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Junta’s proxy sweeps Myanmar poll
PM reaches Seoul for G-20 summit
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Pak slams US backing for India in UNSC
Lanka legalises gambling
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Junta’s proxy sweeps Myanmar poll
Yangon, November 10 The results point to an overwhelming victory, but there has never been much doubt about the outcome because the junta-proxy, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), fielded candidates in nearly every district, whereas the largest opposition party was able to contest only 164 of the 1,159 parliamentary seats in Sunday's elections. The government says the elections, the country's first in two decades, are a major step towards democracy, but critics, including President Barack Obama, have said they were neither free nor fair. The polling has also sparked violence and some fears of an outright civil war among Myanmar's ethnic minorities, who make up about 40 per cent of the population. Some have been fighting the central government since Myanmar gained independence from Britain in 1948. Clashes starting Sunday between ethnic rebels and government troops have killed at least three people, according to state media, and prompted an exodus of about 20,000 refugees across the border into Thailand. Many of them headed home Tuesday after the fighting subsided at the Thai-Myanmar border town of Myawaddy. But about 1,000 refugees still remained on Thai soil opposite the Three Pagoda Pass, another site of clashes in recent days. Thailand's Kanchanaburi province governor Nataphon Wichienprerd said the refugees feared renewed clashes. No official results of Sunday's elections have been announced. But a leader of the military-backed USDP said the party had won 878 seats contested. The official said ballot tallies were coming in slowly. Opponents say a sweeping victory for the junta's proxies will be engineered through cheating and are joined by Western nations in slamming Myanmar's first elections in 20 years. The official, speaking at the party's headquarters, said so far 80 per cent of the candidates fielded by the USDP had won their contests and 77% seats in the two-house Parliament were in its hands.
— AP
‘Suu Kyi release part of script’
Bangkok: She remains the biggest threat to military rule in Myanmar, so if Aung San Suu Kyi walks free it will be because the first election in 20 years has gone according to the generals' script, analysts say. Her freedom may be a price the regime is willing to pay to deflect criticism about the poll, widely condemned in the West and seen as a charade to create a facade of democracy after almost five decades of military dictatorship, they say.
— AFP
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PM reaches Seoul for G-20 summit
Seoul, November 10 “Given the vast development challenges we face, it is in India's interest to have an open, stable and rule-based international economic environment, whether in the field of trade, investment flows, technology transfers or open markets,” Singh said on the eve of the summit. Singh's comments came as G-20 countries worked to rebalance the lopsided global economy and resolve fractious currency disputes marked by a war of words. The theme of the summit is 'Shared Growth beyond the Crisis'. The summit, which will also be attended by US President Barack Obama, is also expected to see heated debate on regulatory reforms of the financial sector. — PTI
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Pak slams US backing for India in UNSC
Islamabad, November 10 The cabinet said "politics of expediency" should not be allowed to decide future international order. "The cabinet expressed its serious concern and strong disappointment on the decision of the US to support a permanent seat for India in the UN Security Council," said a statement issued by the Foreign Office. "This decision has grave ramifications for the direction and prospects of the system of multilateral cooperation as envisaged by the founding father of the UN Charter. It also has implications for peace, security and stability in Asia, particularly South Asia," the statement said. The cabinet said it was "incomprehensible that the US has sought to support India, whose credentials with respect to observing the UN Charter principles and international law are chequered". It cited India's "disregard of Security Council resolutions on J and K and gross and systematic violations of the fundamental human rights of Kashmiri people".
— PTI
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Lanka legalises gambling
Colombo, November 10 President Mahinda Rajapaksa has embarked on a reform programme aiming to grow the $42-billion economy by exploiting his country's strategic position in the Indian Ocean. One of the more ambitious goals is a targeted $2 billion in tourism revenue a year by 2016. Sri Lanka earned $350 million in 2009, and $391.8 million by October this year. Gambling is not totally prohibited and there are small casinos and sports-betting parlours in Colombo, but they operate under a hazy regulatory framework that has not encouraged large-scale investment nor robust revenue collection. “This will enable the government to streamline all casinos, which are now being monitored under various state institutions,” Junior Finance Minister Sarath Amunugama told Parliament before the bill was passed. Gaming industry investors are already jostling for position over a proposed $500-million tourism zone in Colombo's Beira Lake area, to be anchored by a $100-million hotel-casino complex. — Reuters
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Drunken students harass Indian academic Three Sikhs booked for murder in Pak Michelle Obama shines in Indonesia 
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Military-backed USDP claims to have 77% seats
