Thai opposition protesters launch Bangkok “shutdown”

Thai opposition protesters launch Bangkok “shutdown”

Thai opposition protesters launch Bangkok “shutdown”

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 07:25 PM PST

BANGKOK: Thai opposition protesters launched their attempted "shutdown" of Bangkok on Monday, occupying key intersections in the capital in an escalation of their campaign to unseat Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The demonstrators want the embattled premier to step down to make way for an appointed government that would oversee electoral reforms to curb the political dominance of her billionaire family and tackle a wider culture of money politics.

Thousands of flag-waving protesters, some wearing T-shirts with the slogan "Bangkok Shutdown", massed at strategic points in the city, including outside a major shopping mall that was set on fire during deadly political unrest in 2010.

"We will fight regardless of whether we win or lose. We will not compromise or accept negotiation," protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban told crowds at a rally late Sunday.

The firebrand opposition politician — who faces a murder charge in connection with a deadly military crackdown on political protests when he was deputy premier in 2010 — was set to lead a march through the city centre later on Monday.

But it was still unclear how much support he would enjoy among city residents, some of whom voiced fears that the action would hurt their livelihoods.

"Of course it affects me — I'm very stressed," said hair salon owner Tong, 69. "No customers are coming now as my regular customers cannot drive here."

Authorities say they are ready to declare a state of emergency if there is fresh unrest, and roughly 20,000 police and soldiers will be deployed for security.

But they have not tried to stop the demonstrators taking over parts of the city in the run-up to the February 2 elections, which they have set out to disrupt.

The protesters have vowed to stop officials going to work and cut off power to key state offices as part of the shutdown efforts, which authorities have warned could lead to further bloodshed.

Several shots were fired at the headquarters of the opposition Democrat Party in a drive-by shooting in the early hours Monday but nobody was hurt.

A 30-year-old member of the protesters' own security team was also shot dead late Sunday after a quarrel with another unidentified man near a rally site.

Eight other people, including a policeman, have been killed and dozens injured in street violence since the protests began over two months ago.

The civil strife is the worst since 2010, when more than 90 people were killed in street clashes between pro-Thaksin protesters and the military.

"It's going to be very volatile," said Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a former Thai diplomat and associate professor at the Centre for Southeast Asian Studies at Japan's Kyoto University.

He said there was a risk of "political violence", with protesters under pressure to achieve their objective of removing the government before the election, which would likely return Yingluck and her party to power.

"In a way there is no turning back for the protesters, they have come too far," he added.

The current political crisis is the latest chapter in a saga of political instability and periodic unrest that has gripped Thailand since Yingluck's older brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted by royalist generals seven years ago.

The billionaire tycoon-turned-politician, who lives abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption, has large electoral support particularly in northern Thailand, where he is adored for a swathe of popular policies.

But he is reviled among the country's elites and by many in the Bangkok middle class and Thai south, who see him as authoritarian and accuse him of buying votes.

The protesters want an appointed "people's council" to run the country and oversee vaguely defined electoral reforms, such as an end to alleged vote buying, before new elections are held in around a year to 18 months.

The impasse has revived fears of a judicial or military ousting of the government, in a country which has seen 18 actual or attempted coups since 1932.

Police said there were 12 hospitals, 28 hotels, 24 schools and five fire stations within the areas affected by the planned shutdown.

They estimate that 700,000 vehicles travel past the seven planned protest sites on a normal day in the congested Thai capital.

Most people appeared to have opted to leave their cars at home and traffic was light in the city centre. The Bangkok metro and skytrain were running and many people were seen going to work as usual.

The shutdown has sparked panic buying among some residents and the US embassy has advised stockpiling a two weeks' supply of food, water and medicine.- AFP

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Mexican vigilantes seize drug cartel bastion

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 06:34 PM PST

NUEVA ITALIA: Armed vigilantes seized a drug cartel bastion in western Mexico on Sunday, sparking a shootout between the two groups, an official said.

There were no immediate reports of casualties following the gunfight in Nueva Italia between the self-defence forces and the Knights Templar gang in Michoacan state, the senior state government official said on condition of anonymity.

On its Facebook page, the Tepalcatepec vigilante force said around 100 pick-up trucks entered Nueva Italia and that a "light confrontation took place at the entrance, everything is fine."

The growing civilian militia movement, which first emerged in Michoacan nearly a year ago, has seized more communities in recent weeks in their bid to oust the Templars from the state.

