Junta silent as Myanmar awaits Suu Kyi release
November 13, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
YANGON: Detained Nobel peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi was due to be freed from house arrest on Saturday, but there was still no sign Myanmar’s army rulers were ready to release her.
The charismatic leader of the Southeast Asian country’s fight against military dictatorship remained in her crumbling lakeside home, despite rumours paramount leader Senior General Than Shwe had approved an order to free his arch enemy from seven years of house arrest.
A crowd of about 300 people, among them many journalists, waited anxiously near her house, chatting in small groups or drinking in tea shops. Some wore T-shirts with the message: “We stand with Aung San Suu Kyi”. Suu Kyi received no visitors.
A government source told Reuters she would likely be released in the evening, but in one of the world’s most secretive countries, the comment could not be officially
woods
April 9, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
AUGUSTA, Ga. – It was all there on the first tee, the whole spectrum. Love. Hate. Golf.
Above, high and straight ahead, a small airplane buzzed in the sky like a persistent mosquito, with a banner fluttering behind, a reference to both the golfer’s religion and misdeeds: “Tiger Did You Mean Bootyism?” But then Woods struck that first drive, firm and true, a safe fade that went right-side fairway, and one of his supporters in the gallery screamed with absolute, Southern-accented glee, “He got it done! He got it done!”
Woods got it done Thursday at the Masters, shot a solid, late-afternoon 68 under wet, swirling conditions – the first sub-70 opening round of his career at the Masters. He finished just two strokes back of leader Fred Couples, with six golfers ahead of him. If Tiger couldn’t make people forget the past four months, perhaps he made them remember the last 15 years.
That counted for something to a lot of fans who wanted so desperately to cling to a pristine athletic image rather than to a disturbed behavioral paradigm. This was Tiger as they recalled him: sleek, sure and unsullied.
“It felt normal,” he kept saying, and of course that is what he would want now more than anything else. Woods insisted the day meant nothing more to him than a 68, on a course with generous front-of-the-green pin placements.
“It meant I’m two shots off the lead, that’s what it means,” he said. “I’m here to play a golf tournament.”
It can’t be that easy for him, can it? Did Woods really hear only the cheers from the gallery along the course, while missing that message from the airplane above?
Tiger acknowledged the galleries along the way, held his temper. He was the model citizen around Amen Corner. But it is only the beginning of the way back for him. In some ways, Woods really can’t win anything here at Augusta other than a fifth green jacket.
If Woods continues to play this well, he may be portrayed as a robot unconcerned with his victims, immune to the disease of his own sins. If he plays poorly, he will have frittered away his God-given talent in the most unseemly manner.
For now, it looks like the robot theory may hold. Woods showed very little rust or damage from the torrent of scandals. He might even have shot a 65 if three of his putts hadn’t tickled the cup without dropping. “I just kept tugging the putts,” he said. “I got to get that thing moving.”
For those who wished to remember the miracle worker inside him, there was the ninth hole, where Tiger used nature against itself. From the rough on the left, with a tree between his ball and the green, his 5-iron shot somehow got just enough lift and then curled left with the wind to drop within birdie distance of the cup.
He was among the leaders, poised to make a weekend run. And the other golfers figured that was not so much of a shock.
“Am I surprised to see Tiger Woods on the leaderboard?” asked Stewart Cink. “Boy, have we gone a long way. No, I’m not surprised.”
There are happier, more remarkable stories than Tiger at Augusta, like Tom Watson at age 60 coming in at 5-under and Fred Couples, 50, leading with a 66. They aren’t Tiger Woods, though. They didn’t come here with the world on their tail. They weren’t the predator turned prey.
For five hours yesterday, Woods went out there on the most famous golf course in the world, between the ropes, and shook his pursuers, finally. There was only himself, his partners Matt Kuchar and K.J. Choi, and the well-wishers in the gallery.
The media, the airplane, all the mosquitoes … they couldn’t spoil his view, or his viewpoint.
“I normally do feel pretty good on the golf course,” Woods said. “Sometimes it’s a little bit difficult at home when helicopters are flying over, taking pictures, but normally I do feel pretty good.”
There was that word again – normal.
“I said, ‘Thank you,’ all day,” Woods said.
fred couples
April 9, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Camilo Villegas has made a solid start to the 2010 US Masters, carding a first round two-over-par 74 at the Augusta National.
The Colombian – who finished tied 13th in his last Masters outing – got off to a horrendous start as he found himself two over after just four holes. The 28-year-old soon got his game together though, and finished the day in easy reach of the cut.
The man from Medellin is in good company too, as he sits tied with fellow hopefuls, Sergio Garcia, Padraig Harrington and playing partner, Rory McIlroy, eight shots behind leader Fred Couples. Villegas tees off today with Kenny Perry and McIlroy at 14:40 (BST) hoping a good round will put him firmly in contention.
Elsewhere, Couples rolled back the years as he shot a six-under-par 66, to take the outright lead, one shot ahead of Lee Westwood, Phil Mickleson, Tom Watson, KJ Choi and YE Yang. The 1992 champion is enjoying a successful rookie season on the Seniors Tour, but even he didn’t believe he could shoot a 66.
