Bangkok post and The National (24/5

[mandalay@xxxxxxxxxx]

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Nwes headlines
1:) Traders urge Burma to reopen bridge
2:) Earthquake shakes area near Burma
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Traders urge Burma to reopen bridge

The Tak Chamber of Commerce yesterday sent a letter to Burmese leader
LT-Gen Khin Nyunt calling for the reopening of the Thai-Burmese Friendship
Bridge linking the border towns of Mae Sot and Myawaddy.
	The letter, signed by Chamber of Commerce President Panithi Tangphati, was
submitted through ColChatchapat Yamngarmriab, the Thai chairman of the
Local Thai-Burmese border Committee.
	Burma closed the bridge on April 14 after heavy shelling of Myawaddy,
allegedly by Karen national Union rebels.
	The closure has halted border crossing by people of the two countries and
caused an unfavorable impression of Thai-Burmese relations in the eyes of
the international community, the letter said.
	Copies of the letter were also sent to the Prime Ministry's Office, the
Foreign Affairs Ministry, the Interior Ministry, the National Security
Council and the army.
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Earthquake shakes area near Burma

An earthquake measuring 4.8 on the Richter scale with an epicenter on the
Thai-Burmese border took place around midday yesterday, an official from
the Northern Meteorological Center said.
	There were no reports of casualties or damage. Hotel-operators in Chiang
Mai and Chiang Rai said that they had experienced of vibrations at the time
of the quake. The epicenter of the earthquake was near Mae Hong Son's Prai
district, 122 kilometers northwest of Chiang Mai.

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