Bangkok, May 20
Thailand’s army in a surprise pre-dawn move today declared martial law to maintain order after six months of anti-government protests that left the country paralysed, but denied it had staged a coup.

Thai Army Chief General Prayuth Chan-O-Cha also invited both the country’s rival political blocs for talks, hours after imposing martial law.

“We are in the process of inviting both sides to talk but at the minute the situation is still not normal... that’s why I have had to invoke martial law,” Prayuth told reporters.

“The Army aims to maintain peace, order and public safety for all groups and all parties,” a ticker running on the army’s television channel said. The military insisted that its assumption of responsibility for national security was not a coup.

“People are urged not to panic, and can carry on their business as usual. Declaring martial law is not a coup d’etat,” it said.

An Army spokesman said the imposition of martial law will have no impact on the caretaker government which remains in office. The announcement also granted the Army wide-ranging powers to enforce its decision.

In response, acting Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan urged the Army to act “under the constitution” and “with no violence”. An aide to the premier said the government had not been consulted about the Army’s decision.

“They took this action unilaterally. The government is having a special meeting regarding this,” the aide said, describing the situation as “half a coup d’etat”. The military’s decision was approved by Prayuth, citing a 1914 law that allows it to intervene during times of crisis.

Beijing, May 20
An infuriated China today summoned the US Ambassador and demanded withdrawal of indictment of five PLA personnel for cyber-espionage while reminding Washington about leaks by Edward Snowden of American surveillance on Chinese entities.

The Chinese government and Chinese military never took part in hacker-attacks or cyber-spying, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

It was the US which targeted Chinese entities like universities as classified information disclosed by Snowden showed, he added, asking America to revoke the indictment and restore trust between the two countries.

The indictment, filed by the US Attorney's Office, named five People's Liberation Army (PLA) personnel with Unit 61398, specialised in cyber-intelligence-gathering.

It alleged that state-owned companies hired the unit to provide "information technology services" including economic espionage.

Countering the charge China's State Internet Information Office said from March 19th to May 18th, a total of 2,077 Trojan horse networks or Botnet servers in the US directly controlled 1.18 million host computers in China.

The 'National Computer Network Emergency Response Technical Team Coordination Centre' found 135 host computers in the US carrying 563 phishing pages targeting Chinese websites that led to 14,000 phishing operations, it said.

During the same period, the centre further found 2,016 IP addresses in the US had implanted backdoors in 1,754 Chinese websites, involving 57, 000 backdoor attacks, it added.

Earlier in the day, Chinese Assistant Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang summoned US Ambassador to China Max Baucus and lodged a solemn representation over the indictment against five military officers despite strong objections. US Justice Department had announced yesterday indictment against the five for cyber-theft.

Refuting the allegation that it decided to suspend the China-US Cyber Working Group in retaliation, Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said: "Given the lack of sincerity on the part of the US to solve issues related to cyber-security through dialogue and cooperation, China has decided to suspend activities of the China-US Cyber Working Group." — PTI

A committee formed by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) on Tuesday suspended licences of three TV channels of the Pakistan's Geo TV network.

The licences of Geo News, Geo Entertainment and Geo Tez have been suspended till May 28 when the committee will take a decision on the revocation of licences to these channels. Orders were also passed to seal offices of the Geo group.

The announcement of suspension of licences of the TV channels came following a campaign by rival channels highlighting two blunders by Geo News—accusing the ISI and its chief of plotting an assassination attempt on Geo anchor Hamid Mir; and broadcasting a programme by anchor Shaista Zaidi that was later termed as blasphemous.

PEMRA member Mian Shams said the three channels had been ordered to be taken off air and their offices would be sealed. However, it was not clear how the decision would be implemented as it was taken by private members only with government members of the PEMRA executive board not present in the meeting.

(With PTI inputs)

Beijing, May 20
Caught in complex disputes with the US, China and Russia today warmed up to each other backing their respective stance on issues like cyber espionage, the Ukraine crisis and maritime territorial row, as their navies began week-long joint exercises.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, who arrived in China today in his first visit since President Xi Jinping took office last year, is under fire from the US and other western countries over Moscow’s handling of the Ukraine crisis.

The two leaders held talks and promised to strengthen ties in the face of international criticism over their territorial disputes.

Putin arrived in Shanghai to take part in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) in which 11 heads of state and officials from 40 countries, including India, would participate.

After the meeting between Xi and Putin, the two leaders issued a joint statement expressing “grave concern” over the political crisis in Ukraine.

The two sides urged all parties concerned to exercise restraint, avoid escalating the conflict and seek a peaceful and political settlement for the current problems, the statement said.

China has taken an ambivalent stand on the Ukraine crisis and called for a political solution.

Similarly, Russia, which provided asylum to American whistle-blower Edward Snowden after he came out with damning revelations over US cyber espionage, shared concern with China over the use of information technology that is detrimental to sovereignty and privacy. — PTI