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Thousands of protesters surround Thai govt. headquarters

Supporters of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra confront riot policemen outside Government House.
About 20,000 anti-government demonstrators surrounded the Thai government headquarters Thursday evening and set up camp in a bid to oust the prime minister, police said.

The number of protesters outside Government House had grown sharply since the afternoon, said Worapong Tuepreecha, the chief of the Metropolitan Police. He said they set up a stage and tents in front of the building. The red-shirted protesters are with the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD). They have been protesting since December to oust Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his government. UDD core leader Jatuporn Prompan, also a member of parliament from the Opposition Puea Thai Party, told the Thai News Agency the group’s rally would go on for at least a month and that they could even sustain the protest for up to a year if they wish. The demonstrators gathered Wednesday night at Bangkok’s Sanam Luang plaza before marching to Government House on Thursday afternoon, the Thai News Agency reported. They used a crane to take apart police barriers so they could gain access and surround Government House, the news agency said. They are now blocking several roads and have set up a stage, the news agency said. Civil servants working at Government House were asked to leave in the early afternoon.

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The protesters support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was replaced by Abhisit in December after some members of the former ruling coalition broke ranks to support him. Thailand’s recent woes date back to a 2006 coup that initially ousted Thaksin. His ruling People Power Party regained office in 2007 elections. Thaksin’s opponents staged more than two months of sit-ins last year, occupying the headquarters of the government and blockading Bangkok’s major international airport. The demonstrations ended December 2 when a court ruled that Thaksin’s party was guilty of electoral fraud and threw his brother-in-law out of the prime minister’s seat. Jatuporn said Thaksin might speak to his demonstrating supporters at Government House via video link Thursday evening, the Thai News Agency reported.

Bombing injures Somali interior minister

The Bakaraha market in Somalia's capital is one of the most dangerous areas of the city.
A roadside bomb attack Thursday in the Somali capital, Mogadishu, injured the nation’s interior minister and killed one of his secretaries, according to a source close to the minister.

The mid-day attack on Abdukadir Ali Omar, a member of the transitional government, left him with shrapnel wounds to his leg. The extent of his injuries was unclear, said the source, who requested anonymity because he is not allowed to speak to the media. The explosion occurred about noon at the Bakaraha market, in one of the most dangerous areas of the city. The interior minister is a popular moderate who led assaults against Ethiopian forces during their invasion of Somalia. Ethiopian troops invaded the country at its request in December 2006. The Ethiopian invasion ousted the Islamic Courts Union, an Islamic movement that had claimed control of Mogadishu earlier that year.

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Thursday’s attack on Ali Omar fueled concerns that moderate Islamists would strike out against the hardline Al-Shabab, which is suspected in the explosion. Al-Shabab — which the United States has designated a terror organization — warmly welcomed a recent call for the overthrow of Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, Somalia’s new president. The call, delivered via an audio recording, purportedly came from al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.

TV ad to put heat on Congress to pass budget

President Obama, here at a Washington fund-raiser Wednesday, hopes a new TV ad will buoy his initiatives.
After e-mail pleas and nationwide canvassing, President Obama’s political arm has made a TV ad that will air Thursday, urging voters to pressure Congress to approve his $3.6 trillion budget.

“America is facing tough times,” the narrator says in the 30-second ad. “President Obama has a plan to get our economy moving again, to cut the deficit in half and create jobs by investing in health care, energy independence and schools. “Thousands are going door-to-door as part of Organizing for America, gathering support for President Obama’s plan to invest in America’s future. You can help, too. Call Congress and tell them to support President Obama’s budget plan to get our economy moving again.” The ad features video footage of a national door-to-door canvassing drive held last weekend by Organizing for America, Obama’s presidential campaign organization, which has been folded into the Democratic National Committee. Natalie Wyeth, OFA’s spokeswoman, said this is the organization’s “first ad as a project of the DNC.” “The ad will run on national and D.C. cable, primarily MSNBC and CNN,” she wrote in an e-mail. “This is just one of the many tools we’ll provide our supporters with, to help them make their voices heard and send a strong signal to Washington that the time for change is now.”

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Interest groups are also running separate television and radio ads in support of Obama’s budget. Earlier in March, the DNC ran an ad on cable television in South Carolina criticizing Republican Gov. Mark Sanford for refusing to accept all the stimulus money set aside for his state. Sanford has said that South Carolina would be forced to search for replacement funding once the stimulus money ran out, or be forced to make cuts.

Students collect 8.5 million pennies to form 100-mile chain

That's a bunch of pennies, but these students will have to lay out a whole lot more!
Students in Southern California were laying out some 8.5 million pennies at a speedway track Wednesday, trying to set a world record with a 100-mile-long penny chain and help a school program at the same time.

