Bangkok explosions leave two dead
By Kelvin Goh,WNS Thailand Bureau Chief
BANGKOK - A series of bomb or grenade explosions in the Thai capital has killed two people and injured about 30 others, including at least eight foreigners. A first spate of six attacks occurred at sites across Bangkok as streets were filling up late afternoon local time ahead of New Year's Eve celebrations. Just before midnight, at least two further blasts rocked the city centre. The Thai authorities had cancelled all public celebrations for New Year's Eve after the first devices went off.
The latest explosions occurred near the Central World Plaza, a shopping mall close to where the biggest New Year's event was to have been held. The area had already been cleared. However the blasts caught several foreign tourists. Two British men, three Hungarians, two Serbs and an American are receiving hospital treatment but none were thought to be in a serious condition, officials quoted by Reuters news agency said. Of the earlier attacks, the largest was at about 1730 (1030 GMT) near a bus station next to one of Bangkok's busiest intersections, Victory Monument.
Police said this caused the biggest number of casualties, injuring at least 13 people and killing one. Reports suggest the device was planted beneath a seat at a bus stop or in a rubbish bin. One witness who was standing nearby, 17-year-old Chalermsak Sanbee told Reuters news agency: "There was a big bang and people started screaming and running. I saw people with blood all over their legs and faces."
Asia respects Saddam's execution, but worries over violence
By Tony White,
WNS Asia Bureau Chief
BEIJING - Key Asian nations said they respected Saddam Hussein's execution Saturday as a legal move by Iraq's new government, but worried that his hanging would not end the bloodshed in the country. Even countries that oppose the death penalty, like US ally Australia, called the execution a "significant moment" for the war-torn country. "No matter what one might think about the death penalty, and the government of Iraq is aware of the Australian government's position on capital punishment, we must also respect the right of sovereign states to pass judgement relating to crimes committed against their people, within their jurisdictions," Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said in a statement. "He has been brought to justice, following a process of fair trial and appeal, something he denied to countless thousands of victims of his regime." "While many will continue to grieve over their personal loss under his rule, his death marks an important step in consigning his tyrannical regime to the judgement of history and pursuing a process of reconciliation now and in the future," Downer said. Japan, the other major US ally in the region, said Saddam's execution had been carried out within the rule of law. "This is a decision made by Iraq's new government on the rule of law," a foreign ministry official said. "We respect it." Both Australia and Japan contributed forces to the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, which led to the ouster of Saddam, and Australia still has about 1,300 troops involved in operations in the area. Japan ended its historic deployment to Iraq in July - although its air force still provides flights into the country to assist the United Nations and the US-led coalition.
But Muslim-majority Malaysia, which currently heads the Organisation of the Islamic Conference, warned the hanging could trigger more violence in Iraq. "I think there will be repercussions. The only thing is we hope they will be able to contain this. Because the conflict is not going to end. This is not the answer," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar told AFP. Syed Hamid said there were divisions within the OIC, the world's largest Muslim grouping, on what Saddam's fate should have been. "There are divided views on it, but on the question of the need for reconciliation to bring the people back together, end violence and bring stability, there is a common feeling," he said. Thailand said it believed the execution had been carried out in accordance with Iraqi law, but Cambodia said the execution should not have taken place. Cambodia is still struggling to begin its own long-delayed trials for atrocities committed in the 1970s by the genocidal Khmer Rouge. "Democracy has grown very much in Iraq, but in the end the death penalty still exists," information minister Khieu Kanharith told AFP. "We do not support it because we have already abolished capital punishment. So we do not support the death penalty, but we support the process of finding justice for the people," he added.
India's former foreign minister Natwar Singh also said Saddam should not have been executed. "I think his life should have been spared and he should have been given life imprisonment. My own reaction is that it will arouse very strong passions in large parts of the world," he said. "I think that the prime minister and the foreign minister of India should categorically condemn this." In Singapore, a Foreign Affairs Ministry spokesman said the execution was carried out in accordance with Iraqi law and judicial process. He added that Singapore hopes that the Iraqi people will now move on to deal with the many urgent problems facing Iraq.
Internet users in Asia slowly coming back online
By Tony White,WNS Asia Bureau Chief
BEIJING - Millions of frustrated Internet users across Asia slowly regained access to overseas websites on Friday, three days after an earthquake off the coast of Taiwan snapped several vital undersea cables. Telecoms operators across the region re-routed Internet links to circumvent the ruptured lines off the southern part of the island, as engineers donned diving suits to assess the damage and begin repairs. "Everything is improving now," said a spokesman for PCCW, Hong Kong's largest fixed-line operator. "All international call and roaming services have gone back to normal, including to Taiwan, although some websites are still congested," he said.
Hong Kong's telecommunications authority said five maintenance ships had been dispatched to repair six fibre-optic cables, which handle about 90 percent of telecommunications capacity in the area. "Overall there has been some improvement in access to the Internet today. However, most users will continue to experience slow access," it said in a statement. It added some ships arrived at the scene Thursday, but the weather had obstructed survey and assessment work. "Initial surveys indicated that damage to the submarine cables was substantial," it said. The authority said it may take longer to repair the cables than the original estimate of five to seven days. Taiwan's largest phone company, Chunghwa Telecom, has commissioned three more ships to assist the repair effort.
The cables ruptured following Tuesday's 7.1-magnitude earthquake, which killed two people on the island. An official from Chunghwa said voice traffic to the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia remained relatively weak, but was improving. Internet users frustrated by their inability to log onto e-mail accounts, news websites and online banking services -- conveniences that have become part of modern life -- found access across the region Friday improved, but still patchy.
Weather hampers efforts to reach Indonesian flood victims
By Yusof Kalif,WNS Indonesia Correspondent
PAYABEDI - Indonesian rescue teams are trying to reach people still stranded by floods but bad weather was hampering efforts to deliver much-needed food in some areas, officials said. Torrential rains last week triggered flash floods and landslides that have killed around 105 people and forced more than 400,000 to flee their homes on the island of Sumatra, with Aceh and North Sumatra provinces the worst hit. Some 200 people are still missing. Tonnes of food, water, tents and medical supplies have been trucked and flown into the main cities and towns in affected areas. But transporting supplies to stranded villagers who are running short of food is proving difficult.
"We are still concentrating on logistics distribution to difficult access areas, such as Gayo Lues and Bener Meriah," Aceh provincial governor Mustafa Abubakar told AFP from Banda Aceh. "In particular, Pinding village where landslides cut off the main access to the village. We managed twice to reach the place by air, but bad weather is still hampering further deliveries," he said. "People from neighbouring areas tried to bring supplies with horses, since cars still cannot reach the area." Whole villages were swallowed by flood waters at the weekend, with residents escaping to find refuge on higher ground or trapped on the roofs of their houses. More than 400,000 people fled the floods, with some 365,335 people displaced in Aceh alone, according to official figures. The hundreds of thousands of evacuees from Aceh and North Sumatra are being accommodated in government buildings, schools and tents in 22 locations.
