YANGON, March 24 (Xinhua) -- At least 10 people were killed in landslides and building exercise bike collapse in Myanmar's northeastern Tachileik and Tarpin, Shan state, caused by a 7.0-magnitude earthquake Thursday night.
According to Myanmar's Meteorology and Hydrology Department, the quake that hit Loimwe, some 56 km southeast of Kengtung, Shan state, occurred at 8:29 p.m. local time (1369 GMT).
The quake, with the epicenter only 10 km deep, struck along Myanmar's borders with Thailand and Laos, about 87 km from Thai northern city of Chiang Rai. A 5.4-magnitude aftershock hit the area two hours later.
The quake affected many areas in Myanamr, with it being felt strongly in the border town of Tachilek and slightly in Taunggyi, Bago, Shwegyin, Nay Pyi Taw, Mandalay and Toungoo. It is reported that Tachilek authorities have advised people to stay out of their houses.
In Yangon, only people living in high-rise buildings slightly felt the quake, residents said, adding that some people have left their apartment buildings for safety.
The quake also affected a wide swath of land in Thailand, China and Vietnam, with a person killed in quake-caused collapse of a wall in Thai northern city of Chiang Rai.
Thai media also reported that the quake was felt in the country 's capital Bangkok, a city some 772 km away, with buildings there seen shaking and swaying.
According to Vietnam News Agency, buildings in Hanoi shook when the autoclave earthquake happened, which caused panic among residents of apartment blocks. The U.S. Geological Survey has put the quake at 6.8 magnitude.
Showing posts with label pdu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pdu. Show all posts
Thursday, March 24, 2011
French fighters in Libya
BENGHAZI—French fighter jets hit aircraft and a crossroads military base deep inside Libya on Thursday as the U.S. reduced its combat role in the international operation that is working to thwart Moammar Gadhafi’s forces exercise bike by land, sea and air.
Libya’s air force has been effectively neutralized, and the government has taken part of its fight to the airwaves. State television aired pictures of bodies it said were victims of airstrikes, but a U.S. intelligence report bolstered rebel claims that Gadhafi’s forces had simply taken bodies from a morgue.
International military support for the rebels is not open-ended: France set a timeframe on the international action at days or weeks — not months.
The Gadhafi regime asked international forces to spare its broadcast and communications infrastructure.
“Communications, whether by phones or other uses, are civilian and for the good of the Libyan nation to help us provide information, knowledge and co-ordinate everyday life. If these civilian targets are hit, it will make life harder for millions of civilians around Libya,” Moussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, told reporters in Tripoli.
Representatives for the regime and rebels were expected to attend an African Union meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday, according to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who described it as a part of an effort to reach a cease-fire and political solution.
The U.S. has been trying to give up the lead role in the operation against Gadhafi’s forces, and NATO agreed late Thursday to assume one element of it — control of the no-fly zone. The U.S.-led coalition will still supervise attacks on targets on the ground, though fewer U.S. planes were used in airstrikes Thursday.
“Nearly all, some 75 per cent of the combat air patrol missions in support of the no-fly zone, are now being executed by our coalition partners,” Navy Vice Adm. William Gortney, told reporters at the Pentagon. Other countries were handling less than 10 per cent of such missions, he said.
The U.S. will continue to fly combat missions as needed, but its role ice cream machine supplier will mainly be in support missions such as refuelling allied planes and providing aerial surveillance of Libya, Gortney said.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the international action would last days or possibly weeks, but not months. But he told RTL radio that in addition to protecting civilians, the mission “is also about putting Gadhafi’s opponents, who are fighting for democracy and freedom, in a situation of taking back the advantage.”
Libyan state television showed blackened and mangled bodies that it said were victims of airstrikes in Tripoli. Rebels have accused Gadhafi’s forces of taking bodies from the morgue and pretending they were civilian casualties.
A U.S. intelligence report on Monday, the day after coalition missiles attacked Gadhafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound in the capital, said that a senior Gadhafi aide was told to take bodies from a morgue and place them at the scene of the bomb damage, to be displayed for visiting journalists. A senior U.S. defence official revealed the contents of the intelligence report on condition of anonymity because it was classified secret.
Gadhafi officials have claimed large numbers of casualties, both civilian and military, as a result of the coalition onslaught — a tragic and bitter irony, if true, for a mission designed to protect Libyan lives. But the international press corps in Tripoli under the watchful gaze of the regime has asked repeatedly to meet and interview injured survivors of the airstrikes and was rebuffed again Wednesday, as another day passed without evidence of blood spilled under the banner of the UN.
