Australian airline cancels more flights due to volcano ash

SYDNEY, April 19 (Xinhua) — Qantas has forced to cancel more flights to London as it continues to wait for ash from an Icelandic volcano that has closed airports across Europe to dissipate.

The Australian airline said on Monday it still did not know when services to Europe would resume.

Qantas has scrapped two flights to London scheduled for Wednesday, extending by one day a run of cancellations that began late last week.

\”Qantas will be doing everything to meet passenger needs once flights into Europe are able to resume,\” it said in a statement.

\”However, access to U.K. and European airports will be difficult due to the backlog of flights from around the world.

\”This situation would be likely to continue for some days.\”

Qantas inbound services from London and Frankfurt to its Asian hubs of Bangkok, Hong Kong and Singapore have also been canceled.

However, its services between Australia and Asia were still operating.

Millions of passengers across the world have been affected by the ash cloud that has been spreading from Iceland\’s Eyjafjoell volcano since last Wednesday.

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Thai red-shirts not to rally in Bangkok\’s financial area

BANGKOK, April 19 (Xinhua) — The anti-government red-shirt protesters will not extend their mass rally to Silom area, a business heartland in Thai capital Bangkok, a protest leader said Monday shortly after reports coming out that troops have been deployed in the area.

\”We are well aware that the government plans to use force against us if we move to Silom. We will stay at Rajprasong intersection until the House is dissolved,\” said red-shirt leader Weng Tohjirakarn.

Local media reported earlier hundreds of troops have been deployed in Silom, which is one of the most important financial districts in Bangkok with many bank headquarters, financial institutions and office buildings.

Five companies are stationed in front of the Bangkok Bank head office, where red-shirts had threatened Saturday to stage a mass rally.

Some of the troops are stationed near Lumpini Park and some on the Saladaeng station of the BTS train, The Nation newspaper said.

There\’s a moment of confrontation between troops and protesters staying at the Lumpini Park at around 4 am. The red-shirt protesters are said to have carried cooking gas cylinders with them.

The red-shirt protesters have been holding mass rallies since March 14 to press for the dissolution of the lower house of parliament and early elections. They deserted their main rally site at the Phan Fah Bridge recently in a bid to reinforce the Rajprasong base in Bangkok\’s commercial hub.

Related:

Thai \”yellow-shirts\” discussing political situation, action plan

Thai gov\’t to tighten security around \”red-shirt\” rally site

Thais in various-color shirts rally against early-house dissolution

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Meeting of Thai army commanders postponed

BANGKOK, April 19 (Xinhua) — Thai Amy chief Anupong Paochinda said Monday the meeting of high-ranking military commanders scheduled for the day was postponed to Friday.

Gen Witchaya Thephassadin na Ayuttaya, assistant army chief, told reporters that the meeting was put off as \”things are not ready\”. No further explanation was given.

The military meeting was set to be held at 13.00 p.m. in the Thai Army Headquarters in Bangkok.

Anupong, who was appointed new emergency operations command chief to replace Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, ordered on April 16 that military officers of the rank of major general and above should all attend the extraordinary meeting, believed to discuss ways out of the month-long standoff between the government and the anti-government red-shirt protesters.

Related:

Thai national Army Chief convenes military meeting amid on-going \”red-shirts\” rally

Thai army siege red-shirt leaders hideout

Grenade strikes Thai Army-run Channel 5 TV station

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Blast hits NATO oil truck in NW Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, April 19 (Xinhua) — An explosion hit a NATO oil truck on Monday morning in northwest Pakistan\’s Khyber tribal region bordering Afghanistan and casualties are expected, said local journalists.

The oil truck was destroyed in the rocket attack and two buses caught fire in the crowded Jamrud bazaar in Takhta Beg area of Khyber region.

The fire also engulfed nearby shops and rescue is underway, local sources said.

Taliban and other extremist groups frequently attack vehicles on the main NATO land supply route through Pakistan into Afghanistan.

The district is part of Pakistan\’s lawless tribal belt along the Afghan border seen as the most dangerous areas in the world.

