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Envoy seeking peace in Myanmar

By Times Wires
Published September 30, 2007

BANGKOK, THAILAND  U.N.  

A U.N. special envoy flew to Myanmar for discussions with the country's entrenched military government Saturday, seeking to resolve a bloody political uprising that has generated worldwide demands for the generals to halt their repression and make way for democratic reforms.

The protests that for nearly two weeks have rocked Myanmar's two main cities, Yangon and Mandalay, were reduced to knots of youths shouting insults at thousands of armed police and soldiers who have been deployed on the streets to smother the campaign, according to Internet reports from Myanmar activists and exile groups in Thailand.

The Buddhist monks who had led the protesters - and inspired them with their revered status in Myanmar society - were blocked inside monasteries for a second day, surrounded by army troops and frightened by a wave of arrests, the reports said.

While U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari was dispatched to win concessions from Senior Gen. Than Shwe, U.S. officials said the Bush administration was pressing China to play a more active role in persuading Shwe and the ruling council to open up space for political reform.

SAN JUAN, PUERTO RICO

Dengue fever spreads across Latin America

Dengue fever is crossing Latin America and the Caribbean in one of the worst outbreaks in decades, causing agonizing joint pain for hundreds of thousands of people and killing nearly 200 so far this year.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta has posted advisories this year for people visiting Latin American and Caribbean destinations to use mosquito repellent and stay inside screened areas whenever possible.

Researchers have no vaccine against dengue.

The mosquitoes that carry dengue are thriving in expanded urban slums scattered with water-collecting trash and old tires. Experts say dengue is approaching record levels this year as many countries enter their wettest months.

ISTANBUL, TURKEY

Rebels attack guards near the Iraq border

Kurdish rebels ambushed a minibus carrying progovernment village guards and civilians in southeastern Turkey and killed 12 people on Saturday, a local official said.

The rebels attacked in Sirnak province near the border with Iraq, killing seven village guards and five civilians, governor Selahattin Apari said.

TEHRAN, IRAN

Iran Parliament labels Army, CIA as terrorists

Iran's Parliament on Saturday approved a resolution calling the CIA and the U.S. Army "terrorist organizations" in apparent response to a Senate resolution seeking a similar designation for Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. The Parliament cited U.S. involvement in dropping nuclear bombs in Japan, using depleted uranium munitions, supporting the killings of Palestinians by Israel, bombing and killing Iraqi civilians, and torturing terror suspects in prisons.

The White House declined to comment Saturday.

NORWAY

Sizable pledge for mother-child health

Norway, whose 4.7-million people already contribute almost $4-billion a year to aid developing countries, will give $1-billion on top of that in the next 10 years to reduce deaths of millions of mothers and children from preventable causes, Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg announced last week. Netherlands Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende pledged that his country would give $175-million for child and maternal health in the next three years.

BEIJING

Efforts to recover miners abandoned

Officials have abandoned efforts to retrieve the bodies of 172 coal miners from a flooded mine in eastern China, family members said Saturday, deepening their anger at what they see as callous treatment by the government and mining company.

[Last modified September 30, 2007, 01:49:16]