THAILAND
Deadly violence throws vote into question
Thailand’s election commission on Thursday called for upcoming polls to be delayed as street battles between security forces and protesters seeking to disrupt the balloting killed a police officer and injured nearly 100 people.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s government wants the Feb. 2 polls to take place as scheduled, believing she would win handily and renew her mandate. The street violence adds to pressure on her to take a tougher line against the protesters, who are trying to force her from office.
The hours-long unrest took place outside a Bangkok sports stadium where election candidates were gathering to draw lots for their positions on ballots. Four election commissioners left the stadium by helicopter to escape the violence, some of the sharpest since a long-running dispute between Thailand’s bitterly divided political factions flared anew two months ago..
The protest movement regards the Yingluck administration as corrupt, illegitimate and a proxy for her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled by a 2006 military coup. It is demanding that the elections be delayed until Yingluck leaves office and reforms are implemented.
SOUTH SUDAN
Fighting rages as leaders talk peace
African leaders tried Thursday to advance peace talks between South Sudan’s president and political rivals he accuses of attempting a coup to topple the government of the world’s newest country.
As fighting persisted in parts of South Sudan’s oil-producing region, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn had “a constructive dialogue” with South Sudanese President Salva Kiir, according to Kiir’s foreign minister. But Riek Machar, the fugitive former deputy president who now leads renegade troops, was not represented, and no political breakthrough emerged.
The next round of meetings will be held in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, where regional leaders under a bloc known as IGAD are to meet today to discuss a report from Thursday’s meeting, South Sudanese Foreign Minister Barnaba Marial Benjamin said. Kiir agreed “in principle” to stop hostilities and to negotiate with Machar.
The fighting has provoked fears of a civil war in South Sudan, which broke away from Sudan in 2011 following a 2005 peace deal.
EGYPT
Roundup comes as bomb rocks capital
Egypt’s security authorities on Thursday arrested members of the Muslim Brotherhood and warned that any holding leadership posts could face the death penalty after the group was officially declared a terrorist organization.
The announcement came as a bomb exploded in a busy intersection in Cairo, hitting a bus and wounding five people. Though small, the blast raised fears that a campaign of violence by Islamic militants against police and the military could turn to civilians in retaliation for the crackdown.
The labeling of the Brotherhood as a terrorist group — an unprecedented step even during past decades when the group was banned — takes to a new level the government’s moves to crush it following the removal of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi in July.
ISRAEL
Increased attacks bring fears of new uprising
A spate of violent Palestinian attacks in recent weeks is raising concerns that Israel may be on the verge of a new type of Palestinian uprising.
After years of relative quiet, Israel’s Shin Bet security service has reported a steady rise in attacks since Israeli and Palestinian negotiators resumed peace talks in July.
The past few days have been particularly dramatic. On Sunday, a pipe bomb believed to be planted by Palestinian militants exploded on a bus in central Israel in the most serious attack inside Israel in more than a year. The next day, an Israeli policeman was stabbed outside a West Bank settlement and on Tuesday an Israeli civilian was killed by a Palestinian sniper in a cross-border shooting from Gaza, sparking a series of Israeli airstrikes that killed a Palestinian girl.
Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon said the incidents in the West Bank and Gaza Strip — which are ruled by rival Palestinian governments — were unrelated. But he promised that Israel would respond nonetheless.
IRAQ
U.S. missiles to aid fight against militants
The U.S. has sent Hellfire air-to-ground missiles to the Iraq’s air forces, which is using them in an ongoing campaign against the country’s branch of al-Qaida, officials in Washington and Baghdad said Thursday.
Two intelligence officers and a military officer said that 75 Hellfire air-to-ground missiles arrived on Dec. 19 and more will be shipped in the future. They said the missiles were used to destroy four militant camps near the Syria border.
Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said the United States is also planning to send ScanEagle drones.
Iraq launched its operation following the weekend killing of a senior military commander, a colonel and five soldiers in an ambush.
Al-Qaida is believed to have made use of the war in Syria to rebuild its organization in Iraq, shuttling hard-line fighters between the two countries. According to U.N. estimates, more than 8,000 people have been killed since the start of the year in Iraq.
About the Author
