Govt to again invoke security act

Writer: Bangkok Post.com
Published: 31/08/2009 at 05:13 PM

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the Internal Security Act will be invoked again for the red-shirts' planned rally on Saturday.

Mr Suthep was speaking after a meeting with the Internal Security Operations Command (Isoc) to discuss whether to lift the Internal Security Act imposed in Dusit district.

The meeting proposed that the cabinet be ready to quickly meet again to consider the re-imposition of the Internal Security Act (ISA) if intelligence units report the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) intended to stir up further unrest, he said.

The cabinet would be fully briefed on the feelings of the Isoc meeting onTuesday, Mr Suthep said.

The deputy prime minister said intelligence agencies believe the red-shirts will continue to rally and apply pressure on the government to dissolve the House and call a general election.

The declaration of the ISA in Dusit district would end on Tuesday, as earlier announced, he said. Security forces would also withdraw from the Government House area.

UDD leaders earlier announced the postponement of Sunday's protest rally until this Saturday, Sept 5, but said on Monday they would further postpone the demonstration until Sept 12 if the government again uses the Internal Security Act.

The government decided not to lift the ISA in Dusit district over the weekend even though the anti-government group postponed its protest.

"The rally could be rescheduled to Sept 12 if the Internal Security Act is still in force this weekend," opposition Puea Thai party-list MP and UDD core member Jatuporn Prompan said.

The demonstration might even be postponed to Sept 19, which was the third anniversary of the coup that ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, he said.

"The red-shirts will gather peacefully and the gathering will last for a single day. The group is ready to change its tactics to fight against a government that uses all types of authority," Mr Jatuporn said.

Democrat party spokesman Thepthai Senpong believed the UDD put off its planned protest on Sunday because the leaders realised that few people were supporting them, especially in Bangkok.

The UDD might organise gatherings in key areas of different regions to lower the costs, Mr Thepthai said.

"The government has no intention of trying to create a situation or of getting a third party to instigate unrest, as the Puea Thai Party claimed," he said. Read more!

Asean to get $25bn loan from China ANOTHER $10BN TO BE OFFERED IN THE FORM OF A FUND FOR EMERGENCY USE

Writer: PHUSADEE ARUNMAS

Published: 16/08/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: News

China yesterday agreed to provide a US$15 billion (510 billion baht) loan to help Southeast Asian countries with infrastructure development and another $10 billion in the form of an emergency investment fund to help the region cope with future economic crises.

China's Commerce Minister Chen Deming shakes hands with Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai to seal the deal.

Beijing made the pledges in a meeting between Asean commerce ministers and their Chinese counterpart Chen Deming.

The loan will be used to improve transport and telecommunications infrastructures in the region, said Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasai, who chaired the meeting.

Railway connections between Kunming in southern China to Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia and Singapore will benefit from the injection of cash, which will also be used to boost trade, investment and tourism between Asean and China.

The Asean Secretariat will prioritise the infrastructure projects that will benefit from this loan.

Details would be hammered out at the Asean summit in October.

As for the $10 billion emergency fund, China hoped that it will help Asean solve its future economic problems.

Asean and China also signed the Asean-China Investment Agreement yesterday, which the two sides have been negotiating since 2003.

The agreement will expand trade and investment and will come into effect on Jan 1.

Mr Chen called the agreement a "milestone" in fostering trade and investment ties between China and Southeast Asia.

Ms Porntiva said she hoped the accord will also benefit trade and investment between Thailand and China.

China is the eighth largest investor in Asean with a total investment of $60 billion. Last year, investment from China rose 125% from 2007.

In a related development, Asean ministers and their counterparts from China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India supported efforts to turn their countries into a free trade area.

According to a study by an expert group, the free trade area of 16 countries would boost GDP by 1.3%.

Thailand's economic growth would rise 4.8% and the Asean economy would grow 3.8% once the 16 countries have been turned into one free trade zone, the study said.

Also yesterday, Asean and South Korea agreed to set up a special fund to support cooperation schemes including projects aimed at reducing the economic gap in Southeast Asia. South Korea contributed $1.5 billion to the fund.

Read more!

Wichien told to prevent city clashes

Writer: POST REPORTERS

Published: 16/08/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: News

Caretaker national police chief Wichien Pojphosri has been ordered to ensure no clashes between supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and those of Newin Chidchob tomorrow.

Don't let them clash

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva gave the order to head off any confrontation between the groups, which are likely to gather close to each other in the city.

At the Grand Palace, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship will submit to the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary their petition seeking a royal pardon for Thaksin.

At nearby Sanam Luang, supporters of Mr Newin will gather at the Criminal Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions to hear its verdict on the rubber sapling project. Mr Newin has been implicated in irregularities in the scheme.

Pol Gen Wichien has told the prime minister that police alone will be able to control the situation.

Special Branch Police chief Pol Lt Gen Theeradet Rodphothong estimated that about 20,000 red shirt supporters from northern and northeastern provinces would be in Bangkok to take part in the royal pardon petition submission.

A source close to Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said the army had been asked to support the police anti-riot operation if rallies by the two groups slide into unrest.

The 1st Army has been asked to put its troops from 21 Bangkok-based companies and three other companies from nearby provinces on standby.

Chaisit Shinawatra, former supreme commander and a cousin of Thaksin, said the red shirts would stop their campaign for a royal pardon once they had submitted the petition.

They would leave the decision to His Majesty the King, said Gen Chaisit.

But Mr Abhisit said that after the royal pardon petition is submitted, the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary is likely to seek suggestions on the petition from the government.

