United Breaks Guitars: Canadian guitarist's anti-airline hit takes off

An irked Canadian musician who accused United Airlines of breaking his prized guitar has taken his revenge, writing a song that has become an Internet hit and a public relations disaster for the airline.

Dave Carroll composed "United Breaks Guitars" and posted it on YouTube after he said the airline damaged his treasured Taylor acoustic at Chicago's O'Hare airport last year.

"We were sitting at the back of the plane with the band, and a woman who didn't know we were musicians yells out, 'Oh, my God they're throwing guitars outside'," Carroll told local media.

After months of trying to get the airline to pay compensation and help repair the instrument, worth 3500 Canadian dollars (3000 US dollars), Carroll changed tack.

"I had this sort of epiphany," he told CBC, "I'm going to write... songs about your airlines and I'm going to put them on YouTube and talk about my experience."

On Thursday, "United Breaks Guitars" had nearly half a million views on YouTube and had been covered by major news networks in Canada and the United States.

The video features the folk-rockers looking on in horror as United ground staff clumsily play catch with a guitar case and pound it with mallets.

A United Airlines spokesperson told the Los Angeles Times that "his video is excellent, and we plan to use it internally as a unique learning and training opportunity to ensure that all our customers receive better service."

The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) said that Carroll's story was "not unlike the classic David and Goliath story," and highlighted a common problem for musicians.

"With this one song David has remarkably been able to accomplish something that lobbyists have been trying to resolve for 10 years," said Bill Skolnik, an AFM vice president.


--AFP


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Gordon Brown criticises Burma's UN stance

Gordon Brown attacked the "obstinacy" of the Burmese regime after they refused to allow UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to meet with jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Prime Minister, who has been a vocal campaigner for her release, spoke out after Mr Ban's two-day visit to the country ended without progress and warned of tougher sanctions.

"The UN Secretary general was right to go to Burma. he gave powerful voice to the UN's core mission - our collective commitment to humanitarian relief, democratic governance and human rights.

"But it is a measure of the obstinacy of the Burmese regime that they have once again failed to respect those principles, and failed to properly respond to the international figurehead who best embodies them.

"We await the Secretary General's report. I hope that there is still the possibility of a change of approach from Burma but if not, my sad conclusion is that the Burmese regime has put increased isolation, including the possibility of further sanctions, on the international agenda."

Mr Ban said he was "deeply disappointed" after Burma's military ruler said he could not see Suu Kyi because she was on trial.


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360 Tour: U2 asks fans to support Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi

U2 and Fans tribute to Aung San Suu Kyi

As U2 kicks off its world tour, the Irish rockers are turning a spotlight on Myanmar's jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

On its Web site and on stage, U2 is asking fans to wear a Suu Kyi mask in support of the 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner.

"Wear it to work or college. Wear it on the bus or the train. Wear it in the pub or at shops. And don't forget. Bring it to a U2 show," the band says on its official Web site.

A mask of Suu Kyi's smiling face can be downloaded and printed from http://www.u2.com and appears inside the program for the band's "360 degree" tour, which opened earlier this week in Barcelona.

Lead singer Bono paid tribute to Suu Kyi at a packed Barcelona stadium Tuesday night when he introduced U2's 2000 single, "Walk On," which was written for her.

"This next song is dedicated to Aung San Suu Kyi and the people of Burma," Bono told the crowd, according to a statement received Friday from the Burma Campaign UK. The London-based human rights group helped coordinate a recent campaign that groups celebrities, musicians and dignitaries calling for Suu Kyi's release.

"Let's send her a message of love and support. Let us stand with her ... Put on your masks," Bono said, according to the statement, which said thousands in the audience were wearing or holding the masks.

Suu Kyi's opposition party, the National League for Democracy, won Myanmar's last elections in 1990, but the ruling generals refused to hand over power. She has been under house arrest for nearly 14 of the past 20 years.

In May, Suu Kyi was arrested on charges of violating her house arrest in a case that has been globally criticized as a pretext to keep her behind bars. She faces five years in prison if convicted.


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Burma: UN's Ban meets Myanmar junta leader

UN chief Ban Ki-moon met the reclusive head of Myanmar's military junta on Friday for what he said would be "tough talks" aimed at securing the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ban flew into Naypyidaw, the remote stronghold of Senior General Than Shwe and his regime, shortly after a prison court adjourned the widely condemned trial of the detained Nobel Peace laureate for another week.

"This is my second time in your country and I am very pleased to continue our discussions. I appreciate your commitment to move your country forward," Ban said in his opening statement to Than Shwe.

"I would like to contribute, to work together, for peace and prosperity," he added.

The UN secretary general earlier said he would urge Than Shwe for permission to visit the 64-year-old Aung San Suu Kyi, who was transferred from house arrest to Yangon's notorious Insein prison in May.

She has spent most of the past two decades in detention and now faces five years imprisonment if convicted on charges of violating her house arrest, after an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside house.

"It is a very tough mission," Ban told reporters shortly after arriving in Yangon earlier Friday.

"One of my objectives is to obtain the release of all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi," he said, adding that he would also "convey the concern of the international community" and press for reconciliation and democracy.

Rights groups warn that the trip will be a "huge failure" if he does not secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. Critics have accused the junta of using the trial to keep her locked up for elections promised in 2010.

She appeared in court Friday but the trial was adjourned for a week because the judges had not received an earlier judgement barring two defence witnesses, said Nyan Win, spokesman for her National League for Democracy (NLD).

"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi attended the trial this morning but the court said that as they haven't got the case from the Supreme Court the trial is suspended to July 10," Nyan Win said.

The case has sparked international outrage, with US President Barack Obama calling it a "show trial" and a host of world leaders and celebrities calling for her release.

Ban earlier made an apparent reference to concerns over the timing of his visit while her trial is under way, saying he was aware that he was coming to Myanmar "under certain uncertainties."

"I will try to meet with representatives of all registered political parties including Aung San Suu Kyi, that's my hope. But I have to raise this issue with the senior general directly, in person," he said in Singapore on Thursday.