Disaster relief officials said they were preparing for outbreaks of disease in the emergency camps. "There are health services in all the refugee camps. We are anticipating cases of diarrhoea, upper respiratory infections and related diseases," Suwarno Amin, relief effort coordinator, told AFP. In the worst-hit area of Aceh Tamiang, water supplies were not sufficient to meet demand, said local Red Cross coordinator Abdul Hayat. "What people need here is clean water for drinking and washing. Every day water tanks come here and people take away water in jerry cans, but it is not enough for everybody," he told AFP. Hayat said he had seen cases of disease and illness but nothing major. "Most people who come to the health service suffer skin diseases, coughs and other minor complaints. I haven't found any diarrhoea cases here," he said.
Taiwan quake cuts off much of Asia Internet
By Huang Zhi Xuan,WNS Northeast Asia Bureau Chief
BEIJING - Internet and phone services were disrupted across much of Asia on Wednesday after an earthquake damaged undersea cables, leaving one of the world's most tech-savvy regions in a virtual blackout. From frustrated traders seeking in vain for stock quotes to anxious newshounds accustomed to round-the-clock updates on world events, millions of people from China to Japan to Australia were affected. The disruption was widespread, hitting China, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Hong Kong and elsewhere, with knock-on effects as far away as Australia for companies whose Internet is routed through affected areas. There was no chaos on the stock exchanges or any of the other doomsday scenarios, but reports that services could be down for weeks were dramatic enough.
A 7.1-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Taiwan on Tuesday night, which was followed by several smaller quakes in the region, apparently damaged the vast network of underwater cables that enables modern communication. "The Internet capacity in Taiwan is about 40 percent now, so the service is jammed," said a spokesman for Chunghwa Telecom, Taiwan's largest phone company. South Korea's information and communication ministry said all six undersea fibreoptic cables off Taiwan were hit, causing major disruption. All services, except for exclusive business lines, returned to normal shortly afterwards as they were switched to other systems. A spokesman for CAT Telecom, Thailand's communication authority, said Internet services had been disrupted across the country. Phone services in some countries were also disrupted, in particular for calls to the United States. "Several undersea data cables were damaged," said a spokesman for PCCW, Hong Kong's biggest telecoms company. Service providers quickly tried to redirect customers to the cables that had not been affected but the reduced capacity was no match for the normal workload of users, leaving an Internet service that was painfully slow or non-existent.
In China, web users in cities as far apart as Beijing in the north and Chongqing in the southwest reported difficulties accessing overseas websites, state media reported, after several undersea cables belonging to China Telecom were cut. The Tokyo Stock Exchange, the world's largest bourse outside of New York, was functioning without problems, a spokesman said. The Hong Kong stock exchange also said it was also working without problems, but after-hours crude trading in Singapore was affected as traders reported they could not access the New York Mercantile Exchange (Nymex). NTT Communications, the long-distance call business of Japan's largest telecom firm Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp., said 1,400 toll-free phone lines and 84 international lines used internally by companies were affected. The crux of the trouble seemed to be in the underseas routes near Taiwan, which providers would try to bypass in favour of other routes through Europe, said a spokesman for Japanese telecoms firm KDDI Corp, Satoru Ito.
Philippines store fire kills 24
By Maria Twink,
WNS Philippines Correspondent
MANILA - A fire has swept through a one-storey department store in the central Philippines, killing at least 24 people, police have said. The blaze, thought to have been caused by firecrackers, trapped many customers and vendors inside. The store, in Ormoc city, 550km (340 miles) south-east of the Philippine capital Manila, was not licensed to sell firecrackers, reports said. Several people are thought to have been injured, some seriously.
Police inspector Reynaldo Gabon told Reuters news agency the fire in Ormoc, on Leyte island, began late on Christmas Day afternoon and lasted about three hours. Most of the bodies were found close to the store's toilet, from where the victims had tried to escape. Senior superintendent Manuel Cobillo said emergency exits had been locked. Firecrackers are often used in the country to celebrate Christmas and New Year but cause dozens of fires and deaths every year.
Palestinian infighting condemned
By Andrea Doucet,WNS Israel Bureau Chief
BETHLEHEM - The leading Roman Catholic clergyman in the Holy Land has appealed for an end to internal Palestinian fighting. Michel Sabbah, the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, made the appeal in his sermon at midnight Mass in Bethlehem. "To set myself up against my brother is to set myself up against God," he said, urging political leaders in the Middle East to be givers of life, not death. To reach Bethlehem, he had to pass through a gate in the Israeli barrier dividing Jerusalem from the West Bank. Recent weeks have seen violent clashes between armed supporters of the main Palestinian factions, while the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict continues.
"Christmas has come this year in difficult circumstances, made even worse by internal squabbles," said the patriarch at the chapel beside the Church of the Nativity, built on the birthplace of Jesus Christ. "The fratricidal struggle is leading toward more deaths and a new slavery that we are imposing on ourselves." The patriarch called for the revival of the long-stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process. "We call on Israeli and Palestinian officials to take new steps to put an end to the killing and lead our two peoples to a new period," he said.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas attended the Mass. Earlier, he said he hoped his meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, would be a good start for future relations. Bethlehem's tourist industry has been ruined by the continuing conflict between Israel and Palestinians. Michel Sabbah is the first Palestinian to serve as Latin patriarch of Jerusalem.
China urges more talks on Iran's nuclear programme
By Xiao Ping,
WNS China Senior Correspondent
BEIJING - China, a veto-wielding member of the United Nations Security Council, wants more talks on Iran's nuclear programme, state media and the government said on Monday, after the UN voted in favour of sanctions. China reacted after the Security Council passed a resolution Saturday that mandated sanctions targeting Iran's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes over its refusal to halt uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities.
"We hope the UN resolution is carried out in an earnest fashion, but we also think sanctions are not the objective and cannot fundamentally resolve the issue," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said in a statement. "China wants... to see a peaceful solution to the Iranian nuclear issue through talks," he said in the statement, posted on the ministry's website.
The state-controlled China Daily newspaper on Monday also supported further negotiations, arguing a peaceful solution was in the interest of all parties concerned. "It would save the issue (from) becoming a new source of instability from the Middle East," the paper said in an editorial. Following the decision at the UN Security Council, a defiant Iran vowed on Sunday to start work immediately on drastically expanding its capacity to enrich uranium.
