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Bangkok turns into a war zone
Indonesia bares 26/11-style plot
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China to fund two more Pak N-reactors
Management of Former Guerrillas
Bombers attack soccer game in Iraq, 8 dead
Pak needs to do more: Clinton
Indian student dies in Texas mishap
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Bangkok turns into a war zone
Bangkok, May 14 Violence escalated after a rogue army general regarded as military adviser to the Red Shirt protesters was shot in the head yesterday leaving him in critical condition. Ensuing street clashes have killed two persons and wounded at least 13 others, including a Thai photographer and a foreign journalist. With security deteriorating and hopes of a peaceful resolution to the two-month standoff fading, unrest plunged Thailand deeper into political uncertainty, threatening the country's stability, economy and already-decimated tourism industry. Today's violence was initially centered on a small area home to several foreign embassies, but by mid-afternoon had spread to other areas around the protest zone. Soldiers crouched behind a raised road divider in one area and fired rubber bullets, live ammunition and tear gas shells. Army vehicles were seen speeding on deserted streets littered with stones and debris. Protesters retreated and hurled rocks and insults. Fighting has now killed 31 persons and injured hundreds since the Red Shirts, mostly rural poor, began camping in the capital on March 12, in a bid to force out Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. They claim his coalition government came to power illegitimately through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military, which in 2006 forced the populist premier favoured by the Red Shirts, Thaksin Shinawatra, from office in a coup. The latest death came today, when a 33-year-old man died of a gunshot wound linked to the protests. Last week, Abhisit offered November elections, raising hopes that a compromise could be reached with the Red Shirts, who have been demanding immediate elections. Those hopes were dashed after Red Shirt leaders made more demands. Late yesterday, the army moved to seal off the Red Shirt barricaded encampment which covers an upscale commercial district of the capital. Some 10,000 protesters, women and children among them, have crammed into the area.
— AP
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US closes embassy
Washington: The US has closed its embassy in Thailand's capital Bangkok following clashes between anti-government protesters and troops that left one person dead and eight wounded.
"We are very concerned. We're watching it very closely. It has had an impact on our embassy operations," Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs PJ Crowley said. "The US embassy in Bangkok is closed and American citizens services will be available for emergencies only," Crowley said. "We continue to believe and we continue to encourage both sides that violence is not the route to resolve these issues. Ultimately, the government and the demonstrators have to get back together again and to reach an agreement on a path forward," he said.
— PTI
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Indonesia bares 26/11-style plot
Jakarta, May 14 The attackers planned to launch their assault during the Independence Day ceremony to be attended on August 17 by Yudhoyono and the country's top dignitaries, national police chief Gen Bambang Hendarso Danuri told reporters. The plot also included taking over hotels and killing foreigners, especially Americans, in violence that would have been reminiscent of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, he said. The plot was revealed during interrogations of dozens of suspects arrested since a raid on a terrorist training camp in the western province of Aceh, Danuri added. “They were confident that all state officials and dignitaries would be there," Danuri said. “Killing state officials would have accelerated the transition from a democracy to a state controlled by Islamic Shariah law”. Some of the newest information on the plot came from a series of raids this week on militant hideouts in and around the capital that yielded 20 arrests as well as a supply of assault rifles, ammunition, telescopes and jihadist literature. Five suspected militants were killed in those raids. Most of those arrested were believed to have trained at the Aceh camp, run by a group called Al Qaida in Aceh, a new splinter of the Southeast Asia terror network Jemaah Islamiyah. “If we had not detected them and their military training had been successful, then they would have assassinated foreigners as well as police and military posts in Aceh," Danuri said. “Their plan was also to launch attacks in Jakarta against foreigners - especially Americans - and attack and control hotels within certain communities, imitating what happened in Mumbai,” he added. Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, stipulates religious freedom in its constitution. The country has been engaged in a long battle against militant extremist groups.