The Justice Ministry then will be asked to look into the petition's content, said the prime minister.

If the content of the petition and the petition submission procedures did not comply with required legal criteria, the government would tell the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary that the petition does not meet the criteria, said Mr Abhisit.

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US senator visits Suu Kyi

Sen James Webb thanked the Burmese icon for defending democracy, won a pardon and freedom for the American linked to her latest detention (inset), and talked with reclusive military ruler Than Shwe. (AFP Photo)

Published: 16/08/2009 at 04:50 AM

Rangoon (AFP) - US Senator Jim Webb met Burmese military ruler Than Shwe and democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Saturday after securing the release of the US citizen jailed for visiting Suu Kyi's house in May.

John Yettaw, bound for Bangkok Sunday afternoon.

Webb, a Democrat with close links to US President Barack Obama, became the first official US visitor to hold talks with the reclusive Than Shwe, encountering the regime's supremo in his bunker-like capital, Naypyidaw, officials said.

Webb then flew to Rangoon to meet Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi at a government guesthouse near her home - her first meeting with a foreign official since her house arrest was extended by 18 months earlier this week.

Webb's office later issued a statement in Washington saying he had secured an agreement from the junta to release John Yettaw, who was jailed for seven years this week over an incident in which he swam to Suu Kyi's lakeside home.

"I am grateful to the Myanmar government," Webb was quoted as saying, using the military dictatorship's name for Burma..

"It is my hope that we can take advantage of these gestures as a way to begin laying a foundation of goodwill and confidence-building in the future," Webb said.

The statement said Yettaw would be officially deported Sunday morning, adding that "Senator Webb will bring him out of the country on a military aircraft that is returning to Bangkok on Sunday afternoon."

A Burmese official confirmed Yettaw's deportation.

"Yettaw will be deported and leave with Webb," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Webb had also urged the Burmese military regime to free Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the last two decades under house arrest, the senator's office said.

She was driven to the meeting with Webb from her crumbling mansion in a convoy comprising her car and several police vehicles, witnesses said. She left the guesthouse about 45 minutes later.

The Burmese regime sparked international outrage when a court in the army-ruled nation convicted Yettaw and Suu Kyi over the May incident in which the American swam uninvited to her home.

According to earlier reports, Webb was not due to meet Yettaw, a diabetic and epileptic former military veteran who is being held at Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison. Yettaw was hospitalised earlier this month after suffering a series of fits.

Dissident groups have warned that Webb's visit could be manipulated by the Burmese government to "endorse" its treatment of Suu Kyi and the more than 2,100 other political prisoners in the country's jails.

The UN Security Council issued a watered-down statement Thursday expressing "serious concern" about her detention, while the European Union the same day extended sanctions against the junta, including the judges in the trial.

Critics have accused the junta of trumping up the charges to keep Suu Kyi locked up during elections next year, and of using the polls themselves to legitimise their grip on power since 1962.

The junta refused to recognise the NLD's victory in elections in 1990.

Both the White House and State Department welcomed Webb's trip, even though it was officially being made in a private capacity by the senator, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on East Asia and Pacific affairs.

The Obama administration said earlier this year that it was reviewing his predecessor George W Bush's tough stance on Burma, even though Obama recently renewed sanctions against the regime.

Webb, a gruff Vietnam veteran, said in April that Washington should seek "constructive" engagement towards Burma with the aim of lifting sanctions, while admitting in July that the Suu Kyi trial made it more difficult.

Webb, 63, has written six novels and served in the late 1980s as secretary of the US Navy under Republican President Ronald Reagan.

Than Shwe has, meanwhile, been a long-term bete noire of the United States. A former postman, he has ruled Burma since 1992 with an iron-fist, ruthlessly suppressing his rivals.

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Police show of strength for Monday's petition rally

Police will be out in strength on Monday when the red-shirts gather at Sanam Luang and then submit their request for a royal pardon for Thaksin Shinawatra, and academics show their opposition to the petition.

Writer: Bangkok Post.com

Published: 14/08/2009 at 03:53 PM

Twenty-seven companies of police will be on duty to maintain law and order on Monday when the red-shirts of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship submit their petition to His Majesty the King seeking a pardon for fugitive politician Thaksin Shinawatra.

Pol Gen Wichien Pojphosri, the acting police chief, said 10 companies comprising 1,500 police will be deployed at Sanam Luang and the other 17 companies will be on standby, starting at 6pm on Sunday.

Arrangements will be made for representatives of the UDD to enter the Office of His Majesty's Principal Private Secretary through Wiset Chaisri gate. The red-shirts will be allowed to gather only at the Sanam Luang ground.

Pol Maj-Gen Wichai Sangprapai, commander of the Metropolitan Police Division 1, will be in charge of the security operation.

Two companies of police will be deployed at the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions, which is due to give its verdict in the rubber saplings corruption case in which former Thaksin deputy agriculture minister Newin Chidchob, the de facto leader of the government coalition Bhumjaithai Party, is a defendant.

Five other companies will be stationed along one side of Sanam Luang, opposite the court, to prevent any possible clash between rival groups of demonstrators.

Pol Gen Wichien said he will seek cooperation from the Interior Ministry, Internal Security Operations Command, and provincial police in all regions to discourage people from travellng to Bangkok to join the gathering.

However, those who want to attend will not be blocked from doing so.

He did not expect the rally would be prolonged.

