The New Nation - Internet Edition

Myanmar rejects global pressure to allow foreign aid workers

AFP, Yangon

Myanmar said Friday it was not ready to let in foreign aid workers, rejecting international pressure to allow experts into the isolated nation where disease and starvation are stalking cyclone survivors.

One week after the devastating storm killed tens of thousands, Myanmar's ruling generals-deeply suspicious of the outside world-said the country needed outside aid for those still alive, but would deliver it themselves.

The foreign ministry announcement came as a top UN official warned time was running out to move in disaster experts and supplies to prevent diseases that could claim even more victims. Instead, the ministry said some relief workers who arrived on an aid flight from Qatar on Wednesday had been deported.

"Currently Myanmar has prioritised receiving emergency relief provisions and is making strenuous efforts to transport those provisions without delay by its own labours to the affected areas," it said.

"As such, Myanmar is not ready to receive search and rescue teams as well as media teams from foreign countries." The military regime that rules this impoverished country, once known as Burma, has long been wary of any influences that could threaten the iron grip on power it has maintained for almost half a century.

Even with the country battered by tragedy, the generals insist they will hold a constitutional referendum on Saturday, brushing off criticism they are ignoring the plight of the homeless while devoting resources to the vote.

Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy said the junta should delay the vote on a document her party says will merely enshrine military rule. "With this situation, it is not the appropriate time to hold the referendum," NLD spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.

The extent of the catastrophe unleashed by Cyclone Nargis has also put the regime under intense international pressure to postpone the vote and open up the country, where only a handful of outside aid groups are allowed to operate under strict controls.

The United Nations estimates more than one million people have been left homeless by the disaster and, as each hour passes without clean water and food, they are at ever greater risk of starvation and disease. "The situation is getting critical and there is only a small window of opportunity if we are to avert the spread of diseases that could multiply the already tragic number of casualties," said Noeleen Heyzer, the top UN official for the Asia-Pacific.

Rotting bodies of people and animals are piled up in many places across the remote southern Irrawaddy delta, where the storm's high winds and waves washed entire villages away. In many places, the stench of death is overwhelming. Houses have been demolished, roads and bridges are damaged and huge swathes of land are still underwater a week after the disaster hit.

Sri Lankan troops capture key rebel town, 15 Tamil Tigers killed

AP, Colombo

Sri Lanka's military announced the capture of a small town in the north after fighting Friday that killed 15 Tamil Tiger rebels and two soldiers, calling it an important step in dismantling guerrilla strongholds in the area.

Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said the soldiers took control of Adampan town in northern Mannar district, which could restrict guerrilla movement and transportation of arms.

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached immediately for comment. It was not possible to obtain independent confirmation of the military's claims because reporters are not allowed in the war zone. Both sides are known to exaggerate death tolls and damage inflicted upon each other while underreporting their own losses.

Troops have battled for months over territory around the rebels' northern strongholds, promising they would crush the insurgents by the end of the year.

The rebels have strongly resisted and halted some military advances. Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for minority Tamils who have been marginalized by successive governments controlled by majority Sinhalese. More than 70,000 people have been killed.

AFP report adds: At least 74 Tamil Tiger rebels and three Sri Lankan soldiers have been killed in the latest battles in the island's north, according to the defence ministry on Thursday. It said the three days of fighting that ended on Thursday occurred in the Vavuniya, Mannar and Weli Oya areas, from where government forces are trying to push into the guerrillas' northern territory.

Troops on Thursday advanced into rebel-controlled areas in the Mannar district killing 10 guerillas, the statement said, adding that one soldier was killed and another injured in the clashes.

25 killed in Iraq as rockets shatter Basra calm

AFP, Baghdad

A rocket attack on a coalition military base in Basra killed two civilian contractors Friday, while a retaliatory strike and separate attacks elsewhere in Iraq killed 23 others, officials said.

The two civilian contractors died when rockets slammed into the US-led coalition's base near Basra's international airport, wounding eight others, including four coalition soldiers, the military said.

Coalition forces responded with Hellfire missiles, killing six militants, the military said.

The military did not identify the nationality of the civilian contractors or the wounded coalition soldiers.

However, a report from Prague said a Czech soldier was injured in the rocket attack near the airport.

The Czech sergeant, one of 99 soldiers from the republic serving in Iraq, suffered shrapnel wounds in the arm and had to undergo an operation in a British army field hospital.

British military spokesman Major Tom Holloway said part of the main coalition base near the airport was struck by the rockets.

The attack in the port city came hours after two rockets struck central Baghdad, killing two civilians, police said.