Ban will also meet with Prime Minister Thein Sein and representatives of all registered political parties and former armed groups while in Naypyidaw.

Ban has faced recent criticism for his softly-softly approach to the job of secretary general, but diplomats say he hopes his quiet brand of diplomacy will pay dividends with Myanmar's generals.

The visit is Ban's first to Myanmar since he persuaded the junta to accept international aid following Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, which killed around 138,000 people.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been in detention or under house arrest for 13 of the past 19 years since the junta refused to recognise the NLD's victory in Myanmar's last elections, in 1990.

Human Rights Watch said on Thursday that Ban should not accept the apparent concession from the junta of returning her to house arrest, instead of imprisoning her, as a sign of a successful visit.

"Time and again, the UN has politely requested Aung San Suu Kyi's release, but her 'release' back to house arrest would be a huge failure," said Kenneth Roth, New York-based HRW's executive director.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962.


--AFP

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Burma, Myanmar:South Korean President Chun Doo Hwan Assasination Attempt--Video

The 1983 Rangoon bombing was an assassination attempt suspectedly orchestrated by North Korea against then-South Korean President, Chun Doo Hwan.^[1]

On October 9, 1983, President Chun Doo Hwan was on an official visit to Yangon, the capital of Myanmar. During the visit, he planned to lay a wreath at the Martyr’s Mausoleum, to commemorate Aung San, who founded the independent Myanmar and was assassinated in 1947.^[2] As some of the president’s staff began assembling at the mausoleum, one of three bombs concealed in the roof of the memorial exploded. The huge blast ripped through the crowd below, killing 21 people and wounding 46.^[2] Among the dead were the Korean foreign minister, Lee Bum Suk, the economic planning minister and deputy prime minister, Suh Suk Joo, and the minister for commerce and industry, Kim Dong Whie.^{[citation needed]} The rest of those killed were presidential advisers, journalists, and security officials, most of them South Korean; however, four Burmese nationals were also among the dead. President Chun was saved because his car had been delayed in traffic and was only minutes from arriving at the memorial. The bomb was reportedly detonated early because the presidential bugle which signalled Chun's arrival mistakenly rang out a few minutes early.^[2]

Police identified three suspects as an army major and two captains. One was shot to death two days after the bombing; suspect Kang Min-chul and the other remaining suspect tried to commit suicide by hand-grenade that same day, but survived, although Kang lost an arm. Kang confessed his mission and links to North Korea, an action by which he was able to avoid a death sentence and instead received life imprisonment. His colleague was executed by hanging.^[2] North Korea denied any links to Kang, who was sent to the infamous prison at Insein, north of Yangon.^[1]

In 1994, the representative of South Korea to the United Nations General Assembly linked this incident with the downing of Korean Air Flight 858 which he alleged was sponsored by the same government acting with impunity.^[3]

Kang learned to speak the Burmese language fluently, according to one of his fellow prisoners. Yangon's moves towards resuming relations with North Korea led to speculation about what would happen to Kang. Because North Korea denies that he is a North Korean citizen, he may be considered a stateless person. Kang reportedly did not want to go to North Korea, which he believes considers him a traitor, or to South Korea, which may try him for his role in the assassination attempt. In 2006, Chung Hyung-Keun, a member of South Korea's Grand National Party and a former employee of South Korean intelligence, sponsored a bill to bring Kang to South Korea.^[1]

Kang died of liver cancer on May 17th, 2008.

--Wikipedia
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Photo Album: Myanmar and North Korea Held Secret Meeting

Irrawaddy: The Burmese junta’s No 3, Gen Thura Shwe Mann, made a secret, seven day visit to North Korea last November, apparently with a shopping list for arms and sophisticated weapons systems.

Thura Shwe Mann Visit to N. Korea - Photos

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Primate ancestor may be from Asia's Myanmar, not Africa

Scientists spur debate by linking Myanmar fossil to humans, apes, monkeys

A new Myanmar fossil primate, Ganlea megacanina, suggests the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from large-toothed primates in Asia and not Africa, according to new research published in the latest Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

If Myanmar, formerly called Burma, is confirmed as being the ancestral homeland of higher primates, or close to it, the discovery points to a circuitous migration route for some early primates, which must have gone to Africa and then come back to Asia.

Christopher Beard, lead author of the study, told Discovery News that the common ancestor to today's humans, monkeys and apes "would have lived in Asia."

"At some point later in time, probably only a few million years after Ganlea was alive, one or more primitive anthropoid primates, which would have been descendants of an earlier Asian ancestor, made their way from Asia to Africa," explained Beard, a Carnegie Museum of Natural History paleontologist.

"There, they continued to evolve, and some of them eventually became modern Old World monkeys, apes and humans," he added. "Living monkeys and apes like the orangutan that inhabit Asia returned there after evolving for millions of years in Africa."

A new fossil primate from Myanmar (previously known as Burma) suggests that the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, not Africa as many researchers believe. The greatly enlarged canine teeth distinguish the animal from closely related primates. Heavy dental abrasion indicates that Ganlea megacanina used its enlarged canine teeth to pry open the hard exteriors of tough tropical fruits in order to extract the nutritious seeds contained inside. Credit: Dr. Laurent Marivaux

Tale of the teeth

Beard and his international team came to this conclusion after studying the newly identified fossil primate, which lived 38 million years ago in a tropical floodplain similar to today's monkey-filled Amazon Basin of South America. The study was conducted under difficult conditions in rural areas of Myanmar.

Heavy dental abrasion indicates Ganlea possessed enlarged canine teeth that it used to pry open the hard exteriors of tough tropical fruits to extract interior nuts and seeds. Among living and fossil primates, only anthropoids — higher primates — feed in such a manner.

"Ganlea has the right kind of anatomy, especially its monkeylike jaws and teeth, to be an animal that was very close to the common ancestor of living monkeys, apes and humans," Beard said. "Put simply, if it looks like a duck and walks like a duck, it's probably a duck, or in this case, a monkey!"

