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Agencies

Mixed messages from Myanmar war zones
YANGON - Myanmar's president said he wanted peace talks with all ethnic rebel groups in the country, but government troops again attacked rebel positions in Kachin state in the northeast despite his order to cease fire, rebels and a local source said. President Thein Sein had issued the ceasefire order on Friday to troops in the La Ja Yang area of Kachin near the border with China, where fighting has been fierce. But Colonel James Lum Dau, Thai-based spokesman for the Kachin Independence Army, said the army had continued to attack over the weekend, both in La Ja Yang and elsewhere. Reuters
 
India's BJP accused of promoting terrorism
NEW DELHI - India's home minister has accused key Hindu nationalist groups of promoting terrorism at their training camps, a charge strongly denied by the hard-line groups. Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said an investigation by government agencies had revealed involvement of Hindus in the bombing of a Pakistan-bound train that killed 68 passengers in 2007 and an explosion in a crowded market in Malegaon, in western India, that killed seven people in 2008. Shinde accused the Bharatiya Janata (BJP) party and its parent organisation, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, of blaming minority Muslims for these bombings. Mukhtar Naqvi, a BJP spokesman, strongly denied the terrorism charge and demanded an apology. AP
 
Tourists 'can take phones to North Korea'
BEIJING - Foreigners visiting North Korea can now take their own mobile phones into the country, Chinese state media reported, quoting an employee with the operator of the country's mobile network. A technician with Koryolink, the North Korean-Egyptian joint venture that operates the 3G phone network, told Xinhua the move took effect on January 7. "We have tried hard to negotiate with the Korean security side, and got the approval recently," the technician, identified as an Egyptian, said, adding: "It has nothing to do with the Google trip." Earlier this month, Google chairman Eric Schmidt made a high-profile visit to Pyongyang and said while in Beijing after the trip that he had told officials in the North that the country would not develop unless it embraced the internet and the freedom of information that it offered. AFP


As Myanmar junta holds out on elections, could China rethink its support?

What happens to Myanmar if the US imposes new sanctions?

Myanmar's leader vows to curb poverty

Japan unveils huge aid and loans deal for Myanmar

Thein Sein

Briefs, January 21, 2013

News

Asia

Myanmar's president said he wanted peace talks with all ethnic rebel groups in the country, but government troops again attacked rebel positions in Kachin state in the northeast despite his order to cease fire, rebels and a local source said. President Thein Sein had issued the ceasefire order on Friday to troops in the La Ja Yang area of Kachin near the border with China, where fighting has been fierce.


North Korea