The French strikes hit a base about 250 kilometres south of the Libyan coastline, as well as a Libyan combat plane that had just landed outside the strategic city of Misurata, France’s military said.
Briefing reporters in Tripoli late Thursday, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said no Libyan planes have been in the air since the no-fly zone was declared. He said a plane might have been destroyed in an allied attack on an air base.
Canadian CF-18s have been tasked with attacking ground targets. The jets have flown four air-to-ground attack missions in the last few days, including blowing up an ammunition depot Wednesday .
No bombs were dropped in the other three sorties, but Maj.-Gen Tom Lawson said the overall campaign is progressing from attacking air threats posed by Libyan jets and helicopters to targets on the ground, such as tanks.
The Harper government initially autoclave dispatched six CF-18s to enforce the no-fly zone. It added a seventh aircraft as a spare early this week.
Two C-140 Aurora reconnaissance aircraft were added Thursday to patrol the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya.
Libya’s air force has been effectively neutralized, and the government has taken part of its fight to the airwaves. State television aired pictures of bodies it said were victims of airstrikes, but a U.S. intelligence report bolstered rebel claims that Gadhafi’s forces had simply taken bodies from a morgue.
International military support for the rebels is not open-ended: France set a timeframe on the international action at days or weeks — not months.
The Gadhafi regime asked international forces to spare its broadcast and communications infrastructure.
“Communications, whether by phones or other uses, are civilian and for the good of the Libyan nation to help us provide information, knowledge and co-ordinate everyday life. If these civilian targets are hit, it will make life harder for millions of civilians around Libya,” Moussa Ibrahim, a government spokesman, told reporters in Tripoli.
Representatives for the regime and rebels were expected to attend an African Union meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on Friday, according to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who described it as a part of an effort to reach a cease-fire and political solution.
The U.S. has been trying to give up the lead role in the operation against Gadhafi’s forces, and NATO agreed late Thursday to assume one element of it — control of the no-fly zone. The U.S.-led coalition will still supervise attacks on targets on the ground, though fewer U.S. planes were used in airstrikes Thursday.
“Nearly all, some 75 per cent of the combat air patrol missions in support of the no-fly zone, are now being executed by our coalition partners,” Navy Vice Adm. William Gortney, told reporters at the Pentagon. Other countries were handling less than 10 per cent of such missions, he said.
The U.S. will continue to fly combat missions as needed, but its role ice cream machine supplier will mainly be in support missions such as refuelling allied planes and providing aerial surveillance of Libya, Gortney said.
French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said the international action would last days or possibly weeks, but not months. But he told RTL radio that in addition to protecting civilians, the mission “is also about putting Gadhafi’s opponents, who are fighting for democracy and freedom, in a situation of taking back the advantage.”
Libyan state television showed blackened and mangled bodies that it said were victims of airstrikes in Tripoli. Rebels have accused Gadhafi’s forces of taking bodies from the morgue and pretending they were civilian casualties.
A U.S. intelligence report on Monday, the day after coalition missiles attacked Gadhafi’s Bab al-Aziziya compound in the capital, said that a senior Gadhafi aide was told to take bodies from a morgue and place them at the scene of the bomb damage, to be displayed for visiting journalists. A senior U.S. defence official revealed the contents of the intelligence report on condition of anonymity because it was classified secret.
Gadhafi officials have claimed large numbers of casualties, both civilian and military, as a result of the coalition onslaught — a tragic and bitter irony, if true, for a mission designed to protect Libyan lives. But the international press corps in Tripoli under the watchful gaze of the regime has asked repeatedly to meet and interview injured survivors of the airstrikes and was rebuffed again Wednesday, as another day passed without evidence of blood spilled under the banner of the UN.
The French strikes hit a base about 250 kilometres south of the Libyan coastline, as well as a Libyan combat plane that had just landed outside the strategic city of Misurata, France’s military said.
Briefing reporters in Tripoli late Thursday, Libyan Deputy Foreign Minister Khaled Kaim said no Libyan planes have been in the air since the no-fly zone was declared. He said a plane might have been destroyed in an allied attack on an air base.
Canadian CF-18s have been tasked with attacking ground targets. The jets have flown four air-to-ground attack missions in the last few days, including blowing up an ammunition depot Wednesday .