A new fossil primate from Ganle in Myanmar (previously known as Burma) suggests that the common ancestor of humans, monkeys and apes evolved from primates in Asia, not Africa as many researchers believe. Credit: Yaowalak Chaimanee

Questions about ‘Ida’

The discovery may take the spotlight off "Ida," an ancient lemurlike animal from Germany that Jens Franzen of the Natural History Museum of Basel and his colleagues described earlier this year. Franzen and his team wrote that Ida was "not simply a fossil lemur, but part of a larger group of primates" that they and other scientists theorized could have led to the emergence of anthropoids.

If additional research supports the "Out of Asia" ancestry of higher primates, Ida and other ancient lemurlike animals would then be placed on the lowest branch of the primate family tree.

This branch, according to Beard, "ultimately leads to living lemurs, which are the most distantly related primates to us that remain alive today."

Beard still believes modern humans descended from an African population that lived around 200,000 years ago. "But," he said, "some extinct species of humans, such as the 'hobbit' Homo floresiensis, almost certainly evolved in Asia."


The "Out of Asia" finding comes on the heels of another surprise announcement that could affect the primate family tree.

Jeffrey Schwartz, a University of Pittsburgh anthropologist, and his colleagues believe humans most likely share a common ancestor with orangutans, relegating chimpanzees and gorillas to a separate group. They came to this conclusion after studying hundreds of physical characteristics of various primates, including humans.

Beard hopes future government funding will allow for continued research on primates and their ancient relatives, which he said has the added benefit of promoting scientific and cultural exchanges between people "that otherwise would not have much contact with each other."


--MSNBC

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AP: North Korean ship under US scrutiny changes course

A North Korean ship under scrutiny for more than a week by the U.S. Navy has changed course and was heading back the way it came, U.S. officials said, as Pyongyang warned Wednesday it will take military action if anyone attempts to search its vessels.

The Kang Nam 1 — originally believed to be bound for Myanmar with suspicious cargo on board, possibly illicit weapons — turned around and headed back north on Sunday, two U.S. officials said on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence.

The U.S. officials, speaking in Washington on Tuesday, said they do not know where the ship is going. But it was some 250 miles (400 kilometers) south of Hong Kong on Tuesday and heading north, one official said.

The North Korean ship is the first vessel monitored under U.N. sanctions aimed at punishing the regime for conducting an underground nuclear test in May.

The new resolution seeks to clamp down on North Korea's trading of banned arms and weapons-related material by requiring U.N. member states to request inspections of ships suspected of carrying prohibited cargo.

The communist nation has said it would consider interception of its ships a declaration of war. On Wednesday, North Korea's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper renewed the warning.

"Touching our ships constitutes a grave military provocation against our country," the paper said in commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. "These acts will be followed immediately by self-defensive military countermeasures."

The North's warning did not specifically mention the Kang Nam 1, which the two U.S. officials said has been moving very slowly in recent days in a possible sign it was trying to conserve fuel. The resolution prohibits U.N. members from providing fuel to ships suspected of carrying banned items.

The officials said they did not know what the ship's turnaround means, nor what prompted it.

Myanmar's authorities had informed the North Korean ambassador that it would not allow the Kang Nam to dock if it was carrying weapons or other banned materials, a Radio Free Asia report said.

A U.S. delegation headed by envoy Philip Goldberg, meanwhile, headed to Beijing Wednesday to discuss the U.N. sanctions, the State Department said. Goldberg, a former ambassador, is in charge of coordinating the sanctions' implementation.

China's cooperation in enforcing the sanctions against neighboring North Korea, which counts Beijing as its main ally, is seen as crucial to encouraging the North back to nuclear disarmament talks the regime abandoned in April.

Pyongyang also threatened in April to launch a long-range missile. A no-sail zone remains in effect off North Korea's east coast through July 10. An announcement cited "military drills" but there were concerns the defiant nation might test-fire short- or medium-range missiles, or even a long-range missile, in further violation of Security Council resolutions.

However, there was no sign of an imminent missile launch Wednesday, an official at South Korea's Joint Chief of Staff said. He asked not to be named, citing agency policy.

In Washington, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed financial sanctions on Hong Kong Electronics, a company located in Kish Island, Iran, accused of involvement in North Korea's missile proliferation network.

That means any bank accounts or other financial assets found in the U.S. belonging to the company must be frozen. Americans also are prohibited from doing business with the firm.

Meanwhile, the North's regime has sought to whip up anti-American sentiment with a series of state-organized rallies. KCNA said Wednesday the latest anti-U.S. demonstrations were held through Tuesday in three provinces where participants condemned the U.N. resolution and what the regime calls a U.S. plot to invade the country.

Such rallies have been held since June 25, the anniversary of the 1950 outbreak of the Korean War where the U.S. fought alongside South Korea against invading troops from North Korea. The war ended in 1953 in a truce, not a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas still technically at war.

In Beijing, the U.N. World Food Program said Wednesday it was unable to reach millions of hungry women and children in the North due to a lack of international funding, and the North's new restrictions on its staff and where it can operate.

--AP

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China delays Internet filter: state media

China has delayed a plan requiring that all new computers come with a Chinese-made Internet filtering software programme, state media reported Tuesday, hours before it was to take effect.


China had planned to implement the controversial rule beginning Wednesday but it has been postponed, the official Xinhua news agency said, citing the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

"The pre-installation was delayed as some computer producers said such a massive installation demanded extra time," Xinhua said, quoting an unnamed ministry spokesman.

The spokesman did not give a new timetable for the software to be installed.

"The ministry would also keep on soliciting opinions to perfect the pre-installation plan," he was quoted saying.

The move is likely to be hailed by foreign and domestic critics who have accused the government of trying to increase already tight controls over the Internet.

These claims were rejected by the spokesman, Xinhua said, quoting him as saying assertions in some foreign media that the software was an intrusion of privacy were "groundless" and "irresponsible".

