“We will continue this program until further notice. The ASEAN Pass fare is a very reasonable price. The normal airfare is $423 for the Yangon-Kuala Lumpur-Yangon route,”

“Thailand has consistently been identified as one of the world’s top five countries most heavily implicated in the illicit ivory trade, but shows little sign of addressing outstanding issues,”

At the request of MPA, a team of Japanese and Myanmar experts sponsored by JICA conducted a field survey after Nargis to determine what needed to be done to repair the port and its facilities,

“During the president’s visit, the two governments signed an agreement and a memorandum of understanding. The first was an agreement on visa exemptions for holders of diplomatic and official service passports, and the MOU was for tourism cooperation between two countries,”

“Rental prices were terribly high at the start. At their peak around two months after the storm, some buildings were renting for K1 million a month. However, they can now be rented for half that,”

“In some regions, people catch birds by stirring poison into water and putting it out for the birds to drink. If they catch a dead bird, they freeze it and send it to a restaurant. If they catch a live bird they sell it to the cage bird trade, or to someone who will set it free for [Buddhist] merit,”

Nearly 12,000 children between the ages of three and five from 300 school-based Early Childhood Development centres and 24,000 children of Grade 1 from 800 schools from five cyclone-affected Child Friendly School Townships will receive the toys.

“At the seminars, people affected by Nargis reflect on Buddhist teachings to help ease their tensions, overcome their tragic experiences and cope with the fear and anxiety due to the cyclone,”

“When the mother takes a rest, a midwife feeds the new-born baby honey, or gives the child water on hot days. These habits are ingrained, but the water is not always safe,”

“Our school is only for educational and vocational teaching. We cannot help former students throughout their life because we need to care for new students. We can only introduce them to associations that are familiar with their situation,”

The event is being organised by the Myanmar Marketing Committee (MMC), Union of Myanmar Travel Association (UMTA) and Myanmar Hoteliers Association (MHA), at the Park Royal Hotel in Yangon.

“Any Myanmar Buddhist monks holding Myanmar passports can contact the sayadaw if they have difficulties for alms food. The sayadaw donates to Myanmar passports holders once a year as a way to promote the Dhamma (teachings of the Buddha),”

“IATA airline designators are two-letter codes assigned by the IATA to the world’s airlines. Only the designator code will change from HK to YH, and we will continue using our old aircraft to respective destinations,”

Mr Komaru said the systems were suitable for use in remote areas where purified drinking water is hard to get. But their relatively high price, about US$5500 each, means that the most likely customers will be donors such as United Nations and non-governmental organisations engaged in post-Nargis rehabilitation efforts.

“I’m worried that if we hold the Grand Royal Challenge Cup now, just after the MNL Cup, that it will be a distraction for the players. So we will need to decide what is best for Myanmar football, whether we should hold this tournament or not,”

“But at half time we spoke about where we were falling down and took that on board in the second half and played a lot better. We created a lot more chances.”

“To retain the SEA Games title it will be very difficult and they have to improve their game. They will need to take on board what I’m teaching them because the competition in Laos will be very competitive – Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore have some great players. But Kyaw Oo and Aung San Oo can certainly match them,”

Seven competitors dropped out due to the unfavourable conditions, while the remaining three – Zeya Win (Yangon Division), Myo Lwin (Customs) and Pho Phyae (Yangon Division) – crossed the line a full 29 minutes behind the lead pack.