No bombs were dropped in the other three sorties, but Maj.-Gen Tom Lawson said the overall campaign is progressing from attacking air threats posed by Libyan jets and helicopters to targets on the ground, such as tanks.
The Harper government initially autoclave dispatched six CF-18s to enforce the no-fly zone. It added a seventh aircraft as a spare early this week.
Two C-140 Aurora reconnaissance aircraft were added Thursday to patrol the Mediterranean off the coast of Libya.
The CDC says, tuberculosis cases in the US amounted to historic lows
The number of tuberculosis cases in the United States reached an all-time low last year, with only 11,181 cases reported to public health authorities, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That represented a 3.9% drop in the number autoclave of cases from the preceding year, but was a disappointment on two counts: the number of cases had dropped by 11.9% in 2009, and authorities had hoped a major decline would continue; and in 1989, health officials had set a goal of eradicating TB in the U.S. by 2010, a roadmark that was clearly not met.
The agency reported in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that nearly 40% of the cases, 4,378, were in people born in the United States. The remaining 6,707 cases were in people who were born abroad. More than half of those cases were among people born in four countries: Mexico (23%), the Philippines (11%), India (8.6%) and Vietnam (7.7%). Overall, foreign-born people were 11 times as likely to have TB as those born in this country.
Four states -- California, Texas, New York and Florida -- accounted for 49.2% of the TB cases, a total of 5,503 cases. More cases were reported among Hispanics than any other ethnic group, but Asians had the highest case rate. TB rates among Hispanics, blacks and Asians were seven, eight and 25 times as high as among Caucasians, respectively.
Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It can be cured with antibiotics, but a full course of treatment requires six to nine months to fully eradicate the microorganism. Many people do not finish the full treatment, which leads to the development of drug-resistant strains of the bacterium. According to the CDC, nearly 94% of those who began treatment in 2007 completed their regimen.
The survey of TB cases detected 113 cases of so-called multidrug-resistant TB, which is caused by a bacterium that is resistant to at least two different antibiotics. The researchers found only one case of extensively drug-resistant TB, which is caused by a strain that is resistant to virtually all the antibiotics used to treat TB. Both forms of the disease are growing problems around the world because exercise bike they are spreading rapidly and are extremely difficult to treat. The World Health Organization on Wednesday called for more funds for research and treatment of drug-resistant TB.
The agency reported in its Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that nearly 40% of the cases, 4,378, were in people born in the United States. The remaining 6,707 cases were in people who were born abroad. More than half of those cases were among people born in four countries: Mexico (23%), the Philippines (11%), India (8.6%) and Vietnam (7.7%). Overall, foreign-born people were 11 times as likely to have TB as those born in this country.
Four states -- California, Texas, New York and Florida -- accounted for 49.2% of the TB cases, a total of 5,503 cases. More cases were reported among Hispanics than any other ethnic group, but Asians had the highest case rate. TB rates among Hispanics, blacks and Asians were seven, eight and 25 times as high as among Caucasians, respectively.
Tuberculosis is caused by a bacterium called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It can be cured with antibiotics, but a full course of treatment requires six to nine months to fully eradicate the microorganism. Many people do not finish the full treatment, which leads to the development of drug-resistant strains of the bacterium. According to the CDC, nearly 94% of those who began treatment in 2007 completed their regimen.
The survey of TB cases detected 113 cases of so-called multidrug-resistant TB, which is caused by a bacterium that is resistant to at least two different antibiotics. The researchers found only one case of extensively drug-resistant TB, which is caused by a strain that is resistant to virtually all the antibiotics used to treat TB. Both forms of the disease are growing problems around the world because exercise bike they are spreading rapidly and are extremely difficult to treat. The World Health Organization on Wednesday called for more funds for research and treatment of drug-resistant TB.
NATO over part of the military line to Libya
NATO agreed has to take over part of the military operations against Libya -- enforcement of the no-fly zone -- after days of hard bargaining among its members. But attacks on the ground will continue to be run by the coalition led by the U.S., which has been anxious to give up the lead role.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who announced the NATO agreement late Thursday in Brussels, said the alliance operation autoclave would proceed in parallel with the bombing campaign carried out by coalition aircraft.
"At this moment there will still be a coalition operation and a NATO operation," Fogh Rasmussen said. "We are considering whether NATO should take on the broader responsibility in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution, but that decision has not been reached yet."