Japan emperor urges war teaching
By Yuko Ishida,WNS Japan Bureau Chief
TOKYO - Japan's Emperor Akihito has said the practice of mourning Japan's war dead can help younger generations better understand the past. He said he hoped facts about World War II would be correctly conveyed so the suffering his generation experienced would never be repeated. The emperor's comments came in a speech marking his 73rd birthday. Correspondents say teaching Japan's wartime history and remembering the war dead is still highly controversial.
"Now that the number of those who were born after the war increases as years pass by, the practice of mourning the war dead will help them to understand what kind of world and society those in the previous generations lived in," Emperor Akihito said, in remarks made on Wednesday, but only made public on Saturday. "I sincerely hope that the facts about the war and the war dead will continue to be correctly conveyed to those of the generations that do not have direct knowledge of the war so the kind of ravage of war that we experienced in the past will never be repeated," he added.
However, the emperor avoided touching on how people should honour those who died in World War II. He made no mention of the Yasukuni shrine, which honours 2.5 million war dead, including 14 people convicted as criminals by a 1948 war tribunal. Many of Japan's neighbours believe the shrine glorifies Japan's militaristic past, and that visits by the country's leaders show the country has yet to fully face up to past atrocities. Repeated visits by former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi severely strained relations with China and South Korea in recent years. Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has not said if he plans to visit Yasukuni himself.
US envoy disappointed over six-party North Korea talks
By Wan Ming,
WNS Beijing CorrespondentBEIJING - The chief US envoy to six-party talks aimed at persuading North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons on Saturday described the negotiations as "a little disappointing", after they ended at an impasse. Christopher Hill, speaking to reporters at his Beijing hotel before heading to the airport, paused before responding to a request to describe the week-long talks, the first since Pyongyang boycotted the forum 13 months ago. He eventually replied: "Long, a lot of hard work, a little disappointing - I must be honest with you, because we wanted to make real progress. "So we are going to talk about it next week in Washington, take a little rest and figure out what we do next."
The talks wrapped up on Friday after five days of meetings with no progress made and no date set for another round. The United States and North Korea blamed each other for the deadlock. The negotiations snagged on North Korea's refusal to engage in substantive discussions until Washington lifted financial sanctions imposed last year which have left millions of dollars of North Korean funds frozen in a Macau bank. North Korea's chief negotiator Kim Kye-Gwan blamed a "hostile" US policy toward Pyongyang for the failure of the talks, while Hill said the reclusive state had not given Kim the proper authority to negotiate.
The six nations - China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia - had resumed the intermittent, three-year-old forum this week hoping to make real progress toward the denuclearisation of the Korean peninsula. But following its first-ever atomic test on October 9, an emboldened North Korea unveiled a long list of demands at the opening of the talks, effectively scuppering any chance of real progress. When asked if the talks would soon reconvene, Hill said: "We are going to talk about what we need to do, and what the problems are. "I hope the DPRK (North Korean) delegation goes back to Pyongyang and I hope they will have some conversations with Pyongyang."
Six-party talks end, no agreement
By Tony White,WNS Asia Bureau Chief
BEIJING - The first six-nation arms talks in the wake of North Korea's nuclear test ended Friday without any agreement on getting the communist nation to move toward disarmament, and negotiators weren't even able to schedule a date for more meetings. During five days of meetings in Beijing after the North ended a 13-month boycott, negotiators had said Pyongyang refused to address its nuclear weapons but instead stuck to a demand that U.S. financial restrictions on the regime be lifted. The talks were to end Friday with a statement being issued solely by the Chinese hosts -- not a joint statement signed by all six countries involved, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Jiang Yu said.
A Japanese official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said no new date had been set for further nuclear talks, which also include Russia, South Korea and the United States. Earlier, Japan's top envoy questioned whether the talks would survive as a forum for dealing with North Korea's weapons if they failed again to make any progress. In more than three years of meetings, the North has only committed in principle to disarm but taken no concrete steps to do so -- instead going ahead with its first nuclear test on October 9. "There will be opinions questioning the credibility of the six-party talks," Kenichiro Sasae said, without elaborating. He did not say what alternative formats would be proposed, if any.
The U.S. envoy accused North Korea ahead of Friday's meetings of not addressing the actual issue of its atomic programs. "When the (North) raises problems, one day it's financial issues, another day it's something they want but they know they can't have, another day it's something we said about them that hurt their feelings," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Christopher Hill said. "What they need to do is to get serious about the issue that made them such a problem ... their nuclear activities." The North has insisted the U.S. desist from its campaign to isolate the country from the international financial system to halt North Korea's alleged counterfeiting and money laundering. Negotiators said the North Koreans have refused to even talk about their nuclear bombs until that issue is resolved. American and North Korean experts had separate talks on the financial issue this week in Beijing, but made no breakthroughs and were tentatively set to meet in the United States next month.
North Korean nuclear talks extended, but no progress
By Zhi Hao,WNS Beijing Correspondent
BEIJING - Six-nation talks aimed at convincing North Korea to give up its nuclear arms were extended on Wednesday but delegates reported no major progress and signalled a breakthrough was highly unlikely. The main round of six-party talks was slated to wrap up on Thursday, but the delegates agreed to stay for at least one extra day to try and find some common ground, South Korean envoy Chun Yung-Woo said, revealing a previously undisclosed time frame. However, two days of bilateral talks on the sticking point of financial sanctions between the US and North Korea, on the sidelines of the main talks, ended without a clear resolution, with American officials suggesting a meeting in New York next month.
At the end of talks, the top US envoy said he met informally with his North Korean counterpart, but confirmed no firm agreements had yet been reached. Speaking at the end of discussions late Wednesday, US top negotiator Christopher Hill said: "I had a couple of informal meetings with the DPRK and I also talked with Kim Kye-Gwan", his North Korean counterpart. Hill said some progress had been made since Monday, but added nothing had been put forward to convince North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons. "I think the discussions have been very useful in the last day, day and a half," he said. "Whether we are very successful at the end of the week, I think time will tell. Certainly we are talking about much more than things on paper, we are discussing actual developments on the ground."
The six-party talks are aimed at convincing the North to give up its nuclear arms in return for security guarantees, energy aid and a possible future nuclear power plant, a deal that was suspended 13 months ago after North Korean anger at US financial sanctions. Although he would not be drawn on a time frame, Hill said the old deal could be reimplemented in "a lot shorter than a year". He also hinted that China was preparing for a possible final statement, but gave no indication of what form such a statement might take.
IMF welcomes Thai U-turn on capital controls
By Sarosa Pedrosa,WNS Thailand Business Correspondent
BANGKOK - The International Monetary Fund said Thailand's economy remains on a sound footing, while regretting an attempt to impose draconian capital controls that sparked a mini-financial crisis. In a statement, an IMF spokesman said a Fund team currently in Bangkok to conduct an annual review of the Thai economy had been in touch with the military-led authorities to discuss the short-lived controls. Effective on Tuesday, Thai authorities had ordered financial institutions to hold 30 percent of foreign inflows, except those related to exports, in a bid to stem a sharp rise in the baht's value on currency markets.
