Jon Ralston has been writing about Nevada for almost two decades. He is from Buffalo, N.Y., and holds a B.A. in English from Cornell University and a M.A. in Journalism from University of Michigan. Shortly after his 1983 graduation, he came to Las Vegas as the night police reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, later covering general assignment and county government before becoming a political reporter in 1986.
Ralston wrote for the Las Vegas Review-Journal for 15 years, the last seven as a freelance columnist. In 1999, the Greenspun Media Group purchased the political newsletter The Ralston Report. Ralston currently publishes RalstonFlash.com, a daily e-mail newsletter containing insider political and business information. Ralston also writes weekly columns for In Business Las Vegas and the Las Vegas Sun. In addition to the print media, he is a frequent guest commentator on Las Vegas' CBS affiliate, Channel 8. In addition, Ralston is the host of "Face to Face," a political discussion program that appears on Las Vegas 1 (COX Cable channel 19), the all-news cable channel that is a joint operation of Cox Communications, KLAS-Channel 8 and the Las Vegas Sun. The show appears weekdays at 5:30 p.m., 6:30 p.m., 8 p.m., 10:30 p.m. and 3 a.m. "The Best of Face to Face" airs Saturday and Sunday at varying hours.
Burma Cyclone May Have Killed One Hundred Thousand
The first UN plane carrying relief supplies for the hundreds of thousands of victims of Cyclone Nargis landed in Burma today. The supplies arrived six days after the devastating storm struck, with the plane touching down following intense international pressure on the ruling military junta to open the country's borders to foreign aid agencies. More than 100,000 people may have been killed and another 1 million left homeless in the disaster. Shari Villarosa, the charge d`affaires of the US embassy in Burma, said there was a very real risk of disease outbreaks as the crisis continued. "There may be over 100,000 deaths in the Irrawaddy delta area," she told reporters. Huge areas of land are under floodwater, and up to 95% of buildings in Burma`s largest city, Rangoon, are thought to have been destroyed.
Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace prize-winning Burmese opposition leader, who is under house arrest in the city, had the roof of her home blown off in the storm, a neighbour said. She is living without electricity. Although the first relief supplies have now been flown in, many more planes are still waiting to deliver supplies and disaster specialists to the hundreds of thousands of people without water, food or shelter. International frustration has mounted, with disaster management experts facing a long wait for visas to enter Burma and permission for supply flights to land also slow in arriving. Around 100 UN staff are still waiting for visas enabling them to enter the country, while the US has yet to gain approval to begin military aid flights. The international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, today said the government was lobbying the Burmese ambassador in London about the need for "rapid access" to the country. He said there had been "mixed signals" from the junta about accepting foreign help. "The challenges of a disaster on this scale would daunt even the most developed country, and it is important the Burmese authorities accept all offers of international support offered to them," he added. "The British government will continue to work to bring assistance and relief to the suffering people of Burma." China, the Burmese regime's closest ally, today joined the calls for restrictions on overseas aid to be lifted. Qin Gang, China`s foreign ministry spokesman, said Beijing hoped Burma would "cooperate with the international community" and pledged another 2m pounds to the relief effort.
"We hope Myanmar will … have consultation with the international community, and we hope Myanmar will overcome the disaster at an early date," Qin said, using the country name preferred by the Burmese authorities. Aid agencies already operating in the country were working to find ways to get to some of the areas still swamped by floodwater. Merlin, a medical aid agency, is converting a cruise ship into a floating hospital in order to get to survivors. The boat will be used to distribute clean water and medical supplies, and will also act as an emergency clinic. "This boat will be a real life-saver," Merlin`s chief executive, Carolyn Miller, said. "It will be able to reach far more people far more quickly. This is vital, given that the risk of disease outbreaks heightens as every day passes." Reports emerging from the affected areas suggested people were becoming increasingly desperate. Ray Hassan, from Christian Aid, said looting was breaking out.
