South Korea November exports show fragile, uneven global recovery

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean exports last month marked their first back-to-back growth of the year, but demand from the advanced economies was weak, data showed on Saturday, indicating any global recovery would be fragile at best.

November exports grew by 3.9 percent over a year earlier to $ 47.8 billion on top of a revised 1.1 percent rise in October, while imports last month rose by 0.7 percent to $ 43.3 billion, the Ministry of Knowledge Economy data showed.

The November data, released for the first time by a major exporting economy, and the robust survey findings in China disclosed earlier in the day offered fresh signs of the global economy regaining some momentum.

Shipments to China and the southeast Asian countries posted sharp gains over a year earlier, whereas demand from the United States and the European Union shrank, according to break-down figures for the November 1-20 period released later.

“Robust data from China and today’s Korean data increase the chances for Korean exports maintaining a modest recovery,” said Park Sang-hyun, chief economist at HI Investment & Securities.

RARE ANNUAL DROP IN EXPORTS

Data released earlier on Saturday showed China’s manufacturing sector activity was at a seven-month high in November, while South Korea’s October industrial output also expanded for the second straight month.

“But as Europe and the U.S. are not getting any stronger soon, any global recovery will be an uneven and fragile one for the time being,” Park added.

Analysts in a Reuters survey had forecast November exports would grow a median 2.6 percent over a year before on top of a revised 1.1 percent gain in October, when overseas sales posted their first growth in four months.

The ministry’s data showed South Korea ran a trade surplus of $ 4.48 billion for November, compared with a revised surplus of $ 3.73 billion in October. The country’s trade balance has been in black for all but two months since early 2009.

Meanwhile, exports for the January-November period were 0.8 percent less than the comparable period of 2011, making it highly likely the country will miss its export target of a 3.5 percent gain set for the whole of 2012.

Reuters calculations show South Korean exports this year would post an annual loss unless shipments in December grow 9 percent or more on a year-on-year basis. The country’s exports grew in all but three years for the past 50 years at least.

South Korea is home to some of the world’s largest suppliers of cars, smartphones and ships. It sends roughly a quarter of its total exports to China and about 10 percent each to the European Union and the United states.

(Editing by Ron Popeski)

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Cargo plane crashes in Brazzaville, 3 dead

BRAZZAVILLE, Republic of Congo (AP) — A cargo plane owned by a private company crashed Friday near the airport in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, killing at least three people, officials said.

The Soviet-made Ilyushin-76 belonged to Trans Air Congo and appeared to be transporting merchandise, not people, said an aviation official who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The plane was coming from Congo‘s second-largest city, Pointe Noire, and tried to land during heavy rain, he said.

Ambulances rushed to the scene in the Makazou neighborhood, located near the airport, but emergency workers were hampered by the lack of light in this capital, which like so many in Africa has a chronic shortage of electricity.

“At the moment, my team is having a hard time searching for survivors in order to find the victims of the crash because there is no light and also because of the rain,” Congolese Red Cross head Albert Mberi said.

He said that realistically, they will only be able to launch a proper search Saturday, when the sun comes up.

Reporters at the scene fought through a wall of smoke. Despite the darkness, they could make out the smoldering remains of the plane, including what looked like the left wing of the aircraft. A little bit further on, emergency workers identified the body of the plane’s Ukrainian pilot, and covered the corpse in a blanket.

Firefighters were trying to extinguish the blaze of a part of the plane that had fallen into a ravine. They were using their truck lights to try to illuminate the scene of the crash. Although the plane was carrying merchandise, emergency workers fear that there could be more people on board.

Because of the state of the road connecting Pointe Noire to Brazzaville, many traders prefer to fly the roughly 400 kilometers (250 miles).

Africa has some of the worst air safety records in the world. In June, a commercial jetliner crashed in Lagos, Nigeria, killing 153 people, just a few days after a cargo plane clipped a bus in neighboring Ghana, killing 10.

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RIM stock rises after Goldman Sachs upgrade

TORONTO (AP) — Research In Motion rose Thursday after Goldman Sachs upgraded the phone maker’s shares, saying there’s a “30 percent chance” RIM‘s much-delayed BlackBerry 10 smartphones will be a success.