Computer makers had been told that from July 1, they must either pre-install the Green Dam Youth Escort software or include it on a disc accompanying all new personal computers sold in the country.

The United States and European Union, industry groups, Internet freedom advocates and even some Chinese state media reports had criticised the plan as a new threat to Internet freedom in China, which has the world's largest online population at roughly 300 million.

Beijing has consistently countered that the filter is designed to shelter youngsters from pornography and violence, and give parents control over what their children view online.

China has a history of blocking sites carrying politically sensitive topics such as the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown on democracy protesters, the banned Falungong spiritual movement, or criticism of the government.

China's Communist Party censors have struggled in recent years to keep pace with an explosion of online content, which is often the only outlet for ordinary Chinese to vent concerns about official corruption and government abuses.

Authorities have typically couched periodic clampdowns in terms of halting the spread of obscene material.

But last week, US Commerce Secretary Gary Locke and US Trade Representative Ron Kirk said the rule may violate World Trade Organisation regulations while the European Commission called it "unacceptable".

Researchers at the University of Michigan who examined the software also said it contained serious security vulnerabilities that could allow outside parties to take control of computers running it via remote access.

It added that the software's text filter blocked words that included phrases considered politically sensitive to authorities.

--AFP

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UN backs ousted Honduran leader

The U.N. General Assembly demanded the immediate restoration of Honduras' ousted president on Tuesday, but the man who replaced him said Manuel Zelaya could be arrested if he returns home.


The U.N. vote by acclamation added to an avalanche of international denunciations of the coup that removed Zelaya on Sunday, an action that raised fears of more of the military overthrows that have scarred Latin American history.

The world body called on all 192 U.N. member states to avoid recognizing any government in Honduras other than Zelaya's.

Zelaya then thanked the assembly for the "historic" resolution that expresses "the indignation" of people worldwide.

The Organization of American States planned an emergency meeting in Washington hours later to reinforce the pressure to reinstate Zelaya, whose foes claim he was plotting with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez to change the Honduran constitution in hopes of extending his rule.

The United States, which had privately expressed concerns to Zelaya about changing the constitution, has stood behind him since masked soldiers sent him, still wearing pajamas, into exile.

President Barack Obama said Zelaya remains "the democratically elected president."

"It would be a terrible precedent if we start moving backwards into the era in which we are seeing military coups as a means of political transition rather than democratic elections," Obama said Monday.

Zelaya also got support from Latin American leaders in Nicaragua on Monday, and said OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza had agreed to accompany him back to Honduras on Thursday.

But the man Honduras' Congress named as interim president, Roberto Micheletti, said Zelaya risks arrest if he returns because "the courts of my country have issued arrest orders."

Micheletti, speaking to Colombia's Caracol Radio on Tuesday, insisted it was Zelaya who had violated the constitution and that his court-ordered removal was legal.

"We have not committed a coup d'etat, but a constitutional succession," he said.

His foreign minister, Enrique Ortez Colindres, told CNN's Spanish language service that Zelaya faces allegations of "violation of the constitution, drug trafficking, of protecting organized crime, diverting multimillions in resources."

"Just entering (the country) he is going to be arrested; we already have the arrest warrants ready," Ortez said, adding that Micheletti "is going to obey what the judges say, but it is most likely he (Zelaya) will wind up in jail."

Ortez alleged that "every night three four Venezuelan-registered planes land ... bringing thousands, but thousands of pounds ... of packages of money that are the fruits of drug trafficking."

He said the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration had evidence of those shipments, though DEA spokesman Rusty Payne said he cannot confirm or deny the DEA is investigating Zelaya.

About 5,000 anti-Zelaya demonstrators gathered at a main plaza in Tegucigalpa on Tuesday to celebrate his ouster.

"Freedom has won, peace has triumphed, Honduras has won," newly appointed deputy foreign minister Marta Lorena Casco told the crowd. She said Zelaya had planned to make the country a socialist pawn. "Chavez consumed Venezuela, then Bolivia, after that Ecuador and Nicaragua, but in Honduras that didn't happen," she said.

Soldiers and police set up a chain link fence before dawn to seal off the area in front of the presidential palace in Tegucigalpa, preventing a repeat of Monday's clashes in which security forces used tear gas, rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse pro-Zelaya protesters who were throwing rocks and bottles.

Some local television stations remained off the air and local media carried few reports of any demonstrations in Zelaya's favor.

At least 38 pro-Zelaya protesters were detained, said Sandra Ponce, a government human rights official.

Congresswoman Silvia Ayala said she counted 30 injured at a single Tegucigalpa hospital and an Associated Press photographer in another area close to the palace saw protesters carrying away five injured people.

"In the name of God, in the name of the people, stop repressing the people," Zelaya said in Nicaragua, urging soldiers to return to their barracks.

Zelaya said more than 150 people were injured and 50 were arrested but added that he didn't "have exact figures, because I'm not there."

Mexico and Colombia's conservative governments joined the region's leftist leaders in condemning Zelaya's removal and blocked trucks began lining up on both sides of the border with Honduras as neighboring countries imposed a trade ban.

"They're not letting in loaded or empty trucks," said Salvadoran trucker Carlos Alas, who had been stuck in the border town of El Poy since Sunday trying to ferry Honduran fabric to a Salvadoran factory.

Chavez urged a rebellion by the Honduran people, and vowed to halt shipments of subsidized oil, though Honduras gets most of its oil from other sources.

"I'll do everything possible to overthrow this gorilla government of Honduras. It must be overthrown," the socialist leader said Monday. "The rebellion in Honduras must be supported."

The OAS was considering suspending Honduras under an agreement meant to prevent the coups that for generations spawned military dictatorships in Latin America.

Micheletti vowed to ignore foreign pressure and began naming Cabinet members, including a new minister of defense. But he also told Caracol Radio that he would leave office after serving out the final seven months of Zelaya's term.

The U.S. military, which has close ties with the Honduran military leaders, tried to avoid getting caught up in the dispute.