Meanwhile, an academic from Chulalongkorn University has sent a list of 5,000 names of lecturers, students and other people opposed to the petition for a royal pardon for Thakskin to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Assistant Professor Dr Tul Sitthisomwong of the faculty of medicine presented the list to deputy government spokesman Wachara Kannikar.

The list was accompanied by an open letter demanding that Thaksin tell his supporters to abandon their plan to present the petition because it was not a lawful procedure.

Thaksin, as a convicted felon, must petition His Majesty the King himself, the letter said.

''To love Thaksin is not wrong'', the letter said, ''but to use that popularity in breaking the rule of law and regulations must not be done.''

Mr Tul called on the government and related agencies to inform the red-shirt people they had no legal right to lodge the petition on Thaksin's behalf.

Proceeding with the action could also cause a lot of dissatisfaction among the five million people who had signed their names in opposition to the petition.

He asked the media to help persuade people not to join the red-shirt gathering on Monday, because it was an attempt to manipulate the masses to pressure the royal institution.

House Speaker Chai Chidchob said he would not seek a royal pardon for his son Newin if he is found guilty in the 1.44 billion baht rubber saplings case.

The Supreme Court will rule on the corruption case involving Mr Newin and 43 others over the Agriculture Ministry's purchase of 90 million rubber saplings between 2004 and 2006.

Mr Newin was deputy agriculture minister in the Thaksin Shinawatra administration at the time.

Mr Chai said whoever has done anything wrong must face the consequences.

Asked about the red-shirts' petition rally on Monday, Mr Chai said it was of no concern to him.

He believed that after the petition was submitted the red-shirt group would lay the matter to rest.

Read more!

Taiwan deploys extra troops, anger over rescue grows

Writer: AFP

Published: 13/08/2009 at 08:00 PM

Taiwan Thursday deployed thousands of extra troops as it faced growing public anger and pressure to rescue people trapped by deadly landslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot.

This handout photo released by the Taiwan Military News Agency shows local residents being evacuated from the typhoon-effected village of Laiji in Chiayi County, central Taiwan. Taiwan has deployed thousands of extra troops as it faced growing public anger and pressure to rescue people trapped by deadly landslides triggered by Typhoon Morakot.

The military said 4,000 more soldiers were added to the rescue effort, bringing the total to 38,000, as the death toll from the island's worst floods in half a century rose to 108 with fears it may rise dramatically.

Helicopters were scouring remote areas in the centre and south of the island, dropping food and medicine to cut-off villages and evacuating people to safety, while rain continued to fall.

Nearly 14,000 people have been airlifted to safety since last weekend's typhoon, which dumped three metres (120 inches) of rain, but the government has been accused by survivors and politicians of doing too little, too late.

Dozens of mountain villages populated mainly by indigenous aboriginal tribes have been totally cut off for days after landslides destroyed roads and bridges, leaving them only accessible by air.

Tempers have flared as desperate relatives have gathered at rescue centers -- police and soldiers Wednesday had to push back people who tried to storm their way on to helicopters heading to the stricken zone.

"32 DEAD, SOS," read a sign painted in red on a smashed bridge at the only entrance to the village of Hsinfa, a hot spring resort where bodies were found buried by mudslides.

"We are helpless. We are forgotten. We have been waiting for the helicopters without supplies," one villager told AFP.

President Ma Ying-jeou was confronted by relatives complaining about his government's handling of the crisis on Thursday when he travelled to the county of Yunlin to inspect relief efforts.

Television footage showed dozens of people surrounding Ma, with one man angrily asking: "What is the government doing? It's too late, they cannot be saved."

Ma deflected criticism his administration had been too proud to ask for outside help by saying the United States, Japan, Singapore, China had already made donations and that help from other countries was welcome.

Among the first aid to arrive was a shipment of food and medicines from Singapore, the foreign ministry said.

It said the government had asked for international help providing rescue equipment and that more than 50 countries had sent their condolences or said they were willing to help.

An intense rescue effort has focused on Hsiaolin and several neighbouring villages in Kaohsiung county which were almost totally destroyed by landslides.

While around 1,000 survivors have been found and some 600 airlifted to safety, it is feared more than 100 people could have been buried alive under the rubble.

The National Fire Agency said around 200 people were trapped and awaiting evacuation at another hot spring resort in Liukuei, a township made up of a cluster of mountain villages.

Meanwhile, the military said it had located 700 more survivors in Liukuei Thursday morning and had started moving the group to safety.

Villagers told AFP that more people could have been buried alive as some villages were either flattened or badly damaged in the typhoon.

Typhoon Morakot caused an estimated 280 million US dollars of damage to agriculture and tens of millions of dollars of lost tourism revenue to the scenic mountain regions where hot spring spas are popular.

Five undersea cables were damaged as the typhoon triggered mudslides in the sea off southern Taiwan, disrupting Internet connections and jamming telephone services, said Chunghwa Telecom.

China has so far donated around 16 million US dollars for island's typhoon relief efforts, while Hong Kong pop star and actor Andy Lau was to front a major flood relief fundraising effort in Taipei on Friday.

Morakot was one of the worst typhoons to strike Taiwan in 50 years. In August 1959 a typhoon killed 667 people and left around 1,000 missing.

Read more!

North Korea frees South Korean detainee

Writer: AFP

Published: 13/08/2009 at 08:00 PM

North Korea Thursday freed a South Korean worker it had detained since March, raising hopes of better cross-border relations after 18 months of bitter hostility from the communist state.