That attack was quickly followed by a car bomb that killed three policemen and four civilians and wounded 19 others in the once upscale Mansur neighbourhood of west Baghdad, police said.

Two policemen were among the wounded, as well as two women and a child.

A roadside bomb that apparently targeted a minibus in the Al-Jadida neighbourhood of Baghdad killed another person and wounded four more, a police official said.

India will protest to Pakistan over border fire

Reuters, Srinagar

India will lodge a protest with Pakistan after soldiers came under heavy cross-border fire while trying to stop a group of armed men from sneaking into its part of Kashmir, a security official said on Friday.

The firing took place in Samba sector, 400 km south of Srinagar, Indian Kashmir's main city, late on Thursday night, minutes after border guards saw the intruders cutting part of a barbed wire fence. Indian soldiers fired back, the official said.

"We are not yet sure whether it was terrorist fire or Pakistani troops, but we are lodging a protest with Pakistan anyway," K. Srinivasan, a senior Border Security Force (BSF) official told Reuters.

11 killed in sectarian fighting in Beirut

AP, Beirut

Lebanese security officials say three days of sectarian fighting in Beirut have left 11 people dead and more than 20 wounded.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not allowed to speak to the media. The announcement came as violence continued in Beirut on Friday between Hezbollah supporters and those allied with Lebanon's pro-U.S. government.

Shiite Hezbollah gunmen seized control of several Beirut neighborhoods from Sunni foes loyal to the government.

Man who lost homes in Katrina claims $97m Powerball prize

AP, Baton Rouge

A construction company owner who lost two homes in Hurricane Katrina claimed a $97 million Powerball prize, a jackpot won off a ticket he bought at a convenience store where he stopped to buy his wife a gallon of milk.

When he turned in the winning ticket, Carl Hunter became the largest Powerball winner in Louisiana's history. He won the jackpot in January, but the 73-year-old small businessman waited nearly four months to claim the prize.

An avid lottery player, Hunter said he already had bought a Powerball ticket on Jan. 16 at the gas station less than two blocks from his home in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie. But he stopped at the station again that day to buy milk - at the request of his wife, Dianne - and got a second "quick pick" ticket.

Georgia warns of war risk with Russia

AFP, Moscow

Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili warned Thursday of a risk of war with Russia amid tension over a separatist region, as Moscow began dual leadership under President Dmitry Medvedev and his mentor, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

"I think that several days ago we were close and this threat remains. But for armed conflict you need two sides, and the Georgian side does not want this," Saakashvili told Russian journalists in the Georgian city of Batumi. "Georgia could not fight Russia. We do not have enough battle-ready units and NATO will not help us with this," said Saakashvili, according to news agency reports. The Georgian leader has lobbied for his former Soviet republic to join NATO. The warning came as tensions mounted over the Georgian separatist region of Abkhazia, where Georgia has accused Russian peacekeeping troops of backing the separatists.

Medvedev, who was inaugurated as president on Wednesday, taking over from Putin, is untested on foreign policy and overshadowed by his powerful mentor. Putin, who is known for his fiery pronouncements on Western moves in ex-Soviet states, was confirmed in the prime minister's post on Thursday.

UK poll gives Brown’s Labour lowest-ever rating

Reuters, London

Britain's ruling Labour Party fell to its lowest-ever poll rating in a survey published on Friday, a week after big losses in local elections cast doubt on the leadership of Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The YouGov poll conducted earlier this week and published in the Sun tabloid put Labour on 23 percent with the opposition Conservative Party on a 49 percent-enough for it to win a landslide if national elections were held now. Labour's showing was the worst since opinion polls were first published in the 1930s.

Brown, whose popularity has plummeted since he took over from Tony Blair last June, does not have to call a national election until mid-2010. The media and the opposition accused him of dithering when he contemplated calling a snap election last October, before finally deciding against it.

Olmert admits taking cash but won't quit

Reuters, Jerusalem

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert admitted on Thursday taking cash from a U.S. businessman but resisted calls to resign over a police investigation into alleged hefty bribes over almost a decade.

As Israelis enjoyed festivities marking Independence Day and the 60th anniversary of the founding of their state, police lifted a week-old media gag order and announced details of accusations that sparked opposition calls for Olmert to quit.

He said he would resign only if he were formally indicted.

Whether he goes or not, doubt over his future is likely to upset his faltering, U.S.-sponsored peace negotiations with the Palestinians and will cast a heavy cloud over next week's celebratory visit to Israel by U.S. President George W. Bush.

The White House said Bush still intended to make the trip.

Olmert, in a late-night televised address to the nation, said: "I look each and every one of you in the eye and say, 'I never took bribes. I never took a penny for myself'."