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BANGKOK: Thailand’s premier on Thursday
warned of escalating bloodshed in the Muslim south following the
brutal deaths of 12 people there, but vowed to push ahead with his
peace-building policy. Surayud Chulanont conceded that the deaths
Wednesday of three Muslims in a bomb attack and nine Buddhists, shot
execution-style after an ambush on their bus, marked a deterioration
of the situation in the south. Surayud he said he believed a
nonviolent approach was to only way to solve the shadowy separatist
insurgency, which has killed 2,000 people in the three provinces
bordering Malaysia since January 2004.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia and
Thailand are conducting coordinated patrols along their border,
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak said Thursday as the neighbors
intensify efforts to end worsening violence in southern Thailand.
Thailand’s army-installed Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont and
Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Ahmad Badawi agreed last month to
boost cooperation in a bid to end three years of separatist unrest
in the south of the majority Buddhist kingdom.
SEOUL: South Korea is
sending aid to North Korea to help fight a highly contagious
foot-and-mouth disease following a request from the communist
nation. Unification Minister Lee Jae Joung said South Korea agreed
to send related medicines and equipment in response to Wednesday’s
request by the North. The reclusive nation confirmed the animal
disease has been spreading since it broke out on a farm in Pyongyang
in January, he said, adding North Korean authorities had destroyed
466 infected cattle and 2,630 pigs.
RAIPUR, India: Fifty
policemen were killed in a Maoist rebel attack on a jungle security
post in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. Maoist rebels, who
launch frequent attacks in their fight for the rights of neglected
tribes and landless farmers, have gained control of 10 of the
state’s 16 impoverished districts. Officials have said India’s
Maoist insurgency, which dates back over four decades, now threatens
huge swathes of India’s center, east and south. Last year, Prime
Minister Manmohan Singh described the Maoists as the single biggest
threat to the nation’s internal security.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Pro-Taliban
extremists in a Pakistani tribal area stoned and then shot dead two
men and a woman for alleged adultery. Some 800 tribesmen watched the
executions by the Lashkar-i-Islam (Army of Islam) group on Wednesday
in the Bara region of the Khyber tribal district on the border with
Afghanistan. The killings are likely to fuel concern about the
“Talibanization” of parts of Pakistan and the introduction of
Islamic Sharia law, particularly in the tribal areas and in North
West Frontier Province bordering Afghanistan.
WASHINGTON: After months
of false starts and empty threats, the United States finally looks
poised to take firm action against Sudan to halt the atrocities in
Darfur. Experts and human-rights activists who have long been
critical of US inactivity on Darfur said improved US-China
cooperation in dealing with global crises coupled with growing
impatience over Sudan’s defiance may have created the diplomatic
critical mass needed for the crackdown on Khartoum. The State
Department signaled its readiness to act by announcing that it would
seek a new UN Security Council resolution aimed at forcing the
Sudanese government to honor past promises to allow a UN-led
peacekeeping force into Darfur.
NEW YORK CITY: Major
powers say they hope to present the Security Council with a package
of new UN sanctions against Iran today amid expectations that a vote
would take place next week. Ambassadors of Security Council’s
permanent members, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United
States, along with Germany have been trying for the past 10 days to
nail down agreement on a draft that would tighten the sanctions
slapped on Iran in December over its disputed nuclear program.
TEHRAN: President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that the UN Security Council has “no
legitimacy” as the world body neared agreement on a new package of
sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program. “Today the enemies of the
Iranian people are seeking to use the Security Council to prevent
the progress and development of Iran,” Ahmadinejad said in his
latest speech.
JERUSALEM: Israel will be
willing to work with the new Palestinian unity government if a
soldier captured by Gaza militants is released and rocket fire
stops, an unnamed senior official told Agence France-Presse. The
official was referring to a soldier captured by Gaza-based militants
in late June in a joint operation that included the armed wing of
Hamas.
MELBOURNE: An Australian
gambler is suing a casino for tens of millions of dollars for
allegedly luring him back to the gaming tables after he had banned
himself from the premises. Self-confessed gambling addict and
property developer Harry Kakavas is claiming US$23 million he says
he lost playing baccarat at Melbourne’s Crown Casino in a 14-month
spree—plus damages. Kakavas said the casino contacted him in late
2004 after learning he had been gambling in Las Vegas and tempted
him back to the tables. Before long he was being flown around in the
casino’s VIP jet and was betting up to $300,000 a hand in private
gaming suites, he said in a statement to the court. “They knew my
gaming history,” Kakavas said. “I excluded myself because I knew
I had a problem. They should not have contacted me.”
--AFP
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