"The indications are that the situation is getting increasingly tense and there is a sense that not enough is being done," he said. "Communities are expecting assistance, and assistance isn`t being provided. There is evidence of looting because people are desperate," Three more UN planes are expected to be given clearance to land later today. Burmese state television screened pictures of the prime minister, Thein Sein, distributing food packages to the sick and injured and soldiers in helicopters dropping food over villages. But as the scale of the humanitarian disaster continues to escalate, it is thought Burma does not have enough resources or expertise to cope. "The UN has managed to get some assessment teams into the field, but we need the floodgates to open," Mark Canning, the British ambassador in Rangoon, said.
MSN India and BBC World have teamed - up to deliver content BBCHindi.com
Consult your local tv schedule. Awards garnered by Ralston include: Nevada State Press Association's Outstanding Young Journalist of the Year in 1986, Best Columnist of the Year in 1991 and 1992 and Best Non-Staff Columnist in 2000, 2001 and 2003. In 1996, Ralston was named one of Clark County's "Top 40 Under 40" by the Las Vegas Business Press. In 2000, Ralston was named as an Influential Businessman in Southern Nevada by In Business Las Vegas.MSN India and BBC World have teamed-up to deliver content of the BBC Hindi website, BBCHindi.com, to the users of MSN India`s Hindi portal, MSN Hindi.
This is a really exciting development. Thanks to our partnership with MSN India, more Hindi-speakers around the world will have the opportunity to enjoy top-quality news and information from bbchindi.com, said Vineeta Dwivedi, India Business Development Manager, BBC World Service. Krishna Prasad, Executive Producer, MSN India, maintained, BBC is known worldwide for quality and objectivity in its reporting. We are extremely proud to be associated with an organization as reputed as the BBC to provide our users with the latest and quality news in Hindi.
With an extremely large number of Hindi readers in India and around the world, it remains imperative that we provide users the best content in Hindi. Comprising of staffs based in London and Delhi, bbchindi.com benefits from the BBC`s vast network of correspondents and news bureaus in India and across the world.bbchindi.com is visited and used by millions of speakers of the Hindi language. It offers a high-powered package of news, current events, background information, sport, particularly cricket, latest developments in science and technology, entertainment and show business as well as stories from remote corners of India with comprehensive analysis along with interest features and light stories in text, audio and video.
Fiji Labour Party has Expressed Deep Shock : Benazir Bhutto
The Fiji Labour Party has expressed deep shock and profound sadness at the untimely death of Pakistan's former Prime Minister, Benazir Bhutto early this morning. A party statement said Ms Bhutto's assassination was a senseless act of political terrorism which has deprived Pakistan of an internationally renowned and respected leader.
FLP leader and interim Finance Minister Mahendra Chaudhry said: "Ms Bhutto, who was Prime Minister in 1988 and 1993, was, in recent times, a beacon of hope for the millions of Pakistani people who aspired for a free, fair and democratic Pakistan after eight years of martial and executive rule by Pervez Musharaf during which time there was a steady decline in respect of rule of law, an aberration from the internationally recognised covenants on human rights and an upsurge in fundamentalism in national politics." My reading of Pakistan's political history informs me Ms Bhutto was an Oxford and Harvard educated politician who had to endure the politically motivated killing of her father in 1979 and her brothers Shah Nawaz in 1980 and Mir Murtaza in 1996. Yet such personal tragedy did not deter Ms Bhutto in seeking to realise her political ambitions, Mr Chaudhry said. It is a real tragedy that Ms Bhutto has not been allowed to realise her vision for Pakistan and the rest of the world. Ms Bhutto was shot several times after an election campaign in the city of Rawalpindi before an explosion that killed about 20 people, believed to have been the work of a suicide bomber. At this time of great sorrow, the Fiji Labour Party wishes to offer its condolences to the family of Ms Bhutto, her colleagues, friends and the people of Pakistan, Mr Chaudhry said.
