U.S. eyes military drills over North Korea

U.S. eyes military drills over North Korea

U.S. eyes military drills over North Korea

Posted: 20 Jul 2010 01:00 AM PDT

CAMP CASEY, South Korea (Reuters) - U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Tuesday planned military drills with ally South Korea would send a strong message of deterrence to the North, as Seoul signalled more U.S. sanctions ahead.


TIMELINE - Major conflicts between rival Koreas

Posted: 20 Jul 2010 01:00 AM PDT

SEOUL (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said on Tuesday that joint military drills planned by U.S. and South Korean forces this month are aimed at sending a strong message of deterrence to the North.


Cambodian police abuse sex workers - rights group

Posted: 20 Jul 2010 01:00 AM PDT

PHNOM PENH (Reuters) - Cambodian police and social workers have beat, extorted and raped sex workers after taking them into their custody, Human Rights Watch said on Tuesday, adding foreign governments could do more to stop such abuse.


Migrants attacked in South Africa, five hurt

Posted: 20 Jul 2010 01:00 AM PDT

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - South African residents have attacked migrants from African countries in a Johannesburg township, injuring at least five people and increasing concerns of a wave of xenophobia after the soccer World Cup.


Thailand lifts emergency rule in three provinces

Posted: 19 Jul 2010 04:30 PM PDT

By Boonradom Chitradon

BANGKOK: Thailand said today that it was lifting a state of emergency in three northern provinces but not in Bangkok, two months after the end of anti-government protests in the capital that turned deadly.

The emergency law, which bans public gatherings of more than five people and gives security forces the right to detain suspects for 30 days without charge, will remain in place in 16 other provinces.

Earlier this month, Thailand extended the emergency powers across about one quarter of the country by three months, prompting concern among rights groups and key allies including the United States.

The Cabinet decided today to revoke the state of emergency in Lampang, Roi Et and Sakon Nakhon provinces, in addition to five areas where the decree was recently lifted, said deputy government spokesman Supachai Jaismut.

"There are no political movements in those three provinces and local officials are confident that they can handle the situation," he said.

In the 16 other provinces, security officials report continued political activities such as using community radio to incite unrest, as well as fears of sabotage and assassination attempts on important people, he added.

Two months of mass rallies by the red shirts, who were seeking immediate elections, sparked outbreaks of violence that left 90 people dead, mostly civilians, and nearly 1,900 injured, ending in a bloody army crackdown in May.

Critics say the government may be fanning the crisis as it clamps down and censors the protest movement -- which broadly supports fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- rather than addressing its grievances.

Risk of serious abuses

A visiting senior US envoy last week called for the state of emergency to be lifted "as soon as possible".

William Burns, the State Department's number three, said that to retain these powers indefinitely was "not healthy for a democratic system".

The authorities have used the powers to arrest hundreds of suspects -- including most of the top leaders of the "red shirt" protest movement -- and shut down anti-government TV channels, radio stations and websites.

New York-based group Human Rights Watch said earlier this month the government was "systematically using" the emergency decree to hold suspects without charge for up to 30 days in unofficial places of detention.

Many detainees have been held at military camps but their exact numbers and whereabouts are unknown to their families, it said.

According to Human Rights Watch, putting detainees in the hands of security personnel who often lack training and experience in civilian law enforcement increases the risk of serious abuses.

The government has rejected calls from the opposition for the decree to be lifted in Bangkok for a parliamentary by-election in the capital on July 25 in which a Red Shirt leader detained on terrorism charges is running.

A separate state of emergency has been in place since 2005 in three Muslim-majority southern provinces where a separatist insurgency has left more than 4,100 people dead in six years, with no end in sight to the violence.

- AFP

US eyes drills over North Korea, sanctions muted by Seoul

Posted: 19 Jul 2010 07:02 PM PDT

SEOUL, July 20 — US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said tomorrow's planned military drills with ally South Korea would send a strong message of deterrence to the North, as Seoul signalled more US sanctions ahead. Gates is on a three-day visit to South Korea at a moment of heightened tensions on the peninsula following the North's alleged sinking ...


Japan govt vows budget austerity

Posted: 20 Jul 2010 12:05 AM PDT

TOKYO, Tuesday 20 July 2010 (AFP) - Japan's government on Tuesday pledged austerity and a cap on new bond issues as it drafts a budget for next fiscal year while seeking to reduce a mountain of public debt.

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Obama, Cameron to hold talks clouded by BP concerns

Posted: 20 Jul 2010 12:16 AM PDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama and British Prime Minister David Cameron will hold talks on Tuesday overshadowed by controversy over BP Plc that could test the vaunted "special relationship" between their countries.


Myanmar neighbours concerned over fairness of polls

Posted: 20 Jul 2010 12:16 AM PDT

HANOI (Reuters) - Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbours have told the military government they are concerned over whether elections this year will be free and fair, a senior regional diplomat said on Tuesday.


ANALYSIS - Russian modernisation hinges on education reform

Posted: 20 Jul 2010 12:16 AM PDT

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia, the nation that put the first man in space, has been so focused on high-earning oil and gas since communism collapsed that it may find it has no one left to drag the wider economy into the 21st century.