The more than 800 U.S. military personnel at the Honduran Soto Cano air base were restricted to base except for "mission-essential" tasks such as flying helicopters to the hospital ship Comfort, which is on a humanitarian mission in Nicaragua, said Jose Ruiz, a spokesman for the U.S. military's Southern Command, based in Miami.

The base, 60 miles (100 kilometers) from the capital, is used for counternarcotics, disaster relief and medical and civil engineering missions.

Zelaya, a wealthy rancher, alienated the courts, Congress, the military and even his own party in his tumultuous three years in power but maintains the support of many of Honduras' poor.

Sunday's ouster was the first military power grab in Latin America since a brief, failed 2002 coup against Chavez.

Coups were common in Central America until the 1980s, but Honduras had not seen a coup since 1978, when one military government overthrew another.

---AP

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Ban Ki-moon urges Myanmar to release Suu Kyi

UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar on Tuesday to free all political prisoners, including detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, days ahead of a visit to the military-ruled country.

Ban is due to arrive in Myanmar on Friday for rare talks with the military junta, but Aung San Suu Kyi's party says he must also meet her if he hopes to make real progress toward democratic reforms.

"They should release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi," said Ban, who was in Japan en route to Myanmar where the Nobel Peace laureate has been detained for 13 of the past 19 years.

"They (the junta) should immediately resume dialogue between the government and opposition leaders," he added after talks with Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone.

His diplomatically risky two-day trip starts on the day a Myanmar court is due to resume its trial of the 64-year-old on charges of violating her house arrest after an American man swam to her lakeside home.

"We welcome Mr Ban Ki-moon's visit," Nyan Win, the spokesman for Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) and a member of her legal team, told AFP.

He said the visit would focus on three issues: "to release all political prisoners, to start dialogue, and also to ensure free and fair elections in 2010.

"Regarding these three things, he needs to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi."

A UN statement said Ban looked forward to meeting "all key stakeholders," but did not specify whether he would meet the woman he described in May as an "indispensable patron for reconsidering the dialogue in Myanmar."

Aung San Suu Kyi is currently being held at Insein prison in Yangon where her internationally condemned trial is taking place alongside that of American John Yettaw. She faces up to five years in jail if convicted.

Her NLD won a landslide victory in Myanmar's last election in 1990, but it was never recognised by the military and she has spent most of the intervening years in detention.

Ban decided to go ahead with his mission after being briefed Sunday by his special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, who paid a short preparatory visit to the country last week.

Gambari met twice with Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win in the generals' remote administrative capital Naypyidaw before holding talks with Singapore's ambassador and UN staff in Yangon, but did not meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.

The UN statement said Ban would highlight a resumption of dialogue between the government and opposition as a necessary part of reconciliation.

He would also focus on "the need to create conditions conducive to credible elections," as well as on the release of political prisoners, it added.

The junta has vowed to hold elections in 2010, but critics say they are a sham designed to entrench its hold on power and that Aung San Suu Kyi's trial is intended to keep her behind bars during the polls.

Diplomats at the United Nations said Ban had faced a dilemma in responding to the invitation from Myanmar's rulers.

Refusing to visit would be seen as not fulfilling his role as UN secretary general, but to accept and return empty-handed would be seen as a slap in the face, said a diplomat on condition of anonymity.

Other diplomats said Ban faced conflicting pressures.

Veto-wielding China, a traditional ally of Myanmar, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Myanmar is a member, were pushing Ban to go without setting conditions, they said.

But Western nations were pressing him to secure at least some concessions from the military regime.

Ban's last Myanmar trip was in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in May last year, when he visited devastated regions and pressured the junta into allowing foreign aid workers into the hardest-hit areas.

He was the first UN chief in 44 years to visit Myanmar but was effectively barred from bringing up issues of political reform.



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Iran leader praised amid signs of political purge

Spokesman of Iranian Guardian Council, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, seen during a press conference, in front of a picture of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini, in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 30, 2009. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian authorities have barred journalists for international news organizations from reporting on the streets and ordered them to stay in their offices. This report is based on the accounts of witnesses reached in Iran and official statements carried on Iranian media.


Iran's ruling clerics closed ranks around President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Tuesday, hailing him as a "champion" amid signs that he may have begun purging his government of anyone perceived as an opposition sympathizer.

A sense of resignation mingled with indignation settled over supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Iran's embattled opposition leader, whose insistence that massive fraud robbed him of victory in the June 12 presidential election touched off two weeks of violent street clashes between protesters and police.

Iran's highest electoral authority proclaimed the election outcome valid Monday — paving the way for Ahmadinejad to be sworn in next month — and the incumbent leader sent a stern message to those in his administration who survived his first term: He won't tolerate dissent in his second.

Three senior Oil Ministry officials with loose ties to Mousavi were fired, the independent news agency Fararu reported. All three were prominent members of ex-President Mohammad Khatami's government and reportedly were allies of another former president, Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Both former presidents were considered to be backers of Mousavi's bid for the presidency.

Ahmadinejad basked in the praise of ranking clerics and supporters who celebrated his re-election in a landslide questioned by Western analysts who have called his roughly 2-to-1 margin of victory suspicious and improbable.

The semiofficial news agency FarsNews quoted Ayatollah Muhammad Ali Taskhiri as saying in a congratulatory message that Ahmadinejad has been "a champion, always on the scene." Another top cleric, Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, said the election was "the cleanest ever" in the history of the Islamic Republic.

In validating the election results, the 12-member Guardian Council — which the opposition accuses of favoring Ahmadinejad — said it found only "slight irregularities" after randomly selecting and recounting 10 percent of the nearly 40 million ballots cast.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, already had endorsed the outcome on June 19.

Ahmad Mirzai, a 45-year-old worker at a private Tehran company, said the council's decision "was fair and based on reality. Iranians love Ahmadinejad and if he runs for another election, again, the result will be the same."

But Mousavi supporters, whose massive street protests brought on an unrelenting crackdown by security forces wielding batons, tear gas and guns, expressed disgust and dismay.