THE SPARK: Goldman Sachs analyst Simona Jankowski lifted RIM to “Buy” from “Neutral,” the latest analyst to voice a slightly more optimistic view for the troubled company. Goldman lifted its 12-month price target to $ 16 from $ 9.

THE BIG PICTURE: RIM was once Canada’s most valuable company, with a market value of more than $ 80 billion in 2008, but shares have sunk due to ground lost to Apple Inc.‘s iPhone and phones running Google Inc.‘s Android system.

Now the company’s new BlackBerrys, expected sometime after Jan. 30, are considered critical to its survival. The new system includes a touch screen and the apps experience that customers now expect.

THE ANALYSIS: Jankowski noted positive early reviews for the new operating system and broad-based support by carriers who are looking to sell a third operating system beyond Google’s Android and Apple’s iOS.

She predicted that RIM will become profitable in the year ending in February 2014. Analysts polled by FactSet expect a loss. Still, she expects RIM to revert to a loss the next year.

Last week, National Bank Financial Kris Thompson increased his price target to $ 15 from $ 12, while Jefferies analyst Peter Misek doubled his price target from $ 5 to $ 10, saying the BlackBerry 10 operating system has a 20 to 30 percent chance of succeeding.

SHARE ACTION: Shares of Research In Motion added 67 cents, or 6.4 percent, to $ 11.77 in midday trading on the Nasdaq. The stock is up 78 percent since late September — but it’s down 23 percent this year through Wednesday’s close, and has lost more than 90 percent from its 2008 high.

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Ukraine fights spreading HIV epidemic

BUCHA, Ukraine (AP) — Andrei Mandrykin, an inmate at Prison No. 85 outside Kiev, has HIV. He looks ghostly and much older than his 35 years. But Mandrykin is better off than tens of thousands of his countrymen, because is he receiving treatment amid what the World Health Organization says is the worst AIDS epidemic in Europe.

Ahead of World AIDS Day on Saturday, international organizations have urged the Ukrainian government to increase funding for treatment and do more to prevent HIV from spreading from high-risk groups into the mainstream population, where it is even harder to manage and control.

An estimated 230,000 Ukrainians, or about 0.8 percent of people aged 15 to 49, are living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Some 120,000 are in urgent need of anti-retroviral therapy, which can greatly prolong and improve the quality of their lives. But due to a lack of funds, fewer than a quarter are receiving the drugs — one of the lowest levels in the world.

Ukraine’s AIDS epidemic is still concentrated among high-risk groups such as intravenous drug users, sex workers, homosexuals and prisoners. But nearly half of new cases registered last year were traced to unprotected heterosexual contact.

“Slowly but surely the epidemic is moving from the most-at-risk, vulnerable population to the general population,” said Nicolas Cantau of The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, who manages work in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. “For the moment there is not enough treatment in Ukraine.”

Stigma is also a big problem for those with HIV in Ukraine. Liliya, a 65-year-old woman who would give only her first name, recently attended a class on how to tell her 9-year-old great-granddaughter that she has HIV. The girl, who contacted HIV at birth from her drug-abusing mother, has been denied a place in preschool because of her diagnosis.

“People are like wolves, they don’t understand,” said Liliya. “If any of the parents found out, they would eat the child alive.”

While the AIDS epidemic has plateaued elsewhere in the world, it is still progressing in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, according to Cantau. Nearly 21,200 new cases were reported in Ukraine in 2011, the highest number since the former Soviet republic registered its first case in 1987, and a 3 percent increase over 2010. As a result of limited and often delayed treatment, the number of AIDS-related deaths grew 17 percent last year to about 3,800.

Two years ago, Mandrykin, the prisoner, was on the verge of becoming part of that statistic, with his level of crucial CD4 immune cells — a way to measure the strength of the immune system — dropping to 11. In a healthy person, the CD4 count is usually over 600.

“I was lying in the hospital, I was dying,” said Mandrykin, who is serving seven years for robbery, his fourth stint in jail. “It’s a scary disease.”

After two years of treatment in a small prison clinic, his CD4 count has risen to 159 and he feels much better, although he looks exhausted and is still too weak to work in the workshop of the medium-security prison.

The Ukrainian government currently focuses on testing and treating standard cases among the general population. The anti-retroviral treatment of more than 1,000 inmates, as well as some 10,000 HIV patients across Ukraine who also require treatment for tuberculosis and other complications and all prevention and support activities, are paid for by foreign donors, mainly the Global Fund.

