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Chhay Sinarith, who is chief of the Interior Ministry's information department. The three homemade bombs found Sunday—made of a mixture of TNT and fertilizer packed in three buckets—were planted at a monument dedicated to Vietnamese soldiers who invaded Cambodia to topple the Khmer Rouge in 1979. (AP)

Kachin Man Beaten to Death in Myitkyina

Maran Seng Awng, 22, a resident of Myitkyina in Kachin State, died on Monday after being arrested and beaten by local police, according to local sources. The man was taken into custody while visiting a house that was under surveillance by the police. The owner of the house was suspected of being involved in drug trafficking, and police raided the home after receiving an anonymous tip.

The only son of a widow, Maran Seng Awng suffered serious abdominal injuries and died shortly after being brought by police to a local hospital. Police officials reportedly offered the victim’s mother 1 million kyat (US $800) in compensation and an additional 300,000 kyat ($240) for funeral expenses to put an end to the investigation of Maran Seng Awng’s death. A funeral was held on Tuesday with about 50 friends and family in attendance.

Singapore Airlines Quarterly Net Profit US $278 Million

Singapore Airlines said Wednesday first-quarter net profit fell 26.3 percent, but its core earnings were higher as last year's result was boosted by a one-off gain. Net profit for the three months ended June 30 was S $424 million (US $278 million) compared with S $575 million (US $378 million) a year earlier, the airline said in a statement. Last year's earnings included a S $223 million (US$147 million) gain from the sale of the company's headquarters building in Singapore. The first-quarter net profit result was higher than the S$400 million (US $263 million) average forecast in a Dow Jones Newswires poll of three analysts. Singapore Airlines, which boasted the highest profit of any airline in the world in the last financial year, said it will continue to benefit from strong passenger bookings. "Demand for air travel is expected to remain buoyant," the airline said, adding that it has high forward ticket sales in the next quarter, especially in its high-margin premium cabins.

Singapore Airlines expects to receive its first Airbus A380 superjumbo in October, and the delivery of several other models will help boost passenger capacity by about 1 percent over the financial year. The airline flew a record 4.6 million passengers during the first quarter, up 5.1 percent from a year earlier. Revenue was up 5.9 percent at S $3.62 billion (US$2.38 billion), driven by high passenger load factors.(AP)

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Wednesday, August 01, 2007

More Bird Flu in Burma

A second outbreak of bird flu was discovered in Burma in July at a farm in Letpadan Township, about 130 km northwest of Rangoon, the Reuters News Agency reported on Wednesday. The report cited UN Food and Agriculture Organization country representative Tang Zhengping as saying that the virus was detected on July 26 and about 3,800 chickens have been culled as part of measures taken to control the outbreak. This latest outbreak follows an earlier one on July 24 in Mon State in southern Burma. No human cases of the H5N1 virus have yet been reported in Burma, but the World Health Organization says that since the outbreak of bird flu in 2003, the virus has infected at least 319 people worldwide and killed at least 192.

N Korean Defectors Leave Danish Embassy in Vietnam, Heading for Seoul

Four North Koreans, who fled to Vietnam in a bid to get asylum in South Korea, have left the Danish Embassy and were headed for Seoul, the Danish Foreign Ministry said Tuesday. The defectors—three women and a man—who arrived at the embassy on July 11, voluntarily left the building on Friday, ministry spokesman Thomas Oestrup Moeller said in Copenhagen. "There was no drama involved," Oestrup Moeller said, declining to give details.

Thousands of North Koreans have fled their communist homeland to escape hunger and harsh political oppression, many taking a long and risky land journey through China to Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and other Southeast Asian countries on their way to asylum in South Korea. Since the Korean War ended in 1953, more than 10,000 North Koreans have defected to the South, with most arriving in recent years. (AP)

Four Die, Seven Wounded in Southern Thailand Attacks

Four people, including two soldiers, were killed and seven other people were injured Wednesday as suspected Muslim insurgents staged an ambush and set off bombs across southern Thailand, police said.