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Sherpa Expedition to clear Mt. Qomolangma\’s Death Zone

KATHMANDU, April 19 (Xinhua) — A 31-member Sherpa expedition team is heading for Mountain Qomolangma with a mission to clear over 2,000 kg of garbage from the \”Death Zone\” located at above 8,000 meters elevation, local media reported on Monday.

According to The Kathmandu Post daily, the expedition aims to bring back the bodies of climbers that have been buried on Mt. Qomolangma for a long time.

\”Since the official opening of Everest (Qomolangma) to expeditions in 1952, more than 300 people have lost their lives on the mountain,\” Ang Tshering Sherpa, president of the Nepal Mountaineering Association, was quoted by the daily as saying.

Namgyal Sherpa, the leader of the clean-up team, said that the task would not be easy. He said that the expedition would be an extreme and challenging one.

The team plans to bring back five corpses and garbage left by mountaineers from the Death Zone.

The dead bodies slated for removal include that of Gianni Goltz, a Swiss mountaineer and a member of the Kari Kobler commercial expedition who died in Mt. Qomolangma in 2008, and that of Scott Tischer, an American mountaineer who died in the 1996 Qomolangma disaster on May 11.

The expedition, which is being conducted under the sponsorship of Nepali business organizations, has been termed the first of its kind in mountaineering history.

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Kyrgyz interim leader offers ousted president personal safet

BISHKEK, April 9 (Xinhua) — Kyrgyz interim leader Roza Otunbayeva on Friday offered ousted President Kurmanbek Bakiyev personal safety on the condition of his resignation, as the opposition-led government tries to restore order across the country.

\”We will guarantee his personal security if he steps down,\” Roza Otunbayeva said after meeting with an envoy to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

\”He wants to turn to courts, and we don\’t brush away this possibility,\” Otunbayeva was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

Meanwhile Otunbayeva excluded the possibility for talks on the issue.

\”The deaths of 75 people is the answer to all of his attempts to return. I can\’t say whether or not he will make a statement on resignation,\” she said.

Otunbayeva also said some governors in the southern part of the country were supportive of the new government.

Kyrgyz opposition parties on Thursday formed an interim coalition government, while Bakiyev refused to step down after clashes that left at least 76 people dead and more than 1,400 injured.

Another opposition leader, former defense minister Ismail Isakov, told reporters Thursday that all senior officials of the Bakiyev government have been banned from leaving the country.

On Friday, all major departments of the Kyrgyz government lowered their flags in mourning for victims of the unrest across the Central Asian country during the past few days.

Officials from the interim government said law and order has been restored with no more looting.

\”The situation in the capital city was under control by 01:00 a.m. on April 9 (0700 GMT) and streets were cleared of crowds of young rioters,\” according to the press service of the Kyrgyz Interior Ministry.

Meanwhile, public transportation resumed in Bishkek after Wednesday\’s unrest, Xinhua correspondents witnessed.

Flights resumed at the U.S. Manas air base on Friday after being halted during Wednesday\’s uprising.

The situation in the Central Asian country has raised global concerns, as several countries demanded a return to peace as soon as possible.

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Pakistan hails China\’s World Expo 2010

ISLAMABAD, April 30 (Xinhua) — Pakistani media and business community hailed World Expo 2010 which opened in China\’s industrial and financial hub Shanghai on Friday with 189 countries participating in the six-month event.

Almost all Pakistani TV channels have reported or broadcast live the opening ceremony.

TV \”Express 24/7\” described it as the biggest expo attracting millions of people around the world.

Pakistan\’s most viewed channel \”Geo TV\” said that \”the world\’s biggest expo is being inaugurated through this colorful ceremony full of Chinese culture.\”

\”The expo will last for six month with high level of security,\” Geo added.

Samaa TV has a special transmission with the headline on its website saying \”Shanghai opens Expo with dazzling display.\”

\”China officially opened its multi-billion-dollar Expo with a dazzling display of fireworks, lasers and dancing fountains, amid thousand of security personnel and electronic watch dogs,\” Samaa TV website said.

\”You may say that it might be a dream but China has materialized it,\” Malik Sohail, president of Businessman Association of Islamabad, told Xinhua.

A lot of viewers watched the World Expo opening ceremony throughout Pakistan.

\”This was the most beautiful and entertaining program after the opening ceremony of Beijing Olympics 2008,\” said Sohail Iqbal, a media person in Islamabad.