"However, the measures were too strong and far-reaching, and the partial roll-back of the new controls today (Tuesday) is welcome," said the IMF spokesman, who was not identified by name. "Thailand's underlying economic fundamentals remain solid and we believe that growth will remain resilient in the face of the financial market turbulence this week," he added. "Also, while financial markets in many other Asian countries weakened yesterday (Monday), the impact on the region is expected to be limited, and we would note that the authorities in a number of countries have announced that they do not expect to introduce controls on foreign capital flows."
Before the government backed down and dumped the controls, the move had sparked a 15-percent collapse in Thai share prices on Tuesday, sparking fears of a return to the region-wide financial crisis of 1997-98. The IMF extended a US$17.2 billion bailout to Thailand to help rescue its economy during the crisis.
US, North Korea meet directly as nuke talks enter crucial phase
By Li Pei Pei,WNS China Bureau ChiefBEIJING - Two senior US delegations have held direct talks with officials from North Korea as a diplomatic drive to persuade the Stalinist regime to give up its nuclear weapons entered a crucial phase. Finance experts from the two nations met in Beijing to discuss a drawn-out dispute over US sanctions on the North that the cash-strapped nation has said must be resolved before it will consider surrendering its nuclear arms. They met on the sidelines of key six-nation talks aimed at convincing North Korea to disarm, and which resumed only on Monday after a 13-month suspension caused by Pyongyang's objections to the sanctions. The restart of the negotiations came after North Korea shocked the world on October 9 with its first-ever atomic test. As the financial teams huddled down Tuesday, officials said the chief US and North Korean envoys to the six-nation forum met separately for their first formal face-to-face encounter since the talks restarted. While no details were immediately available on what had been discussed in both meetings, US envoy Christopher Hill said earlier Tuesday that the day's events would be vital in determining if Pyongyang may be prepared to disarm. North Korea had returned to the forum in a defiant mood on Monday with its chief envoy Kim Kye-Gwan outlining a long list of demands he said must be met before it would consider scrapping its nuclear arms. Under the US sanctions, 24 million dollars belonging to North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il and other members of his ruling elite have been frozen in a Macau bank. Aside from unfreezing those funds, Kim said that United Nations sanctions imposed on North Korea in October after its test must also be lifted. Kim further demanded that North Korea be given help in building a nuclear reactor for power needs and that the US policy of "hostility" against it must be dropped. Hill, as well as the Japanese and South Korean chief delegates, tried to downplay the North's opening demands, describing them as opening gambits with Tuesday's negotiations important to see if compromise could be made.
North Korea talks set to resume after atomic test
By Valerie Lim,WNS Beijing Correspondent
BEIJING - Six-nation talks aimed at convincing North Korea to give up its nuclear programme were set to resume here Monday, just over two months after the reclusive nation conducted its first atomic test. The envoys from the six nations involved -- host China, the two Koreas, the United States, Japan and Russia -- met informally for a dinner on Sunday night and were due to begin official discussions on Monday morning.
The talks are being held for the first time since North Korea conducted its historic nuclear test on October 9, and following a 13-month suspension of the forum due to anger in Pyongyang over US financial sanctions imposed against it. The chief US envoy to the talks, Christopher Hill, reaffirmed that the main goal of the United States in the negotiations was for North Korea to agree to give up its nuclear programme. "What the DPRK (North Korea) needs to do is to get serious with denuclearization," Hill said.
"If they get serious with denuclearization, a lot of good things can happen ... if they do not get serious about denuclearization, such things will go away." Hill said he wanted North Korea to recommit to a six-party deal struck in September last year in which it agreed to give up its nuclear programme in return for security aid, energy benefits and other aid. But Pyongyang's chief envoy, Kim Kye-Gwan, struck a familiar confrontational tone when he arrived in Beijing on Saturday, blaming a "hostile" US policy against North Korea for the nuclear crisis. "The nuclear issues cannot be resolved until the United States takes a co-existence policy," Kim said. "I'm not optimistic about prospects for the six-party talks."
Indian PM confident of Japan's support to US nuclear deal
By Ali Muthu,WNS New Delhi Correspondent
NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Saturday said he was confident of Japan's support for India's ambitions of entering the civilian nuclear club. "I am convinced that when the time comes Japan will be on our side," Singh told reporters on board a homebound flight from a four-day visit to Japan, according to the Press Trust of India (PTI). On Friday, Tokyo agreed to start talks with India on a free-trade pact but declined to extend support to a deal between India and the United States that promises long-denied civilian nuclear technology to India.
Japan is a key player in the 45-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group, which controls the transfer of nuclear material and needs to approve the landmark agreement. Oxford-educated economist Singh said he was hopeful that Japan would relent. "I am not at all disappointed because there is adequate appreciation of the fact that India needs nuclear power for its energy security," he reportedly said. "Our commitment is that we will have in place India-specific safeguards with the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency)," Singh said, referring to his talks with Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe in Tokyo. The deal signed last year by Singh and US President George W. Bush stipulates that India must put its civilian-use atomic reactors under the IAEA's scanner.
Abe, following talks with Singh, said India must assure the international community of its commitment to the IAEA. Singh said Abe's "statement reflected the actual situation wherein India has to put in place a safeguards agreement with the IAEA," the PTI reported. India in 1998 declared itself a nuclear weapons power and has refused to sign the Non-Proliferation Treaty. Japan snapped off aid to India and Pakistan after the rivals' nuclear tests. But Japan has since warmed to India amid sour ties with China, in part over the legacy of Tokyo's past aggression.
Nepal, rebels agree on constitution
By Kamesh Thaman,
WNS Nepal Correspondent
KATHMANDU - Nepalese political parties and communist rebels on Saturday agreed upon an interim constitution under which the king is no longer the nation's head of state. The king will remain without powers until the elected assembly decides if the Himalayan kingdom should continue to have a king or get rid of the monarchy, The Associated Press reported."The king has not been vested with any administrative or state powers in the new constitution and whatever he was doing as the head of state will now be done by the prime minister," said Bharat Mohan Adhikari, a leader of the governing coalition involved in the negotiations. Nepal's seven-party governing alliance and the Maoist rebels have been in talks for the last week to finalize the constitution, following a peace agreement last month that ended the decade-long fighting in the Himalayan country.
The interim constitution paves the way for elections for a constituent assembly next year. The assembly will decide the future of the monarchy and prepare a permanent constitution for the country."According to the new constitution, all political parties must reserve one-third of its electoral candidates seats in the constituent assembly elections for women," Adhikari said. The new constitution also makes basic health care, education, employment and food security a fundamental right for all Nepalese. The constitution will not be implemented until the United Nations begins monitoring the Maoists to ensure the rebels' arms are locked up and their troops in camp. The earliest that could happen is January, after a technical U.N. mission already in the country presents a report on the needs of the monitoring mission to the U.N. Secretary-General.