The Global Fund is committed to spending $ 640 million through 2016 to fight AIDS and tuberculosis in Ukraine and then hopes to hand over most of its programs to the Ukrainian government.

Advocacy groups charge that corruption and indifference by government officials help fuel the epidemic.

During the past two years, Ukrainian authorities have seized vital AIDS drugs at the border due to technicalities, sent prosecutors to investigate AIDS support groups sponsored by the Global Fund and harassed patients on methadone substitution therapy, prompting the Global Fund to threaten to freeze its prevention grant.

Most recently, Ukraine’s parliament gave initial approval to a bill that would impose jail terms of up to five years for any positive public depiction of homosexuality. Western organizations say it would make the work of AIDS prevention organizations that distribute condoms and teach safe homosexual sex illegal and further fuel the epidemic. It is unclear when the bill will come up for a final vote.

AIDS drug procurement is another headache, with Ukrainian health authorities greatly overpaying for AIDS drugs. Advocacy groups accuse health officials of embezzling funds by purchasing drugs at inflated prices and then pocketing kickbacks.

Officials deny those allegations, saying their tender procedures are transparent.

Much also remains to be done in Ukraine to educate people about AIDS.

Oksana Golubova, a 40-year-old former drug user, infected her daughter, now 8, with HIV and lost her first husband to AIDS. But she still has unprotected sex with her new husband, saying his health is in God’s hands.

“Those who are afraid get infected,” Golubova said.

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Amazon’s Robotic Future: A Work in Progress

If you were watching Bloomberg TV recently, you may have seen our correspondent, Cory Johnson, standing in the middle of Amazon’s (AMZN) newest distribution center in Arizona. It’s an impressive facility, brand-new and owned by one of the hardest-charging, most-innovative companies to come onto the retail scene since Sam Walton opened a five-and-dime.

So where are the robots?

After all, aren’t robots supposed to be the future of such places as distribution centers and warehouses? Didn’t Amazon buy a robot manufacturer, Kiva, in March? The online retailer announced in October that it was taking on 50,000 additional part-time workers for the holiday season. Shouldn’t some of those spots be taken up by mechanical arms and wheels?

Maybe not. For all the anxiety over robots coming to take jobs, there are still limitations to what they can do—or what they can do well. Bruce Welty is chief executive officer of Quiet Logistics, an order-fulfillment company that manages the online inventory and distribution for retailers like Gilt, Zara, and Bonobos. He uses robots made by Kiva, the company Amazon purchased, but his warehouse in Massachusetts is not bereft of humans. “Robots aren’t very good at picking up things,” he says. “They aren’t very good at looking at a bin of different things and distinguishing one item from another.”

Welty’s robots do one task and one task only: They move racks of merchandise to workers, who then remove the products from the racks and pack them up for shipping. Saving workers the time and effort to retrieve products offers considerable benefit. “In a typical warehouse, that’s about 60 to 70 percent of the labor,” Welty says.

In addition to what the current state of robotic arts does well, there are further reasons for the continued presence of human beings in warehouses. Labor flexibility is one of the larger ones. “Automation won’t help Amazon in periods of peak demand,” says Stephen Graves, a professor of management science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. “People are far more flexible.”

The capital expense to add robots means they need to make sense 12 months out of the year, not two. “The only way to handle spikes in demand is by adding temporary workers,” says Jim Tompkins, CEO of supply-chain consultancy Tompkins International. “If you bought a whole bunch of robots to handle the holiday shopping season, you’d have a whole bunch of robots looking at you, come January.”

So if Amazon just spent nearly a billion dollars buying Kiva, but the robots they produce can’t make a huge difference in how the company operates, what are Amazon’s intentions?

For starters, it’s still early. An acquisition like that of Kiva will take a while to digest, during which time new applications for the robots will surely be devised. “They’re really in a test mode,” says Welty. “They’re going to work on getting it right before any major rollout.”

The Kiva acquisition may have had as much to do with software as it does with hardware, adds Tompkins. “Mechanically, there’s nothing that special about Kiva,” he says. “But what they do have is software that makes sure the robots are in the right place at the right time. This was a software play.”

