Friday, September 4, 2009

Soth Thailand In Pictures

A suspected militant, still holding his weapon in hand, lies on the ground after he was shot dead by police in a jungle in Thailand's Yala province, about 1,084 km (674 miles) south of Bangkok September 2, 2009. REUTERS/Surapan Boonthanom

A suspected militant lies on the ground near a rubber tree after he was shot dead by police in a jungle in Thailand's Yala province, about 1,084 km (674 miles) south of Bangkok September 2, 2009. REUTERS/Surapan Boonthanom

Soldiers stand guard at the scene of an attack near a restaurant during lunchtime in southern Thailand's Pattani province September 3, 2009. More than 20 people were injured in two bomb attacks in Thailand's deep south of Pattani on Thursday. The first bomb was detonated in front of a grocery store. After the first bomb went off, the second bomb, planted in a gas cylinder attached to a motorcycle, was detonated in front of the restaurant, police said. REUTERS/Surapan Boonthanom

Police officers inspect the scene of an attack near a restaurant during lunchtime in southern Thailand's Pattani province September 3, 2009. More than 20 people were injured in two bomb attacks in Thailand's deep south of Pattani on Thursday. The first bomb was detonated in front of a grocery store. After the first bomb went off, the second bomb, planted in a gas cylinder attached to a motorcycle, was detonated in front of the restaurant, police said. REUTERS/Surapan Boonthanom



Police officers inspect the scene of an attack near a restaurant during lunchtime in southern Thailand's Pattani province September 3, 2009. More than 20 people were injured in two bomb attacks in Thailand's deep south of Pattani on Thursday. The first bomb was detonated in front of a grocery store. After the first bomb went off, the second bomb, planted in a gas cylinder attached to a motorcycle, was detonated in front of the restaurant, police said. REUTERS/Surapan Boonthanom

Police and soldiers inspect the scene of an attack near a restaurant during lunchtime in southern Thailand's Pattani province September 3, 2009. More than 20 people were injured in two bomb attacks in Thailand's deep south of Pattani on Thursday. The first bomb was detonated in front of a grocery store. After the first bomb went off, the second bomb, planted in a gas cylinder attached to a motorcycle, was detonated in front of the restaurant, police said. REUTERS/Surapan Boonthanom

Thai soldiers examine the site where a bomb exploded outside a row of open-air shops and restaurants in the city of Pattani Province Thailand Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Eight people were killed in a string of drive-by shootings and at least 25 were wounded in a bomb blast in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south, in what the army said Thursday was a 'unusually high' number of attacks in the restive region. (AP Photo/Sumeth pranphet)

Thai people help out injured people from a bomb explosion of a motorcycle parked outside a row of open-air shops and restaurants in the city of Pattani Province in Thailand Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Eight people were killed in a string of drive-by shootings and at least 25 were wounded in a bomb blast in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south, in what the army said Thursday was a 'unusually high' number of attacks in the restive region. (AP Photo/Sumeth pranphet)

Thai soldiers carry injury from a bombing explosion of a motorcycle parked outside a row of open-air shops and restaurants in the city of Pattani Province in Thailand on Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009. Eight people were killed in a string of drive-by shootings and at least 25 were wounded in a bomb blast in Thailand's insurgency-plagued south, in what the army said Thursday was a 'unusually high' number of attacks in the restive region. (AP Photo/Sumeth pranphet)

Thai bomb squad units inspect the site of an explosion at a restaurant in Pattani province. The blast injured at least 27 people. Eleven people were shot dead and a powerful bomb wounded at least two dozen others as violence intensified in Thailand's Muslim-majority south during the holy month of Ramadan, police said (AFP/Tuwaedaniya Meringing)

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Tuesday, August 11, 2009

Typhoon Morakot hits southern China - 10 Aug 09

Typhoon Morakot has moved into China, with torrential rains flooding thousands of hectares.

One million people have been evacuated.

Al Jazeera's Tony Cheng, reporting from Hong Kong, says the danger for China is far from over, with landslides posing a serious threat to the southern coast.

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Jailed Cambodian editor loses appeal hearing



Southeast Taiwan, in the town of Chihpen. See the location on Google Maps (tabs "A" and "C"): http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&...

Chihpen is about 7 miles inland from the Pacific Ocean. The hotel sat along the Jhihben River, which feeds directly from the ocean.

All thoughts and prayers go out to those in the path of this destructive storm.

Nearly one million people in China have fled to escape the typhoon:

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Chinese vice premier stresses rehousing of low-income workers


Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (R Front) talks with hut dwellers in the Nanshi hut zone of Shuangyashan, a city in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang said over the weekend that the rebuilding of shanty towns which have long-housed low-income workers is an important part of the country's effort to improve people's livelihood.