"Once the monitoring of arms is complete, the Maoists will join the government," said Minendra Rijal, a leader of the governing coalition. Nepal's Maoist rebels have fought the state since 1996, aiming to abolish the monarchy. About 13,000 people were killed. The government and rebels last month signed a peace accord under which thousands of rebel fighters will be confined to U.N.-monitored camps without access to their weapons.
No deal for US-China trade gap
By Zhi Hao,WNS Beijing Correspondent
BEIJING - China has promised a more flexible currency policy to help close the trade gap with the United States, US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has said. US manufacturers say China's currency is kept deliberately weak to boost its exporters, making it hard for US firms to gain market share in the country. The US-China trade deficit is set to reach a record $229bn (£116bn) in 2006. Both governments launched a "strategic economic dialogue" with talks in Beijing to improve relations. Mr Paulson said China and the US had agreed to "take measures to address global imbalances through greater national savings in the United States, and to increase consumption and exchange rate flexibility in China".
However, Mr Paulson and his high-powered delegation failed to agree a firm timetable for a further strengthening of China's yuan. His opposite number, Vice Premier Wu Yi, described the talks as useful "to build mutual understanding," but did not comment on the currency issue herself. "We have reached some consensus, although we remained different on some issues," Ms Wu said at the end of the two-day meeting. China used to have a fixed exchange rate to the dollar, but in July last year allowed the yuan to trade in a very narrow range against the US currency. Over the past year-and-a-half the yuan has gained just 3.74% against the US dollar, reaching a new high of 7.8185 on Friday. Strengthening the yuan would improve the lives of ordinary Chinese and help ease global trade imbalances, said Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the US central bank. Speaking at a Chinese government think tank he added that a stronger Chinese currency would also "reduce the incentive for Chinese firms to focus on exporting".
The lack of a firm deal on the yuan, however, is likely to stoke the worries of US politicians and manufacturers. "We cannot continue to wait for this long-term goal [of floating the yuan] and suffer the consequences of insignificant short-term action," said Democratic Senator Christopher Dodd and his Republican counterpart Richard Shelby in a joint statement. The new biannual economic dialogue was agreed in September during a meeting of US President George W Bush and Chinese President Hu Jintao. The US treasury secretary was accompanied not only by Mr Bernanke but also by six members of President Bush's cabinet. On the sidelines of the talks, both countries struck a deal that will allow the two top stock markets in the United States, Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, to open offices in China.
Asia's greenhouse gas 'to treble'
By Tony White,WNS Asia Bureau Chief
BEIJING - Asia's greenhouse gas emissions will treble over the next 25 years, according to a report commissioned by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). The report provides detailed analysis of the link between transport and climate change in Asia. It says that its estimate of future levels of greenhouse gas could even be an optimistic assessment. Air pollution and congestion will seriously hamper the ability to move people and goods effectively, it warns. The report, Energy Efficiency and Climate Change: Considerations for On-Road Transport in Asia, says that Asia currently has low levels of personal motorized transport, which in many cases are motorcycles. But it says that these levels are likely to increase significantly as incomes in these countries grows and the urban population becomes bigger.
The report points out that China is already the world's fourth largest economy, and the number of cars and utility vehicles could increase by 15 times more than present levels to more than 190 million vehicles over the next 30 years. In India, traffic growth is likely to increase by similar levels over the same time period, the report says. Carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles could rise 3.4 times for China and 5.8 times for India. "Progress toward reducing the growth of greenhouse gases from the transport sector will require partnerships and involvement of a wide range of stakeholders," Bindu Lohani, director-general of the ADB's sustainable development department, wrote in the foreword to the report. He said that addressing these problems would mean "changing existing travel behaviour patterns and modifying urban development patterns to minimize the type, length, and frequency of trips that people need to take". Last month, the British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett urged India to help in efforts to tackle climate change. She made the call ahead of a report commissioned by the British government which said that rich nations must act now to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Meanwhile a conference in Indonesia has heard that while some Asian governments should be praised for toughening vehicle emissions standards, with many phasing out leaded gasoline, much work still needs to be done. "Transport is growing faster in most cities so transport emissions are a big part of the problem," Lew Fulton, a transport expert with the UN Environmental Programme, told the three-day Better Air Quality Conference 2006 in the city of Yogyakarta. "We're not only seeing increases in pollutant emissions. We're seeing huge increases in fuel consumption which is coupled tightly with (carbon dioxide) emissions," he said. "It's costing cities and countries ever increasing amounts of foreign exchange with the high oil prices that we've got." The World Health Organization said increased pollution in Asia is estimated to cause as many as 537,000 premature deaths each year, as well as a rise in cardiopulmonary and respiratory illnesses.
Indian PM kicks off Japan visit
By Dennis Pereira,WNS New Delhi Correspondent
NEW DELHI - Indian PM Manmohan Singh is in Japan on a four-day visit during which he is expected to seek support for the landmark nuclear deal with the US. The agreement needs to be approved by the Nuclear Suppliers Group, of which Japan is a member. Mr Singh is also expected to sign a number of trade agreements. The two countries have come a long way since Tokyo imposed economic sanctions on Delhi following India's nuclear tests in 1998.
Mr Singh is the first Indian prime minister to visit Japan in five years. "I look forward to using this visit to elevate India-Japan relations to a qualitatively new level," he told reporters before his departure from Delhi. Analysts say Japan's approval of the nuclear deal with the US would help Mr Singh. Critics, including his Communist allies and the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, argue he is too closely aligned with Washington.
Suicide bomb, US forces kill 13 in Afghanistan
By Fiona Nate,WNS Afghanistan Correspondent
KABUL - A suicide bomber has blown himself up at a governor's house in southern Afghanistan, killing eight people, while US-led security forces shot dead four militants and a teenage girl. The violence came as President Hamid Karzai attended a high-level security conference in Kandahar, the birthplace of the Taliban regime, to urge foreign forces to do their best to avoid civilian casualties. Six bodyguards, a district chief and a civilian were killed when the suicide bomber sneaked into the heavily guarded residence of the governor of troubled Helmand province, provincial police chief Mohammad Nabi Mullahkhil told AFP Tuesday.
"Governor Mohammad Daud was about to leave and as his motorcade and bodyguards were prepared the attacker penetrated into the governor's house and tried to approach the governor," Mullahkil said. "The bodyguard suspected he might be an attacker and stopped him but then the man exploded himself," he said, adding that eight other bodyguards were injured. The interior ministry also said eight people were killed in the attack, which took place during working hours at the house in Lashkargah, the provincial capital, but said seven of the victims were policemen and one was a civilian.
