THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Seven films from Lithuania and Myanmar will be
showcased in the ‘Country Focus’ section of 20th International Film
Festival of Kerala (IFFK) that will commence on December 4. The
Lithuanian films will portray the Baltic nation’s troubled history as a
satellite state in the USSR and its present reality. Two Cold War era
movies, the 1966-made Jausmai (Feelings) and Grazuole (The Beauty) made
in 1969, are listed as sourced from ‘Soviet Union-Lithuania’.
The
other films are Kolekcioniere (The Collectress, 2008), Ekskursante (The
Excursionist, 2013) and Losejas (The Gambler, 2015). Films from
Myanmar, which also has a history of authoritarian rule, typically steer
clear of political commentary with light-veined family entertainers.
The two movies Red Cotton Silk Flower (2012) and Successor of Merits
(2015) represent film industry in the present Myanmar. Feelings, a
collaborative effort by directors Alimantas Grikiavicius and Algirdas
Dausa, at its core is a family drama set against the bleak backdrop of
World War II. The Beauty is the story of a sensitive yet impish child
who is elected beauty queen by her playmates, and becomes convinced of
her good looks. (Courtesy of The New Indian Express)
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Monday, November 30, 2015
UN warns of need to boost immunisation
The United Nations has called for an expansion of immunisation to combat the threat of polio and other preventable diseases, after two cases of a vaccine-derived form of the virus were detected in northern Rakhine State.
The World Health Organization and the UN Children’s Fund said the cases were the result of poor immunisation coverage, and showed that the government and parliament needed to prioritise immunisation in the national budget.
“One immediate step to help reaching this goal is to prioritise vaccines and cold chain in the government’s health budget,” they said in a joint statement.
Routine immunisation coverage has been particularly low in Rakhine State, dipping below 80 percent in recent years. In some townships only 27pc of children received the three recommended doses of oral polio vaccine in 2014, WHO and UNICEF said.
Rakhine State has been wracked by communal conflict since 2012, and government health services in Muslim communities are often non-existent. Lack of trust in government health staff is also a major barrier.
U Thaung Hlaing, health director in Rakhine State, said vaccine-derived polio virus was detected in two children from Maungdaw township, one in May and one in November.
“One child had never been exposed to vaccine, but the other had taken vaccine just once,” he said. (Courtesy of MMTimes)
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The World Health Organization and the UN Children’s Fund said the cases were the result of poor immunisation coverage, and showed that the government and parliament needed to prioritise immunisation in the national budget.
“One immediate step to help reaching this goal is to prioritise vaccines and cold chain in the government’s health budget,” they said in a joint statement.
Routine immunisation coverage has been particularly low in Rakhine State, dipping below 80 percent in recent years. In some townships only 27pc of children received the three recommended doses of oral polio vaccine in 2014, WHO and UNICEF said.
Rakhine State has been wracked by communal conflict since 2012, and government health services in Muslim communities are often non-existent. Lack of trust in government health staff is also a major barrier.
U Thaung Hlaing, health director in Rakhine State, said vaccine-derived polio virus was detected in two children from Maungdaw township, one in May and one in November.
“One child had never been exposed to vaccine, but the other had taken vaccine just once,” he said. (Courtesy of MMTimes)
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Mandalay Assamese ladies feted in city
GUWAHATI, Nov 28 - Two Myanmar-based Assamese women, whose ancestors were taken by the Burmese (Myanmarese) army as a ‘gift’ from the Ahom kings about 200 years back, were accorded felicitation at the Kumar Bhaskar Natya Mandir here today. The event was organised by city-based surgeon Dr Satyakam Phukan, teacher of North Guwahati College Dr Tapan Sarma and city-based businessman Binoy Sarma, who visited Myanmar between January and February 2013 in search of the people of Assam origin.
The ancestors of the two women, who were felicitated today, had to leave their motherland after the repeated Burmese invasions of Assam between 1817 and 1826, along with the Burmese armymen. Though these people have lost their language and culture, they still maintain that they are Assamese people. Initially, there were around 5,000 such people living in Myanmar. But today, a majority of them have assimilated into the Myanmarese society and those who are still maintaining their Assamese identity, are mostly settled in Mandalay, the second largest city of Myanmar and Bhamo, another city of the neighbouring country.
The two women – Ratnamoyee and Rajani Devi – who came to the city, accompanying two groups of Manipuri and Bengali people of Mandalay, however, had to speak in Burmese during their felicitation. They said that they have a very weak economy. They have lost their language and culture. But they take great pride in identifying themselves as Assamese, they said. (Courtesy of TheAssamTribuneOnline)
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The ancestors of the two women, who were felicitated today, had to leave their motherland after the repeated Burmese invasions of Assam between 1817 and 1826, along with the Burmese armymen. Though these people have lost their language and culture, they still maintain that they are Assamese people. Initially, there were around 5,000 such people living in Myanmar. But today, a majority of them have assimilated into the Myanmarese society and those who are still maintaining their Assamese identity, are mostly settled in Mandalay, the second largest city of Myanmar and Bhamo, another city of the neighbouring country.