Li made the comment at a working conference to address the rebuilding of shacks in cities and at compounds of large state-owned mining enterprises held in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province, on Saturday.

Such shanty towns are shabby residential areas that were built when the country started to industrialize its economy, and people living there are more often low-income wage earners in factories.

These people are either living in a space that is less than 10 square meters for each, or in apartments that have no tap water or sewers, or even toilets or kitchens.


Chinese Vice Premier Li Keqiang (C) addresses a meeting on the rebuiding of cities and hut zones, in Harbin, capital of northeast China's Heilongjiang Province. (Xinhua/Lan Hongguang)

China is aiming to offer proper housing for 7.5 million low-income urban households and 2.4 million households living in shanty towns of coal mines, reclamation areas, and forest zones in three years, Premier Wen Jiabao said in March.

There are another 1.14 million living in shabby apartments at compounds of state-owned mining enterprises, which are not included in the planning of cities, according to the conference.

Li urged to integrate the rebuilding of such shanty towns with the low-income housing project, initiated by the Chinese government to build affordable houses for low-income urban residents.

He also asked planners to build homes at different price levels in a region so as to avoid the concentration of poor population in a certain neighborhood.

Li stressed that the government should dominate the project of rehousing low-income workers, but it could invite funding from outside the government.

He said the government should secure land supplies for such projects and materialize tax supports.

The central government pledged to allocate 49.3 billion yuan (7.25 billion U.S. dollars) from the central budget to finance such housing projects in 2009 alone.


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China backs world gathering of parliaments' speakers

Chinese top legislator Wu Bangguo promised on Monday the country would take an active part in preparing for a world speakers conference.

"China supports the Inter- Parliamentary Union (IPU) on holding the Third Conference of Speakers of Parliaments and will actively participate in its preparations," the senior official told visiting IPU President Theo-Ben Gurirab during an hour-long meeting in Beijing.

Wu, chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC), the top legislature, said China hoped the speakers' conference would step up the member states' communication and cooperation in the multilateral framework.


Wu Bangguo (R), chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, the country's top legislature, meets with Theo-Ben Gurirab, president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and speaker of Namibia's National Assembly (Parliament), in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 10, 2009. (Xinhua/Yao Dawei)

The IPU, established in 1889, is the international organization of parliaments of sovereign states. The union, with more than 150 members, serves as a focal point for worldwide parliamentary dialogue.

The first and the second speakers meetings took place in New York in 2000 and 2005.

Gurirab appreciated the NPC's long-standing and generous support to the IPU , calling for China's bigger role in the organization.

Wu reviewed China's 19-year diplomatic relations with Namibia as Gurirab also served as speaker of Namibia's National Assembly.

"China and Namibia are friends and partners," Wu said, citing cooperation in politics, economy, trade, education, public health, culture, justice, among other fields.

Wu pledged China's continued efforts to cement relations with Namibia among governments, parliaments and people.

As the global economic downturn also took its toll on African countries, Wu said China would encourage its companies to do businesses and invest in Africa.

China will urge the international community to pay more attention to concerns of African countries in tackling the economic slump, Wu said.

Gurirab said he was impressed with China's achievements in its modernization drive, which Namibians and other African people also felt proud of.

The 70-year-old speaker said his country would like to learn from China's economic progress and work more closely with China for better and faster development.

Gurirab is on a week-long China visit, which will also take him to west China's Gansu province.


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Myanmar Dissidents Contemplate Concessions

With Myanmar's military government expected to sentence dissident Aung San Suu Kyi to further detention as early as Tuesday, some of her exiled supporters are considering new tactics -- such as negotiating with the regime -- to break a decades-old political stalemate in the troubled Southeast Asian nation.

Take a look at major events in the life of famed dissident Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ms. Suu Kyi faces up to five years in prison for allegedly violating the terms of a government-imposed house arrest in May, when she allowed an uninvited American well-wisher to visit her lakeside home without state approval.

Myanmar officials have said a verdict will come Tuesday, though some analysts say the decision may be delayed due to the poor health of John Yettaw, the American visitor, who is also on trial and has reportedly suffered from epileptic seizures recently. The verdict was delayed once before, after authorities in Myanmar, previously known as Burma, said they needed more time to review the facts in the case.

Analysts and exiles expect the court to eventually find Ms. Suu Kyi guilty, resulting in further detention for the 64-year-old Nobel laureate who has spent nearly 14 of the past 20 years under arrest.

Such an outcome, combined with Myanmar's miserable economic conditions and the likelihood that Ms. Suu Kyi won't be able to participate in elections the government plans for 2010, are prodding exile groups to contemplate new strategies, including seeking negotiations with Myanmar's military regime and possibly dropping some earlier demands that have blocked rapprochement.

