Word: thailand
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...three people and injuring dozens, including several foreign tourists. The explosions-no one so far has claimed responsibility-capped off a turbulent year for the Southeast Asian nation. In September, the country's democratically elected Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was ousted by a military junta. Then, on Dec. 19, Thailand's stock exchange suffered its worst-ever one-day drop after the nation's monetary czars instituted controversial capital controls. Meanwhile, an insurgent movement in the country's largely Muslim south has ratcheted up its bloody campaign, setting off near daily bombings in Thailand's three southernmost provinces...
...Year's Day, Bangkok was swirling with rumors about the possible masterminds behind the crude but deadly attacks. Initial suspicion centered on Muslim insurgents, who have terrorized Thailand's south with unrelenting small explosions that have claimed nearly 2,000 lives over the past three years. But the insurgents, some of whom are fighting for a separatist homeland for the country's minority Muslims, have never brought their bombing campaign out of Thailand's south. At a press conference on Monday afternoon, interim Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont specifically discounted speculation that the terror attacks were planned by Muslim extremists, instead...
...rest on forces tied to ousted Prime Minister Thaksin. Although less popular among the urban and middle-class electorate, Thaksin swept into office with a record-high vote, largely thanks to support from the country's rural north. Since the September coup, more than a dozen public schools in Thailand's northeast have been torched; the military junta has used such acts of violence, which they link to Thaksin supporters, as justification for keeping parts of the nation under martial law. Thaksin is currently in exile in China, as the interim government investigates whether corruption charges can be brought against...
...last two days, the story has been much the same for individuals and businesses from Thailand to Japan following the magnitude 6.7 quake, which killed two people, damaged six key undersea cables off the coast of Taiwan and threw parts of the global telecommunications infrastructure into chaos. Asian businesses were left without email, Internet service and in some cases telephone connections to the outside world. Financial markets were interrupted. Even those who found they could reach some websites experienced download speeds reminiscent of antiquated dial-up service. Communications were returning to normal on Thursday, but network problems could persist...
...plan's thorniest issues center around the Thai government's promises to set up an independent tribunal to try army officers for alleged human rights violations and to grant amnesty to all insurgents. It's those conditions that Thailand's new military rulers are accused of dragging their feet on. "We believe the Thai government is not prepared to get high-ranking army officers who committed violence and human rights abuses against Malay Muslims to face trial," says the Malaysian negotiator. Until the government returns to the negotiating table, a solution to the south's problems could be a long...