“I think it’s by far the best round I have had here,” he said.
“I felt very stiff, the wind was blowing so hard and I felt really tight. But I made a lot of putts. We still have to come out tomorrow and play really well on a really hard golf course.”
Tiger Woods is lurking a further shot behind on his return to competitive golf. The world number one produced some memorable shots on his way to a 68, his best first-round score in 15 Masters tournaments.
asean
April 9, 2010 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Unrest in Thailand and controversy over Burma’s elections are likely to overshadow a summit of 10 Southeast Asian leaders who had intended to focus on economic matters.
The summit was set to open in Hanoi on Thursday, one day after Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva declared a state of emergency in the face of escalating anti-government protests. At the last minute, he canceled his participation in the 16th annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Motorcyclists ride past the My Dinh National Convention Center, the main venue for 16th summit of the Southeast Asian Nations in Hanoi. (Photo: Getty Images)
“The situation in Bangkok is worrying, and it’s a somber backdrop to our discussions,” Singaporean Foreign Minister George Yeo said. “I really hope that the situation there will not lead to violence.”
Leaders from the 10 Asean nations were expected to focus on economic integration and climate change.
Some members are likely to press privately for a statement urging Burma’s military junta to modify new laws governing the elections, which the largest opposition group plans to boycott.
Burma’s junta plans to call elections sometime this year, but under the election laws, detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is forbidden from participating.
Last week, members of her party, the National League for Democracy, announced they would not participate in the polls, the first in 20 years.
“It’s disappointing that, because of the way the election laws have been crafted, it’s not possible for the NLD to participate in the elections,” Yeo said, speaking to reporters on the sidelines of the meeting Thursday morning.
However, he said, it was unlikely that the group would strongly criticize Burmese junta.
“We are not in a position to punish Myanmar [Burma],” Yeo said. “If China and India remain engaged with Myanmar, then we have to.”
Asean has a tradition of noninterference in its members’ political affairs, so a strong public rebuke is unlikely. Political consensus is also difficult to reach among the 10 nations, which include a military junta, communist states and democracies.
The leaders also plan to issue a statement about climate change, but the focus is likely to be on economics, said Carl Thayer, a Vietnam specialist at the Australian National Defence Force Academy.
Asean hopes to advance its goals of forming a European-style economic community by 2015 and promoting development across the region.
At the last Asean summit, held in Thailand, the group agreed on ways to deal with the global economic crisis. With the regional outlook beginning to improve, they may decide to remove steps taken previously to stimulate the regional economy.
Last year’s summit was disrupted by political protesters known as the “Red Shirts,” who demanded the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. Some visiting leaders had to be airlifted out by helicopter.
That same anti-government protest movement launched a new wave of rallies in the Thai capital in recent weeks. On Wednesday, some Thai officials were evacuated by helicopter after the protesters briefly forced their way into Parliament.
An Interview With David Bromwich About Obama, Afghanistan
November 15, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com David Bromwich seems to me better yet at Obama-watching than at press criticism. He can write with penetration of Barack Obama as an American almost-literary invention, and he can make you feel you’re reading Nabokov on Don Quixote or Harold Bloom on Hamlet
Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com David Bromwich seems to me better yet at Obama-watching than at press criticism. He can write with penetration of Barack Obama as an American almost-literary invention, and he can make you feel you’re reading Nabokov on Don Quixote or Harold Bloom on Hamlet.
More on Iraq
Thomson Illinois Residents Welcome Gitmo Detainees: ‘It Would Help The Businesses Here’
November 15, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com News that the federal government seems interested in transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Thomson Correctional Center was greeted warmly in this small, rural farm town along the Iowa border. More on Guantánamo Bay
Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com News that the federal government seems interested in transferring detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the Thomson Correctional Center was greeted warmly in this small, rural farm town along the Iowa border.
More on Guantánamo Bay
Obama Tax Break Will Have BIG Benefit For Home Builders, Industry With Role In Meltdown
November 15, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com tucked inside the law was another prize: a tax break that lets big companies offset losses incurred in 2008 and 2009 against profits booked as far back as 2004.
Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com tucked inside the law was another prize: a tax break that lets big companies offset losses incurred in 2008 and 2009 against profits booked as far back as 2004. The tax cuts will generate corporate refunds or relief worth about $33 billion, according to an administration estimate.
More [...]
Obama tells Myanmar junta to free Suu Kyi
November 15, 2009 by Trend PK
Filed under World News
Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com SINGAPORE — President Barack Obama on Sunday told Myanmar’s junta to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during an unusual face-to-face interaction with a top leader of the ruling military. Obama delivered the strong message during his summit with leaders of 10 Southeast Asian nations, which included Myanmar Prime Minister Gen
Full Story And Original Content.TrendPK.com SINGAPORE — President Barack Obama on Sunday told Myanmar’s junta to free pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi during an unusual face-to-face interaction with a top leader of the ruling military.
Obama delivered the strong message during his summit with leaders of 10 Southeast Asian nations, which included Myanmar Prime Minister Gen. [...]