The Fiji Muslim League has strongly condemned the killing of Pakistan?s opposition leader and leading contender for the upcoming Pakistani elections, Benazir Bhutto. ?The assassination of Bhutto is a real act of terrorism,? the vice president of the League, Abdul Khan told fijilive today. Khan said that news of Bhutto?s death has shocked and saddened the Muslim community in Fiji. Bhutto was a strong political leader and her killing is a huge blow to Pakistani politics,? Khan said. Similar sentiments have been echoed by United Peoples? Party acting president, Mick Beddoes. ?Her assassination must be a serious blow to Pakistan?s democratic hopes and a clear indication of extent that the forces of evil have risen in recent times in Pakistan and other trouble spots around the world,? Beddoes said. Beddeos also complimented Bhutto?s courage and determination to continue her fight for democratic reforms in the face of ?the very real and present threats to her life?. Beddoes said that displayed strength of character and patriotism rarely seen in world leaders today. It?s reported that Bhutto was shot in the neck and head during an election rally by an unidentified gunman, who then blew himself up. Bhutto is survived by her husband and three children.
Houston-Republican U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal Elected
Houston-Republican U.S. Rep. Bobby Jindal was elected governor of Louisiana Saturday to become the first Indian-American to lead a U.S. state. With most of the precincts counted, Jindal , 36, had 54 percent of the vote to win without a runoff in Louisiana's electoral system, where candidates of all parties run in a single primary. His nearest competitor, Democrat Walter Boasso, received just 18 percent of the vote. The Oxford-educated Jindal will replace Gov. Kathleen Blanco, a Democrat who did not run again after she was widely criticized for bungled recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Blanco narrowly defeated Jindal in the 2003 election. Jindal , whose first name is Piyush, is the son of immigrants from India and the first non-white Louisiana governor since Reconstruction in the 1870s. "My mom and dad came to this country in pursuit of the American Dream, and guess what happened? They found the American Dream to be alive and well right here in Louisiana," he said in victory speech. He is a conservative who ran on promises to stop political corruption, cut taxes and improve schools. Bobby Jindal is India Abroad Person of the Year 2005. Special messages from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President George Bush were the highlight of the India Abroad annual awards conferred at a gala banquet at the Hotel New York Palace, which was attended by nearly 300 guests, on Friday. Relations between the United States and India, on the ascendant for a few years but which soared since the July 28 Summit between President George Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in Washington, DC, was picked for the India Abroad Event of the Year 2005 award.
In a specially videographed message for the occasion, Prime Minister Singh lauded the Indian American community for the enhancement in relations between the two nations, spoke warmly of his July summit with President Bush, and singled out India Abroad -- the oldest, and largest selling weekly Indian newspaper in the United States ? for its contribution to furthering Indo-US ties. India Abroad, incidentally, is the only South Asian newspaper to have had back-to-back exclusive interviews with both President Bush and Senator John F Kerry, the presidential challenger in 2004. President Bush, in a special message for the event, said, 'For generations, Americans of Indian descent have contributed to the success and vitality of our nation. Today, these individuals are leaders in their professions in business, science, government, and many other fields.
'America looks forward to building on our bilateral relationship to expand our economic ties and lay the foundation of peace and prosperity for our children and grandchildren.' President Bush also sent his 'personal greetings to those gathered for the India Abroad annual banquet'. The awards were handed over to Ronen Sen, India's distinguished Ambassador to the United States, and David McCormick, the newly confirmed US under secretary for commerce who recently led a high-powered delegation to India comprising senior officials from the US Departments of Commerce, State and the Pentagon for a meeting of the US-India High Technology Consultative Group meeting.
