 Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has dismissed calls for him to step down, after thousands of demonstrators held another anti-government rally. "I will not resign, because [it] will not resolve anything," Mr Thaksin said. At least 50,000 protesters marched to Bangkok's Government House on Sunday, chanting "Thaksin out!". This is the latest in a series of rallies accusing Mr Thaksin of abuse of power. He has called a snap election in April to try to regain authority. But the main opposition Democrat Party and two other parties have said they will boycott the poll. Analysts say that the absence of a serious alternative to Mr Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party seriously threatens the election's legitimacy. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk
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Editor - 10:00:00 03-06-06
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 Poland in first bird flu outbreak |
Poland has confirmed its first case of the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus, in two wild swans. Officials at Poland's national laboratory said they had identified the virus in birds found near a river in the northern city of Torun. Poland has imposed emergency measures near the site to fight the outbreak. Authorities in the country had been on the lookout for bird flu after outbreaks of H5N1 were reported across Europe in recent weeks. In neighbouring Austria, officials say they have detected the potentially lethal strain in several live cats. An official in the southern state of Styria said two or three cats had tested positive for H5N1. It follows the discovery of H5N1 in a dead cat in Germany last week. ...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4777832.stm
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Editor - 09:56:00 03-06-06
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| IAEA Chief: Iran Nuke Deal Possible |
The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency expressed cautious optimism Monday on the chances of reaching an international agreement to defuse concerns about Iran's nuclear activities and make U.N. Security Council action unnecessary. The International Atomic Energy Agency's 35-member board was not likely to discuss the Iran issue until Tuesday or Wednesday. But delegates said that whatever step the council might take would stop far short of sanctions. But as the board meeting opened, IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei suggested the council might not need to get involved. "I am still very much hopeful that in the next week an agreement could be reached," ElBaradei told reporters, alluding to talks between Moscow and Tehran aimed at moving Iran's enrichment program to Russia and possible further contacts between Iran and Europe. ...
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/03/06/world/main1371661.shtml?CMP=OTC-RSSFeed&source=RSS&attr=World_1371661
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Editor - 09:51:00 03-06-06
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| '14,000 detained without trial in Iraq' |
US & UK forces in Iraq have detained thousands of people without charge or trial for long periods & there is growing evidence of Iraqi security forces torturing detainees, Amnesty International said today. In a new report published today, the human rights group criticised the US-led multinational force for interning some 14,000 people. Around 3,800 people have been held for over a year, while another 200 have been detained for more than 2 years, the report - Beyond Abu Ghraib: detention & torture in Iraq - said. "It is a dangerous precedent for the world that the US & UK think it completely defensible to hold thousands of people without charge or trial," Amnesty spokesman Neil Durkin said. The detainee situation in Iraq was comparable to Guantánamo Bay, he added, but on a much larger scale, & the detentions appeared to be "arbitrary & indefinite". "It sends a very worrying message to the people of Iraq that the multinational force does not think normal human rights standards apply," ...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,1724837,00.html
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Editor - 09:47:00 03-06-06
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| 'The boys held each other and prayed' Smokestack worker missing, others saved in dramatic rescue |
The father of a power plant worker plucked off a burning 100-story smokestack says his son complained about safety issues only days before fire erupted at the facility.Workers were installing a fiberglass lining inside the power plant's stack when the fire broke out Saturday. Three workers were trapped and a fourth was missing and presumed dead.David Earley II, one of the rescued workers, had complained that a hoist used to lift materials and workers had no brakes and was held aloft only by its gears, his father, David Earley, told The Associated Press."There needs to be a safe alternative to get people down," the elder Earley said Sunday night about American Electric Power's Kammer-Mitchell plant. "My son asked for that."...
http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/03/06/powerplant.fire.ap/index.html?section=cnn_us
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Editor - 09:40:00 03-06-06
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| 'Zuma treated me as a daughter, then he raped me' |
Jacob Zuma, once a prime contender to become South Africa's next president, today admitted having sex with the HIV-positive Aids activist who accuses him of rape. On the first day of his trial at Johannesburg High Court, Mr Zuma claimed that he was the victim of a smear campaign and that the 31-year-old woman, a close family friend, had made similar false allegations in the past.In a statement read to the court, Mr Zuma said that he and the woman had "intercourse which lasted for some time and was consensual." He added: "She had a cellphone which she could have used and she could have left the place at any time."Mr Zuma has vowed to defend the rape charge which, if proved, is widely expected to spell the end of his long political career. ...
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2072406,00.html
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Editor - 09:30:00 03-06-06
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