Photos: U.S. and allies strike Libya targets from air and sea
In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised NATO for taking over the no-fly zone, even though the U.S. had hoped the alliance would have agreed Thursday to take full control of the military operation that was authorized by the United Nations, including the protection of Libyan civilians and supporting humanitarian aid efforts on the ground.
NATO expects to commence enforcement of the no-fly zone within 48-72 hours. The operation will be commanded from Naples by Adm. Samuel J. Locklear. U.S. warplanes will continue flying strike missions over Libya, the Pentagon said earlier Thursday.
NATO also agreed to launch military planning for a broader mandate, including ice cream machine supplier a no-drive zone that would prevent Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's armor and artillery from moving. The North Atlantic Council is scheduled to meet on Sunday to consider the plans.
"Without prejudging deliberations, I would expect a decision in coming days," Fogh Rasmussen said.
NATO'S top decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, had been struggling for six days to reach an agreement on using its military command and control capability to coordinate the operation in Libya. The logjam appeared to have broken earlier Thursday when Turkey, which had sought assurances that the NATO operation would be limited, finally gave its assent. The alliance needs the approval of all 28 members to take such action.
Turkey's parliament authorized the government to participate in military operations in Libya, including the no-fly zone. Turkey is NATO's only Muslim member.
Before the approval of the mission, hundreds of people, including members of left-wing political parties, protested against the deployment outside Turkey's Parliament as well as the U.S. Embassy, where protesters chanted slogans against NATO and Stavridis' visit.
Separately, the 27 European Union heads of government, also in Brussels for a summit, issued a statement saying the EU stood ready to assist in building a new Libya "in cooperation with the United Nations, the Arab League, the African Union and others."
In Rome, Italy's parliament approved the country's involvement in Libya with back-to-back votes in both houses. The lower Chamber of Deputies gave its approval on Thursday, a day after the Senate.
Italy has offered the coalition attacking military targets in Libya the exercise bike use of seven military bases for its aircraft. It has also made available eight of its own jets for use in missions. But it has been pushing for NATO to take over command of the operation.
NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, who announced the NATO agreement late Thursday in Brussels, said the alliance operation autoclave would proceed in parallel with the bombing campaign carried out by coalition aircraft.
"At this moment there will still be a coalition operation and a NATO operation," Fogh Rasmussen said. "We are considering whether NATO should take on the broader responsibility in accordance with the U.N. Security Council resolution, but that decision has not been reached yet."
Photos: U.S. and allies strike Libya targets from air and sea
In Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton praised NATO for taking over the no-fly zone, even though the U.S. had hoped the alliance would have agreed Thursday to take full control of the military operation that was authorized by the United Nations, including the protection of Libyan civilians and supporting humanitarian aid efforts on the ground.
NATO expects to commence enforcement of the no-fly zone within 48-72 hours. The operation will be commanded from Naples by Adm. Samuel J. Locklear. U.S. warplanes will continue flying strike missions over Libya, the Pentagon said earlier Thursday.
NATO also agreed to launch military planning for a broader mandate, including ice cream machine supplier a no-drive zone that would prevent Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi's armor and artillery from moving. The North Atlantic Council is scheduled to meet on Sunday to consider the plans.
"Without prejudging deliberations, I would expect a decision in coming days," Fogh Rasmussen said.
NATO'S top decision-making body, the North Atlantic Council, had been struggling for six days to reach an agreement on using its military command and control capability to coordinate the operation in Libya. The logjam appeared to have broken earlier Thursday when Turkey, which had sought assurances that the NATO operation would be limited, finally gave its assent. The alliance needs the approval of all 28 members to take such action.
Turkey's parliament authorized the government to participate in military operations in Libya, including the no-fly zone. Turkey is NATO's only Muslim member.
Before the approval of the mission, hundreds of people, including members of left-wing political parties, protested against the deployment outside Turkey's Parliament as well as the U.S. Embassy, where protesters chanted slogans against NATO and Stavridis' visit.
Separately, the 27 European Union heads of government, also in Brussels for a summit, issued a statement saying the EU stood ready to assist in building a new Libya "in cooperation with the United Nations, the Arab League, the African Union and others."
In Rome, Italy's parliament approved the country's involvement in Libya with back-to-back votes in both houses. The lower Chamber of Deputies gave its approval on Thursday, a day after the Senate.
Italy has offered the coalition attacking military targets in Libya the exercise bike use of seven military bases for its aircraft. It has also made available eight of its own jets for use in missions. But it has been pushing for NATO to take over command of the operation.
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