Both Sen and McCormick paid tribute to the Indian American community, without whose untiring efforts the formerly estranged democracies could not have seen this upturn in relations. Former US Senator Birch Bayh, who was among the prominent attendees, seconded this in his speech introducing the award. The India Abroad awards were instituted in 2002 to honour individual accomplishments among Indian Americans during the year. Iowarepresentative Swati Dandekar was chosen as the first India Abroad Person of the Year. In 2003, Sonal Shah, co-founder of Indicorps, a non-profit organization that sends Indian American youngsters on a fellowship to India for a year, was chosen for the award.
The Irrigation Canal Ruptured at Fernley Nevada
Hundreds of homes sat in as much as 8 feet of water Sunday following a canal rupture as freezing temperatures hindered efforts to get the water to drain away. As many as 400 homes were damaged when the canal's bank gave way following heavy rainfall produced by the West Coast storm system that had piled snow at least 5 feet deep in the Sierra Nevada and blacked out thousands of customers in three states. At least three deaths were blamed on the storm. "In 10 minutes the entire back yard was completely flooded. It was just nothing but water," said Kristin Watson, whose home backs up to part of the canal.
"We just sort of panicked because we knew we had to get out of there real quick." Winter storm warnings remained in effect for some mountainous areas from California to Colorado. Residents were warned of possible mudslides in parts of rain-soaked Southern California where slopes had been denuded by the fall's wildfires. The irrigation canal ruptured at Fernley early Saturday and was repaired by late in the day, but as much as a square mile of the town was still under water at least 2 feet deep Sunday as ice kept the water from draining naturally. "Our hope is over the next 24 hours to get the water out," Fernley Mayor Todd Cutler said at a briefing Sunday morning. "But we still have up to 8 feet of water in some areas. We need to keep the storm drains unclogged to keep the water moving to a wetland. We also may need to do some pumping in some areas." Lyon County Fire Division Chief Scott Huntley estimated 1,500 people had been displaced. No injuries were reported in the town of 20,000 people about 30 miles east of Reno.
Huntley said officials knew of 18 cases of people rescued from atop homes or cars as fire department and private boats plus four helicopters were pressed into action Saturday, but he believes there were many more. "The sheer number of rescues was amazing," Huntley said Sunday. "For citizens to give of themselves and to help their neighbors, I'm choked up about it," Cutler said. Despite heavy rain Friday, Gov. Jim Gibbons said the canal was not full when the bank failed.
"This indicates to me there might have been a structural weakness over the years. Nobody knows and we don't want to speculate at this time," the governor said. One possible factor that officials have mentioned was rodents burrowing holes in the earthen bank, which also was involved in a smaller collapse that flooded about 60 Fernley homes in December 1996. "If you get just a tiny little break, from a rodent, from anything, it can take the rest of the soil and gravel with it," said Martha VanGeem, principal engineer with CTLGroup, a Skokie, Ill.-based consulting firm. She said the large volume of water in the canal put more pressure on the bank and likely sped up its rupture. "They could have caught it early if there wasn't so much rain," VanGeem said. In the mountains east of Los Angeles, authorities searched Sunday for a 62-year-old man who went hiking Friday just before the storm began, San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Arden Wiltshire said. Searchers last had cell phone contact with him early Saturday, before snow began falling in the area.
Farther east, rescuers in Colorado resumed a search Sunday for four snowmobilers last seen Friday, before a heavy snow storm dumped 3 to 4 feet near Cumbres Pass, close to the New Mexico line. The road to the pass, elevation 10,222 feet, had been closed earlier Sunday and officials initially said the search might not resume until Monday. Donna Oney of the Colorado State Patrol said 11 search and rescue team members and three deputies were looking for the snowmobilers. At least 5 feet of snow had fallen on ski areas in the rugged Sierra Nevada by early Sunday, with 9 feet possible at some higher elevations, the National Weather Service said. As much as 3 feet more could hit the area by Tuesday evening, the weather service said.