"I am not convinced," said a 35-year-old high school teacher who gave her name only as Sahar for fear of government recrimination. "Everybody I knew voted for Mousavi. The council was not a fair judge."

"It's illogical, illegal and maybe even irreligious that someone passes the law, enforces it and referees the complaints themselves," said another disgruntled Iranian who gave his name only as Jalili.

Mousavi has made few public appearances recently and has said he would seek official approval for any future rallies.

Iran's cleric-led government said Ahmadinejad would be sworn in for a second four-year term as early as July 26.

Abolfazl Fateh, head of Mousavi's information committee, told a pro-Mousavi Web site Tuesday that widespread post-election detentions and investigations were "unethical and illegal."

Iran's leaders have been trying to blame the unrest on foreign conspirators, a longtime staple of government rhetoric about internal dissent. But Fateh said claims of Western involvement were giving the people "the wrong address" for any wrongdoing.

Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi said leaders at next week's Group of Eight summit in Italy would discuss the possibility of slapping new sanctions on Iran because of the ferocity of its clampdown on opposition demonstrators.

But Sweden, which takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union on Wednesday, said the 27-nation bloc was taking a wait-and-see approach.

Although the EU and the United States have expressed concern over the regime's repression, both want to leave room for resuming dialogue with Iran over its nuclear program.

The U.S. and its allies contend Iran is covertly trying to build a nuclear weapon; Iran insists its program is peaceful and geared solely toward generating electricity.


--AP

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Firefox 3.5 Officially Hits the Streets

When is a point update not just a point update? When it's a point-five release, naturally. On Tuesday, Mozilla released Firefox 3.5, the latest version of the popular open-source Web browser, bringing joy into the hearts of children and adults alike.

Besides sporting a fancy revised icon by the Iconfactory, Firefox 3.5 brings several new features to the program, including support for HTML5 video and audio content embedded directly on a page, a private browsing mode, and location-aware browsing, which allows you to share your location with Web sites if you so choose.

Arguably the biggest improvements in Firefox 3.5 are performance-based: the browser's developers boast that its JavaScript performance is more than twice as fast as Firefox 3, and ten times faster than Firefox 2, thanks to the new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine. The software also incorporates the latest version of the Gecko rendering platform, which brings faster rendering of onscreen content.

Originally, the 3.5 update was supposed to be version 3.1, but in March, Mozilla decided to change the version numbering, believing that it better reflected the breadth of new features and functionality that the update brought.

A free download for all, Firefox 3.5 is available in more than 70 different languages. The program runs on Mac, Windows, and Linux. The Mac version requires Mac OS X 10.4 or later, any Mac with an Intel-based or G3, G4, or G5 processor, and at least 128MB of RAM.

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Italy train explosion: 15 dead in gas blast after derailment

A train accident in which two tankers containing liquefied gas exploded after derailing, killing 15 people, has left a town in Italy looking like a war zone.

The blast, which happened in the seaside resort of Viareggio in Tuscany, killed at least 15 people, some of them incinerated in their homes.


Nearly 40 people were injured, many of them seriously burnt, as flames engulfed houses and the force of the explosion caused at least two buildings to collapse into rubble.


One of the buildings was thought to have had 18 people inside, prompting fears that the death toll would rise.

"We saw a ball of fire rising up to the sky," said Gianfranco Bini, who lives in a building overlooking the station. "We heard three big rumbles, like bombs. It looked like war had broken out."

A second, unnamed, witness said: "I heard the explosion and I went out into the street to find myself faced with flames and a motionless charred body lying on the ground. It was a terrifying scene which I will never forget. We couldn't do anything for the body except cover it up."

The inferno happened overnight when a wagon in a 14-carriage train transporting liquefied petroleum gas came off the rails in the coastal town, which is just northwest of Pisa.

The rear of the train ploughed into houses next to Viareggio's train station, setting fire to a vast area.

"The cars flipped over on their sides on the rails and the gas spread out among the nearest houses before exploding," said Antonio Gambardella, commander of the firefighters at the scene.

Hundreds of firemen from across the region were rushed to the area to help with the rescue operation and ensure remaining tankers do not catch fire.

They dug through the rubble of collapsed or burnt homes looking for casualties, while others wearing nuclear, biological and chemical threats fought to contain the blaze.

An estimated 1,000 people were evacuated from the area because of the danger of more explosions, said Luca Lunardini, the town's mayor.

At least one child was among the victims who were killed in their homes by the explosion. Others survived the fireball but died on their way to hospital from severe burns.

"The condition of the bodies is such that it will be very difficult to identify them," said police spokesman Raffaele Gargiulo.

The ANSA news agency reported that three children were pulled alive from the rubble of their collapsed home shortly before dawn.

"It's an impressive scene, there are dozens and dozens of cars hit by the shock wave and collapsed houses," said a fire brigade spokesman, Luca Cari.

The train's two engineers were only lightly injured and were questioned in hospital. They said they felt an impact when they were about 650 feet outside the station, shortly before the rear of the train flew off the tracks.

Officials said the accident may have been caused by damage to the tracks or by a problem with the train's braking system.

--Telegraph

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Japan police arrest three over N.Korea-linked export to Myanmar

Japanese police said Tuesday they had arrested three men for allegedly trying to sell a device to Myanmar that can be used in missile production - on the orders of a company linked to North Korea.

The men, all Tokyo-based company executives, were arrested Monday on charges of trying to export a magnetic measuring device to the military-ruled Southeast Asian country in violation of an export ban, a police official said.

The men arrested were Lee Kyong-Ho, the 41-year-old president of a trading firm, Yasuhiko Muto, 57, who is also the president of a trading house and Miaki Katsuki, 75, president of a machinery manufacturing company.

"They allegedly tried to export it to Myanmar via Malaysia but failed," a police official, who asked not to be named, told AFP.

"The order was originally made by a North Korean trading firm."

The Yomiuri daily reported that the device can be used to develop missile technologies including ballistic missile navigation.