South Korean vehicles wait to pass a checkpoint at the Kaesong Industrial Complex in Paju in July 2009. The Kaesong estate near the west coast is the last major inter-Korean joint project still operating. North Korea has freed a South Korean worker it had detained since March, raising hopes of better relations after 18 months of bitter hostility from the communist state.

Yu Seong-Jin came home across the tightly guarded frontier in the evening.

"I'm very happy to return home safely," he told a crowd of reporters at the border, thanking all those who worked for his release.

After a brief medical check the engineer for the Hyundai Asan company was to be reunited with relatives waiting near the border, Yonhap news agency reported.

Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jung-Eun had travelled to the North Monday to seek Yu's release, days after former president Bill Clinton went to Pyongyang to meet leader Kim Jong-Il and win a pardon for two American journalists.

Yu, 44, was earlier handed over to Hyundai Asan officials at the Seoul-funded joint industrial estate in the North's border town of Kaesong, where he was detained on March 30.

The North had held Yu incommunicado since then, accusing him of insulting its political system and urging a northern worker at the estate to defect.

Inter-Korean relations have been icy since a conservative government took office in Seoul in February 2008 and took a tougher line on cross-border relations.

International tensions have also risen this year following the North's latest nuclear and missile tests and a US-led drive for tougher sanctions.

However, North Korean officials signalled to Clinton that they want better relations, according to US officials.

An association representing South Korean firms in Kaesong said it hoped Thursday's release "will improve frozen ties between South and North Korea and rejuvenate the Kaesong industrial complex."

Hyun had earlier extended her stay in the North until Friday, heightening speculation she would meet leader Kim as she did in 2007.

The North is still detaining the four-member crew of a South Korean squid fishing boat which sailed across the border on July 30 due to a faulty navigation system.

It told the South Thursday an investigation was still continuing.

Analysts say the North's priority is improving relations with the United States but to do this it must also mend ties with South Korea to some extent.

"The release will be a turning point in frozen ties between the two Koreas," Dongguk University professor Koh Yu-Hwan told AFP. "It reflects Pyongyang's belief it cannot improve relations with Washington without easing cross-border tensions.

"North Korea also badly needs economic help from South Korea to overcome economic difficulties and food shortages, which have worsened this year due to international sanctions and regional tensions."

The Seoul presidential office welcomed the release but said its policy would not change.

"It seems a bit too late, but it is a relief that Yu is finally returning to his family," said spokesman Lee Dong-Kwan.

"The government will continue to maintain its policy consistency toward North Korea."

Some 40,000 North Koreans work for 105 South Korean companies at Kaesong, which was developed mainly by Hyundai.

The auto, shipbuilding and construction giant pioneered business exchanges with the North, opening its first venture -- the Mount Kumgang resort on the east coast -- in 1998.

But its projects have been hard hit by the worsening relations.

The Kaesong estate is the last one still operating. Its future has become increasingly clouded since Pyongyang demanded huge extra wage and rent payments from Seoul and detained the engineer.

Tours to Mount Kumgang have been suspended since July 2008, when North Korean soldiers shot dead a Seoul housewife who strayed into a poorly marked military zone.

Hyun's visit was partly aimed at restarting the Kumgang tours, officials say.

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Indonesia police find new bomb cache

Writer: AFP

Published: 13/08/2009 at 05:00 PM

Indonesian police said Thursday they had unearthed a new cache of bomb-making chemicals as part of investigations into the July 17 suicide attacks against luxury hotels in Jakarta.

An armed Indonesian policeman stands posted outside the re-opened Ritz-Carlton hotel in Jakarta, July 2009. Indonesian police said they had unearthed a new cache of bomb-making chemicals as part of investigations into the July 17 suicide attacks against luxury hotels in Jakarta.

Police spokesman Sulistyo Ishak said the chemicals were found Wednesday in a rented warehouse in Bogor, West Java, and could be linked to the terror network of Malaysian extremist Noordin Mohammed Top.

"The materials are being investigated by Detachment 88 counter-terrorism police to find out whether they're similar to those used by Noordin Top's network," he told AFP.

"We can't tell you now what they were going to use this for, such as where and which target."

Police launched a massive raid on a suspected Noordin hideout on Friday but failed to locate the fugitive Malaysian, killing instead one of his alleged accomplices in the hotel attacks after a 17-hour siege.

The dead man was identified by police Wednesday as Ibrohim, who worked at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels as a florist and was said to have played a crucial role in the planning and execution of the July 17 bombings.

Meanwhile scores of people including radical Islamist cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, the co-founder of the Jemaah Islamiyah militant movement, attended the funerals of two would-be suicide bombers killed by police on Saturday.

The two alleged Noordin followers were shot dead by police in a raid on a house in Bekasi, between Jakarta and Bogor, where a large amount of explosive materials and a truck rigged as a bomb were also found.

Police said the truck-bomb was going to be used against the nearby residence of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, outside Bogor.

Mourners carried banners praising the men as "martyrs" and encouraging jihad or "holy war" in defence of Islam, as they were buried in their hometown of Solo, one of the hotbeds of Islamist radicalism in the mainly Muslim country.

Police said the identity of the man who had rented the warehouse in Bogor was unknown, but local residents who tipped off police said he bore a resemblance to one of Noordin's accomplices.

"Some said he looked like one of the group members," Ishak said.

The suicide blasts at the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels killed seven people, mainly foreigners, and have been blamed on the Noordin network.

The alleged terror financier and recruiter leads an offshoot of Jemaah Islamiyah which carried out the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people, mainly Western tourists.

Noordin, 41, is accused of masterminding a series of attacks against Western targets in Indonesia since 2003 which have killed around 50 people and wounded hundreds.

