Canada police find second body part in post

 abercrombie ukCanadian police investigating a parcel containing a human foot say they have discovered a second package containing a body part at a post office in Ottawa.A blood-soaked package containing a human foot was delivered to the offices of Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative Party on Tuesday.The second package contains a hand, according to media reports.Police are assessing links to the discovery of a torso in a suitcase in Montreal.Officers were called to the headquarters of the Conservative Party on Tuesday after a woman at the front desk partially opened the package, reports say.The package, which was delivered by Canada Post, was not addressed to a specific person, but to the Conservative Party of Canada, police say.Flies and maggots The package was X-rayed, and police have now confirmed it was a human foot. They will not say whether it is a right or left foot, and whether it belonged to a man or a woman.The second package was discovered in the course of the investigation, but police will not say who it was addressed to.The torso in Montreal, which is about 200km (125 miles) east of Ottawa, was discovered by a janitor in a pile of rubbish. Police there are now searching the area for further human remains.The janitor, Mike Nadeau, 49, told the Ottawa Citizen that he had noticed a smell coming from the suitcase in the past few days."I noticed flies and when I looked closer I saw maggots," he told them. "I got a friend and we got some cutters because there was a little lock on the suitcase. What I saw when we opened it is hard to describe. There was no head and (the torso) was all grey."The investigation is being run by Canada's major crimes unit. Post mortems on the body parts are expected to be carried out in the next few days.

 abercrombie and fitch ukAung San Suu Kyi vowed to help Burmese migrant workers, as she addressed cheering crowds in Thailand on her first trip outside Burma since 1988.Crowds of people, some gripping "We want to go home" posters, greeted the democracy leader in an area south of Bangkok where many migrants work.She arrived on Tuesday and will attend the World Economic Forum on Friday. For the past 20 years she has been either detained or afraid if she left Burma she would not be able to return.But recent reforms led to her election to parliament last month, and she is confident she will be allowed back into the country. She was given a passport in early May.Don't feel down, or weak. History is always changing," she told the crowds in Mahachai, an area about 20 miles (30km) south of the Thai capital that has a large population of Burmese migrant workers."Today, I will make you one promise: I will try my best for you."An estimated 130,000 Burmese refugees live in camps in Thailand, having fled persecution at home. Many more work in Thailand both legally and illegally, mostly in construction, factories or the fishing industry. Generals 'value democracy' During her visit, Ms Suu Kyi is also scheduled to meet the Thai prime minister and participate in sessions and discussions at the global forum on Friday.After her trip to Thailand she plans to return to Burma before travelling to Europe in June. She intends to go to Norway to formally accept the Nobel Peace Prize which she won in 1991, and will also visit the UK where she has family. She has accepted an invitation to address the British parliament on 21 June. It has been reported that she would also travel to Geneva, Paris and Irelan Burma's President Thein Sein, who was originally scheduled to attend the forum, has postponed his trip to Bangkok until next week.

 abercrombie sale ukMeanwhile in a rare interview with the BBC, Burma's Information Minister Kyaw Hsan said that reforms were ''going ahead'' and both the military-backed government and the opposition must try to ''find common ground'' and ''work together for the country''. ''If you look at the world, the most successful countries are the ones that practice democracy,'' he said.''There is democracy in the army,'' he added, saying that the generals were in fact ''the people who value democracy''. The Burmese authorities are trying to reach lasting peace agreements with the country's many ethnic groups, but it is proving a long and complex process, as the BBC's Jonah Fisher reports."Six, seven… hold on probably a few more than that," said David Mathieson, furrowing his brow as he listed Burma's armed groups. "The Karen, the Karenni, the Shan, the Kachin, the Chin, the United Wa State Army, the Mon, the Mongla… have I forgotten anyone?" Mr Mathieson, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, has been following developments in Burma closely for the last decade, but understanding its many ethnic wars is enough to give even the most seasoned observer a headache.We travelled through Shan State to witness one small part of Burma's multi-pronged peace process. Started by President Thein Sein last August, its aim is to bring the country's many festering conflicts to a close. Our invitation was to accompany the rebel Shan State Army, along with a large group of Thai and Burmese journalists and "Bob", their smartly dressed and secretive American military adviser.For Khuen Sae, a veteran Burmese journalist, it was a first proper trip back home for almost 45 years. When he finished school in 1969, he joined the rebel Mong Tai army. Then, when its warlord leader, Khun Sa, surrendered in 1996, he went into exile in Thailand and started a news agency."I feel both excited and sad at the same time," he said.Whether by accident or because there were no other accommodation options, the Burmese authorities lodged the Shan delegation at a highly sensitive location.The New Keng Tung hotel is built on the site of what the Shan see as one of the biggest acts of cultural desecration carried out by the ethnic Burmese. In 1991 a Shan royal palace was destroyed here to make way for new buildings.

