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BANGKOK: Suspected insurgents on Wednesday detonated
a bomb near a Chinese shrine, in Thailand’s violence-torn far
southern province Pattani, wounding five soldiers and two local
civilians. The bombing happened just 10 meters from a local Chinese
shrine on the eve of the Chinese Lunar New Year, which falls on
Thursday, February 7, when a unit from a Marine task force was
patrolling the area to ensure security during the Chinese New Year
festival as many shoppers were expected to crowd the market to buy
items for the celebrations, according to Thai News Agency. The bomb,
hidden in a motorcycle, damaged a pick-up truck of the Marine unit,
and another three pick-up trucks parked nearby.
--
Xinhua
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia on
Wednesday cracked down on smuggling of subsidized food and fuel
across its borders, imposing three-year jail terms in an effort to
avert critical shortages. Malaysia’s long coastlines and porous
borders have enabled smugglers to take large quantities of sugar,
cooking oil and fuel into Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines
where they are more expensive. “The government spends millions of
dollars to subsidize many of these items . . . If we allow the goods
to be taken out, it is an outflow of national wealth,” said
domestic trade and consumer affairs minister Shafie Apdal.
--AFP
BEIJING: Electricity has come
back to most of the Chinese regions hit by the worst winter storms
in five decades, but people in eight counties are likely to spend
their Lunar New Year’s Eve in darkness, the government said
Tuesday. China has so far managed to resume full or partial power
service in 148 of the 170 counties and cities blacked out by the
snowstorms.
--Xinhua
SHIJIAZHUANG: Tests on
Chinese-made dumplings suspected of causing food poisoning outbreak
in Japan passed a local inspection, the quarantine chief said on
Saturday. The dumplings were suspected to contain methamidophos, a
highly active, systemic, residual organophosphate insecticide/acaricide/avicide
with contact and stomach action. Since 2004, China had banned the
use of the pesticide substance on all fruit and vegetable crops.
“Tests showed that material providers Tianyang Food Co. had never
used this substance,” Cheng Fang, Hebei Provincial Entry-Exit
Inspection and Quarantine Bureau director, said at a press
conference held in Shijiazhuang, the provincial capital.
--Xinhua
IWAKUNI, Japan: With a mayor
inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, this desolate western town has become a
symbol of a Japan that can say no to the central government and its
US allies. Katsusuke Ihara, 57, is running in Sunday’s election
against a candidate parachuted in from Tokyo, which wants the city
to accept plans to become one of the biggest US air force hubs in
Northeast Asia.
--AFP
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