Jemaah Islamiyah and related militant groups are seeking to unite much of Southeast Asia under an Islamic caliphate, and believe they must kill Westerners to defend Muslims from oppression.

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Pakistan gunfights involving Mehsud men kill 15: officials

Writer: AFP

Published: 13/08/2009 at 04:00 PM

Fighting between pro-Pakistan government forces and militants affiliated to Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud has killed at least 15 people, officials said Thursday.

File photo shows a Pakistani soldier standing with his heavy machine gun in the Swat Valley. Fighting between pro-Pakistan government forces and militants affiliated to Taliban warlord Baitullah Mehsud has killed at least 15 people, officials said Thursday.

Mehsud's Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan movement appears to have been thrown in turmoil following his presumed death in a US drone attack and analysts say Pakistan must now bolster efforts to eliminate militants in tribal strongholds.

Seven people died in gunfights on Wednesday between Taliban militants and militiamen loyal to a pro-government tribal warlord in the remote South Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan, security officials said.

The fighting broke out when militants loyal to Mehsud, whom US and Pakistani officials believe was killed in a US missile attack last week, attacked followers of Turkistan Bitani in Sur Ghar village.

"I can confirm the deaths of seven people in clashes between Taliban and Turkistan Bitani's group," a security official based in the area told AFP.

Another security official in the town of Dera Ismail Khan also said seven died in the gunbattles, but was unable to confirm reports that 20 to 25 people had been killed.

Intelligence officials in the region said Mehsud's men attacked Sur Ghar, burnt 12 houses and killed seven of Bitani's fighters.

Government security forces and helicopters were scrambled to pound Mehsud's men, but there were no reports about any casualties, they said.

In a counter-attack, Bitani's men kidnapped 14 of Mehsud's men, including commander Ismatullah Shaheen, an intelligence official told AFP.

Taliban and Al-Qaeda rebels are believed to have fled Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion, carving out boltholes and training camps in the remote mountains of Pakistan's semi-autonomous tribal belt.

Pakistani helicopters and security forces killed eight militants in Kurram tribal district on Thursday, another security official told AFP.

The strikes took place at Spurkot village, located between Kurram and Orakzai, another district in Pakistan's tribal badlands.

"Eight militants in commander Tariq's group, which is affiliated with Baitullah Mehsud, were killed in the strike," the official said.

The militants had been hiding in Spurkot after fleeing Darra Adam Khel, a tribal area between Pakistan's northwest capital Peshawar and the garrison town of Kohat, he added.

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Suu Kyi to challenge verdict as global anger grows

Writer: AFP

Published: 12/08/2009 at 12:00 PM

Burma democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and her US co-defendant are to appeal against their convictions, lawyers said Wednesday as the ruling junta faced a global wave of anger over her extended detention.

Protestors demonstrate outside the embassy of Burma in London. Burma democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and her US co-defendant are to appeal against their convictions, lawyers said as the ruling junta faced a global wave of anger over her extended detention.

US President Barack Obama led worldwide outrage at the military regime's decision on Tuesday to give Suu Kyi another 18 months of house arrest, a verdict that shuts the Nobel peace laureate out of elections in 2010.

The UN Security Council broke up an emergency meeting with no condemnation of Burma and China urged respect for the country's sovereignty, but Burma's Southeast Asian neighbours issued a rare expression of disappointment.

In Rangoon, Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win said her legal team would appeal because they were "not satisfied" with the judgement, which stemmed from a stunt in which American man John Yettaw swam to her lakeside house in May.

A prison court sentenced her to three years of hard labour after finding her guilty of breaching the terms of her incarceration, but junta strongman Than Shwe commuted the punishment to a year and a half under house arrest.

"We assume that the judgement is totally wrong according to the law," Nyan Win told AFP, adding that he had received approval from Suu Kyi to proceed and could do so on Wednesday if they received a copy of the judgement.

Police and security forces blocked off the road outside her house on Wednesday.

Lawyers for Yettaw, who was sentenced to seven years of hard labour and imprisonment, would appeal "step by step" to the Burma court system and if necessary urge Than Shwe to deport him, lawyer Khin Maung Oo said.

He said Yettaw was "very calm" and "hopes for the best".

Suu Kyi, 64, has been confined for 14 of the past 20 years, ever since the military regime refused to recognise her National League for Democracy's landslide victory in the last elections held in 1990.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), of which Burma is a member, added to the global chorus of dismay at the verdict, expressing "deep disappointment".

It also called for the immediate release of Suu Kyi but added that the 10-nation group -- which has been criticised in the past for failing to tackle the junta -- would "remain constructively engaged with Burma".

But China -- a key ally and major military supplier of the junta -- urged the international community to "fully respect Burma's judicial sovereignty", foreign ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu said.

The UN Security Council, which counts China and Russia among its five veto-wielding members, failed to sign off on a US-drafted statement condemning the verdict on Suu Kyi.

Debate was due to resume on Wednesday after some delegations, including China, insisted on sending the draft statement to their capitals.

In Washington, Obama called for Suu Kyi's "immediate, unconditional release" and for the freeing of more than 2,000 other political prisoners held in Burma.

The US president said the "unjust" sentence against Suu Kyi would never be able to stamp out the people of Burma's desire for freedom, accusing the regime of "continued disregard" for UN Security Council statements.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply disappointed" by the Suu Kyi verdict.

Burma's state media hit back at outside involvement, with the junta-controlled New Light of Burma newspaper deriding those who "interfere in the internal affairs of other countries".

