[One-Minute World News] from [BBC NEWS]
[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 12:15 GMT, Saturday, 19 September 2009 13:15 UK
Thailand rocked by rival protests
Thousands of troops were deployed in Thailand as rival political groups held separate protests, one of which turned violent.
Crowds of demonstrators turned out in Bangkok to mark the third anniversary of the coup which ousted controversial Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Far away on the border, an anti-Thaksin group clashed with police as it tried to enter a disputed border temple.
Several people were injured and one man was shot in the neck, an official said.
Security forces and local villagers had set up roadblocks to try to prevent the group entering the 11th century Preah Vihear site, the scene of deadly shootings between Cambodian and Thai troops in recent months.
Election call
In Bangkok, thousands of troops and police were ordered onto the streets ahead of the protest by Mr Thaksin's red-shirted supporters.
Mr Thaksin himself is in overseas exile, after being convicted in absentia of corruption.
He won elections in 2001 and 2005, swept to office by a wave of support from rural voters whose concerns he worked to address. After he was ousted, his allies won the first post-coup elections in 2007.
But protests - including a blockade of Bangkok's two international airports - by those who opposed him, the yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), forced that government from office, allowing the party they backed to form a coalition.
The red camp want fresh elections and a pardon for Mr Thaksin. Their last rally, in April, ended in violence, with several buses burned and dozens of people injured.
By early evening, several thousand demonstrators had joined the protests, police said.
"This will be a peaceful protest and will end by midnight if the government does not use violence," Red Shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan said.
Temple tensions
The yellow camp, meanwhile, battled riot police and local villagers near Preah Vihear, the temple complex at the heart of a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.
An international court awarded the temple area to Cambodia in 1962, but disputes over land surrounding it have never been resolved.
The PAD says the government must eject Cambodian troops from what they perceive as Thai territory.
About 4,000 PAD supporters had joined the protest, reports said, and had broken through barricades to reach the foot of the temple.
Both Thailand and Cambodia deployed troops there last year after the temple was awarded Unesco World Heritage status, raising nationalist sentiment on either side.
Since then there have been several deadly exchanges of fire across the border.
[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 02:17 GMT, Saturday, 19 September 2009 03:17 UK
Earthquake strikes off Bali coast
An earthquake off the Indonesian holiday island of Bali has sent people running from their homes in panic.
At least seven people have been injured - some were hurt jumping from buildings while others had been hit by falling debris, an official said.
The quake - measuring 5.8 according to the US Geological Survey - struck at dawn 75km (45 miles) south of Denpasar.
No tsunami warning was issued and there were few reports of serious material damage, local officials said.
{ I heard a loud growling, then the entire house shook... the water in the swimming pool was making waves
Bhagawati Morriss,
Denpasar, Indonesia}
"I was frightened because it was strong," Dutch tourist Ernst Raynaldo was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
"I ran out immediately as I saw many others rushing into the swimming pool," the closest open space.
"When the quake happened I was in a market and some people started shouting and running out of the market building, leaving their belongings behind," Putu Suartana, a resident in Singaraja in Bali, was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
The roof of a shopping centre in Denpasar collapsed.
Two weeks ago, an earthquake on the main Indonesian island of Java left at least 50 dead.
In December 2004, an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people around Asia.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the most active areas for earthquakes and volcanic activity in the world.
[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 07:36 GMT, Saturday, 19 September 2009 08:36 UK
Indonesia militant confirmed dead
DNA tests have proven beyond doubt that Indonesia's most-wanted Islamist militant Noordin Mohamed Top is dead, police say.
The man wanted for a series of deadly attacks across the archipelago was among four killed in a raid on Thursday near Solo city in central Java.
After the raid, police had immediately identified Malaysian-born Noordin using fingerprint records.
On Saturday they said "the DNA also matches 100%".
National police spokesman Nanan Soekarna told a news conference:
"There is no doubt that he's Noordin M Top."
It is not the first time Indonesian officials have claimed Noordin is dead.
In another raid in central Java in August police had initially thought they had killed the militant, only to have forensic tests prove them wrong days later.
{ NOORDIN MOHAMED TOP
> Born in Malaysia, fled to Indonesia after 9/11
> Wanted over bombings on Bali in 2005 and other attacks
> Said to have split from Jemaah Islamiah and set up new group
> Main accomplice Azahari Husin killed by police in 2005
> Escaped police raid in 2006 and continues to evade capture}
Police said they are planning to send Noordin's body back to Malaysia as soon as possible and it would not be necessary for his family to come to Indonesia.
Noordin, 41, is believed to have been a key financier of the regional Jemaah Islamiah terror group before setting up his own more hardline splinter faction.
He is not thought to have been behind the 2002 bombings on Bali, but was allegedly involved in the blasts on the holiday island in 2005.
He was also blamed for a 2003 attack on the Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people, and the 2004 Australian embassy bombing in the Indonesian capital.
A lull ended in July with twin suicide bomb attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta that killed nine people and injured scores of others.
On raids in Cilacap, central Java, in July, police said they found bomb-making material at an Islamic boarding school, and explosives buried in the garden of a house of Noordin's father-in-law.
Regional leaders have welcomed Noordin's death and said it could help undermine militant groups in South East Asia.
"This is a very significant result,"Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Friday.
"This man has been a mass murderer. He's been responsible for the murder of Australians," he added.
The Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also congratulated Indonesia.
[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 12:15 GMT, Saturday, 19 September 2009 13:15 UK
Thailand rocked by rival protests
Thousands of troops were deployed in Thailand as rival political groups held separate protests, one of which turned violent.