More than 220,000 homes and businesses in Northern California were still without power Sunday, and Pacific Gas and Electric said the storm had downed nearly 500 miles of power lines and more than 500 utility poles throughout the Central Valley and the San Francisco Bay area. Repair crews in the snow-covered Sierra foothills will have to use snowshoes, all-terrain vehicles and helicopters, utility officials said. Fewer than 5,000 customers were still blacked out in the Los Angeles area. The storm also caused blackouts in parts of Oregon and Washington. Seven people were hospitalized at Willows, Calif., near Chico, after suffering carbon monoxide poisoning from a propane lantern they used indoors because of the blackout, Glenn County officials said. The storm was blamed for two deaths in California, including a woman whose pickup truck was swept into a flood channel east of Los Angeles, and one death in Oregon, police said.
Panic in the quake-hit Chinese city of Beichuan
There has been panic in the quake-hit Chinese city of Beichuan after a river nearby burst its bank sparking reports it could flood the entire city. The BBC's Paul Danahar in Beichuan says there was a stampede as thousands of people fled to higher ground. The whole city has been evacuated, forcing the suspension of all rescue efforts, our correspondent says.
Beichuan is close to the epicentre of Monday's devastating quake in which it is feared about 50,000 people died. On Saturday the number of confirmed deaths rose to 28,881 and the Chinese authorities say that about five million people have been made homeless by the disaster. We were in the process of filming a man about to be pulled out after hours of digging and the rescue team had to abandon him and run BBC correspondent Paul Danahar in Beichuan Our correspondent in Beichuan says the city went from a scene of rescue and relief into mayhem. "Everybody just ran - rescuers, army relief teams, medical workers and locals - and people who were in the process of being rescued had to be left behind.
"We were in the process of filming a man about to be pulled out after hours of digging and the rescue team had to abandon him and run." Our correspondent has now returned to the heart of the city after the authorities said that though the river had burst its banks the city was not under threat from the water, but the majority of people are remaining on the surrounding hillsides.
"It is not surprising," our correspondent says. "This entire community has been shaken to its core, they are surrounded by unstable buildings which threaten to topple at any moment, and the people have been deeply traumatised by what has happened." The Chinese government has organised a massive search and rescue effort, which has garnered some success.
On Saturday, 33 people were dug out of the rubble in Beichuan, China's official Xinhua news agency reported, they include a 52-year-old man who was pulled free after 117 hours buried in debris.
And in the hard-hit county of Wenchuan a German tourist was pulled from rubble having been buried for 114 hours.
Race against time China's president has urged rescuers throughout the earthquake-struck province of Sichuan to race to save lives.
Visiting the south-western province, Hu Jintao said "time is pressing" during the effort's "most crucial phase".
"Although the time for the best chance of rescue, the first 72 hours after an earthquake, has passed, saving lives remains the top priority of our work," Mr Hu told distraught relatives of those still missing. On Friday, Mr Hu toured Mianyang, one of the cities worst-hit by the 7.9-magnitude earthquake, where he viewed relief efforts and met rescue workers. Correspondents say the Chinese president's presence in the region appears to reflect the level of government concern over the scale of the disaster. Premier Wen Jiabao said the quake was the most destructive and widespread since the People's Republic was founded in 1949. Its scale was greater than that of the Tangshan earthquake in 1976 which left 240,000 dead, he said.
Mohandas K. Gandhi's Ashes Turn 60 Years
Sixty years after he was assassinated, some of peace icon Mohandas K. Gandhi's ashes will be scattered in the Arabian Sea at the family's request and not publicly displayed, a museum trustee said Tuesday. A small steel urn of Gandhi's ashes — one of dozens dispersed across the country after his death — was sent to a Gandhi museum in Mumbai last year by an Indian businessman whose father, a close friend of Gandhi's, had preserved the ashes. Trustees had planned to display the nonviolence leader's ashes in a memorial in downtown Mumbai, but Gandhi's descendants requested the ashes be scattered at sea off Mumbai's coast on Jan. 30, the anniversary of his death, said Dhirubhai Mehta, vice president of the Mahatma Gandhi Museum. Hindus cremate their dead and generally scatter the ashes in rivers or the sea after 13 days.