That’s not exactly how most people would view the deal. But it may be just the head-fake that Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos intended. “I bet Jeff Bezos loves that people are running around trying to put more robots in their distribution centers,” Tompkins says.

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African Union asks UN for immediate action on Mali

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — In an open letter Thursday to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the president of the African Union urged the U.N. to take immediate military action in northern Mali, which was seized by al-Qaida-linked rebels earlier this year.

Yayi Boni, the president of Benin who is also head of the African Union, said any reticence on the part of the U.N. will be interpreted as a sign of weakness by the terrorists now operating in Mali. The AU is waiting for the U.N. to sign off on a military plan to take back the occupied territory, and the Security Council is expected to discuss it in coming days.

In a report to the Security Council late Wednesday, Ban said the AU plan “needs to be developed further” because fundamental questions on how the force will be led, trained and equipped. Ban acknowledged that with each day, al-Qaida-linked fighters were becoming further entrenched in northern Mali, but he cautioned that a botched military operation could result in human rights abuses.

The sprawling African nation of Mali, once an example of a stable democracy, fell apart in March following a coup by junior officers. In the uncertainty that ensued, rebels including at least three groups with ties to al-Qaida, grabbed control of the nation’s distant north. The Islamists now control an area the size of France or Texas, an enormous triangle of land that includes borders with Mauritania, Algeria and Niger.

Two weeks ago, the African Union asked the U.N. to endorse a military intervention to free northern Mali, calling for 3,300 African soldiers to be deployed for one year. A U.S.-based counterterrorism official who saw the military plan said it was “amateurish” and had “huge, gaping holes.” The official insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter.

Boni, in his letter, said Africa was counting on the U.N. to take decisive action.

“I need to tell you with how much impatience the African continent is awaiting a strong message from the international community regarding the resolution of the crisis in Mali. … What we need to avoid is the impression that we are lacking in resolve in the face of these determined terrorists,” he said.

The most feared group in northern Mali is al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, al-Qaida’s North African branch, which is holding at least seven French hostages, including a 61-year-old man kidnapped last week.

On Thursday, SITE Intelligence published a transcript of a recently released interview with AQIM leader, Abu Musab Abdul Wadud, in which he urges Malians to reject any foreign intervention in their country. He warned French President Francois Hollande that he was “digging the graves” of the French hostages by pushing for an intervention.

Also on Thursday, Islamists meted out the latest Shariah punishment in northern city of Timbuktu. Six young men and women were each given 100 lashes for having talked to each other on city streets, witnesses said.

___

Associated Press writer Virgile Ahissou in Cotonou, Benin and Baba Ahmed in Bamako, Mali contributed to this report.

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Past hosts teaming for Spike Video Game Awards

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The Spike Video Game Awards are assembling past hosts.

The cable network announced Thursday that the gaming extravaganza’s previous emcees would join “The Avengers” star and four-time VGAs host Samuel L. Jackson at next week’s show.

Previous hosts Zachary Levi, Snoop Lion, Jack Black and Neil Patrick Harris are set to appear at the 10th annual ceremony.

The show will also feature debut footage from upcoming games “BioShock Infinite,” ”Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2″ and “Tomb Raider,” and from downloadable content “Spartan Ops” for “Halo 4″ and “The Tyranny of King Washington” for “Assassin’s Creed III.”

“Assassin’s Creed III,” ”Dishonored,” ”Journey,” ”Mass Effect 3″ and “The Walking Dead: The Game” are vying for the best game trophy.

The VGAs will air live on Spike on Dec. 7 from Sony Picture Studios in Culver City, Calif.

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Deaths more common on popular heart drug: study

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – People with a common type of abnormal heart rhythm were more likely to die within several years if they had been prescribed digoxin, a drug used to help control abnormal heart rates, in a new analysis.

The research involved 4,060 people with atrial fibrillation, in which the heart’s upper chambers quiver chaotically instead of contracting normally. More than two-thirds of the participants were treated with digoxin at some point either shortly before or during the 3.5-year study.

Dr. Samy Claude Elayi, from the University of Kentucky in Lexington, said digoxin – which is widely available in generic form – may benefit some people who have heart failure in addition to a heart arrhythmia.