Migrants workers collateral damage of UAE slump

Posted: 20 Jul 2010 12:16 AM PDT

SHARJAH, United Arab Emirates (Reuters) - Under an unforgiving sun, South Asian workers stir giant pots of rice, their only food, in a barren patch of desert 80 km from a gleaming Dubai skyline built over decades by migrant labour.


Platypus rescued from sewage pipes

Posted: 19 Jul 2010 11:19 PM PDT

A young platypus has had to be rescued from an Australian sewage plant after venturing down pipes apparently looking for a mate.


Vehicle sale up 19.8% in first half

Posted: 19 Jul 2010 11:18 PM PDT

The total sales of new motor vehicles for the first six months of 2010 rose by 19.8% to 301,077 units against 251,305 units in the same period of last year.

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Umno to discuss ways of recapturing Kedah

Posted: 19 Jul 2010 11:17 PM PDT

Kedah Umno Liaison Committee will hold a convention on July 31 to find ways to recapture the state from the opposition.

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Labour exodus to booming Singapore?

Posted: 19 Jul 2010 11:06 PM PDT

The Sinagpore economy is booming, and with it the need for workers, plenty of them! With its attractive wages and conducive working environment, the republic is a labour magnet for many Malaysians. Singapore's boom may be the gloom of our manufacturers facing labour shortage.

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Police move in to evict British Parliament peace protesters

Posted: 19 Jul 2010 02:14 PM PDT

LONDON: Law enforcement officers moved today to evict peace protesters who have been camped in front of the British Parliament for almost three months, after a court ruled last week they cannot stay there.

The officers descended on the makeshift camp in London known as Democracy Village, where the demonstrators put up their tents on May 1, said police, who were providing support for the operation.

But a standoff was developing, as some of the protesters climbed up scaffolding in an attempt to stop the officers ejecting them from the site.

The activists, who are protesting against the war in Afghanistan and a range of other issues, lost an appeal against eviction last Friday in a battle with the city's mayor who is demanding they quit the site.

The green space had been transformed by the erection of dozens of tents adorned with flags and protest banners, but critics complained the area had been vandalised.

"Officers from the Metropolitan Police Service are in attendance within the Parliament Square area," said a police spokesman.

"They are there in a supporting role to High Court enforcement officers who are currently carrying out an operation to evict those residing on the grassed area of the square."

Considerable damage

Protesters described how about 60 people turned up to try and evict them from the square and put a fence up around the area.

But some of their number were resisting attempts to move them.

"We are on some scaffolding and we want to stay here as long as possible. We want to be here for the rush hour ideally," said one of the protesters, Maria Gallastegui. "Obviously we will resist but we will be non-violent."

One protester hand chained himself to the scaffolding and another was on top of a lorry containing fencing which was meant to be put around the square, she said.

The High Court in London granted eviction orders last month sought by Mayor of London Boris Johnson, but their enforcement was delayed pending the outcome of the appeal.

In the appeal ruling last Friday, Judge David Neuberger said that although the land was owned by Queen Elizabeth II, the mayor of London had been given power to act over the square.

A spokeswoman for the mayor said the protest had caused "considerable damage to the site and had prevented its use by others, including lawful protesters".

"The square will now be closed temporarily, during which time the site will be restored for the use of Londoners, visitors to the capital and responsible protesters," she said.

- AFP

Myanmar gets 'earful' from Asean on elections

Posted: 19 Jul 2010 02:04 PM PDT

HANOI: Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win "got an earful" from his Southeast Asian colleagues on the need for elections in his country to be fair and credible, the Asean bloc's chief said today.

"Myanmar, I think, got an earful last night," Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan told reporters, referring to a working dinner yesterday by the group's foreign ministers.

"Asean is very much concerned and Asean is very much interested in the peaceful national reconciliation in Myanmar."

Surin said Nyan Win was told the elections could have "positive or negative implications" for Asean, a 10-nation group of 600 million people trying to project itself as a major trade and investment partner.

Myanmar's top diplomat "listened very, very attentively" during the discussions, Surin added.

Nyan Win briefed his fellow ministers on the progress of the elections planned for this year, but gave no date for the vote.

Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi has been disqualified from taking part in the elections.

The country's military regime disbanded her National League for Democracy but gave permission to some of its former members to run under a new name.

Myanmar also assured Asean it was not seeking to build nuclear weapons, as reported in the media, Surin said.

As well as Myanmar, Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

- AFP

 

Afghans train for security roles

Posted: 19 Jul 2010 11:02 PM PDT

The training of Afghan soldiers and police by international forces is one of the keys to a successful transfer of power in the country.


Thailand lifts emergency rule in three provinces

Posted: 19 Jul 2010 11:03 PM PDT

BANGKOK, Tuesday 20 July 2010 (AFP) - Thailand said Tuesday that it was lifting a state of emergency in three northern provinces but not in Bangkok, two months after the end of mass anti-government protests in the capital.

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ADB calls for end to stimulus measures as economies rebound

Posted: 19 Jul 2010 11:02 PM PDT

SINGAPORE, Tuesday 20 July 2010 (AFP) - The Asian Development Bank (ADB) Tuesday upgraded its 2010 growth forecast for 14 East Asian economies and urged governments to unwind stimulus measures launched during the global recession.

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