"We had thought of displaying the ashes, but naturally we will respect the family's wishes," said Mehta. "This is the right thing to do." Gandhi was shot to death by a Hindu hard-liner in 1948 while walking to a prayer meeting in New Delhi. His ashes were sent to towns and villages across India for countless memorial services. "No one knows for sure how many such urns there are elsewhere," Mehta said. "The ashes were sent to Gandhi's followers wherever they requested it."
Mehta, who was 11 when Gandhi was killed, remembers taking part in a small ceremony in Songad village in Gujarat, Gandhi's home state. "Our village was sent an urn because a river ran through it," he said. Gandhi's relatives and some of his followers have been invited to a small ceremony in Mumbai on Jan. 30 to scatter the ashes, Mehta said. In 1997, Gandhi's great-grandson, Tushar Gandhi, immersed some of Gandhi's ashes at the holy spot where the Ganges and the Yamuna rivers meet. Those ashes had been found in a bank vault in northern India.
MC Meets LA Indofijian Community
Former Prime Minister, Mahendra Chaudhry of Fiji met members of the Indian community at the Bombay Palace restaurant in Beverly Hills on March 27, 2004. Chaudhry spoke about the current situation in Fiji. He explained why he, being the opposition leader in Fijian parliament, is not joining the current Fijian cabinet as required by the constitution.
He also encouraged the attendees to join GOPIO, the only organization which stands by and supports PIOs worldwide.The community meeting was organized by GOPIO President Inder Singh. India Association of San Fernando Valley under the leadership of Mr. Surjit Bassi, co-sponsored the dinner meeting. Some prominent members of the Fijian community in Los Angeles area actively participated in the dinner meeting.
China Signs Aid Money to Fiji Islands Government
China is to give Fiji an undisclosed sum of aid money which is to go towards the building of infrastructure (bridges and rural roads) and the construction of better homes for squatters. Fiji’s interim Minister of Finance Mahendra Chaudhry and the Chinese ambassador Cai Jinbiao signed the banking agreement between the two countries this morning at the Ministry of Finance. Chaudhry says the aid money to be given to Fiji is yet to be quantified. It is unclear which project is to receive the first aid money. All projects identified will have to be mutually agreed upon by both governments before the money is released. Speaking at the signing, Chaudhry says the aim of the agreement is to facilitate the disbursement of aid money which has been made available to Fiji by China under a technical and economic co-operation agreement which was signed in April 2007 between the two governments.
He says the provision under the agreement was for Chinese aid to be given to Fiji and this aid money will be spent on projects which are mutually agreed between the two governments. The expenditure from this aid fund will have to be sanctioned by both governments by mutual consent, he added. The banking agreement signed this morning was to facilitate the transfer of funds from China to Fiji and disbursement of funds here in Fiji and the accounting of those funds to the Chinese government. For his part, the Chinese ambassador Cai Jinbiao expressed his government`s sympathy to the victims of Tropical Cyclone Gene that struck early this week.
He says the aid money will be for such projects as the Navuso Bridge which he hopes would start soon. Currently, the Public Works Department is preparing the ground so that construction work on the bridge could start. The money is also expected to go to other infrastructure projects damaged by Cyclone Gene, he added. Chaudhry said that the interim Government has identified some projects on which they will have to consult with the representatives of the Chinese Government. These projects largely relate to the rural sector including the rehabilitation of rural roads and housing, he said. We have a large squatter population. We would like to resettle them in better living conditions. There may be others but consultation on those projects will take place. And upon agreement, the projects will go ahead.
