checkmate

Baby, teachers among dead in Thai attacks

BANGKOK: Six people, including a one-year-old girl and two teachers, were gunned down in separate attacks on a teashop and school in Thailand’s insurgency-plagued south on Tuesday, police said.



Gunmen sprayed bullets at villagers as they were having breakfast at the teashop in Narathiwat, one of three southern provinces to have suffered nearly nine years of unrest, killing the child, a 25-year-old woman and two men aged 37 and 70.

Four others were injured in the shooting, including a 10-month-old boy.

Police said the group of at least six gunmen stole a school vehicle to make their getaway.

Hundreds of schools in Pattani and Narathiwat have staged brief closures in recent weeks to protest at the risks facing educators, more than 150 of whom have died in the insurgency.



World

Japan PM shores up SE Asia ties over rising China

Published : Thursday January 17, 2013   |  Category : World   |  Hits:147
By : AFP

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Wednesday left for Southeast Asia on his first overseas trip since winning power, seeking to shore up relationships as a counterweight to an increasingly confident China. Read more

Beijing needs drastic change to tackle smog

Published : Thursday January 17, 2013   |  Category : World   |  Hits:86
By : AFP

BEIJING: China has cleaned up its air before, but experts say that if it wants to avoid the kind of smog that choked the country this week it must overhaul an economy fuelled by heavily polluting coal and car use. Read more

Hagel wins key backing for Pentagon chief job

Published : Thursday January 17, 2013   |  Category : World   |  Hits:80
By : AFP

WASHINGTON, D.C.: US defense secretary-designate Chuck Hagel cleared a key bar to his Senate confirmation on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila), winning the backing of a powerful Democrat who had been concerned about his stances on Iran and Israel. Read more

Campus blasts kill 87 in Syria’s Aleppo

Published : Thursday January 17, 2013   |  Category : World   |  Hits:89
By : AFP

Campus blasts kill 87 in Syria’s Aleppo

Syrians gather at the scene of an explosion outside Aleppo University, between the university dormitories and the architecture faculty. AFP PHOTO DAMASCUS: Twin blasts ripped through university buildings in Syria’s second city Al... Read more

Democracy in decline worldwide, says study

Published : Thursday January 17, 2013   |  Category : World   |  Hits:81
By : AFP

WASHINGTON, D.C.: Democracy around the world was in decline in 2012 for the seventh year in a row as the Arab Spring led nervous autocratic leaders to clamp down on any stirrings of dissent, a US study said on Wednesday. Read more

Hosting Powered and Design By: I-MAP WEBSOLUTIONS, INC