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news without borders
Strong earthquake
jolts Sumatra,
no injuries or damage
JAKARTA: A strong earthquake struck off
the western coast of the Indonesian island of
Sumatra late Saturday. There were no immedi-
ate reports of injury and structural damage,
seismologists said.
The quake, measuring 6.7 on the Richter
scale, jolted Sumatra’s Bengkulu province at
11:01pm (12.01am Sunday in Malaysia). Its
epicentre lay about 142km south-west, the
National Meteorology and Geophysics Agency
(BMG) said, about 23km beneath the seabed in
the Indian Ocean.
The US Geological Survey put the quake’s
magnitude at 6.8 on the Richter scale.
Officials said there were no immediate
reports of casualties or damage following the
quake, which was followed by a 6.3-magnitude
aftershock about 10 minutes later.
It was the latest of series of earthquakes to
jolt Indonesia in recent days.
On Monday, a powerful 7.7-magnitude un-
dersea earthquake struck off Indonesia’s North
Sulawesi province, killing at least seven people,
injuring more than 150 others and damaging
hundreds of homes.
Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due
to its location on the Pacific’s so-called “Ring of
Fire,” an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling
the Pacific Basin.
A major earthquake and subsequent tsunami
struck in December 2004, leaving more than
170,000 people dead or missing in Indonesia’s
Aceh province and around 500,000 homeless.
– dpa
theSun
EPAPIX
Anti-
government
protesters
wave hand-
clappers and
shout slogans
during a
demonstration
inside the
occupied
Government
House in
Bangkok,
yesterday.
Thai protesters begin
‘final battle’ against govt
BANGKOK: Thousands of anti-
government protesters rallied
in central Bangkok yesterday,
the start of what they call the
“final battle” in a five-month
street campaign to oust the
administration.
“I fear nothing. We will
not bow our heads to the
dark power destroying our
country,” said Cat, a 48-year-old
businesswoman, among the
thousands of protesters waving
placards and shouting “fight,
fight” inside the Government
House compound they have
occupied since late August.
The crowd led by the
People’s Alliance for Democracy
(PAD) were planning to march
to parliament early today,
where police have erected
barricades and stationed trucks
with water cannons.
A similar protest in October
left two people dead and
hundreds wounded, including
scores of police, when police
fired tear gas to break up
the rally aimed at disrupting
parliament.
Thai television showed
images of police manning
briefs
Gigolo, 22, jailed for
blackmailing lover
HONGKONG: A 22-year-old Chinese
gigolo who tried to blackmail his
wealthy married Hongkong lover
with a video of them having sex be-
gan serving a two-year jail sentence
Saturday. Peng Jun threatened to
expose the affair using a secretly
filmed video unless the 50-year-
old woman gave him HK$1 million
(RM464,400).
Peng, from Hunan province, met
the woman in 2007 at a nightclub
in Shenzhen, the southern Chinese
border city where Hongkongers
regularly go for entertainment and
affairs. At a hearing on Friday, Peng
was sentenced to jail for two years
after pleading guilty to blackmail at
Hongkong’s District Court. – dpa
| MONDAY NOVEMBER 24 2008
steel barricades outside the
parliament building and
firetrucks parked nearby, while
officials said they would try to
handle the protest peacefully
but were ready to call in the
military.
“Force will not be used if it is
not necessary,” deputy national
police spokesman Surapol
Tuanthong told reporters.
“Police will also ask the army
for assistance if police do not
have enough man power.”
On Thursday, one protester
was killed and 29 wounded
when a rocket-propelled
grenade exploded in the middle
of the Bangkok protest site,
while on Saturday eight people
were injured by a similar bomb.
This time, police have been
ordered not to use tear gas or
other “weapons” and only carry
shields, government spokesman
Nattawut Saikuar said after a
meeting of security ministers.
Prime Minister Somchai
Wongsawat, whom the PAD
accuse of being the puppet of
exiled former leader Thaksin
Shinawatra, his brother-in-law,
assigned army chief Anupong
Paochinda to monitor the
protests while he attends an
Asia-Pacific summit in Peru.
Major bloodshed would raise
the chances of a military coup
only two years after the army’s
removal of Thaksin, who now
lives in exile after skipping bail
on corruption charges.
The PAD enjoy the backing
of Bangkok’s urban middle
classes and elite, including
Queen Sirikit, while Thaksin
and the government claim their
support from the rural voters
that returned a pro-Thaksin
party in a December election.
The PAD is calling the
march “its final battle” to oust
the government, which it
blames for Thursday’s grenade
attack.
On the outskirts of Bangkok,
thousands of red-shirted
government supporters rallied
in a Buddhist temple yesterday
to show their support for
Somchai.
Raising the pressure on
Somchai, public sector unions
have also called a nationwide
strike for tomorrow unless he
stands aside.
Government decision-
making has ground to a halt,
intensifying fears about the
export-driven economy’s ability
to withstand a global recession.
Some foreign firms are already
cutting back. Even if today
passes off peacefully, tensions
are likely to remain high with
Thaksin set to address a rally
next month. – Agencies
28 years jail for dad
who raped teenager
SINGAPORE: A father was sen-
tenced to 28 years in jail and 28
strokes of the cane for raping
his teenage daughter 23 times,
a newspaper reported on Satur-
day. “As her father, you should
have protected her,” High Court
Judge Woo Bih Li was quoted by
the Straits Times as telling the 39-
year-old. “Instead, you engaged
in a campaign of sexual abuse
against her.” – dpa
Aussie rescuers save
11 stranded whales
SYDNEY: Australian wildlife rescu-
ers yesterday said they successfully
returned a small number of pilot
whales to the ocean after a mass
stranding in Tasmania. Chris Arthur,
who coordinated the rescue effort,
said 11 of the 64 animals found
stranded on the island’s north coast
were released. – Reuters