NATO troops rushed to the governor's house after the explosion but there were no casualties among foreign troops, said Jason Chalk, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force. "All we can say is that the governor is safe," Chalk said. Separately on Tuesday, the US-led coalition and the Afghan army killed four suspected Taliban militants in eastern Afghanistan, the coalition said in a statement. A 13-year-old girl was killed and an eight-year-old girl injured in the incident, when the soldiers raided a house near the village of Darnami in restive Khost province where the alleged insurgents were hiding out, it said. The wounded girl was taken to a coalition hospital, escorted by a family member, the coalition said. There were no casualties among the Afghan soldiers or coalition troops.
Typhoon Utor leaves seven dead or missing in Philippines
By Maria Twink,WNS Philippines Correspondent
MANILA - Typhoon Utor departed the central Philippines overnight leaving three people dead, four missing, nearly 90,000 evacuated and two key regional summits in disarray, officials said Monday. The mass evacuations were ordered to avoid a repeat of the devastation of supertyphoon Durian a week earlier which triggered huge mudslides in the Bicol region that swamped entire villages, leaving more than 1,000 dead or missing. Utor was alco cited by the government as the main reason it postponed two summits in the central island of Cebu in the first half of the week, although other sources said the real reason may have been a terror attack threat.
Three people, including two children, were killed in the central islands, one by a falling tree and another when a boat capsized. Four more are missing and feared dead in the city of Roxas after being swept away. Radio reports said as many as 15 others could be missing near the central resort island of Boracay but civil defense officials could not confirm this. Parts of the central islands were still without power.
At 4:00 am Monday, (2000 GMT Sunday) the typhoon, packing maximum winds of 120 kilometers (74.4 miles) per hour, was charted 220 kilometers northwest of the western Philippine island of Palawan, moving toward the South China Sea.
Mass evacuation as typhoon Utor batters central Philippines
By Maria Twink,
WNS Philippines Correspondent
MANILA - Typhoon Utor tore across the central Philippines Sunday, leaving four dead or missing and forcing nearly 67,000 to evacuate as officials battled to avoid a second disaster within 10 days. The mass evacuation was intended to avert any repeat of the devastation of super-typhoon Durian just over a week ago which unleashed massive mudslides in the eastern Bicol region that left more than 1,000 people dead or missing. Utor has already forced the government to postpone two key regional summits this week in the central island of Cebu, which is in the path of the storm -- although sources say the real reason may be a terror threat. In all, 66,700 people were evacuated nationwide ahead of Utor's onslaught, more than 59,000 of them in Bicol alone even though the storm was not expected to hit the region directly.
As of 10:45 am (0245 GMT) Sunday Utor was over the southern tip of Mindoro island, packing maximum winds of 120 kilometres near the centre and moving northwest at 17 kilometres (10.5 miles) per hour, the government weather station said. By Monday, it was expected to be northwest of Coron town in the western island of Palawan. Parts of the central island of Cebu lost power due to the storm and a power barge -- a floating generator supplying electricity to the central island of Romblon -- spilled some of its fuel, causing an oil spill, civil defence office said.
As heavy rains lashed the Bicol region, families huddled in schools and churches serving as evacuation centres, sleeping on mats and cardboard sheets laid upon concrete floors. Some of those evacuated were allowed to return home after sunrise but others were told to stay in the evacuation centres due to fears the continuing rains would result in new mudslides.
Taiwan ruling party, opposition each win mayoral votes
By Xue Ling,WNS Taipei Correspondent
TAIPEI - Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party and the main opposition Kuomintang each won mayoral election victories on Saturday, the central election commission said. The Kuomintang's (KMT's) Hau Long-bin, a former environmental protection minister, bagged 669,965 votes, or 53.94 percent, in Taipei, to beat his main rival, Frank Hsieh of the DPP, who took 506,310 votes, or 40.76 percent, with more than 99 percent of votes counted.
"Today's is the showdown between clean politics and graft. The clean and righteous KMT defeated the corrupted DPP and this is the victory of all residents in Taipei," Hau told his supporters. In southern Kaohsiung, final results showed the DPP's Chen Chu had won the neck-and-neck race with 379,417 votes, or 49.41 percent, over the 378,297 votes, or 49.27 percent, for the KMT's Huang Chun-ying in her party's traditional stronghold. An estimated 70 percent of the two million-plus eligible voters in Taipei and million-plus in Kaohsiung were expected to cast their ballots to elect mayors and local councils.
US Congress completes final legislation for Indian nuclear deal
By Lucy Huff,WNS Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON - The US Congress completed final legislation for a landmark civilian nuclear deal with India, removing contentious provisions objected by the US and Indian governments. The legislation reconciled separate bills passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives aimed at implementing a nuclear agreement reached between Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W. Bush last year. It is expected to be passed by the House and Senate on Friday before Bush signs it into law.
Lawmakers said key provisions objected by the administrations of Bush and Singh were "watered down," including one that initially virtually compelled India to back US efforts to contain New Delhi's traditional ally Iran's nuclear program. "This latest step in a long and sometimes arduous legislative process has resulted in a satisfying consensus," said Tom Lantos, the incoming head of the powerful House international affairs panel. The final legislation "strikes the right balance between giving the President the necessary flexibility to negotiate the best agreement possible with New Delhi, while at the same time preserving Congressional oversight," he said. Under the deal, India, a non-signatory of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), will be given access to civilian nuclear technology in return for placing its atomic reactors under global safeguards.
The pact was seen as controversial because the US Congress had to create a rare exception for India from some of the requirements of the US Atomic Energy Act, which currently prohibits nuclear sales to non-NPT signatories. In addition, US weapons experts warned forging such an agreement with non-NPT member India could make it harder to enforce rules against nuclear renegade North Korea and set a dangerous precedent for other nations with nuclear ambitions. Singh and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice personally lobbied US lawmakers to remove "problematic" provisions seen as going against the spirit of the nuclear agreement signed by Bush and the Indian prime minister in July last year.
Koizumi 'mulls visit to N. Korea'
By Marinah Mazuki,
WNS Tokyo Correspondent
TOKYO - Japan's former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is mulling a visit to North Korea to urge it to abandon its nuclear weapons program, news reports said Thursday. Koizumi told senior ruling party lawmaker Taku Yamasaki during a meeting Wednesday that he was considering a trip as a special envoy to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, according to reports by public broadcaster NHK and the mass-circulation daily, Yomiuri Shimbun. The former leader wants to urge the North to honor a 2002 pledge to maintain peace in Northeast Asia and freeze its missile program, made at summit talks in Pyongyang between Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, the reports said. "Denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula is a responsibility I want to take on as politician," Yomiuri quoted Koizumi as telling Yamasaki. It was not clear when the trip might be. Yamasaki told Koizumi he supported the idea of a visit, the reports said. An official at Koizumi's office in Tokyo said the former leader had met Yamasaki late Wednesday, but said Koizumi did not wish to comment on his plans. The official spoke on condition of anonymity, citing protocol.