The militias have now surrounded Apatzingan, a city of 123,000 people considered the key stronghold of the Knights Templar in Michoacan's lime and avocado growing region known as Tierra Caliente, or Hot Country.

Interior Minister Miguel Osorio Chong has said the self-defence units are illegal. Yet some critics charge the government is protecting them.

Military troops stood by and watched but did not act as the vigilantes moved into Nueva Italia, the Reforma newspaper reported.

Vigilante leaders have stated that Apatzingan was a key target because it is a Templar bastion and a vital economic hub for their limes, avocados and mangos.

But the Tierra Caliente area is also a key growing area for marijuana and synthetic drugs that are shipped northward to the lucrative market in the United States.

A fire was sparked in the city's municipal office on Friday in an apparent arson attack.

Opponents of the vigilantes have burned trucks and buses in the past week to protest the militias' incursions in the region.

The Templars have accused the vigilantes of being a proxy force for the rival Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, a charge the militias deny.

Michoacan, where more than half the population is living in poverty, has emerged as one of President Enrique Pena Nieto's biggest security nightmares. He inherited a war on organised crime and drug traffickers that has left 77,000 people dead in the past seven years alone. – AFP

Australian wildfire razes 27 homes, one man dead

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 05:31 PM PST

SYDNEY: A fast-moving wildfire destroyed at least 27 homes in western Australia's Perth, officials said on Monday, with one man dying as he prepared for the approaching inferno.

The blaze, thought to have been started by a fallen power line in the city's wooded outskirts on Sunday, was fanned by hot, strong gusts that saw 20-metre (66-foot) flames tear through residential streets.

"It has been confirmed that 27 homes have been lost at this stage, but this number is expected to increase as damage assessments continue throughout the day," Western Australia state's fire and emergency services department said.

The ambulance service said a man, aged 62, had died after collapsing on the roof of his house as he prepared for the oncoming blaze.

"St John('s Ambulance) responded to the incident but was unable to access the roof," it said.

"Despite assistance from the Department of Fire and Emergency Services in getting onto the roof, the man passed away at the scene."

Hundreds of residents fled their homes for evacuation centres and were anxiously awaiting news on Monday. Some said they had only seconds to escape.

"We obviously knew that the fire was moving pretty quickly," Stoneville resident Aaron Miles told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

"We just went for the important stuff — hard drive, documents. Everything else is technically replaceable if it comes to that."

Officials said the blaze had been contained but not controlled and warned that there was still a risk to life and property if conditions shifted. There were 275 firefighters still battling the flames.

"If you are not at home, do not try to return as conditions in the area could be very dangerous," the fire service said.

"If you are at home, do not try to leave as conditions in the area could be very dangerous and you will not be able to return."

Perth sweltered through a heatwave over the weekend with temperatures reaching 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit).

That heat system is now moving east across the continent, with temperatures in excess of 40 degrees forecast in Adelaide and Melbourne later this week.

Wildfires are a common feature of Australia's December-February summer months, with a devastating firestorm in 2009 killing 173 people and razing thousands of homes in south-eastern Victoria state.

Unseasonably early infernos broke out in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney in October, destroying more than 200 homes and claiming two lives.

It followed an unusually dry and warm winter and record spring temperatures, prompting debate about the role of climate change. – AFP

Widespread destruction in Tonga cyclone

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 05:23 PM PST

NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga: The most powerful cyclone ever to slam into the South Pacific tourist destination of Tonga has destroyed villages, flattened trees and left at least one person dead, officials said yesterday.

Up to 70 per cent of houses and buildings in the central Ha'apai islands group, which is home to about 8,000 people and bore the brunt of Cyclone Ian, were damaged or destroyed.

The Tongan government declared a state of emergency in the Ha'apai region after it was pounded by winds in excess of 105 knots which whipped up mountainous seas around coastal villages.

Although initial reports when the cyclone hit on Saturday said there had only been minor damage, the full extent of the destruction began to emerge when communications were partially restored a day later.

"Seventy per cent of houses (on Ha'apai) are damaged or blown away, and the rest of the 30 per cent are affected by water," Tongan military commander Satisi Vunipola told reporters.

Residents on Ha'apai's main island of Lifuka were reported to have huddled in churches for shelter as houses were destroyed in the furious cyclone.

Ian Wilson, a New Zealand emergency management official, said Lifuka was in the direct path of the cyclone.

"Whatever was on the island has been damaged, whether it's buildings, crops, roading or infrastructure, it's all been damaged," said Wilson, warning that it remained difficult to get a detailed picture of the destruction.