On the streets of Rangoon there was no sign of the unrest that the state media had warned against.

"People are glad that she (Suu Kyi) is at home... But things will be quiet again after one week as our people have to worry about their own lives. It is more important than politics," said security guard Zaw Naing.

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Suu Kyi, US man to appeal Burma judgement: lawyers

Writer: AFP

Published: 12/08/2009 at 11:00 AM

Burma pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and US national John Yettaw will both lodge appeals against the ruling junta's decision to convict them, their lawyers said Wednesday.

Protestors demonstrate outside the embassy of Burma in London. Suu Kyi and US national John Yettaw will both lodge appeals against Burma's decision to convict them, their lawyers said Wednesday.

Suu Kyi's house arrest was prolonged for another 18 months on Tuesday, sparking international outrage, while her co-defendant Yettaw was sentenced to seven years of hard labour and imprisonment.

Suu Kyi's lawyer Nyan Win said her legal team would appeal because they were "not satisfied" with the judgement, which stemmed from an incident in which Yettaw swam uninvited to Suu Kyi's lakeside home in May.

"We assume that the judgement is totally wrong according to the law," said Nyan Win, adding that he had received approval from Suu Kyi to go ahead with the appeal.

He said they could begin the process Wednesday if they received a copy of the judgement.

Judges originally sentenced Suu Kyi to three years of hard labour and imprisonment, but Than Shwe, head of Burma's military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), signed a special order commuting the sentence.

He ordered her to serve out 18 months under house arrest.

Yettaw's lawyer Khin Maung Oo they would also appeal "step-by-step" to the Burma court system. If necessary he said "we will write to the chairman of the SPDC for Mr Yettaw to be deported."

He said Yettaw was "very calm" and "hopes for the best."

US President Barack Obama led a global wave of condemnation over Aung San Suu Kyi's extended detention, which effectively rules her out of Burma's elections scheduled for 2010.

The Nobel peace laureate has been confined for nearly 14 the past 20 years, ever since the military regime refused to recognise her National League for Democracy's landslide victory in the last elections held in 1990.

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K.Rouge jail chief asks for 'strictest' punishment

Writer: AFP

Published: 12/08/2009 at 05:00 PM

The Khmer Rouge's main jail chief told a war crimes court Wednesday he would like the "strictest level of punishment" -- even death by stoning -- for his crimes against the Cambodian people.

Kaing Guek Eav, better known as Duch, the former main Khmer Rouge jail chief, is pictured in court in Phnom Penh in March 2009. Duch told a war crimes court he would like the "strictest level of punishment" -- even death by stoning -- for his crimes against the Cambodian people.

Duch, whose real name is Kaing Guek Eav, is on trial for overseeing the torture and execution of about 15,000 people at Tuol Sleng detention centre in the late 1970s.

The 66-year-old told the UN-backed tribunal that the country "can condemn me to whatever the highest level of punishment is" after his likely conviction.

"If there is a Cambodian tradition -- like it existed in the past when people threw rocks at Christ to death -- Cambodian people can do that to me. I would accept it," said Duch, who converted Christianity in the 1990s.

Duch has previously accepted responsibility for his role governing the jail and begged forgiveness for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

But he has consistently rejected claims by prosecutors that he held a central leadership role in the Khmer Rouge, and says he never personally killed anyone during the brutal 1975-79 regime.

"I will accept without challenges... all judgments which will be made by this chamber, the judgment of my role as the chairman of S-21 and all the crimes committed there," he said.

"I am humble before the Cambodian people, I accept all of these crimes and would like the Cambodian people to condemn me to the strictest level of punishment."

"My life is just one life and cannot compare to those lives which were lost during the period," he added.

Led by Pol Pot, who died in 1998, the Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia's cities in a bid to forge an agrarian utopia, resulting in the deaths of up to two million people from starvation, overwork and torture.

Speaking of those who lost family members, Duch said, "I accept their regret, their sorrow and their suffering."

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Taiwan scrambles to rescue 700 in mudslide villages

Writer: AFP

Published: 12/08/2009 at 03:00 PM

Taiwan Wednesday began airlifting to safety more than 700 people found alive in a trio of villages flattened by muddy landslides, as the island's death toll from Typhoon Morakot hit 67.

Taiwan troops evacuate survivors in Shiaolin, Tainan county, southern Taiwan, following floods caused by Typhoon Morakot. Taiwan's military on Wednesday began a helicopter rescue of more than 700 people who were found alive in three villages flattened by landslides, a senior military officer told AFP.

The military launched the helicopter operation in the battered island's south after the region was hit by its worst flooding in half a century, inundating entire villages in water and mud and cutting off all access by road.

"We have found around 700 people alive in three villages last night and 26 more this morning. We are deploying 25 helicopters to evacuate them," Major-General Richard Hu said.

Hu said he was unable to confirm how many people had been buried or killed by the landslide in Hsiaolin and in two other remote villages in Kaohsiung county.

Heavy rains in the mid-afternoon forced rescuers to suspend the airlift after ferrying 173 of the villagers to safety, the military said, but it was not immediately clear if the effort would resume later Wednesday.

Officials have downplayed media reports that up to 600 people had been killed just in Hsiaolin, parts of which vanished under a tidal wave of mud at the weekend.

Rescuers said Tuesday that around 100 people in Hsiaolin were feared to have been buried alive.

"We believed that some were buried but it's not possible to estimate how many at this moment as almost 90 percent of the houses were buried," Hu said.