The money, about $84,500, will go to a program called THINK (Teaching, Helping, Inspiring & Nurturing Kids) Together. The nonprofit program provides free after-school care for students at more than 200 elementary and middle schools in at-risk communities in four California counties: Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside and San Bernardino. Nadia Flores, spokeswoman for the Santa Ana-based group, said the idea for “Miles of Change” came after group members saw students at a school in Kansas make a 40-mile-long chain of pennies in July 2008 to set a world record. Flores said her group wanted a program that would unite the counties involved and set a new record. Organizers said the pennies, collected by about 35,000 students over six weeks, were to be laid Wednesday afternoon by 2,000 students in 50 loops around the Auto Club Speedway’s two-mile track in Fontana, California. Flores said every penny must be touching the next penny in order to qualify for the Guinness World Records. Documentation will include aerial photos, she said. Each student took home tubes to collect the pennies. Students who collected the most got tickets to future Los Angeles Dodgers games, Flores said. The effort also is meant to honor Abraham Lincoln’s 200th birthday and the 100th anniversary of the introduction of the Lincoln penny.

N. Korea defends right to ‘explore space’ amid missile claim

Replicas of South and North Korean missiles are displayed at the Korea War Memorial in Seoul.
North Korea defended Thursday its right to explore outer space after reports that a rocket, believed by the United States to be a long-range missile, had been positioned on its launch pad.

North Korea recently informed a pair of U.N. agencies that it plans to launch a satellite. The launch is believed to be slated for sometime between April 4 to 8, according to Yonhap, South Korea’s state-sponsored news agency. North Korea’s announcement has triggered international consternation. U.S. and South Korean officials have long said the North is actually preparing to test-fire a long-range missile under the guise of a satellite launch. Pyongyang lashed out against critics on Thursday in a commentary reported in the state-run KCNA news service. “This is nothing but a groundless outcry of the political philistines ignorant of any legality of the study of space science for peaceful purposes,” the commentary said. “Outer space is not a monopoly of a few specified powers but an asset common to mankind and the space development is promoted worldwide at present.” Should anyone have the right to explore space The United States has no plans to shoot down the North Korean rocket, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Wednesday in an interview with CNN’s Jill Dougherty, but will raise the issue with the U.N. Security Council if Pyongyang carries out a launch. “We are doing our best to dissuade the North Koreans from going forward, because it is provocative action,” Clinton said. “It raises questions about their compliance with the Security Council Resolution 1718. And if they persist and go forward, we will take it up in appropriate channels.” North Korea is technically capable of launching a rocket in as little as two to four days, according to Kim Taewoo, an expert at the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses, but who doubts a launch will come that soon.

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It would not make sense for Pyongyang to make such a move after going through official channels with its plans, Kim said. “The North could delay the launch if they experience problems with the weather, or within the leadership, but I don’t see any reason why they would fire it ahead of time,” Kim said. What the North Koreans would be testing may not be known until an actual launch, U.S. officials have said. A U.N. Security Council resolution in 2006 banned North Korea from conducting ballistic missile activity. Japanese officials said they could shoot down the object whether it is a missile or a satellite. “As the U.N. resolutions prohibit (North Korea) from engaging in ballistic missile activities, we still consider it to be a violation of a technical aspect, even if (the North) claims it is a satellite. We will discuss the matter with related countries based on this view,” Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone said this month. South Korea echoed Clinton’s statements.

“The South Korean government believes that if the North conducts its launch despite continuous warnings of the South Korean government and the international community, it is a provocative action that constitutes a serious threat to the security of northeast Asia and the Korean peninsula,” said Foreign Ministry spokesman Moon Tae-Young. “The launching of the long-range rocket is a clear violation of the U.N. Security Council Resolution No. 1718, and we strongly urge North Korea to immediately stop such measures.” The North Korean Taepodong-2 missile is thought to have an intended range of about 6,700 kilometers (4,200 miles) that — if true — could strike Alaska or Hawaii.

Surgeon declares operation on Lance Armstrong a success

$Lance Armstrong's doctor says he used a plate and 12 inch-long screws to stabilize the fractured bone.$
The surgeon who operated Wednesday on cyclist Lance Armstrong after he fractured his collarbone declared the procedure a success, but one that will require two to three months of healing.

“Surgery was tough, but went well,” said Dr. Douglas Elenz, an orthopedic surgeon in Austin, Texas, who performed the three-hour procedure two days after Armstrong fractured his collarbone into four pieces during a race in Spain. The multiple breaks “made treatment more challenging, but we’re confident that the treatment performed today is going to be successful,” he said. Elenz said he used a 4- to 5-inch plate that he attached with 12 inch-long screws to stabilize the fractured bone. Armstrong, 37, was to be released later in the day. On a scale of one to 10 rating the difficulty of the operation, Elenz said he would pin it down at eight. Elenz was noncommittal regarding when Armstrong can return to racing. Watch more about the crash » “We are just taking it day by day, week by week, month by month. Every fracture is unique. Each time I go to treat one, something is different.” During the next week, Armstrong “will need to take it easy” to ensure the wound does not become infected, the doctor said.