The reports come amid international efforts to convince Pyongyang to return to the six-party talks on its nuclear ambitions, which have taken on a new urgency since the North tested a nuclear device on Oct. 9. U.S. diplomats have offered specific details on the kind of economic and energy assistance Pyongyang would receive in exchange for dismantling its nuclear weapons facilities, according to a recent news report. The North pulled out of the Chinese-hosted six-nation talks -- which also involve the two Koreas, the United States, Japan, Russia and China -- after the U.S. imposed financial restrictions on a Macau-based bank Washington alleges was used for financial crimes by Pyongyang. The North also opposes a U.N. sanctions resolution adapted after its nuclear test.
Koizumi visited Pyongyang twice as prime minister, first in 2002, where he and Kim agreed to work to maintain peace in the region and establish formal diplomatic ties. During that visit, Koizumi also negotiated the return of five Japanese nationals who were kidnapped by North Korean agents in the 1970s and 1980s. Pyongyang has admitted to abducting 13 Japanese to coach its spies in Japanese language and culture, but says the other eight are dead. Koizumi visited the North again in May 2004 to bring back some of the abductees' family members. He stepped down as prime minister in September, but retains a seat in parliament's powerful lower house.
Storm-hit Vietnam seeks missing
By Judy Harry,WNS Indo-China CorrespondentHANOI - Rescue workers in Vietnam are searching for some 50 people still missing after Tropical Storm Durian lashed the south coast, killing nearly 50 others. Many thousands of homes were destroyed and hospitals are treating hundreds of injured after Tuesday's severe storm. Durian earlier hit the Philippines as a typhoon, causing devastating mudslides that buried a number of villages in the Bicol peninsula, south-east of Manila. The death toll has risen slightly to 543, with 740 people still missing. Rescuers are working around the clock to open up supply lines to the worst affected areas around the Mayon volcano in the Luzon region. Machines have been brought in to shift tonnes of sand and volcanic rock to allow relief shipments to get through. At least 250,000 homes are reported to have been destroyed or damaged, and power and water supplies remain cut off. But despite a massive effort launched by President Gloria Arroyo to restore basic services by Christmas, officials are warning the reconstruction could take years.In vietnam, a clean-up is also underway, with officials saying more than 120,000 homes have been damaged or destroyed and some 700 fishing boats swept away. At least 47 people have died in the south-central provinces of Binh Thuan, Ba Ria Vung Tau, Ben Tre and Vinh Long, officials said. A further 49 are still missing, and more than 400 have been injured. "The death toll could rise," said Pham Nhat Quang, a provincial military command spokesman. "Many of the victims are in very bad condition." There were no reports of flooding, despite warnings of a risk to the low-lying Mekong Delta area. Vietnamese authorities evacuated thousands of people from vulnerable areas before Durian hit. Durian - named after a spiky, Asian fruit - was downgraded to a tropical depression as it headed west across the Gulf of Thailand.
Tropical storm Durian kills at least 23 in Vietnam
By Judy Harry,WNS Indo-China Correspondent
HANOI - At least 23 people died when severe tropical storm Durian hit southern Vietnam, destroying boats and houses after leaving more than 1,000 dead or missing in the Philippines, officials said Tuesday. The storm ravaged southern coastal provinces, sank hundreds of boats moored on a remote island in the South China Sea and Tuesday swept across the Mekong delta region south of Ho Chi Minh City, killing at least eight, officials said. Ten people died and two were missing in Ba Ria-Vung Tau east of the former Saigon, a province which has tourist resorts and offshore oil rigs, said Nguyen Ngoc Loc of the provincial flood and storm control committee. The island of Phu Quy, 250 kilometres (150 miles) east of Ho Chi Minh City, suffered heavy damage as the storm swept through overnight, sinking hundreds of boats, uprooting trees and damaging houses, office buildings and schools. "Phu Quy island suffered serious losses," Deputy Fisheries Minister Nguyen Viet Thang told VTV.
More than 800 moored boats sank in the port, 1,100 buildings lost their roofs and 90 percent of power poles were toppled, he said. Two people were killed by falling trees in Binh Thuan province, to which the island belongs. The deaths were on land in La Di town, not on Phu Quy, said flood and storm official Ta Thi Niem, revising an earlier statement. Three more people were killed to the north in the Phu Yen province, said Duong Van Huong of the Phu Yen storm and flood control committee.
In the Mekong delta province of Ben Tre, eight people were reported dead Tuesday, said Tran Thi Luan, head of the provincial flood and storm control committee. "We had evacuated 3,500 people," she said. "If the evacuation had not happened, the toll would have become much higher. The storm was really strong." Luan said that by mid-morning "the weather seems to be better but we do not dare yet to tell people that the storm is over, because this is a really complicated storm." Officials in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's largest metropolis, and the seaside resort of Nha Trang said they had no immediate reports of casualties. Philippines officials Tuesday said some 1,086 people had died in massive mudslides triggered by rains from Durian as it passed over the country.
Vietnam braced for tropical storm
By Judy Harry,WNS Indo-China CorrespondentHANOI - Thousands of people in Vietnam have been told to leave their homes ahead of the arrival of Tropical Storm Durian. The storm, which has been downgraded from a typhoon, is due to make landfall in central Vietnam. In Khanh Hoa, nearly 14,000 people have been moved from their homes and another 10,000 ordered to leave, the Associated Press news agency reported. Ships were being called back to shore, although two fishermen were reported to have died after their boats sank while they were seeking shelter. Another 6,000 people have been evacuated from neighbouring provinces Ninh Thuan and Phu Yen, but Ninh Thuan Governor Hoang Thi Ut Lan said some of those ordered out had returned home. "Many people who were moved have decided to go back to their houses because it's still sunny," she told AP. "It is really a problem for us now."
Chinese currency reaches new high
By Liu Hao Hui,
WNS China Business Bureau Chief
BEIJING - China's currency has reached its highest level against the US dollar since being revalued a year ago. The yuan reached 7.82 to the dollar on Monday, after hitting 7.83 on Friday. Analysts say the central bank could let the currency continue strengthening ahead of the arrival of US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson this month. The rising yuan will be welcomed by many in the US, who have accused China of keeping its currency artificially weak in order to boost exports.