 abercrombie sale"When a Burmese palace went into ruins, they rebuilt it." Khuen Sae said. "But they destroyed this one and it was still in existence. This is an example of why the non-Burmese are fighting against the Burmese."'Trust him' But the choice of hotel did not seem to concern the Shan State Army and their leader, Yawd Serk, too much. With a fighting force of about 5,000 men, the rebels control small pockets of land near the Thai border and are limited to guerrilla attacks against the Burmese military. For them, President Thein Sein's offer of talks presented a way out. "The president's announcement of reconciliation and invitation to the armed groups is why we came here," Yawd Serk said. "I trust him, that's why I'm here and why we've stopped fighting."So in a large room at a military guesthouse overlooking Keng Tung, 11 Shan State Army representatives wearing traditional orange tunics sat opposite 11 representatives from the Burmese authorities.In the past, ethnic groups had complained that agreements reached with the government negotiating team carried little weight with the Burmese military on the ground. This time, there were plenty of men in military fatigues.Alongside Aung Min, Burma's Railways Minister and chief negotiator, sat Soe Win, the deputy commander in chief of the Burmese army, and three regional commanders who operate in Shan State.The deal they reached after a day of talks was aimed at consolidating December's ceasefire agreement. The exact boundaries of each side's territory was committed to paper and safe areas for displaced people established. But this was, more than anything, about building trust and paving the way for future discussions.

abercrombie and fitch sale The government's current strategy is ambitious, some might say impossible."The president has adopted a three-stage roadmap. The first stage is the ceasefire agreements, the second stage political dialogue and then the third stage is a national meeting of all the ethnic groups," Minister Aung Min said after the talks. "We are planning to complete the process by 2015 within the tenure of this parliament." Communication 'breakdown' That national meeting has been nicknamed "Panglong II" and is due to replace the first Panglong agreement. That treaty, signed in 1947 by - among others - Aung San San Kyi's father, established the "full autonomy in internal administration" of what was then called Burma's "Frontier Areas", namely the Shan, Chin and Kachin people. For all its noble intentions, it counted for little once the military had taken over.But while some groups have accepted the offer of talks and a ceasefire, other conflicts discovered new life. In Kachin in the far north, tens of thousands of people have been displaced by clashes in the last few weeks between rebels and government troops. Some see that as proof that parts of the Burmese army are not following a presidential order calling for restraint, and evidence of a schism between reformers and the military. The official word from the government delegation at the talks was that the Kachin fighting was due to a "breakdown of communication to remote areas".Ceasefires being signed and subsequently breaking down have become a recurring part of Burma's post-independence history. In part, that is because of the fundamental incompatibility of ethnic groups wanting autonomy while the Burmese military tried to impose a strong centralised system. But with the new civilian-lead government of President Thein Sein and the fast pace of reforms has come a degree of optimism."It's going to be incredibly difficult because a lot of the claims by different groups are really quite different," said David Mathieson of Human Rights Watch. "The size of the groups and the territories they occupy are also very different but it's not beyond the realms of possibility."