The two women – Ratnamoyee and Rajani Devi – who came to the city, accompanying two groups of Manipuri and Bengali people of Mandalay, however, had to speak in Burmese during their felicitation. They said that they have a very weak economy. They have lost their language and culture. But they take great pride in identifying themselves as Assamese, they said. (Courtesy of TheAssamTribuneOnline)
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Japan eager to cozy up to Myanmar’s incoming NLD government
The government is stepping up efforts to develop a relationship with Myanmar’s top opposition force, the National League for Democracy, after its landslide victory in the general election earlier this month.
Also, Japanese businesses have a high interest in Myanmar’s abundant and cheap labor.
With China also beginning to build ties with the incoming Myanmar government, Japan plans to mobilize public-private efforts to provide assistance to Myanmar, which China invested in heavily while it was under military rule, officials said.
On Friday, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida held talks with Nyan Win, visiting spokesman for the NLD and member of the party’s central executive committee. At the meeting, Kishida called for pro-democracy icon and NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi to make a visit to Japan soon.
Nyan Win is the NLD’s de facto No. 2 executive and Suu Kyi’s closest aide. (Courtesy of JapanTimes)
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Also, Japanese businesses have a high interest in Myanmar’s abundant and cheap labor.
With China also beginning to build ties with the incoming Myanmar government, Japan plans to mobilize public-private efforts to provide assistance to Myanmar, which China invested in heavily while it was under military rule, officials said.
On Friday, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida held talks with Nyan Win, visiting spokesman for the NLD and member of the party’s central executive committee. At the meeting, Kishida called for pro-democracy icon and NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi to make a visit to Japan soon.
Nyan Win is the NLD’s de facto No. 2 executive and Suu Kyi’s closest aide. (Courtesy of JapanTimes)
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Right groups say Myanmar offensive has displaced 10,000 people
BANGKOK – A Myanmar military offensive against ethnic rebels in the east of the country has uprooted more than 10,000 people, rights groups said, accusing the army of bombing schools and Buddhist temples, firing on civilians and raping women.
Since Oct. 6, the army has shelled six villages, shot and injured three people, and fired on 17 villagers who are now missing, according to activists in Shan state.
The Shan Human Rights Foundation has documented eight cases of sexual violence since April, including a 32-year-old woman gang-raped by 10 soldiers on Nov. 5 while her husband was tied up under their farm hut in Ke See township.
“We are very concerned that there has been no public condemnation by the international community about these war crimes and these attacks on civilians,” rights activist Charm Tong said. (Courtesy of JapanTimes)
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Since Oct. 6, the army has shelled six villages, shot and injured three people, and fired on 17 villagers who are now missing, according to activists in Shan state.
The Shan Human Rights Foundation has documented eight cases of sexual violence since April, including a 32-year-old woman gang-raped by 10 soldiers on Nov. 5 while her husband was tied up under their farm hut in Ke See township.
“We are very concerned that there has been no public condemnation by the international community about these war crimes and these attacks on civilians,” rights activist Charm Tong said. (Courtesy of JapanTimes)
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Aust business nous could boost Myanmar
MACQUARIE University academic Sean Turnell, an informal advisor to the NLD leadership, says agricultural reform will be a key priority once the government takes power early next year.
"Australia has a real lot to contribute now. In a sense Australia's greatest expertise is agriculture (and) agriculture is likely to be a real priority," Turnell told AAP.
"One could imagine Australian advice on that front could become quite significant," he said.
Some 70 per cent of Myanmar's 54 million population still make a living from the rural sector.
Many face high levels of debt. But as part of reforms Myanmar's agriculture bank will be able to provide more credit in the rural sector.
Australia has assisted Myanmar in the drafting of a new mining law, but the legislation has remained bogged down in the parliament.
Turnell expects the legislation to pass once the new government is in place. (Courtesy of TheAustralian)
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"Australia has a real lot to contribute now. In a sense Australia's greatest expertise is agriculture (and) agriculture is likely to be a real priority," Turnell told AAP.
"One could imagine Australian advice on that front could become quite significant," he said.
Some 70 per cent of Myanmar's 54 million population still make a living from the rural sector.
Many face high levels of debt. But as part of reforms Myanmar's agriculture bank will be able to provide more credit in the rural sector.
Australia has assisted Myanmar in the drafting of a new mining law, but the legislation has remained bogged down in the parliament.
Turnell expects the legislation to pass once the new government is in place. (Courtesy of TheAustralian)
For more information - Visit here.
No evidence over Kachin teacher murders
No evidence has been found about the criminals who raped and killed two Kachin volunteer teachers on January 19 this year in northern Shan State.
The police and an investigation commission formed by the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) failed to find any evidence about the murderers, after questioning several Kaunghka villagers, where the murders occurred, said Reverend Zau Ra of Muse Township KBC.
“The case is still under investigation. We plan a press briefing and a prayer service on the first anniversary of the murders,” he added.
Another KBC member said the army had failed to reply to a request for a meeting. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)
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The police and an investigation commission formed by the Kachin Baptist Convention (KBC) failed to find any evidence about the murderers, after questioning several Kaunghka villagers, where the murders occurred, said Reverend Zau Ra of Muse Township KBC.
“The case is still under investigation. We plan a press briefing and a prayer service on the first anniversary of the murders,” he added.
Another KBC member said the army had failed to reply to a request for a meeting. (Courtesy of Eleven Myanmar)
For more information - Visit here.
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