Thai capital tense after clashes, 16 dead

BANGKOK: Thailand”s capital was tense on Saturday after a night of fighting that killed 16 people and wounded 141 as troops struggle to isolate a sprawling encampment of protesters seeking to topple the government.

Thundering grenade explosions and sporadic gunfire echoed across central Bangkok until nearly dawn as the army battled to set up a perimeter around a 3.5 sq-km (1.2 sq-mile) protest site defiant red-shirted demonstrators refuse to leave.

The U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon expressed concern over “the rapidly mounting tensions and violence.”

“He strongly encourages them to urgently return to dialogue in order to de-escalate the situation and resolve matters peacefully,” his spokesman said in a written statement.

The Canadian government urged a return to talks following the violence after a Bangkok-based Canadian journalist was shot three times, one of three journalists wounded in fighting on Friday that spiraled into chaotic urban warfare.

The government said on Friday it would restore order “in the next few days” as the city of 15 million people braced for a crackdown to end a six-week protest by thousands of “red shirts” packed into an area of high-end department stores, luxury hotels, embassies and expensive residential apartments.

The crisis has paralyzed parts of Bangkok, squeezed Southeast Asia”s second-biggest economy and scared off tourists.

Troops fired tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds at defiant protesters who fought back with petrol bombs, stones and home-made rockets. They set vehicles on fire and rolled burning tires into checkpoints of troops.

The army said the protesters were firing handguns and M-79 grenades. Army spokesmen Sansern Kaewkamnerd said there were an estimated 500 armed “terrorists” among the thousands of protesters in the city.

A source close to army chief Anupong Paochinda said more troop reinforcements would be deployed, fearing more protesters would arrive to surround and attack soldiers.

“It”s unlikely to end quickly. There will be several skirmishes in the coming days but we are still confident we will get the numbers down and seal the area,” the source said.

The protesters are showing no sign of leaving. The number of casualties is expected to keep rising, deepening a crisis that began with festive rallies on March 12 and descended into Thailand”s deadliest political violence in 18 years.

Before fighting began on Thursday with the shooting of a renegade general allied with the protesters, the two-month crisis had already killed 29 people and wounded about 1,400 — most of whom died during an April 10 gun battle in Bangkok”s old quarter.

The protesters are barricaded behind walls of kerosene-soaked tires, sharpened bamboo staves, concrete blocks and razor wire.

The fighting is the latest flare-up in a polarizing five-year crisis between a royalist urban elite establishment, who back Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, and the rural and urban poor who accuse conservative elites and the military”s top brass of colluding to bring down two elected governments.

Those governments were led or backed by exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, a graft-convicted populist billionaire ousted in a 2006 coup who is a figurehead of the protest movement.

The red shirts and their supporters say the politically powerful military influenced a 2008 parliamentary vote, which took place after a pro-Thaksin party was dissolved, to ensure the British-born, Oxford-educated Abhisit rose to power.

They have repeated their demand for Abhisit to call an immediate election and say he should take responsibility for violence that is also rattling investors.

Five-year Thai credit default swaps, used to hedge against debt default, widened by more than 30 basis points on Friday — the biggest jump in 15 months — to 142 basis points.

“With gun battles and grenades going off, investors will look elsewhere,” said Danny Richards, an analyst at the Economist Intelligence Unit.

“I don”t think many see the end of this protest as the end of the crisis. When there”s an election, either side will reject the legitimacy of the other and we”ll be back to square one.”

Hague hails strong bond with US

WASHINGTON: Foreign Secretary William Hague has hailed the “unbreakable alliance” between Britain and the USA following talks with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington.

On his first trip abroad since being appointed to head the Foreign Office on Tuesday, Mr Hague said the US was “without doubt the most important ally of the UK” and welcomed President Barack Obama”s description of the “extraordinary special relationship” between the two countries.

In a joint press conference following talks dominated by Afghanistan, Iran and the economic crisis in the eurozone, Mrs Clinton said she was “very intrigued” by the outcome of last week”s election in the UK.

She said the Obama administration was looking forward to “working with the new British Government”. “We will continue to build on the deep and abiding trust that exists between the British and American people for a very long time,” said Mrs Clinton.

Mrs Clinton said that the General Election and the smooth transfer of power to the new coalition Government in the UK were “two powerful symbols of the enduring democratic traditions that our two nations share”.

She added: “We are very intrigued by, and will follow closely, the latest incarnation of this long democratic tradition. We are reminded again that our common values are the foundation of a historic alliance that really undergirds our commons aspirations and common concerns.”

Mrs Clinton said the UK and US are “firmly committed” to the Nato mission and support the efforts of Afghan President Hamid Karzai – due to visit the UK on Saturday for talks with Prime Minister David Cameron – to fight corruption and build a stable and strong government.

Mr Hague said that he and Mr Cameron were struck, after taking office, by the “sheer warmth of the welcome we have had from the United States”. President Obama, Mrs Clinton and Vice-President Joe Biden were the first foreign dignitaries to call to congratulate their opposite numbers in the UK after the coalition Government was formed.

“We reciprocate that warmth and are looking forward to exactly the relationship which the Secretary of State has been describing,” said Mr Hague. “This new British Government has some real ambition, the energy and determination to rebuild our economic strength at home – which is of course the foundation of any successful foreign policy – but also to deliver a distinctive British foreign policy abroad.”

Mr Hague said he had “huge admiration” for Mrs Clinton. “The leadership she has provided to the international community as Secretary of State, the energy and ideas, her advocacy of women”s rights, education, development and effective diplomacy are an inspiring example to other foreign ministers and would-be foreign ministers around the world.”

Small earthquake shakes Southern California

PORT HUENEME: A small earthquake in Southern California has rocked an area of Ventura County near Port Hueneme, about 66 miles (106 kilometers) west of Los Angeles.

A preliminary report from the U.S. Geological Survey says the3.9-magnitude quake hit at 8:19 p.m. (0319 GMT) Friday nine miles east-southeast of Port Hueneme. There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

Erik Gates Mythbusters Picture

Erik Gates Mythbusters Picture :- Erik Gates who was known on the hit t.v. show called Mythbusters died. He was walking on the roof of the Xirrus Inc. Building at 2101 Corporate Center Drive in Newburry Park with his friend when the accident happened. Both of them were working on it, Erik suddenly fall off the building and dropped 30 feet to his death. He died of blunt force injuries to the chest.

The fall occurred around 3:30 p.m. Sunday. Afterward, Gates was alive and talking at the scene, Ventura County Sheriff’s Capt.. Ross Bonfiglio said. Gates was taken to Los Robles Hospital & Medical Center, where he died from his injuries.

He was the former director of the Rocketry Organization of California. Currently he was serving as director on the board of the Tripoli Rocketry Association. Xirrus’ CFO commented on the tragedy:
He owned Gateco Electric and he appeared on four episodes of “MythBusters” as the shows Amateur Rocket Expert.
“He was a good guy, he survived cancer, he jumps with parachutes, he base jumps. He’s an active guy who was used to taking precautions. This was a freak accident that should not have happened.

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Erik Gates Mythbusters Picture was first posted on December 31, 2009 at 10:36 pm.