Ovation Concert in Albany, New York

There was a concert in Albany on 29th August 2010. The concert started at 2 pm at Armory in Down town Albany. The Ovation which is founded by singers; Min Maw Kon, Ye' Lay,Yine Su Khaing Thein, L Sai Ze, Rebbecca Win and the music players arrived in Albany 27th in Albany. There were about 200 audiences who are some newly refugees and residents from Burma (Southeast Asia), came from Albany county; especially Albany and Rensselaer city. Some tickets were sold out before the concert. The front rows tickets were $ 40 and the back rows were $30. This was the first concert in Albany. The audiences were excited to seeing and having fun with the concert. Ye' Lay, the hip pop, rapper was the most popular in the audiences. But the others were the best singers that the audiences want to listen their songs. Ye' Lay and Yine Su Khaing Thein sang their new album songs in the concert. The Ovation group came to United States more than one month and went city to cities celebrating the concert. The concert was so great for all the hungry people from Burma.
Therefore it worth watching the videos.

Yine Su Khaing Thein

Defense: Finding family of Burmese suspect is crucial to child murder plea

By stephen hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated Jul 10, 2010 01:15PM

Despite a recent angry courtroom outburst by a Burmese refugee accused of killing 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo, a defense attorney said Friday he is confident of resolving the case with a plea deal.

But defense attorney Michael Peterson told a 3rd District Court judge that Esar Met’s acceptance of a plea offer is dependant upon re-establishing contact with the defendant’s family.

Peterson said the defense team had lost contact with Met’s family members, who live in Arizona.

“We are moving heaven and Earth to find them,” Peterson told Judge Judith Atherton. “I’ve assured the state I’m confident we can resolve the case with the offer they have extended.” But Peterson could not say when that will occur.

Prosecutor Rob Parrish said he was willing to wait, but “at some point, we will need to move forward with the case.”

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) An ouburst by defendant Esar Met, 23, derailed an expected plea hearing Friday in Judge Judith Atherton's 3rd District Courtroom. A status conference hea set foruly 9. Met is charged with aggravated murder and child kidnapping in the 2008 death of 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo.


The terms of the plea offer were not discussed in court. A status hearing was set for Oct. 1.

Met, believed to be 23 years old, is charged with aggravated murder and child kidnapping for allegedly beating, sexually assaulting and strangling Hser Ner Moo at his South Salt Lake apartment on March 31, 2008.

Met was expected to accept a plea deal during a May 21 hearing, but instead denied any guilt.

“I was forced by the authorities here to say that I did it, but I didn’t kill,” Met told the judge, according to an interpreter for the victim’s family, who translated the statement for The Tribune.

Despite Met’s denial, Peterson said Friday he was “more than cautiously optimistic” of achieving a resolution.

The judge said she was willing to work with the defense given the “unique” language and cultural issues the case presents.

After the hearing, Parrish told reporters that Met’s family are important because they can offer Met emotional support and understand his background and history.

Met’s family are expected to assure him that the United States government is not like the governments of Burma and Thailand, where Met grew up and where criminals are “summarily dealt with,” Parrish said. “It’s appropriate to have them here.”

Met and Hser Ner Moo lived in separate parts of the same refugee camp for Burmese refugees in Thailand before immigrating to the United States, where both lived at the South Parc Townhomes, 2250 S. 500 East.

Esar Met allegedly killed the girl inside his basement apartment, where her body was found a day after her disappearance sparked a massive search of the neighborhood.

An autopsy determined she died of blunt force trauma to her head, neck and torso. Some injuries were consistent with strangulation or suffocation, and physicians also found evidence of sexual assault.
Hser Ner Moo was last seen alive at about 2 p.m. on March 31, 2008, when she left her family’s apartment and was seen by a neighbor walking south, in the direction of apartment No. 472, where Met was living, according to the charging documents. Police have said the girl was dead within an hour of leaving home.

Met was located by police about 10 p.m. the next day at his aunt’s Cottonwood Heights home.
According to a probable cause statement filed with the jail, Met admitted killing Hser Ner Moo while “attempting to confine the victim to the residence by force.” Prosecutors have said they have no information about whether the girl was lured into the apartment, or whether the crime was planned or opportunistic.

The case bogged down in December 2008, when the defense raised questions about Met’s mental competency. According to a March 2009 court docket entry, the defense intended to ask the judge to appoint mental evaluators, but nothing was ever filed with the court.

The defense has also raised questions about Met’s age, noting they have found no birth records for him in either Burma or Thailand. According to what Met has told jailers, he is now 23. However his mother, Ra He Mar, has said her son is older.

Met is being held at the Salt Lake County jail in lieu of $2.5 million bail.

shunt@sltrib.com

Early Palace opening for 'Salt'

By STEVE BARNES, Staff writer
Friday, July 9, 2010
ALBANY -- The free Capital Region premiere of the action movie "Salt," starring Angelina Jolie and shot in part in Albany over several weeks in spring 2009, will be held at the Palace Theatre.

The special screening is scheduled for 8 p.m. Thursday, July 22, (doors open at 7 p.m.), the night before the film opens nationwide. Tickets will be available starting at 10 a.m. today at Albany visitors center at Quackenbush Square, at the foot of Clinton Avenue at Broadway; and the City of Albany Office of Special Events, located on the fourth floor of Albany City Hall.
Beginning Monday, tickets also will be available from the Palace box office at 19 Clinton Ave. All tickets must be picked up in person, are general admission and are limited to four per person.