“But in patients that have no heart failure and (have) atrial fibrillation, I think there is no reason to use this drug as a first line,” added Elayi, who worked on the study.

Another cardiology researcher, however, said the new study isn’t robust enough to warrant changing treatment strategies, and that earlier studies have shown digoxin is safe.

Elayi and his colleagues re-analyzed data from a past trial of people with atrial fibrillation and a high risk of stroke that were treated with a variety of drug combinations, including beta blockers and calcium channel blockers.

Over the study period, 666 people died, according to results published in the European Heart Journal.

People who had taken digoxin in the previous six months, the study team found, were 41 percent more likely to die of any cause and 61 percent more likely to die from a heart rhythm problem, in particular.

That increased risk of death was seen in people with and without heart failure, and in both men and women.

DIZZINESS, FAINTING

Digoxin works by helping to stabilize the upper heart chambers affected by atrial fibrillation, Elayi said – but it can also cause problems by creating a bad rhythm in the heart’s lower chambers. That can lead to dizziness, fainting and heart palpitations.

The researchers noted that they didn’t have data on what dose of digoxin people were prescribed – or how closely they stuck to those prescriptions.

Because the trial wasn’t originally intended to measure the negative effects of digoxin, and people weren’t assigned randomly to one arm or the other, the analysis also can’t prove that digoxin caused the extra deaths.

Dr. Ali Ahmed, who has studied digoxin at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, called that a major limitation of the new study.

He said an earlier randomized controlled trial – considered the gold standard of medical research – did not find more deaths among people with heart failure taking digoxin. Other research, Ahmed added, has suggested that low doses of the drug can actually lower the risk of death among some patients.

An analysis like this one can’t fully account for the likelihood that sicker patients are prescribed certain drugs more often, he said.

“When you do non-randomized studies, you always wonder, was it really digoxin or was it the other confounders” such as patients’ chronic diseases, that led to more deaths.

“This should be taken with extreme caution, because of the potential for confounding and bias from a variety of sources,” Ahmed, who wasn’t involved in the new research, told Reuters Health.

“The fundamental thing is you cannot overrule the findings of a randomized controlled trial with non-randomized data.”

‘NOT A KILLER’

Digoxin can be bought for about $ 10 for a month’s supply. It’s been used worldwide for decades to help control heart rate, the researchers said.

Elayi said the findings don’t mean that people with heart failure and atrial fibrillation shouldn’t be taking the drug.

But based on his team’s study, he said he would recommend other heart medications before digoxin for people without heart failure. However, if an atrial fibrillation patient also has very low blood pressure – which makes drugs such as beta blockers and calcium blockers unsafe – digoxin might be a reasonable second choice, he added.

In that case, doctors should prescribe digoxin at low doses and keep a close watch on the amount of the drug in patients’ blood, Elayi told Reuters Health.

In addition, he said, “From the patient perspective, if doctors put them on the drug they should check their rationale for that.”

But according to Ahmed, patients and doctors shouldn’t worry about taking or prescribing the drug because of this study. Digoxin, he said, “is not a killer.”

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/99ohTH European Heart Journal, online November 27, 2012.

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Stock futures gain ahead of data on fiscal hopes

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Stock futures rose on Thursday, building on the previous session’s steep gains, on expectations of progress toward a fiscal agreement in Washington that would avert an economic meltdown.

Market participants will continue to focus on discussions in Congress to avoid big spending cuts and tax hikes – dubbed the “fiscal cliff” – and equities may retreat, as they did Tuesday, if the upbeat negotiation environment in Washington shifts.

“There will be a deal before December 31 to avert the economy facing disaster,” said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.

“We’re back on track for a year-end rally to continue,” he said, highlighting the continued support the Federal Reserve has given to equity markets.

Investors await data, including the second estimate of third-quarter gross domestic product, due at 8:30 a.m. ET (1330 GMT). Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a 2.8 percent annualized pace of growth, compared with a 2.0 percent rate in the first estimate.

The Commerce Department will issue preliminary corporate profits for the third quarter at 8:30 a.m. (1330 GMT). At the same time, the Labor Department will release first-time claims for jobless benefits; 390,000 new filings are forecast, compared with 410,000 in the prior week.

The yield on Italy’s 10-year bonds fell to the lowest in two years at an auction, amid relief that immediate risks over Greece had diminished.

