Wednesday, April 7, 2010

FP morning post 4/7











Bangkok under state of emergency after protesters storm parliament


Top Story: Thai Prime Minsiter Abhisit Vejjajjiva declared a state of emergency after anti-government protesters broke into the parliament building forcing lawmakers to escape by helicopter or by scaling down the buildings walls. The military has been granted extensive powers to control the growing unrest.

The so-called "red-shirt" protesters -- supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra -- want Abhisit to call new elections and have occupied central Bankok for weeks, holding mass demonstrations and participating in sometimes outrageous publicity stunt like splashing gallons of their own blood on government buildings.

Abhisit, who has come under fire for his inability to quell the unrest, addressed the nation with a televised statement on Tuesday, saying, "The Cabinet has decided to declare state of emergency in Bangkok and nearby provinces Our goal is to restore normalcy."

The state of emergency gives the military authorization to suspend certain civil liberties if necessary and allows to to ban public gatherings of more than five people.

Nukes: The Obama adminsitration released its long-awaited Nuclear Posture Review, which limits the situations in which the United States can use nuclear weapons.

 
Asia
Middle East
Europe
  • Spanish judge Baltasar Garzon -- famous for indicting Augusto Pinochet -- has been charged with abuse of power.
  • Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin will join Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk for the first joint commemoration of the 1940 massacre of Polish troops by the Soviet Union at Katyn.
  • New figures show that the Eurozone economy failed to grow at all during the last quarter of 2009.
Americas
  • Heavy rains and mudslides have killed nearly 100 people around Rio de Janeiro.
  • The Pentagon will resume military commissions trials at the war court in Guantanamo Bay.
  • Venezuela arrested eight alleged Colombian spies.
Africa
  • Acting President Goodluck Jonathan fired the head of Nigeria's state-run oil company.
  • Sudan's main opposition party has extended its boycott of this month's elections.
  • South African governing ANC party has asked its members not to sing "polarizing songs" at rallies.
 
-By Joshua Keating
http://link.email.foreignpolicy.com/r/FXXW46D/JSOU/54BH/A1G4/6VVT8/4O/h

STR/AFP/Getty Images

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