Suu Kyi sowing unrest, chaos: Junta

Suu Kyi sowing unrest, chaos: Junta

MYANMAR: Myanmar's ruling military accused detained prodemocracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday of sowing chaos and squandering
chances to engage the government in talks on the country's
political future.

The comments, made in the third installment of a commentary
carried in all state-run press, said Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu
Kyi was detained after trying to stir up unrest while touring the
country.

"The real aim behind the trip was to confuse the political
situation all along the way, and to further inflame and confound
it to cause chaos," the commentary said.

Suu Kyi was arrested on May 30 following a clash between
supporters and pro-junta groups as she visited supporters outside
the capital, Yangon.

The government has so far refused to bow to international
pressure to release her.

Witnesses to the violence who fled to Thailand, say hundreds
of pro-government supporters set upon a convoy in which Suu Kyi
was traveling, killing dozens of people.

The junta denies the claims, blaming Suu Kyi for the clash in
which it says four people were killed. -- Reuters

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Laos says journalists to be freed soon
JP/11/ASEAN

Laos says journalists to be freed soon

LAOS: Laos' foreign ministry said for the first time on Monday
that three foreigners sentenced to 15-year jail terms could be
freed in the coming days.

"We are now in the process of negotiations between the
government and the countries concerned," said foreign ministry
spokesman Sodom Petrasy from Vientiane.

"I do not know when they will be released but it could be
today, tomorrow or the day after," he told AFP. "It will be very
quick."

Earlier on Monday, an American diplomat said the release of
French journalist Vincent Reynaud, Belgian freelance reporter
Thierry Falise and their U.S. interpreter Naw Karl Mua who were
arrested on June 4, could come soon, given the trend of
negotiations in Vientiane.

"Things are going very quickly. Talks are going well," the
diplomat in Laos said. "But we don't really know what it means,
if it will happen today, tomorrow or later."

They were sentenced to 15-year terms on June 30 for
"obstructing police and possessing illegal explosives". -- AFP

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Leftover grenade kills four kids
JP/11/ASEAN

Leftover grenade kills four kids

VIETNAM: Four young children were killed when a grenade they were
playing with exploded in their newly rented house in Vietnam's
central highlands, a local official said on Monday.

The children, Tran The Anh, 9, Vu Thuong Hoa, 11, Vu Thi Thu
Ha, 9 and Vu Quoc Huy, 7, died instantly when a grenade they
thought was a "toy dumb-bell" for morning exercise exploded on
Saturday, said Nguyen Tien Dung from the Dak Song district police
station.

"The children, three siblings and one cousin, were playing so
curiously with a round object with a string left in a corner of
their house when it went off," Dung said.

Police are investigating where the grenade came from and what
it was doing in the home. The family had just moved into the
house one day earlier after it was vacant for years, police said.

The children's mother heard the explosion while she was
cleaning another room and ran in to find the children dead.

Dung said it is the first time a grenade exploded in the area
and caused death, even though local people often find mortal
shells and grenades left over from the Vietnam War.

Vietnam has an estimated 350,000 unexploded bombs littering
its countryside and up to 3 million land mines left over from the
war, which ended in 1975. -- DPA