The entryway is being repaired more than two years after a car accident sent a vehicle smashing through the front doors of the historic theater.

A set of eight new doors is being installed across the front of the theater, beneath its marquee. Since the accident, on March 31, 2008, the half of the expanse destroyed in the crash has been covered with wood.

Angry outburst derails plea hearing in Burmese girl’s slaying

By Julia Lyon
and stephen hunt
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated May 22, 2010 12:48AM

A Burmese refugee accused of killing 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo two years ago angrily denied his guilt in court on Friday.

“I was forced by the authorities here to say that I did it, but I didn’t kill,” said Esar Met, according to an interpreter for the girl’s family, who quoted his words to The Tribune.

Hser Ner Moo’s family, who traveled from Iowa for Friday’s hearing, had been told Met would plead guilty and be sentenced, the interpreter said.

But when Met’s attorney told the judge they had reached a resolution in the case, Met, whose legs and hands had been shaking, shook his head to the contrary. Met then spoke passionately in Burmese, after which his attorneys requested a break so they could confer with Met.

About an hour later, 3rd District Judge Judith Atherton returned to the bench and defense attorney Michael Peterson said, “There are inquiries we need to make and then report back.”

A status hearing was set for July 9.

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) An ouburst by defendant Esar Met, 23, derailed an expected plea hearing Friday in Judge Judith Atherton's 3rd District Courtroom. A status conference hearing was set for July 9. Met is charged with aggravated murder and child kidnapping in the 2008 death of 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo

(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Defendant Esar Met, 23, is flanked by his attorneys Denise Porter, left, and Michael Peterson, right, and Burmese interpreter Maung Maung, far right. An expected plea hearing Friday in 3rd District Court on Friday was delayed when Met denied he agreed to a plea deal.





(Al Hartmann | The Salt Lake Tribune) Cartoon Wah, father of Hser Ner Moo, leaves a plea hearing for Esar Met in Judge Judith Atherton's courtroom in 3rd District Court in Salt Lake City on Friday. Met is accused of killing 7-year-old Hser Ner Moo in 2008.

Following Met’s courtroom outburst, Hser Ner Moo’s parents, Pearlly Wa and Cartoon Wah, wiped away tears. They moved to Marshalltown, Iowa, last fall, overwhelmed with frustration about the stalled case.

Met, believed to be 23 years old, is charged with aggravated murder and child kidnapping for allegedly beating, sexually assaulting and strangling the girl at his South Salt Lake City apartment on March 31, 2008.
“It’s a strange feeling when my daughter that he killed, that he can actually have the nerve to say he did not kill her,” the victim’s father, Cartoon Wah, said through an interpreter after the hearing.
Hser Ner Moo was in second grade when she died.

“What I feel deep down in my heart, this was my only daughter,” the father said. “I asked of her from God. How am I going to get her back?”

Esar Met and Hser Ner Moo lived in separate parts of the same refugee camp for Burmese refugees in Thailand before immigrating to the United States, where both lived at the South Parc Townhomes, 2250 S. 500 East.

Esar Met allegedly killed the girl inside his basement apartment, where her body was found a day after her disappearance had sparked a massive search of the neighborhood.

An autopsy determined she died of blunt force trauma to her head, neck and torso. Some injuries were consistent with strangulation or suffocation, and physicians found evidence of sexual assault.

Hser Ner Moo was last seen alive about 2 p.m. on March 31, 2008, when she left her family’s apartment and was seen by a neighbor walking south, in the direction of apartment No. 472, where Met was living, according to the charging documents. Police have said the girl was dead within an hour of leaving home.
Met was found by police about 10 p.m. the next day at his aunt’s Cottonwood Heights home.
According to a probable cause statement filed with the jail, Met admitted killing Hser Ner Moo while “attempting to confine the victim to the residence by force.” Prosecutors have said they have no information about whether the girl was lured into the apartment, or whether the crime was planned or opportunistic.

The case bogged down in December 2008, when the defense raised questions about Met’s mental competency. That was also the last time Met had appeared in court until Friday.

According to a March 2009 court docket entry, the defense intended to ask the judge to appoint mental evaluators, but nothing was ever filed with the court.

The defense has also raised questions about Met’s age, noting they have found no birth records for him in either Myanmar, formerly called Burma, or Thailand. According to what Met has told jailers, he is now 23. However his mother, Ra He Mar, has said her son is older.

Hser Ner Moo’s mother, Pearlly Wa, was stoic outside the courtroom after the hearing ended.
“Everything works out for the best,” she said through an interpreter. “The proceedings have shown that justice will be served.”

But some community members who knew Hser Ner Moo remain angry.

“I’m a little bit disgusted,” said Juanita Huertero, a friend of the family who attended the hearing. “It seems like he has more rights than the victim’s.”
Met is being held at the Salt Lake County jail in lieu of $2.5 million bail.

jlyon@sltrib.com shunt@sltrib.com

Fireworks at Empire State Plaza in Albany on 4th July 2010

Water festival from Rensselaer, NY 2010

Ambush (KNLA vs SPDC)

Is it safe to live in Burma? Many Karen people flee from their state to other countries. Our rebellion KNLA fighting to protect our villagers and people. We do not want to kill each other but finally we have to kill.

Viewers discretion is advised.