Websites Provide Crucial Links to the Disaster
When the cyclone hit her homeland a week ago, Mya Moeswe was frantic about her sister back in Myanmar. Thousands of miles away in Vancouver, Canada, the 38-year-old mechanical engineer sobbed as she tried over and over to get through the downed telephone lines. Desperate for information, she turned to network television and other mainstream media, only to find them overly broad. The one thing that spoke to her as she faced the void was the network of expatriate Burmese websites stocked with invaluable, up-close details that helped her make sense of the devastation before her sister finally called with the news that she had lost a roof but was otherwise OK. "These sites are hugely important for us," Mya Moeswe said. "It's often the only thing we know."
Acting as newsstand, town hall, bulletin board and cheerleader, these virtual communities have played a vital role in easing anxieties in the last week, managing to evade the long arm of the cyber-police in Myanmar, also known as Burma, and thwart an isolated, repressive regime to bring news and personal information to the world. The country's media is among the most heavily censored in the world, according to the New York-based watchdog group Committee to Protect Journalists, with a tightly controlled official press and Internet filtering that blocks Google and Yahoo e-mail, the BBC and the expatriate websites. In this environment, news gathering for the expatriate sites is done by informal networks of a few to several hundred volunteers in Myanmar sending out stories, tidbits, video clips and photos through Internet cafes, public phones or with departing travelers.
Some are given equipment and a few hours in reporting basics; others find their own way. Although the journalistic standards vary widely, some even call police stations and government officials for comments or a response. In September, when pro- democracy monks led protests against the regime, the ragtag bands of news gatherers often had the best video of the events. In this crisis, their role has been less newsworthy. But with power and Internet blackouts, an information vacuum and the official 23,000 death toll expected to rise sharply, their role has been invaluable personally to the 3 million to 5 million Burmese living overseas. "The diaspora media has been critical," said Aung Naing Oo, a political analyst in Thailand. "By using traditional networks of friends, they were able to get firsthand information about the cyclone." Mizzima News, one of the more popular expatriate websites, weathered its own storm last week.
Under the onslaught of 4 million hits in two days, Mizzima's servers crashed, forcing it to temporarily relocate its virtual community, even as it remained proud of its coverage. "It got overloaded," said Soe Myint, editor of the New Delhi-based operation, which has 30 employees. "But starting at 7 a.m. the day the storm hit, we did near-hourly updates, complete with photos and news." Many editors and founders of the expatriate sites are exiled political dissidents, and that can color coverage. Soe Myint, for instance, served three months in an Indian prison for a 1990 "nonviolent" hijacking aimed at drawing attention to Myanmar's repressive policies. Perhaps in part because of this, the sites say they suffer periodic attacks by government hackers; unconfirmed reports claim that 1,000 low-level military officials have been trained in Russia to create computer viruses, crash websites and launch disinformation campaigns.
Thailand-based Irrawaddy, which has had 9 million hits in the last week, saw its website crash for several days in September in what it believes was an attack by the Myanmar government. "They don't like me," said Myint Hlaing, founder of 5-year-old Burma Today, based in New York. "Last year they hacked us, sent us viruses and totally blocked our site. They're very good." At other times, the government takes a more direct approach. Periodically, Burma Today receives e-mail complaints that it posts only negative news and profits by tarnishing the country's global image. Myint Hlaing, who supports the site with his modest wage as an office worker, said he responded that open debate ultimately makes for a better Myanmar. "I hope to change their mind-set," he said. Website operators also believe some senior officials carefully read their sites to find out what is happening in their country and abroad.
When the government launched a brutal crackdown on the protests in September, some of the expatriate sites saw two-thirds of their Burmese volunteers arrested or intimidated. Since then, most of the human networks have been rebuilt, and the websites have expressed admiration for these unsung heroes for their bravery, resilience and willingness to perform, often at great personal risk. Vigilance has remained tight, with cyber-cafe owners under increasing pressure to monitor their customers. Under a 1996 law, these businesses are required to install software that logs user activity every five minutes. In practice, however, proxy servers and other technological tools allow paths around the barriers, ensuring that more news seeps out of the country.