Crowds of demonstrators turned out in Bangkok to mark the third anniversary of the coup which ousted controversial Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Far away on the border, an anti-Thaksin group clashed with police as it tried to enter a disputed border temple.
Several people were injured and one man was shot in the neck, an official said.
Security forces and local villagers had set up roadblocks to try to prevent the group entering the 11th century Preah Vihear site, the scene of deadly shootings between Cambodian and Thai troops in recent months.
Election call
In Bangkok, thousands of troops and police were ordered onto the streets ahead of the protest by Mr Thaksin's red-shirted supporters.
Mr Thaksin himself is in overseas exile, after being convicted in absentia of corruption.
He won elections in 2001 and 2005, swept to office by a wave of support from rural voters whose concerns he worked to address. After he was ousted, his allies won the first post-coup elections in 2007.
But protests - including a blockade of Bangkok's two international airports - by those who opposed him, the yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), forced that government from office, allowing the party they backed to form a coalition.
The red camp want fresh elections and a pardon for Mr Thaksin. Their last rally, in April, ended in violence, with several buses burned and dozens of people injured.
By early evening, several thousand demonstrators had joined the protests, police said.
"This will be a peaceful protest and will end by midnight if the government does not use violence," Red Shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan said.
Temple tensions
The yellow camp, meanwhile, battled riot police and local villagers near Preah Vihear, the temple complex at the heart of a border dispute between Thailand and Cambodia.
An international court awarded the temple area to Cambodia in 1962, but disputes over land surrounding it have never been resolved.
The PAD says the government must eject Cambodian troops from what they perceive as Thai territory.
About 4,000 PAD supporters had joined the protest, reports said, and had broken through barricades to reach the foot of the temple.
Both Thailand and Cambodia deployed troops there last year after the temple was awarded Unesco World Heritage status, raising nationalist sentiment on either side.
Since then there have been several deadly exchanges of fire across the border.
[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 02:17 GMT, Saturday, 19 September 2009 03:17 UK
Earthquake strikes off Bali coast
An earthquake off the Indonesian holiday island of Bali has sent people running from their homes in panic.
At least seven people have been injured - some were hurt jumping from buildings while others had been hit by falling debris, an official said.
The quake - measuring 5.8 according to the US Geological Survey - struck at dawn 75km (45 miles) south of Denpasar.
No tsunami warning was issued and there were few reports of serious material damage, local officials said.
{ I heard a loud growling, then the entire house shook... the water in the swimming pool was making waves
Bhagawati Morriss,
Denpasar, Indonesia}
"I was frightened because it was strong," Dutch tourist Ernst Raynaldo was quoted as saying by the Associated Press.
"I ran out immediately as I saw many others rushing into the swimming pool," the closest open space.
"When the quake happened I was in a market and some people started shouting and running out of the market building, leaving their belongings behind," Putu Suartana, a resident in Singaraja in Bali, was quoted as saying by Reuters news agency.
The roof of a shopping centre in Denpasar collapsed.
Two weeks ago, an earthquake on the main Indonesian island of Java left at least 50 dead.
In December 2004, an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra in Indonesia triggered a tsunami that killed more than 200,000 people around Asia.
Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the most active areas for earthquakes and volcanic activity in the world.
[Asia-Pacific]
Page last updated at 07:36 GMT, Saturday, 19 September 2009 08:36 UK
Indonesia militant confirmed dead
DNA tests have proven beyond doubt that Indonesia's most-wanted Islamist militant Noordin Mohamed Top is dead, police say.
The man wanted for a series of deadly attacks across the archipelago was among four killed in a raid on Thursday near Solo city in central Java.
After the raid, police had immediately identified Malaysian-born Noordin using fingerprint records.
On Saturday they said "the DNA also matches 100%".
National police spokesman Nanan Soekarna told a news conference:
"There is no doubt that he's Noordin M Top."
It is not the first time Indonesian officials have claimed Noordin is dead.
In another raid in central Java in August police had initially thought they had killed the militant, only to have forensic tests prove them wrong days later.
{ NOORDIN MOHAMED TOP
> Born in Malaysia, fled to Indonesia after 9/11
> Wanted over bombings on Bali in 2005 and other attacks
> Said to have split from Jemaah Islamiah and set up new group
> Main accomplice Azahari Husin killed by police in 2005
> Escaped police raid in 2006 and continues to evade capture}
Police said they are planning to send Noordin's body back to Malaysia as soon as possible and it would not be necessary for his family to come to Indonesia.
Noordin, 41, is believed to have been a key financier of the regional Jemaah Islamiah terror group before setting up his own more hardline splinter faction.
He is not thought to have been behind the 2002 bombings on Bali, but was allegedly involved in the blasts on the holiday island in 2005.
He was also blamed for a 2003 attack on the Marriott hotel in Jakarta that killed 12 people, and the 2004 Australian embassy bombing in the Indonesian capital.
A lull ended in July with twin suicide bomb attacks on the JW Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta that killed nine people and injured scores of others.
On raids in Cilacap, central Java, in July, police said they found bomb-making material at an Islamic boarding school, and explosives buried in the garden of a house of Noordin's father-in-law.
Regional leaders have welcomed Noordin's death and said it could help undermine militant groups in South East Asia.
"This is a very significant result,"Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Friday.
"This man has been a mass murderer. He's been responsible for the murder of Australians," he added.
The Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak and Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also congratulated Indonesia.
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