The report said police first suspected North Korea had tried to import the device via Myanmar, but now believed Pyongyang was trying to transfer missile technologies to the country formerly known as Burma.

Lee's trading house had last year also tried and failed to export to Myanmar a measuring instrument that can be used to produce missiles, it said.

The newspaper report said both illegal export attempts to Myanmar were based on an order by the Beijing office of Hong Kong-based New East International Trading Ltd., which was believed to be under the control of the Second Economic Committee of Pyongyang's Workers' Party of Korea.

Myanmar and hardline communist North Korea, both of which are often severely criticised internationally for their human rights abuses, restored diplomatic relations in 2007 after a 24-year rift.

US officials said earlier in June that a US Navy destroyer was tracking a North Korean ship, the Kang Nam 1, which was believed to be headed for Myanmar, possibly carrying a cargo of weapons.

Myanmar's junta downplayed the reports, saying it expected another vessel from the communist state that contained a shipment of rice.


--AsiaOne

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Yemeni Airbus crashes off Comoros with 153 aboard

A Yemeni Airbus carrying 153 people crashed into stormy seas as it came into land in the Comoros islands early on Tuesday in what was the second Airbus to crash in less than a month.

Bodies and wreckage from the Yemenia airline flight were spotted in the Indian Ocean near Moroni, capital of the island archipelago, aviation officials said. A rescue operation was launched to try to find survivors.

There were 142 passengers and 11 crew on board the flight which started in Paris early on Monday and had made stops in Marseille, Sanaa and Djibouti, an official with the carrier said.

France's Transport Minister Dominique Bussereau said Yemenia was a company "under surveillance" and that "numerous faults" had been recorded on the jet involved.

The director of Moroni international airport, Hadji Ali, said the control tower lost contact with Flight IY 626 just before it was due to land and confirmed there was bad weather.

French civil aviation officials said 66 of the passengers were French. Three small babies were also on board, officials said.

Rescue boats were sent to the scene and France sent two navy ships and a plane from its nearby Indian Ocean territories to help.

But stormy weather conditions in the area was hampering the rescue.

"A small plane flew over the scene and the pilot spotted debris and the craft," said Nourdine Bourhane, the Comoros government's secretary general.

"Bodies were seen floating on the surface of the water and a fuel slick was also spotted about 16 or 17 nautical miles from Moroni," senior Yemeni civil aviation official Mohammad Abdel Kader told reporters in Sanaa.

Kader said the wind was blowing at speeds of up to 70mph (115 kph) when the disaster occurred.

"Weather conditions were bad," he said. "The sea was rough."

The Yemenia Airbus A310 left Sanaa at 9:45pm (1845 GMT) on Monday and contact was lost four hours later at 1:51am (2251 GMT), Kader said.

"Yemenia regrets to announce the missing of its flight No IY626 from Sanaa to Moroni with 142 passengers and 11 crew on board Airbus 310-300," the airline announced on its website.

Kader said the 11 crew were made up of various nationalities.

Airbus, which is still reeling from the crash of an Air France A330-320 into the Atlantic on June 1 with 228 people on board, set up a crisis cell straight away. The European plane maker had no immediate comment on the crash.

Investigators are still searching for the cause of the Air France crash. The black box flight recorders have yet to be found and their signal is due to stop emitting on July 2.

French investigators have said the airspeed sensors had been feeding inconsistent readings to the cockpit.

The Yemenia flight started at Paris Charles de Gaulle on Monday morning. An Airbus A330-200 flew to Marseille in southern France, where there is a large Comoran community, and then went on to Sanaa. There were about 100 passengers on board when it left Marseille, Kader said.

In the Yemeni capital, people from various Arab states joined the flight and the passengers were transferred to the Airbus A310 which first flew to Djibouti.

A crisis task force was set up at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport while psychologists were on hand at Marseille's airport to comfort the families of passengers on the plane.

"I am dismayed by what has just happened. It is likely, alas, that we will be affected," the Marseille mayor Jean-Claude Gaudin said on local radio. About 80,000 Comorans are believed to live in Marseille.

Yemen Airways was founded in 1961 before the formation in 1978 of Yemenia, which is 51 percent owned by the Yemeni government and 49 percent by Saudi Arabia, according to its website.

--The Age


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Big Lie: Bernard Madoff sentenced to 150 years in prison

Bernard Madoff has been sentenced to 150 years in prison for his multibillion-dollar fraud scheme.

U.S. District Judge Denny Chin handed down the sentenced in New York on Monday.

The 71-year-old former Nasdaq chairman was arrested late last year after confessing to his sons that his secretive investment advisory business was a "big lie."

He pleaded guilty to securities fraud and other charges in March and has been jailed since.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

NEW YORK (AP) — Bernard Madoff has apologized to his family and to the victims of his multibillion-dollar fraud scheme.

The 71-year-old financier said Monday at his sentencing that he "will live with this pain, this torment, for the rest of my life."

Madoff says that he dug himself "deeper into a hole" as the scheme progressed.

Attorney Ira Sorkin says the 150 years in prison recommended by prosecutors or the 50 years recommended by the federal probation department are excessive.

Victims who lost millions of dollars earlier urged a stiff sentence for the former Nasdaq stock market chairman.

Madoff has pleaded guilty to securities fraud and other charges in March and has been jailed ever since.

--AP

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UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to travel to Myanmar

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will travel to Myanmar this week for an official visit including talks on the fate of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, his spokeswoman announced Monday.

UN spokeswoman Michele Montas said Ban's agenda in Myanmar, following travel Monday to Japan, includes "a broad range of issues including long standing concerns to the United Nations and the international community."

The UN leader's visit to the country formerly known as Burma, set for Friday and Saturday, comes as the Yangon government presses ahead with the internationally-condemned trial of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Nobel laureate faces up to five years in jail on charges of violating the terms of her house arrest, after an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside home.

Montas said that her fate, as well as "the release of all political prisoners" are among the issues for discussion during the secretary general's agenda during the two day visit.

