DOMESTIC NEWS: Observance of Union Day every year reflects noble traditions to regain independence and sovereignty through national solidarity -- Secretary-1 attends coordination meeting on observance of 62nd Anniversary Union Day...62nd Anniversary Union Day Objectives...Commander attends meeting to discuss observing National Immunization Days 2009...Director-General of SPED meets athletes to take part in sports meets in Indonesia, Thailand...Thutapadetha Magazine of Sarpay Beikman in circulation...Those from US and British embassies visited NLD (Headquarters) 25 times in December...Commander, Minister inspect wharfs, airport in Rakhine State...Shwe Thwe Journal Special Issue in circulation...Home Affairs Minister meets Chinese Ambassador...Buyers and Sellers Meet on 15 Jan...MCPA to give talks on Software Architecture with Design Pattern...Foreign Heads of States send messages of felicitations to Senior General Than Shwe...Foreign Heads of State/Government send felicitations to Myanmar Prime Minister...Seminar on formulation of National Blood Policy and Blood Programme held...MBSF President?s Trophy Billiard Competition on 17 Jan ..... FOREIGN NEWS: Security developments in Iraq...Little to eat for IDPs in makeshift Kabul camp...Afghanistan expects bloody 2009...Australian soldier killed in Afghanistan...Another Gitmo grows in Afghanistan...Lebanon not to drag into war in Gaza...Israelis relieved as army moves to halt rockets...Abbas tries to regain foothold in Gaza...Toyota to suspend production for 11 days in Japan...Chrysler sales drop 53 pct; others not much better...UN, Arab ministers agree to work closely on Gaza...Cambodia extends use of high-tech bio-digester for farmers...GM reports 31 percent sales decline in US market...French ship attacked by pirates in Nigeria with nine taken hostage...Accident on Petrobras? oil platform kills one, injures two...Bird flu triggers alert in Nepali border areas with India...Guatemalan mudslide kills 35, injures 15...Vietnamese top legislator vows to advance Sino-Vietnamese relations...Japanese whaler missing in Antarctic...Scientists discover trigger for autoimmune diseases...Mass man melting snow with blowtorch ignites home...Man tries to go home for holidays by fire truck...Swarm of small earthquakes rattles Yellowstone National Park...Teens girls smoke now, pay later with larger waistlines as adults...Russian gas supplies to Croatia halted...Number of Cholera cases reduces in south Zambia...Motorola to offer phone made from recycled plastic bottles...China calls for more overseas talents...Bulgaria faces serious gas crisis...The ‘not so old? suffer from Alzheimer?s too...US health spending hits $2.2t in 2007...4-year-old boy shoots babysitter for stepping on foot...Bosnia-Herzegovina decides to send peacekeepers to Afghanistan...Chinese shipmen escape from pirates in Gulf of Aden...Milky Way spins faster, has more mass than thought...Sunlight can help children avoid myopia...Diamond dust shows comets hit 12,900 years ago...New founding in cancer cell metastisis new hope for primary cancer...Scientists find a gene that makes cancer spread...30% of Cambodians live under poverty line...China corn futures dip after week of price increases, metals keep rising...New park protects penguins and other marine life in Argentina...Astronomers to gaze back in time and map history of Universe... SPORTS: 8 sports stories..... "PERSPECTIVES": "New transport facilities designed for regional development".....ARTICLES: "Labutta District to achieve record salt production" Article and photos: Mawgyun Myint Aung (IPRD)..."Kadappana Sluice Gate to irrigate some 15,000 acres of farmlands" Article: Tin Htwe (MNA); Photos: Thaung Myint (MNA).....SLOGANS: SAY NO TO DRUGS...Donate Blood