"I saw the mountain crumbling in seconds almost like an explosion and buried half of our neighbourhood," said Huang Chin-bao, 56, from Hsiaolin village.

Huang said he and 40 neighbours were guided by his two dogs to higher ground to take shelter. "The dogs are our saviours," he said.

Feelings were running high at a school in the county where relatives of the missing had gathered. Police and soldiers had to push back some who tried to storm their way onto the departing helicopters.

"I cannot wait any more. I want to look for my family," a man in his 40s shouted as he argued with soldiers.

He said he had not heard anything from his family since the typhoon dumped a record three metres (120 inches) of rainfall on southern Taiwan over the weekend.

Chu Chia-jung, 21, said she was desperate for news with only one of her many relatives in Hsiaolin accounted for.

"I've been really, really worried about my close relatives there," she said. "I hope the military can speed up their search and rescue."

Authorities said Typhoon Morakot, which also killed eight people in eastern China, had left at least 67 people dead in Taiwan.

The toll included three rescuers who died when their helicopter crashed into a river in heavy fog in the southern county of Pingtung on Tuesday.

Another 61 people were missing in Taiwan and 45 others injured.

Armoured vehicles, marine landing craft and rubber dinghies have been mobilised in the rescue operation, which involved more than 17,000 troops across the island, the defence ministry said.

The typhoon has caused at least 7.2 billion Taiwan dollars (225 million US) in agricultural damage while nearly 30,000 houses were still without power and 750,000 homes without water, according to officials.

Officials said Hong Kong pop star and actor Andy Lau was to lead a string of Taiwanese entertainers fronting a major fundraising event.

Lau, one of Hong Kong's biggest names and also popular in China and Taiwan, will join more than 200 homegrown stars to take donation pledges over the phone from the Taiwanese public on Friday in the four-hour fundraiser.

Taiwanese charities and companies have also launched donation drives for flood victims, raising more than two billion Taiwan dollars as of Tuesday, reports said. Official figures were not available.

Morakot is one of the worst typhoons to strike Taiwan in 50 years. In August 1959, a typhoon killed 667 people and left around 1,000.

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Japan digs out from typhoon, quake disasters

Writer: AFP

Published: 12/08/2009 at 03:00 PM

Disaster-hit Japan pushed on with recovery efforts Wednesday, a day after a strong earthquake struck and three days after a typhoon brought flashfloods and landslides that killed at least 15 people.

A collapsed section of the Tomei Expressway in Makinohara, west of Tokyo, after a strong earthquake on August 11. In coastal regions near Tokyo, where a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck early Tuesday, hospitals were still treating some of the 120 people injured in the tremor, while officials confirmed one death caused by the quake.

In the flood-hit western town of Sayo, 400 rescue workers and troops searched debris-strewn river banks for survivors or victims of inundations brought by Typhoon Etau that have left 17 people missing nationwide.

In coastal regions near Tokyo, where a 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck early Tuesday, hospitals were still treating some of the 120 people injured in the tremor, while officials confirmed one death caused by the quake.

A 43-year-old woman found dead after being buried under a pile of books in the city of Shizuoka, west of the capital, was confirmed to have died as a result of the quake, a city official said.

Construction crews were meanwhile scrambling to repair a section of the Tomei Expressway, the main road artery linking Tokyo with the western city of Osaka, that was damaged in a landslide triggered by the quake.

"We are trying to resume operations as quickly as possible, but we found further damage and are carefully conducting the repair work," said Susumu Takahashi, a spokesman for Central Nippon Expressway Corp.

Government inspectors were also conducting safety checks on the Hamaoka nuclear plant, which automatically shut down two reactors when the quake hit offshore 170 kilometres (105 miles) southwest of Tokyo.

The tremor caused 24 minor impacts on the plant, such as cracked building walls, but caused no radioactive leak, said a company official.

"An inspection team from the Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency has entered the plant and started examining the safety conditions," said a spokesman for the operator Chubu Electric Power Co.

The quake also caused some damage to 3,300 buildings in the worst hit prefecture of Shizuoka and nearby areas, also toppling the stone wall of an ancient castle and damaging the tiled roof of a temple.

Tokyo was sunny again after Typhoon Etau veered off into the Pacific Ocean after threatening to hit the capital, but elsewhere rescue workers were still digging through the rubble brought by its torrential rain storms.

In Tokushima on the southwestern island of Shikoku, police found the body of a nine-year-old boy who had been missing since the weekend.

In the worst-hit town of Sayo in western Hyogo prefecture, where 12 deaths were reported after a rain-swollen river burst its banks and ripped away three bridges, rescue workers were searching for victims.

The coastguard also deployed three patrol boats in waters near the mouth of the river to search for those still missing, a local official said.

"We can't comment on their chances of survival," he said.

Earlier in the week, a 68-year-old woman was found dead in a landslide in Okayama prefecture, and the body of a 22-year-old woman was found in a flood-hit town in Nagano prefecture.

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Taliban kill Afghan district police chief: official

Writer: AFP

Published: 12/08/2009 at 03:00 PM

Taliban militants attacked a government compound in northern Afghanistan, killing the district police chief and a guard, an official said Wednesday, in more pre-election bloodshed.

Afghan policemen keep watch after a suicide attack against NATO forces in Kunduz province on August 10. Taliban militants attacked a government compound in northern Afghanistan, killing the district police chief and a guard, an official said Wednesday, in more pre-election bloodshed.

The attack happened in the province of Kunduz, where insecurity has spiralled this year with several attacks despite the presence of NATO troops.