Ms. Suu Kyi's supporters have traditionally taken a hard-line approach towards talking with the regime, unless it agrees to free hundreds of political prisoners and recognize the results of a 1990 election won overwhelmingly by Ms. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party.

Associated Press

Supporters of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement demonstrate at the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo on Saturday.


Dissident groups plan to discuss further details at a convention in Jakarta, Indonesia on Wednesday and Thursday. At least 10 major dissident groups are expected to attend, including the Women's League of Burma and representatives from the NLD, along with Mr. Sein Win and others. People who intend to participate say it may be the first time in decades so many groups have come together to forge a common position in dealing with the Myanmar junta.

"We're not only thinking about what we want, but what the regime can and cannot accept. It's a move back to the center," says Nyo Ohn Myint, a senior opposition figure who's been in exile in Thailand and the U.S. for 20 years. He says a majority of senior NLD leaders now support some form of compromise with Myanmar's military government, including possibly writing off the 1990 vote.

Mr. Nyo Ohn Myint says he believes Ms. Suu Kyi is also willing to compromise, including accepting some kind of role for the military in government, though it is difficult to confirm Ms. Suu Kyi's views while she is under arrest.

Many dissidents are focusing on the regime's planned 2010 elections. Initially, opposition groups vowed to boycott the election as they believed that no vote overseen by the military could be free and fair. But some dissidents have softened their positions in the belief that participating in a flawed election may be better than sitting it out entirely.

"There is the danger that the main political activists or stakeholders like the NLD and major ethnic groups will be sidelined" if they don't in some way participate in the election, says Thaung Htun, who the government-in-exile calls its representative to the United Nations. "We need to publicly propose an alternative."

Some analysts are skeptical that any new approaches from exiles will yield results. Dialogue requires participation on both sides, and the regime has given little indication in the past that it wants to negotiate, though some dissidents believe that may change if military leaders are given face-saving options that allow them to claim the 2010 election is legitimate. The regime rarely speaks to the foreign media, Western diplomats or high-ranking dissidents, making it difficult to divine its intentions.

Myanmar's myriad exile groups have struggled to reach consensus in the past and the latest discussions could easily break down over the details of how far to go with any national reconciliation plan. Many exiles still view any form of rapprochement as totally unacceptable and worry that any participation in the 2010 election could legitimize a military dictatorship.

"The Burmese are too divided to suddenly put all their history behind them," retired Rutgers University professor and Myanmar expert Josef Silverstein said.

The Jakarta conference was planned in part "to stay relevant to meet the criticism" that older dissident groups are too inflexible, says Sean Turnell, a Myanmar expert at Macquarie University in Sydney.

Dissidents are considering new approaches "probably because things are looking so dire" in the country, with little change in recent years, forcing exiles to look "for a new way," says Monique Skidmore, a Myanmar expert at the University of Canberra in Australia.

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Burma Police Arrest Bomb Plotters



Chief of Burma National Police Force Brig. Gen. Khin Yi answers questions during a press conference, in Rangoon, Burma, 07 Aug 2009
Brig. Gen. Khin Yi answers questions during a press conference, in Rangoon, Burma, 07 Aug 2009
Burma's national police chief says 15 dissidents have been arrested in connection with a plot to plant bombs during the visit of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last month.

At a news conference Friday, Burma Police Chief Khin Yi linked the bomb plotters to a number of dissident organizations, including the party of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. A lawyer for the opposition leader denied that charge.

Khin Yi also said at least 20 security personnel have been demoted - and some jailed - for allowing an American to enter Aung San Suu Kyi's home earlier this year.


John Yettaw swam uninvited to the opposition leader's lakeside Rangoon home in early May, and stayed there for two days with her permission. The incident led to Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest on charges of violating the terms of her house arrest.

The opposition leader has spent the last two months at Rangoon's Insein prison where she was put on trial. The court is expected to hand down its verdict on August 11.

The 64-year-old Nobel Peace laureate, who has spent 14 of the last 19 years in some form of detention, faces up to five years in prison.

Sources say Yettaw was admitted to Rangoon General Hospital Monday after suffering seizures. His condition is said to be improving. Yettaw is reported to have diabetes and other illnesses.

Yettaw, along with two of Aung San Suu Kyi's live-in companions, is also being tried in the case. He testified he swam to her home to warn her of a vision he had that she would be assassinated.

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Hun Xen’s bilateral border talk policy with Thailand fails miserably, Heng Xamrin had to appeal ASEAN for help

Heng Xamrin asks ASEAN’s involvement in the resolution of border dispute in Preah Viheare
Heng Xamrin, president of the National Assembly (NA), asked ASEAN to help resolve the border dispute between Cambodia and Thailand after a deadlock for an approval by the Thai parliament was met and this situation prevented Bangkok from continuing further negotiation with Cambodia.


