Thousands have fled Burma for Bangladesh in flimsy boats
About 120 people are missing after their boat capsized in the Bay of Bengal, police in Bangladesh say.
Survivors say many of those on the boat were Rohingya Muslims who have fled recent ethnic violence in Burma.
Local fishermen rescued 13 people from the boat which sank as
it was transferring passengers to a larger ship bound for Malaysia.
More than 20,000 Muslims have been displaced by fighting which erupted in Rakhine state 10 days ago.
At least 80 people have died in the violence and thousands of homes have been burnt down.
Clashes in Rakhine in western Burma earlier this year uprooted more than 70,000 Rohingya.
That violence was sparked by the rape and murder of a young Buddhist woman in Rakhine.
Many Rohingya have gathered in a camp outside state capital Sittwe
Reprisal attacks on Rohingya by ethnic Rakhine spiralled and
the government was forced to impose a state of emergency to end the
violence.
Many of those displaced in June now live in squalid camps
either in the state capital, Sittwe, or across the border in Bangladesh.
There is long-standing tension between ethnic Rakhine people,
who make up the majority of the state's population, and Muslims, many
of whom are Rohingya and are stateless.
The United Nations describes the Rohingya as a persecuted religious and linguistic minority.
The Burmese government, on the other hand, says they are relatively recent migrants from the Indian sub-continent.
The authorities regard the Rohingya as illegal immigrants and correspondents say there is widespread public hostility to them.
In the most recent clashes, some Rohingya have accused the security forces of siding with the Rakhine and shooting at Muslims.
The government declared a curfew in the affected areas on
Monday, and has deployed additional security personnel in Rakhine
state, but the violence has continued.
President Obama: "The storm is not yet over"
Sandy the super-storm has blown the US presidential race off track with just a week to go until the elections.
President Barack Obama cancelled Wednesday campaign events as
he stayed in Washington focusing on relief efforts for the devastated
East Coast.
Republican Mitt Romney held a storm-relief event in Ohio, a
state crucial to his hopes, and returns to the campaign trail proper on
Wednesday.
Opinion polls show the candidates are running neck-and-neck.
Mr Romney holds a slender lead in some national surveys of
the popular vote, but Mr Obama was narrowly ahead in some of the swing
states that are expected to decide the race.
The storm has effectively frozen the hotly fought election battle by dominating media coverage, while muting the two rivals.
Republican praises Obama
With President Obama monitoring relief efforts from the White
House, Mr Romney faced the delicate challenge of trying to demonstrate
his leadership abilities without electioneering amid a natural disaster.
Mitt Romney: "Make the difference you can"
Washington DC's political analysts were meanwhile left playing
guessing games about Sandy's possible implications for the White House
contest.
The storm has complicated early voting already underway in
Virginia and Florida and could depress voter turnout in areas with power
cuts and debris-clogged roads.
On Tuesday, the president met American Red Cross workers in
Washington DC and held briefings with disaster-relief managers, as well
as the governors and mayors of affected areas.
Mr Obama offered his thoughts and prayers to those affected, telling them: "America is with you."
'Heavy hearts'
He will tour disaster areas in New Jersey on Wednesday, accompanied by the state's Republican Governor Chris Christie.
Continue reading the main story
“Start Quote
Although the president is not campaigning, being seen to be doing his job, and doing it well, is worth a thousand rallies”
Gov Christie has praised Mr Obama's response to the storm as "outstanding".
Such plaudits from a popular Republican governor, touted as a
possible 2016 presidential candidate should Mr Romney lose, represent
useful publicity for the Obama campaign.
Storm aftermath permitting, Mr Obama is still scheduled to hold rallies on Thursday in Nevada, Colorado and Ohio.
Mr Romney is meanwhile heading to Florida. The former
governor of Massachusetts is to stage at least three rallies in that
critical swing state on Wednesday.
The Republican candidate went ahead with an appearance on
Tuesday morning in Kettering, Ohio, far from Sandy's reach, although it
was converted from a political rally to a storm-relief event.
The gathering was not entirely stripped of campaign trappings
- there was a biographical film about the candidate, and a country
music singer who was originally booked for the rally still turned up to
perform.
Continue reading the main story
Race to the White House
Romney49%
Obama47%
But Mr Romney did not mention the Democratic incumbent he aims to oust from the White House in next week's elecnext,tion.
"We have heavy hearts this morning with all the suffering
going on in a major part of our country," Mr Romney told several hundred
people, many of whom came with bags of canned goods and other items
that will be shipped to the East Coast.
The Republican faced questions from reporters about a
proposal he made earlier this year to funnel money from the Federal
Emergency Management Agency to the states and private sector.
Mr Romney refused to answer questions from reporters about
whether he intended to target the agency, which is now leading the
relief effort in areas battered by Sandy.
But a campaign spokeswoman, Amanda Henneberg, said: "A
Romney-Ryan administration will always ensure that disaster funding is
there for those in need. Period.
NOUNS: singular noun : preporter,proposal,area , plural verbs: hearths, questions , bags
ADJECTİVES: next, possible, outstanding
PRONOUNS:personal pronouns: we, you , it. reflexive pronouns: myself , yourself , itself. interrogative pronouns: which , what, whom.
ADVERBS:time adverbs: after,until,always place adverbs: on, in , from
OBJECTS: direct objects : disaster, hearts, incumbent indirect objects:
VERBS: linking verbs: have, be, face , transtive verbs: have face tell , intranstive verbs: be, intend, come. action verbs:come, make, lead. stative verbs: intend: have, be.
DEPENDENT CLAUSES: which is now leading the relief effort in areas. that will be shippedto the East Coast. whether he intended to target the agency.
INDEPENDENT CLAUSES:Romney refusedo answer questions , we have heavy hearths , Romney did not mention democratic incumbent.
