News Briefs (August - September 2007)

Monday, September 10, 2007

Earthquake Tremors Rock E Indonesian Town

A pair of moderate earthquakes rocked an eastern Indonesian town early Monday, damaging buildings and causing panicked residents to flee their homes, an official and witnesses said. There were some reports of injuries. The temblors with preliminary magnitudes of 4.5 and 4.9 struck Situbondo, 800 kilometers (600 miles) east of Jakarta, said Suhardjono, a meteorologist at the government's Meteorology and Geophysics Agency. At least 13 people were admitted to a clinic with broken bones and other injuries, said Rustam Pakaya, a paramedic. Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called Pacific "Ring of Fire," an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. (AP)

Malaysia Declares Itself Free of Bird Flu

Malaysia declared itself free of bird flu Monday, more than three months after an outbreak among poultry led authorities to slaughter over 4,000 chickens and ducks. Agriculture Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said surveillance and laboratory tests since June have fulfilled conditions set by the World Organization for Animal Health, or OIE, to declare the country free of the virulent H5N1 bird flu virus.

Malaysia on June 5 confirmed its first bird flu outbreak in more than a year after tests on some 60 birds that died in Sungai Buloh, near the country's commercial capital, Kuala Lumpur, showed they had the H5N1 virus. Several villagers with flu-like symptoms were hospitalized, but they tested negative for bird flu. Before the last incident, Malaysia had reported an outbreak of the H5N1 strain in March 2006 in chickens in a northern village. The government had previously declared the country free of bird flu in June 2006. (AP)

Graft Investigator Shot Dead in Philippines

Motorcycle-riding gunmen on Monday shot dead an attorney who investigated government graft cases, prompting Philippine officials to order a swift probe. Graft investigator and prosecutor Alejo Dojillo, 43, was killed in his northern hometown of San Fabian while on his way to catch a bus to the Office of the Ombudsman in Manila where he worked, police said. Ombudsman Merceditas Gutierrez, the head anti-graft investigator, ordered the National Bureau of Investigation to conduct a thorough hunt for the killers, vowing to "exert all efforts to bring justice to attorney Dojillo's death."

Chief Inspector Chito Sancho Esmenda, the police chief of San Fabian, 180 kilometers (110 miles) north of Manila, said investigators were studying the possibility that Dojillo's killing was linked to graft cases he had investigated or to his family's involvement in politics. A senior World Bank official earlier this month urged the Philippines to strengthen its fight against corruption, which remains a major hindrance to foreign investment. A recent World Bank report ranked the Philippines 126th out of 175 countries in terms of investor friendliness. (AP)

Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Hundreds Flee Thailand Hotel Fire

A hotel caught fire in downtown Bangkok on Wednesday, injuring 16 people and forcing hundreds of guests to evacuate. The blaze broke out shortly after midnight in a second-floor room at the Mandarin Hotel, said police Lt-Col Chakarin Panthong. Sixteen people—all foreign tourists—suffered smoke inhalation and were admitted to hospital, he said. About 400 other guests were evacuated safely. Police were investigating the cause of the fire, but initial investigations showed a short-circuit in the 30-year-old hotel was responsible. (AP)

Thaksin 'Unlikely to Return to Thailand in Near Future'

Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is unlikely to return to Thailand in the near future because he fears for his safety, his public relations representatives said. A day after a Thai court issued a new set of arrest warrants for him and his wife, the Bell Pottinger Group public relations company said the exiled former leader was innocent of any crime. "This is another politically motivated attack on the reputation of Dr Thaksin and his family," the company said in the e-mail statement on Tuesday. "Dr Thaksin maintains his innocence and states that he is unlikely to be able to return to Thailand in the short term because of personal safety issues, his desire not be a cause of division in Thai society and the unlikelihood of a fair trial." Thaksin, who has been living abroad since he was ousted in a bloodless coup almost a year ago, is being sought by Thai authorities for allegedly violating stock-trading laws and on corruption-related charges.
Thaksin has always denied the allegations.