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After his wound has healed, Armstrong will begin using an exercise bike to train his lower body, “but we won’t let him do a whole lot with his upper extremities,” Elenz said. “After several weeks, we can take his training to the street, but we will need to take that day by day and week by week.” Over the longer term, Elenz will be looking for evidence that Armstrong is laying down new bone, that the plate is stable, that the athlete’s arm is strong and that his motion is fluid, he said. “His pain will give us insight on how well he is healing,” the sports specialist said. “It will take eight to 12 weeks to heal completely. But we are going to have to push the envelope a bit to have him train before he is completely healed.” Armstrong was riding for Team Astana when he crashed about 10 miles (16 kilometers) from the end of the first stage of the five-day Vuelta Ciclista a Castilla y Leon race. Watch how Armstrong ‘tweets’ about his crash » He has never before broken a collarbone in his 17 years as a professional. The crash took down several riders, but only Armstrong was hurt. As they came within a few miles of the finish, Armstrong said, racers started picking up speed and jockeying for position. “It happens quick when it happens,” he said. “It could have been worse.” Armstrong announced last year that he was returning to competitive biking and would use the Spanish race as a warm-up for the Tour de France, which he won seven times before announcing his retirement in 2005.

He also had planned to race May 9-31 in the Giro d’Italia, one of Europe’s most prestigious and grueling stage races. This would have been the second comeback of his career. His first came in 1998, two years after he was diagnosed with advanced testicular cancer that had spread to his lungs and brain. Doctors gave him a less than 50 percent chance of survival.

China: Pentagon military report distorted

China on Thursday accused the United States of distorting facts in a Defense Department report on Beijing’s military power.

The report — called the “Military Power of the People’s Republic of China” — said the country is developing longer-range ballistic and anti-ship missiles that are “shifting the balance of power in the region.” Such military expansions could help Beijing secure resources or settle territorial disputes, said the report, released by the Pentagon on Wednesday. “This is a gross distortion of the facts and China resolutely opposes it,” ministry spokesman Qin Gang told journalists in Beijing. “This report issued by the U.S. side continues to play up the fallacy of China’s military threat,” he said. The Pentagon report said China continues to build up short-range missiles and increase its “coercive capabilities” against Taiwan. It suggests that such moves constitute an effort to pressure Taiwan into settling the cross-strait dispute in favor of China, though tensions between the two governments have receded over the past year.

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The report is the Pentagon’s annual briefing to Congress on the status of the communist country’s military might. It comes after a recent incident in which Chinese ships, including a Chinese navy vessel, confronted an unarmed U.S. Navy surveillance ship in the South China Sea in international waters. The confrontation prompted the United States to move a destroyer ship to the area to protect the surveillance vessel. While the report does not discuss the incident, it notes the importance China puts on controlling its waterways and the surrounding territories because “China’s economic and political power is contingent upon access to and use of the sea, and that a strong navy is required to safeguard such access.” The analysis also said that while much of China’s capability is more for regional disputes, it did send two destroyers and one supply ship off the coast of Africa to protect Chinese vessels from pirate attacks. That move was a sign of Chinese intent to expand its militaries to protect expanding economic and political interests around the world, according to a China analyst.

“The Chinese military is being told to develop capabilities to deal with Chinese national interests beyond the pure defense of Chinese territory,” said David Finklestein, the Director of China Studies for CNA, a nonprofit research group that does analysis for the U.S. military and other clients. “China, with a global economy, now obviously has global political interests and clearly has expanding global security interests.”

Convictions upheld in China milk scandal

A court upheld the convictions of two milk producers in China’s tainted milk scandal, which killed at least six infants and sickened nearly 300,000 others, state-run media reported.

Suicide bomber kills 11 in Pakistan

Chen Shui-bian leaves the Taipei District Court for his corruption trial at Tucheng detention center on March 4.
A suicide blast in Pakistan’s violence-plagued tribal region killed 11 people Thursday, police said.

The trial is the first for a former head of state in Taiwan. Chen has denied wrongdoing and has said the charges are politically motivated. Prosecutors say Chen embezzled 600 million New Taiwan dollars (U.S.$17.7 million), took bribes, laundered money and illegally removed classified documents from the president’s office. Chen has countered that the bribe money was actually political donations. He has also said that a special presidential fund from which he is accused of embezzling does not clearly say what the money can and cannot be used for. Thirteen others, including Chen’s wife, son, daughter-in-law and brother-in-law, have been indicted in the case. Prosecutors said Chen’s son has a Swiss bank account with $22 million they believe to be illegal proceeds.

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The challenge for prosecutors is to prove that Chen handed out political favors in exchange for money. The former president has said he is being persecuted politically by his successor. Chen’s party favors independence for Taiwan. His successor, President Ma Ying-jeou, favors closer ties with mainland China.

Trial of Taiwanese ex-president begins

Chen Shui-bian leaves the Taipei District Court for his corruption trial at Tucheng detention center on March 4.
The corruption trial of former Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian began Thursday, a case that has gripped the island nation for months and one in which a conviction can bring life imprisonment.

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