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Thai opposition party hails PM\’s reconciliation plan

BANGKOK, May 4 (Xinhua) — Thailand\’s main opposition party on Tuesday expressed its appreciation for a reconciliation roadmap raised by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva a day ago.

Puea Thai Party chairman Chavalit Yongchayudh fully praised the roadmap by Prime Minister Abhisit for reconciliation and an election date, saying the five-point roadmap was praiseworthy and the prime minister was right to have abandoned his position of using force against the protesters.

Chavalit made the remarks after presiding over a ceremony attended by Puea Thai members to mark the Coronation Day scheduled on May 5.

Prime Minister Abhisit said in a televised address on Monday night his government is ready to hold a new general election on Nov. 14 if the reconciliation process is accepted by all sides and the situation returns to normal.

It is the first time that Abhisit announced a clear date for a fresh election since the protesters, the \”red-shirts\” began holding a mass rally in Bangkok on March 12.

Chavalit said the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), also known as the red-shirts movement, also expressed satisfaction with the prime minister\’s proposal. \”A House dissolution, a general election and having the monarchy as the country\’s main institution are what everybody wants\”.

Meanwhile, the former prime minister said that he believed all parties, including Puea Thai, were ready for a general election.

Related:

Thai anti-gov\’t group not yet decided how to respond to PM\’s reconciliation roadmap

Nattawut Saikua (C), leader of Thailand\’s United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), speaks during a press conference in Bangkok May 4, 2010. The Thai anti-government protestors\’ group announced by mid-Tuesday that the group has not yet decided how to respond to the prime minister\’s reconciliation roadmap, the Thai News Agency reported. (Xinhua/Lui Siu Wai)

BANGKOK, May 4 (Xinhua) — The Thai anti-government protestor group announced by mid-Tuesday that the group has not yet decided how to respond to the Prime Minister\’s reconciliation roadmap, the Thai News Agency reported.Full story

Coalition partners welcome Thai PM\’s reconciliation plan

BANGKOK, May 4 (Xinhua) — Two coalition parties on Tuesday welcomed a reconciliation roadmap by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, leaders said.Full story

Thai senate speaker says PM\’s reconciliation plan to ease political tension

BANGKOK, May 4 (Xinhua) — Thailand\’s Senate Speaker Prasopsuk Boondej said Tuesday he believes a national reconciliation plan offered by the Prime Minister will help ease the political tension.Full story

Troops deployed in Bangkok\’s Silom region

BANGKOK, April 19 (Xinhua) — Hundreds of troops have been deployed on Monday morning on the streets of Silom region, one of Bangkok\’s business heartland, local media said.

The Nation newspaper reported that five companies have been deployed in front of the Bangkok Bank head office, where the red- shirt protesters had threatened on Saturday to make a new rally site.

Some of the troops are stationed nearby Lumpini Park and some on the Saladaeng station of the BTS train, the newspaper said.

The red-shirt protesters staying in the Lumpini Park are said to have carried cook gas cylinders with them.

The anti-government red-shirt protesters who have been holding mass rally since March 14 gave up their rally site at the Phan Fah Bridge in a bid to reinforce the Rajprasong intersection base in Bangkok\’s commercial hub.

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＂Red-shirts＂ block police from entering Bangkok

BANGKOK, April 25 (Xinhua) — Groups of Thailand\’s anti- government \”red-shirts\” protestors in the upper northeastern provinces on Sunday morning converged on Mitraphap road in Udon Thani province to stop 178 policemen from joining the security forces in Bangkok, according to local newspaper Bangkok post\’s website.

The 178 policemen from six police stations in Udon Thani were assigned to help the police in dealing with the mass anti- government rally of \”red-shirts\” in Bangkok\’s Ratchaprasong intersection — one of Bangkok\’s main shopping and business areas. The rally started on April 3.

Earlier, high-ranking police officials told the red-shirts that the 178 officers would be working in shifts with the police in the capital but the demonstrators refused to let them pass through.

The protestors also slashed tires of all police cars and criticised the actions of police and soldiers who were involved in the violent clashes on April 10.

The clashes between the red-shirts and authorities resulted in 25 deaths and more than 800 injuries.

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