties, the Navy said.—

Medvedev says NATO expansion “troublesome”

MOSCOW, 26 March— Granting NATO membership to ex-Soviet Ukraine and Georgia could undermine European security, Russia’s president-elect Dmitry Medvedev said in a newspaper interview published on Tuesday. His warning came before a NATO summit in Bucharest next week at which alliance members are expected to consider requests from the two countries’ pro-Western leaders to set them on the path to NATO membership. “We are not happy about the situation around Georgia and Ukraine,” the Financial Times newspaper quoted Medvedev as saying in the interview. “We consider that it is extremely troublesome for the existing structure of European security. ... No can be pleased about having representatives of a military bloc to which it does not belong coming close to its borders.” Ukraine and Georgia are lobbying NATO to grant them a Membership Action Plan, which is seen as the first step towards joining the alliance.

Washington has said it backs their bid, but some NATO members in Europe are cool on the idea. Medvedev will be sworn in on 7 May to replace his mentor, outgoing President Vladimir Putin. A 42-yearold former law professor, Medvedev won a 2 March presidential election by a huge margin.

Bulgaria police nab 350,000 euros in fake notes

Police arrested two Bulgarians and seized 350,000 euros (541,100 US dollar) in counterfeit notes aimed for distribution in the European Union, the Interior Ministry said on Friday.
In join operation with EU police agency Europol and German,Austrain and Bosnian police , the officers raided several sites in Bulgarian capital Sofia, uncovering also a printing Press for counterfeit passport and illegal weapons.The Interior Ministry said in a statement the fake euros were of hight quality, copying perfectly seven of eleven recognition signs.
''We carried the raids late on Thursday to prevent the tangible risk of distributing the forged money in the European Union,''Interior Ministry official Pantaley Panvo said.

Pakist successfully test files UVA

Pakistan on Thursday successfully conducted a final test flight of its indigenously developed Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UVA) ''Uqaab''.
A statement issued by the army said that the flight data collected indicated that all designed that all design parameters had been successfully validated. The performance of the UVA ''Uqaab '' can be compared to any of modern state of the art UVA in its category,said the statement.