Cheam Yeap, CPP chairman of the NA economic and finance committee, told a press conference in the evening of 08 August, after his arrival from Bangkok, that Heng Xamrin made this appeal at the Inter Parliamentary Union (IPU) meeting held on 05-06 August in Pattaya, Thailand. Cheam Yeap said that Heng Xamrin also raised the issue ot Thailand’s aggression in the Preah Vihear temple zone. Heng Xamrin wanted ASEAN to get involved in this issue, and it should not remain silent, but that it must help find a resolution and, in particular, developed countries should help poor countries.

Heng Xamrin made this appeal because the bilateral talks with Thailand do not lead to any result, and Thailand does not seem to want to reach a quick resolution on this issue.

Furthermore, Heng Xamrin also met with Thai leaders and he pushed them to speed up the border dispute resolution. Cheam Yeap said that, in response to Heng Xamrin’s request, Thai PM Abhisit Vejjajiva said that he will send the Preah Vihear temple case to the Thai parliament. However, Cheam Yeap warned: “We don’t know if Abhisit’s words can be trusted or not yet. If the Thai parliament approves this issue quickly, only then can Abhisit’s words be trusted.”

Cheam Yeap indicated that Heng Xamrin also met with Chai Chidchob, Thai parliament president, and he made the same request also. Chai Chidchob said that he will resolve this issue quickly.

Cheam Yeap said that Heng Xamrin also raised about Cambodia’s sufficient legal backing in its claim in Preah Vihear temple, and the Thailand have a hard time saying anything because the 1904 and 1907 Franco-Siam conventions and the 15 June 1962 decision by The Hague International Court of Justice returned Preah Vihear to Cambodia. On 07 July 2008, UNESCO also accepted to list Preah Vihear temple as a World Heritage site.

Heng Xamrin and the Cambodian delegation returned back home in the evening of 08 August, following the conclusion of the IPU meeting on 06 August, and Heng Xamrin’s meeting with Thai leaders in the following day.

The IPU meeting was held under tight security with the presence of almost 1,000 security personnel. The IPU meeting discussed about (1) Safety, security and common regional policy, (2) Economic, commercial and foreign investment cooperation, (3) Social safety and security for the strengthening of public welfare and the prevention of contagious diseases, (5) Perpetual development and environment, and (5) Discussion in information and electronic communication.

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Travesty of justice: Similarity between the Burmese and Cambodian dictatorships

Members of the Free Burma coalition hold placards during a protest in front of the Myanmar embassy in Makati, Metro Manila August 11, 2009 in support of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. (REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco)

Myanmar's Suu Kyi found guilty in security case


YANGON (Reuters) - A court in army-ruled Myanmar on Tuesday sentenced opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi guilty to 18 months in detention for violating an internal security law, a ruling certain to anger the West and further isolate the regime.

The court sentenced her to three years in prison but that was immediately reduced to a year-and-a-half on the orders of the military government, which said she could serve the time in her Yangon home.

A guilty verdict had been widely expected in a case critics say was fabricated by the military regime to keep Suu Kyi out of circulation ahead of a general election scheduled for next year.

The leader of the democracy movement in the former Burma has already spent 14 of the past 20 years in detention of one sort or another.

The charges stemmed from a mysterious incident in which an American, John Yettaw, swam uninvited to her lakeside home in May and stayed there for two days, which breached the terms of her house arrest.

Yettaw was sentenced to seven years' hard labor in a parallel trial on three charges, including immigration offences and "swimming in a non-swimming area."

The hearings were held in Yangon's Insein Prison amid heightened security, with least 2,000 security personnel in the area, witnesses said.

State newspapers all ran the same commentary on Tuesday that implicitly warned Suu Kyi's supporters not to cause trouble and told outsiders not to meddle in Myanmar's affairs.

"The people who favor democracy do not want to see riots and protests that can harm their goal," said the commentary in the New Light of Myanmar and other newspapers.

"Anti-government groups inside and outside the nation and the United States are accusing the government of deterring Aung San Suu Kyi from standing for election," it added.

"The approved constitution and the forthcoming election law will decide who will be entitled and who will not be entitled to stand for election."

Critics say the trial has been trumped up by the military government as a way of keeping Suu Kyi out of circulation in the run-up to, and during, a multi-party election planned for 2010.

The prosecution's case was that Yettaw's two-day stay at Suu Kyi's home, even though he was uninvited, meant she breached the terms of her house arrest and violated an internal security law.

A verdict in the trial had been expected on August 4 but the judge adjourned the case until Tuesday, August 11, after Yettaw fell ill.

However, he was moved back to his prison cell shortly before midnight on Monday, a hospital source said.

Yettaw, a Mormon, has told the court God sent him to warn Suu Kyi she would be assassinated by "terrorists."


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©2009 daily news | by TNB