"There is no communication. We did have a satellite phone but that also died. It is serious. The eye of the storm went right across the top of the island."

Ian was downgraded to a category four cyclone on Saturday morning, but increased in intensity later in the day to be restored to the most severe rating of category five as it hit Ha'apai, knocking out contact with outlying islands.

Ian is the first category five cyclone to belt into Tonga and Ha'apai governor Tu'i Ha'angana said he could see from one side of the island to the other – "that's how devastated it is".

The head of the Tonga Red Cross, Sione Taumoefolau, said he had been informed of one death in Ha'apai but did not have further details as communication remained sketchy.

He said staff in the region told him by satellite phone that Lifuka was devastated.

The Red Cross established a policy last year of maintaining containers of relief supplies on most islands, and Taumoefolau said they were able to provide immediate assistance.

Tupou Ahomee Faupula, from Tonga's cell phone provider Digicel, said his field officer in Ha'apai reported widespread devastation.

"He told us that this was the worst ever damage from a cyclone. Most houses are flattened, roofs are off, trees and power lines are down."

The Tonga navy has sent two patrol boats to Ha'apai, and the Matangi Tonga news website reported the government was considering a request for overseas aid.

New Zealand offered immediate assistance of NZ$50,000 (US$41,500) and an Air Force Orion was sent yesterday to begin an immediate aerial surveillance of the devastated areas.

The flight was not expected to return to the capital Nuku'alofa until late at night.

"Our thoughts are with the people of Tonga as they begin to come to terms with the damage caused by this cyclone," said Foreign Minister Murray McCully.

"Further support will be considered as the full extent of the damage becomes clear and the government of Tonga determines its priority response areas."

The Fua'amotu Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre downgraded Ian again to category four Sunday, with wind gusts of up to 140 knots.

The storm was expected to continue weakening as it moved south over open waters, away from the island nation, according to meteorologists. — AFP

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US biological weapons tested in Okinawa in 60s

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 05:22 PM PST

TOKYO: The US army conducted field experiments of biological weapons, which could harm rice cropping, in the Japanese island of Okinawa in the early 1960s, a press report said yesterday.

The same experiments were also conducted on the US mainland and in Taiwan, Kyodo news agency reported, citing US military documents it said it had obtained.

The US is "believed to have had China and Southeast Asia in mind in developing such crop-harming agents", the report

stated.

In the tests conducted at least a dozen times between 1961 and 1962, rice blast fungus was released over rice fields and data was collected on how it affected rice production, Kyodo said, citing the documents. Rice blast disease causes lesions to form on the plant, threatening the crop.

The fungus, which is known to occur in 85 countries, is estimated to destroy enough rice to feed 60 million people each year.

The US government decided in 1969 to discard all biological weapons in its possession, Kyodo said.

In 1975, an international convention against production and possession of biological weapons came into force. Okinawa was under post-World War II US rule until 1972.

The US government has previously disclosed information about chemical and biological warfare tests at sea and on land in such places as Puerto Rico, Hawaii and Utah.

The obtained documents mention test sites including Nago and Shuri, both in Okinawa, but it is not known whether the experiments were conducted within the premises of US bases there, Kyodo said.

In the field tests, the army "used a midget duster to release inoculum alongside fields in Okinawa and Taiwan," measuring dosages at different distances and the effect on crop production, the documents said. — AFP

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Philippines on guard against child trafficking post typhoon

Posted: 12 Jan 2014 05:22 PM PST

MANILA: The Philippines is acting to curb the trafficking of children displaced by Super Typhoon Haiyan, a presidential spokesman said yesterday, a day after a UK-based children's charity raised concerns.

Plan International asked the Philippines to investigate the suspected recruitment of child workers for sex trafficking on the central island of Samar, which sustained heavy damage and casualties in the Nov 8 typhoon.

Haiyan left nearly 8,000 people dead or missing in one of the worst natural disasters to hit the Philippines, flattening entire towns and displacing more than four million people.

A special anti-trafficking commission is already in place to prevent children displaced by the typhoon from being exploited by traffickers, said Herminio Coloma, a spokesman for President Benigno Aquino.

"That is why the concerned agencies are doing everything in their power to prevent these crimes," he told reporters in the capital Manila.

Aid groups have warned that many of those displaced face extreme hardship in their ruined communities and are vulnerable to human traffickers.

"We have been giving attention to this issue because we do not want children and women to be victimised by these criminals, especially those who came from the calamity area," said Coloma. — AFP

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