After the militants attacked the compound in Archi district, the police chief emerged from his own headquarters to help, said the Archi governor, Shaikh Dabi.

"The Taliban ambushed him and killed him," he said.

"The Archi district police chief and one of his bodyguards were killed and three other police were wounded," he said.

Locals said the insurgents set fire to the district government building.

The worsening security in Kunduz has been blamed on the return of militants who fled after the 2001 US-led invasion removed the Taliban regime.

The area is also on a new transit route coming through Tajikistan for supplies for Western forces in Afghanistan to fight the insurgency.

Military operations are under way across Afghanistan, mostly in the south, to secure areas ahead of landmark August 20 presidential and provincial council elections.

There are concerns that the threat of violence will keep voters away from the polls, undermining the credibility of the elections.

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Searchers believe sunken Tongan ferry found: police

Writer: AFP

Published: 12/08/2009 at 02:00 PM

Searchers believe they have found the wreck of a ferry which sank last week in Tonga with the loss of nearly 100 lives, police said Wednesday.

File photo of the MV Princess Ashika ferry in Nuku'alofa. Searchers believe they have found the wreck of the ferry which sank last week in Tonga with the expected loss of nearly 100 lives, police said.

Tongan police commander Chris Kelley said the ship appeared intact and was lying upright on the sea floor at a depth of 110 metres (360 feet).

"I must emphasise the onsite team have not visually confirmed the identity of the vessel but the sonar information is such, along with other evidence, that we have a high level of confidence it is the Princess Ashika," Kelley said in a statement.

The ferry was 86 kilometres (53 miles) northeast of Nuku'alofa en route to Ha'afeva, in the outlying Nomuka islands, when it sank one week ago moments after issuing a mayday call.

The 34-year-old vessel went down quickly and only 54 survivors were rescued, while two bodies have been recovered and at least 93 people remain unaccounted for.

Reports from survivors suggested many sleeping passengers would have been trapped inside the ship when it sank around midnight on Wednesday.

Kelley said the sonar location of the vessel was corroborated by the presence of an oil slick.

Bad weather has forced the suspension of further operations, and Kelley said a New Zealand naval vessel would arrive on Saturday with equipment capable of taking pictures of the wreck to confirm it is the Princess Ashika.

But he indicated there was no immediate prospect of recovering bodies.

"It is important to understand that although the underwater vehicle is able to take pictures of the vessel, neither the New Zealand nor the Australian navies have the capabilities to conduct recovery operations beyond 60 metres," he said.

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US, Afghan troops launch operation to protect vote

Writer: AFP

Published: 12/08/2009 at 02:00 PM

US Marines and Afghan soldiers launched an operation early Wednesday against insurgents in Afghanistan's troubled south aimed at preventing disruptions to upcoming elections, the Marines said.

NATO soldiers patrol in Arghandab in the southern Afghan province of Kandahar. The spectre of deadly Taliban attacks is hanging over Afghanistan's upcoming elections, fuelling fears that voters will be too intimidated by the insurgents to cast their ballot in the presidential polls.

Operation Eastern Resolve II deployed 400 Marines and sailors and 100 Afghan soldiers to a Taliban stronghold of Helmand province, said Brigadier General Larry Nicholson, commander of the Marine Expeditionary Brigade in Afghanistan.

In a statement from Camp Leatherneck, in central Helmand, he said the aim of the mission in Naw Zad district was to prevent Taliban fighters from acting on threats to disrupt presidential and provincial council elections next week.

Afghanistan's second presidential election is due to take place on August 20 amid Taliban threats to prevent voters getting to polling booths and widespread fears of suicide attacks.

"Our mission is to support the Independent Election Commission and Afghan national security forces," Nicholson said.

"They are the ones in charge of these elections. Our job is to make sure they have the security to do their job."

Helmand is one of the world's main poppy-producing regions and a route for Taliban fighters crossing the border from Pakistan to join the insurgency.

International forces have been operating in the province's centre and south in recent months in an effort to push out Taliban forces and secure populated areas of the vast region ahead of the elections.

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Talks to end Philippine insurgency in doubt: rebels

Writer: AFP

Published: 12/08/2009 at 02:00 PM

Key talks in Norway later this month to end the 40-year communist insurgence in the Philippines were thrown into doubt on Wednesday, the rebels' top negotiator said.

New Peoples Army (NPA) rebels raise a communist flag at their base in the hinterlands of Davao del Norte, southern Philippines, in March. Key talks in Norway later this month to end the 40-year communist insurgence in the Philippines were thrown into doubt on Wednesday, the rebels' top negotiator said.

Netherlands-based Luis Jalandoni said in a statement to news agencies in Manila that the government's failure to release jailed guerrilla leaders was to blame.

"It is now doubtful whether the meetings scheduled for August 28 to September 5 in Oslo would be held," Jalandoni said.

"There are strong indications that the (Philippine government) intends to scuttle the resumption of formal talks."

President Gloria Arroyo's chief adviser on the peace talks, being revived after they were shelved in 2005, announced Tuesday that a number of jailed senior communist leaders are to be freed so they can take part in the talks as "consultants".

However, Jalandoni said that the government was making it "difficult or impossible the release of other detained (rebel) consultants."

He said the rebels also want the government to withdraw criminal charges against rebel consultants who have outstanding warrants for arrest.

Jalandoni warned Manila's failure to provide those whom the rebels designate as their negotiators or consultants for the peace talks blanket immunity would lead to the "scuttling (of) the Oslo meeting this month and probably the entire peace negotiations."

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