In the past the US critics have said a weak Chinese currency unfairly harms domestic firms which cannot compete with Chinese goods sold to the US. "China is likely to make a goodwill gesture around the time of Mr Paulson's visit," said one European dealer. In addition to Mr Paulson, the US delegation to China is tipped to include the chairman of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, and other government officials. Discussions will examine trade and currency among other topics. China, which has previously said it would reform its foreign exchange rate regime, revalued the yuan by 2.1% in July 2005. The yuan has been rising against the dollar, which has reached 20-month lows against both the euro and pound. The dollar's fall has been prompted by fears that the world's biggest economy is cooling down.
One dealer from a large Chinese commercial bank said the dollar's weakening on global markets was greater than many had predicted. In separate news on Monday, Chinese state media said the country needed a new organisation to manage its burgeoning foreign exchange reserves, the largest in the world. Although the reserves have climbed in recent years, raw material prices have risen while the dollar has weakened, denting the purchasing power of China's reserves.
Philippine mudslides a 'calamity'
By Maria Twink,WNS Philippines Correspondent
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo has declared a national calamity following devastating mudslides which have left hundreds of people dead or missing. The Red Cross has put the death toll from Thursday's tragedy at 406, with 398 missing, but the aid organisation said the toll could pass 1,000. Hopes of finding many more survivors are fading. The mudslides, triggered by the heavy rains of Typhoon Durian, struck near the Mayon volcano south-east of Manila.
Mrs Arroyo released 1bn pesos ($20m, £10m) for reconstruction work and vowed further efforts to find survivors. "All resources of the government will continue to be mobilised without let-up as we pin hope against hope on the search of survivors," she said in a statement. The relief effort is progressing slowly, with soldiers having to walk for hours to reach affected areas. Whole villages were engulfed by mud that poured from the slopes of the volcano, some 350km (220 miles) from Manila. The head of the local Red Cross, Richard Gordon, said the number of victims could well rise. "There are many unidentified bodies. There could be a lot more hidden below. Whole families may have been wiped out," he told the Associated Press news agency. About 100 miners have arrived to help with rescue efforts and army commanders have asked for dog teams to help with the search.
The first funerals were carried out late on Saturday, as bodies decomposed in the heat. Some victims were buried in a mass grave as a precaution against the spread of disease. "We opted to do this because we might have an epidemic, which could be expected because of the high number of evacuees and homeless," local official Gene Villareal told AP. Officials say more than 40,000 people have been displaced. Many of the survivors, who have lost not only their homes but their livelihoods after fruit trees and rice paddies were destroyed, have crammed into makeshift shelters in schools and churches. Disaster agencies say there is an urgent need for fresh water, food and medicine for the survivors, and more body bags. Canada has pledged more than US$800,000 to help the relief effort and Japan says it will give more than $170,000.
Bite kills Malaysia 'Snake King'
By Taufik Ishak,WNS Malaysia Correspondent
KUALA LUMPUR - A snake charmer who made a name for himself as Malaysia's Snake King has died after being bitten by a king cobra. Ali Khan Samsudin, 48, had entered the record books for locking himself in small spaces with hundreds of snakes or scorpions for days at a time. The old adage "once bitten twice shy" simply did not apply to Mr Ali Khan.
According to local press reports, he had his first altercation with a king cobra 27 years ago. So when, on Tuesday, one of his subjects inflicted what was just the latest of many bites, he had not been unduly worried. However, two days later, his condition worsened suddenly and his family rushed him to hospital. He died before he could receive treatment.
Ali Khan Samsudin found fame in the early 1990s when he lived for 12 hours a day for 40 days in a small room with 400 cobras. That earned him the title of Snake King. In 1997, he acquired another record - Scorpion King - after shutting himself in a box with 6,000 of the creatures for three weeks. He was reportedly bitten 99 times in his life. He leaves two wives, five children and a protege known as the Scorpion Queen, who he trained for her own record-breaking stunt two years ago.
Typhoon mudslides sweep 388 to their deaths in Philippines
By Maria Twink,WNS Philippines Correspondent
MANILA - At least 388 people have been confirmed dead and 96 others missing after rivers of mud and volcanic ash triggered by a typhoon swamped villages in the eastern Philippines. All the dead are in the eastern province of Albay in the Bicol region, Philippine National Red Cross spokeswoman Teresa Arguelles said Friday. She added that she expected the figure to go up as rescuers reach places isolated by heavy rains and winds brought on by super-typhoon Durian. The mudslides triggered by Durian's torrential rains reached as high as rooftops as they poured down from Mount Mayon volcano, around 350 kilometres (217 miles) southeast of Manila, witnesses said. Rescue teams were hampered by blocked roads and swollen rivers as they tried to reach many of the villages dotted around the still-active volcano. Glenn Rabonza, the executive officer of the national disaster coordinating council, said rescuers were concentrating their efforts on saving lives.
Elsewhere in the Philippines, at least one person was killed in the town of Canaman after being hit by a piece of metal roofing blown off by gale force winds, the civil defence office added. Roel Ilarena, a resident of Padang village near Mayon, said as many as 500 people may have been killed when the mudflow struck overnight. Officials could not confirm his story. Rescue efforts Friday were being hampered by storm damage, which knocked out electricity, telephone lines and water supply across much of the Bicol peninsula that includes Legaspi and Daraga. Legaspi City's airport was shut down as debris littered the runway. Windows and part of the roof of the terminal were destroyed by the storm. A power outage also knocked out the control tower. Forty military rescuers were flown out from the capital to the Mayon area by helicopter. A C-130 transport plane, loaded with equipment and rescuers, is due to fly out to the area at first light Saturday. Rescue personnel plan to bring special search dogs trained to find buried bodies. In a meeting with disaster relief officials, President Gloria Arroyo called on the military to help in any way with the relief efforts. Around 30,000 residents of villages on the slopes of Mayon had been forced to evacuate in August when the volcano showed signs of erupting. They returned home in September after it simmered down. The civil defence office said more than 13,900 people had been evacuated in the Bicol region due to the storm. The Public Works Department put initial estimates of damage to infrastructure in Bicol at one billion pesos (20.04 million dollars.) Large parts of Legaspi City were flooded, the civil defence office said, making it difficult to reach the areas hit by the mudslides. Durian had weakened as it passed near Bicol late Thursday, packing maximum winds of 150 kilometres (93 miles) per hour. It was charted at about 5:00 pm (0900 GMT) Friday 235 kilometres (145 miles) west of Manila.
Storm alerts were lowered in most of the country as Durian continued moving west at 15 kilometres (9.3 miles) per hour into the South China Sea. The Philippines is still recovering from the impact of typhoon Cimaron, the strongest cyclone to hit the nation in more than 10 years, which left 38 dead or missing in late October. In September, Manila was hit by typhoon Xangsane, which caused widespread damage and cut off electricity in many parts of the capital for days. By the time Xangsane left the Philippines there were more than 200 people dead and a damage bill running into the millions of dollars.
By Kelvin Goh,