Ban also hopes to address "the resumption of dialogue between the government and opposition as a necessary part of any national reconciliation process, and the need to create conditions conducive to credible elections," Montas said.

--AFP

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Iran: Ahmadinejad: Neda's death is 'suspicious

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday called the death of Neda Agha-Soltan "suspicious" and urged the country's authorities to identify those responsible for it, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported Monday.

The 26-year-old's death has come to symbolize Iranian resistance to the government's official election results since it was captured on amateur video. Within hours of its being posted online June 20, she had become the iconic victim of the Iranian government crackdown.

But Iran has been pushing back against eyewitness reports that she was shot by pro-government Basij militiamen perched on a rooftop near a demonstration.

Ahmadinejad told the head of Iran's judiciary, Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi, to probe the incident and make the results of his investigations public, Fars reported Monday, nine days after Agha-Soltan was killed.

The massive propaganda of the foreign media, as well as other evidence, proves the interference of the enemies of the Iranian nation who want to take political advantage and darken the pure face of the Islamic republic," he said in a letter to Shahroudi, according to the news agency.

The letter comes a day after Iran's government-backed Press TV said Agha-Soltan did not die the way the opposition claims.

Two people told Press TV there were no security forces in the area when she was killed. iReport.com: Iranians share view from the streets

And the network said the type of bullet that killed her is not used by Iranian security forces.

A man who told the network that he had helped take her to a hospital said, "There were no security forces or any member of the Basij" paramilitary present when she was killed.

Press TV did not name the man, who spoke Farsi and was subtitled in English on the broadcast.

CNN has not identified him and cannot confirm his account.

"I didn't see who shot who," he said. "The whole scene looked suspicious to me."

A second man, whom Press TV identified as Agha-Soltan's music teacher, told the station there were "no security forces in this street" when he was with her during the shooting.

Press TV did not name the man, who had a gray mustache and ponytail. He also spoke Farsi and was subtitled in English as he walked and pointed at what Press TV said was the scene of the shooting in central Tehran.

Agha-Soltan was with a family friend who is a music teacher when she was killed. He appears to be the man who spoke to Press TV.

"There was no sign of a protest," he said. "We crossed the street to the other side to get a cab. ... When we reached this spot, a gunshot was heard. There was no shooting here. ... There were no security forces in this street. There were around 20, 30 people in this street. One shot was heard, and that bullet hit Neda."

"The bullet was apparently fired from a small-caliber pistol that's not used by Iranian security forces," the Press TV anchor said.

Iran has strict gun-control laws that bar private citizens from carrying firearms.

U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday that he had seen the video of Agha-Soltan's death and called it "heartbreaking."

"And I think anyone who sees it knows there's something fundamentally unjust about it," he said.

The shaky video of her death -- probably made on a cell phone -- shows her walking with a man near an anti-government demonstration.

After being stuck in traffic for more than an hour inside a subcompact car with a poorly working air conditioner, Agha-Soltan and the friend decided to get out of the car for some fresh air, a friend of Agha-Soltan's told CNN after her death.

The two were near where protesters were chanting in opposition to Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Agha-Soltan, wearing a baseball cap over a black scarf, a black shirt, blue jeans and tennis shoes, did not appear to be chanting and seemed to be observing the demonstration.

Suddenly, Agha-Soltan was on the ground -- felled by a gunshot wound to the chest. Several men knelt by her side and put pressure on her chest in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

"She has been shot! Someone, come and take her!" shouted one man.

By then, Agha-Soltan's eyes had rolled to her right; her body was limp.

Blood streamed from her mouth, then from her nose. For a second, her face was hidden from view as the camera went behind one of the men. When Agha-Soltan's face came back into view, it was covered with blood.

Iran's ambassador to Mexico -- one of few Iranian officials who has spoken to CNN since the disputed June 12 presidential election -- suggested that U.S. intelligence services could be responsible for her death.

"This death of Neda is very suspicious," Ambassador Mohammad Hassan Ghadiri said. "My question is, how is it that this Miss Neda is shot from behind, got shot in front of several cameras, and is shot in an area where no significant demonstration was behind held?

"Well, if the CIA wants to kill some people and attribute that to the government elements, then choosing women is an appropriate choice, because the death of a woman draws more sympathy," Ghadiri said.

CIA spokesman George Little responded, "Any suggestion that the CIA was responsible for the death of this young woman is wrong, absurd and offensive."

--CNN

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Janet Jackson Pays Tribute To Brother Michael At BET Awards

'To you, Michael is an icon; to us, Michael is family,' Janet says before Ne-Yo and Jamie Foxx perform 'I'll Be There.'


On Sunday night at the end of the BET Awards, Janet Jackson spoke publicly for the first time about the death of her beloved older brother, Michael.

Clad all in white, a visibly distraught Janet remained strong as she fought back tears while addressing the audience.

"My entire family wanted to be here tonight, but it was too painful," she told the crowd — including her father Joe Jackson — which cheered and stood on its feet. She then said her comments would be brief.

"To you, Michael is an icon," Janet said. "To us, Michael is family. He will forever live in all of our hearts.

"On behalf of my family and myself, thank you for all of your love, thank you for all of your support. We miss him so much. Thank you so much." She teared up toward the end of her comments.

Janet's thoughts led into a profound, almost gospel performance of "I'll Be There" by show host Jamie Foxx and Ne-Yo. The song — one of the Jackson 5's biggest hits — was a #1 hit single upon its original release in 1970 and again when covered by Mariah Carey for "MTV Unplugged" in 1992. On Sunday night, it was rendered quietly, with the duo accompanied only by a pianist. The performance was a strikingly different way to end an awards show, which usually conclude with big, rousing finales. It gave the show a dignified ending that perfectly suited the nature of the Jackson tribute.

During the BET aftershow telecast, when asked how he felt, Ne-Yo said: "I feel good, man. It's a sad day for music, but I've been telling people we should be celebrating his life, not mourning his death."


--MTV


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