“The fact that the bond sales in Europe went well suggest confidence is beginning to reenter some of the peripheral nations and that is a good sign,” Cardillo said.

The euro flirted with the $ 1.30 level and boosted commodity prices, which could lift the basic materials and energy stock sectors.

S&P 500 futures rose 9 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 78 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 17.5 points.

Also due for release Thursday are pending home sales for October at 10:00 a.m. (1500 GMT) and the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City November manufacturing survey at 11:00 a.m.

Tiffany shares fell 9 percent to $ 58.02 in premarket trading after the upscale jeweler reported quarterly results and lowered its full-year sales and profit forecasts.

U.S.-listed shares of BlackBerry maker Research In Motion soared 11.7 percent to $ 12.40 in premarket trading after Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock to “buy” from “neutral.”

Kroger , the biggest U.S. supermarket operator, is due to report third-quarter earnings.

On Wednesday, the Dow Jones industrial average <.DJI> rose 106.98 points, or 0.83 percent, to 12,985.11. The S&P 500 <.SPX> gained 10.99 points, or 0.79 percent, to 1,409.93. The Nasdaq Composite <.IXIC> added 23.99 points, or 0.81 percent, to close at 2,991.78.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

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Myanmar cracks down on mine protest; dozens hurt

MONYWA, Myanmar (AP) — Security forces used water cannons and other riot gear Thursday to clear protesters from a copper mine in in northwestern Myanmar, wounding villagers and Buddhist monks just hours before opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was to visit the area to hear their grievances.

The crackdown at the Letpadaung mine near the town of Monywa risks becoming a public relations and political fiasco for the reformist government of President Thein Sein, which has been touting its transition to democracy after almost five decades of repressive military rule.

The environmental and social damage allegedly produced by the mine has become a popular cause in activist circles, but was not yet a matter of broad public concern. However, hurting monks — as admired for their social activism as they are revered for their spiritual beliefs — is sure to antagonize many ordinary people, especially as Suu Kyi’s visit highlights the events.

“This is unacceptable,” said Ottama Thara, a 25-year-old monk who was at the protest. “This kind of violence should not happen under a government that says it is committed to democratic reforms.”

According to a nurse at a Monywa hospital, 27 monks and one other person were admitted with burns caused by some sort of projectile that released sparks or embers. Two of the monks with serious injuries were sent for treatment in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second biggest city, a 2 ½ hour drive away. Other evicted protesters gathered at a Buddhist temple about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the mine’s gates.

Lending further sympathy to the protesters’ cause is whom they are fighting against. The mining operation is a joint venture between a Chinese company and a holding company controlled by Myanmar’s military. Most people remain suspicious of the military, while China is widely seen as having propped up army rule for years, in addition to being an aggressive investor exploiting the country’s many natural resources.

Government officials had publicly stated that the protest risked scaring off foreign investment that is key to building the economy after decades of neglect.

State television had broadcast an announcement Tuesday night that ordered protesters to cease their occupation of the mine by midnight or face legal action. It said operations at the mine had been halted since Nov. 18, after protesters occupied the area.

Some villagers among a claimed 1,000 protesters left the six encampments they had at the mine after the order was issued. But others stayed through Wednesday, including about 100 monks.

Police moved in to disperse them early Thursday.

“Around 2:30 a.m. police announced they would give us five minutes to leave,” said protester Aung Myint Htway, a peanut farmer whose face and body were covered with black patches of burned skin. He said police fired water cannons first and then shot what he and others called flare guns.

“They fired black balls that exploded into fire sparks. They shot about six times. People ran away and they followed us,” he said, still writhing hours later from pain. “It’s very hot.”

Photos of the wounded monks showed they had sustained serious burns on parts of their bodies. It was unclear what sort of weapon caused them.

The protest is the latest major example of increased activism by citizens since the elected government took over last year. Political and economic liberalization under Thein Sein has won praise from Western governments, which have eased sanctions imposed on the previous military government because of its poor record on human and civil rights. However, the military still retains major influence over the government, and some critics fear that democratic gains could easily be rolled back.

In Myanmar’s main city of Yangon, six anti-mine activists who staged a small protest were detained Monday and Tuesday, said one of their colleagues, who asked not to be identified because he did not want to attract attention from the authorities.

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