"When I was there, everyone in the cafes were accessing forbidden websites," said Shawn Crispin, Asia program consultant with the Committee to Protect Journalists, who recently completed a report on the subject. "I even downloaded a video on YouTube of monks protesting to see what would happen, but no one was there." The sites continue to break stories. Mizzima was among the first over the last week to contradict the government's initial death toll of just 351. Above all, since the cyclone hit, the sites have provided reassurance. "We're not a relief mission," Irrawaddy founder Aung Zaw said. "But a lot of people overseas are desperate for information, and we try to help them as much as possible."
FLP Support for Interim Govt Costly
The presence of Fiji Labour Party politicians in the interim Cabinet will result in the demise of the party, said the party's outgoing Nadi branch president Bijay Prasad. Prasad made the comments at his farewell event last night held in the West after holding the position for the past ten years. He said he stepped down from the position for a mistake he made at the party's national council meeting held in Ba where he supported the motion allowing members to join the interim regime. "We were vigorously campaigning to gain support of our indigenous brothers and sisters," Prasad said.
"With the suspension of the GCC (Great Council of Chiefs), reduction of the Ministry of Fijian Affairs to a department of Fijian Affairs, and the overhauling of the NLTB (Native Land Trust Board) with concurrence of our members in the Cabinet, any hope of winning the indigenous support has evaporated in thin air," he said. He added the party's participation in the current regime had widened the racial gap. "What in fact we are doing is allowing Mr Qarase (Laisenia) or any other leader of the SDL party to win more than 50 seats in the future general election."
Prasad said a lot had happened within the party with some decisions made nearly costing the unity and solidarity of the party. "Sometimes, we made a decision then regretted later, like joining the multi-party cabinet without establishing the ground rules, a mistake that could have badly split the party. We were saved by the December 2006 coup," he said. In response, Chaudhry said the party's involvement in the interim regime was not because it supported nor condoned the coup. He added FLP's involvement with the military regime had been decided at the party's national meeting to assist in the return of the country to parliamentary democracy.
A delegation from the India National Defence College visits Fiji Islands
A delegation from the India National Defence College visited the country as part of their National Security and Strategic Studies (NSSS) course instruction last week. The week long visit by the delegation was headed by the Senior Director Staff of the College, Rear Admiral Singh Chaudhari together with 16 course members and 13 spouses of the course members. Also accompanying the group was an officer from Japan, Afghanistan, Ghana and Kenya, said the RFMF media cell. The statement said that the delegation was made aware of the larger perspectives of National Security, the opportunities and threats of geo-politics and the related diplomatic imperatives, the interplay and linkages of economy, defence, diplomacy, development, environment, technology and numerous other dimensions of National Security.
Part of their 47 weeks NSSS course included tours to selected foreign countries. The aim was to equip future policy makers, who all have the potential to attain senior and key appointments in their respective organisations, with a broad understanding of the economic, political, military, technological and organisational aspects involved in the planning of National Strategy. Their visit commenced with a courtesy call on His Excellency Dr. Prabakhara Jha, the India High Commissioner to Fiji at the Holiday Inn in Suva before a welcoming address by the Defence Permanent Secretary, Malakai Tadulala.
Various government departments also gave short briefs on the work they do before a time was given for the touring group to ask questions. The touring group was then able to understand the view point of the country`s civil servants and know the constraints - constitutional and administrative under which they function, said the media cell. Meanwhile, the group also toured the Fiji Police Force and the Prison Services where they were entertained by inmates of Korovou Prison. At Korovou, the Commissioner of Prisons Brigadier Ioane Naivalurua and his staff provided a mouth-watering lunch to the delegation before they were briefed by him at Prisons Headquarters.
The delegation concluded their second day tour with a visit to the National Museum and was later hosted by the interim Prime Minister Commander Voreqe Bainimarama at the Officers Mess and witnessed the beating of the retreat at Queen Elizabeth Barracks in Nabua. They left the country last Saturday.
