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
;AFP;ANJ; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Laos-journalist 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
;DPA;ANJ; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Vietnam-Explosion 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