— AP
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China to fund two more Pak N-reactors
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has reassured the international community that its nuclear cooperation with Pakistan is completely ‘peaceful’ in nature, and in accordance with the safeguards set up by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). The China National Nuclear Corporation has agreed to finance two more civilian reactors at the Chashma site in Pakistan. China is a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG). Foreign Office spokesman Abdul Basit described the position taken by China as the same as that of Pakistan that the nuclear cooperation between the two sides is for ‘peaceful’ purposes under the safeguards of the IAEA. This reassurance came in response to the remarks of US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg, who said discussions were underway about the issue (Chinese nuclear cooperation to Pakistan) and the United States has not ‘reached a final conclusion’. “The cooperation (with Pakistan) is subject to safeguards and the supervision of the IAEA. It is in compliance with respective international obligations of the two countries,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Jiang Yu said while responding to a statement by US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg.
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Management of Former Guerrillas
Despite refusal of the Unified CPN-Maoists to attend the meeting of the special committee on supervision, integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants, it was decided on Friday to extend the term of the technical committee that is working on the possible management of the former guerrillas.
Just a day after the United Nations Security Council decided to extend the term of the United Nations Mission in Nepal by four months on the request of the Nepalese government, a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Madhav Kumar Nepal took the decision to extend the tenure of the technical committee by four months. In accordance with the party decision, Maoist representatives in the committee, Barshaman Pun and Janardan Sharma, did not attend the meeting. Maoists decided to refrain from holding formal talks with both the ruling parties and the government unless the PM steps down clearing the deck for the formation of national unity government under the Maoist leadership. Meanwhile, the UNMIN chief Karin Landgren expressed concern over lack of consensus regarding the extension of the Constituent Assembly’s tenure and urged the government and the UCPN (Maoist) to arrive at a meeting point on the integration and rehabilitation of the Maoist combatants at the earliest. Organising a press meet at her office in Kathmandu on Friday, Landgren, however, expressed doubts on possibility of completion of the Maoist combatants’ management, integration and rehabilitation, within next four months.
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Bombers attack soccer game in Iraq, 8 dead Mosul, May 14 One attacker drove a pick-up truck full of explosives onto the soccer pitch, targeting athletes, while two suicide bombers strolled into the crowd of onlookers, the police and witnesses said. The blasts took place in Tal Afar, a town predominantly inhabited by Shi'ite Turkmen about 60 km west of the city of Mosul, where Sunni Islamist insurgents such as Al Qaida remain active. “There were around 250 people watching the match,” said local resident Ali Jaafar. “Suddenly we saw a pick-up in the middle of the field. The players were suspicious so they ran and as expected it turned out to be a suicide car bomber. The spectators began to run away but two suicide bombers were in the crowd." Tal Afar has been regularly bloodied in the seven years of warfare unleashed after the 2003 US-led invasion, as insurgents sought to exploit deep divides between minority Kurds in Iraq's north and the country's Arab majority. “We had information about a week ago that there were cars ready to be used as bombs but we honestly didn't expect that they would use them in a soccer field," said a security official in Tal Afar, who did not wish to be identified. The more seriously wounded were evacuated by US military helicopters. — Reuters
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Pak needs to do more: Clinton
Washington, May 14 Clinton appeared along with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who concluded his four-day trip to Washington yesterday; to discuss Afghan-US relationship in the context of the latter's visit and the situation in the region. Referring to the strategic relationship being developed with Pakistan, Clinton said: “The fact that we have expanded our interactions far beyond the counter-terrorism agenda which was basically what we inherited, that we are focused on trying to create a broader and deeper understanding between our two countries and that we have gone quite a distance in creating a better atmosphere.”
— PTI
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Indian student dies in Texas mishap
Washington, May 14 Naresh Naidu was admitted in a hospital in Corpus Christie on Tuesday morning after he and his friends met with an accident. Naresh, 24, could not sustain injuries and died the next day on Wednesday.
— PTI
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