NOKOR - NUCLEAR: A South Korean news agency is reporting that North Korea has test-fired
two more short-range missiles, even as international condemnation of
its Monday test of a nuclear bomb grows.
The Tuesday report by South Korea's Yonhap news agency cites unnamed
government sources who say the missiles were fired from an east coast
launch pad.
North Korea test-fired three missiles Monday shortly after setting off
an underground nuclear device.
Late Monday, an emergency session of the 15-member United Nations
Security Council (including the United States, Russia and China)
unanimously condemned the nuclear test.
BURMA - SUU KYI: Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has denied charges that she violated the terms of her house arrest by permitting an American intruder to stay at her home earlier this month. The Nobel Peace laureate asserted her innocence Tuesday during testimony at the trial at Insein prison in Rangoon, where she has been held since her arrest earlier this month. Aung San Suu Kyi told the court one of her live-in caretakers told her that John Yettaw had arrived at her home after swimming across a lake in the early morning hours of May 4. She testified that she gave Yettaw "temporary shelter" until he left before midnight the next day.
THAILAND POL: The protesters who played a major role in bringing down Thailand's
former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the government that
succeeded him say they will become a formal political party.
Members of the People's Alliance for Democracy are known as the "yellow
shirts" for their trademark, pro-royalist garb. They cheered when the
group's leaders announced the political-party decision at a meeting in
Bangkok on Monday.
The People's Alliance for Democracy organized anti-Thaksin street
protests before the coup in 2006 that toppled the former government
chief.
ISARAEL - US: Israeli media say Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to dismantle Jewish settlement outposts in the occupied West Bank, if the United States will back Israel's stance on Iran. Media reports say Mr. Netanyahu told members of his Likud Party Monday that he would take what he called the "unpopular step" of removing unauthorized outposts because he feels that stopping the Iranian threat is Israel's "top priority." But he said existing, government-sanctioned settlements must be allowed to expand for (what he called) the "natural growth" of their population.
PAKISTAN: Human Rights Watch says severe shortages of food, water and medicine
are creating a major humanitarian crisis for the hundreds of thousands
of civilians trapped in northwestern Pakistan.
The group's Asia director, Brad Adams, urged the Pakistani military to
immediately lift a curfew that has been in place in the Swat valley and
surrounding areas for the past week.
He said the civilians in the conflict zone face a "humanitarian
catastrophe" unless Islamabad lifts the curfew and takes all possible
measures, including airlifting supplies, to quickly alleviate
large-scale human suffering.
INDIA - BANGLADESH - CYCLONE: A cyclone that slammed into coastal areas of northeastern India and Bangladesh has killed at least 100 people since Monday.
Cyclone Aila's winds and rain triggered tidal surges that caused
widespread flooding. Authorities in India say at least 35 people died
in West Bengal state.
Some victims drowned while others were killed in house collapses or by
falling trees. Rivers burst through mud embankments in West Bengal's
Sundarbans Tiger Reserve, home to one of the world's largest
populations of tigers as well as thousands of people.
FRANCE - UAE: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has formally opened his country's first military base in the Persian Gulf region. Mr. Sarkozy watched the French and United Arab Emirates flags rise Tuesday at the new naval base located near Abu Dhabi. The base, which will host up to 500 French troops, is France's first major foreign military installation outside Africa. It is expected to contribute to anti-piracy patrols off Somalia and guard Persian Gulf shipping lanes.
GAZA -AID: A Hamas official in the blockaded Gaza Strip says about 20 trucks
carrying medical aid have crossed into the Palestinian territory
(Monday), after being held for two days at the Rafah border crossing.
Officials say the European convoy, named "Hope for Gaza", had been
blocked since Sunday on the Egyptian side of the border between Egypt
and Gaza. About 20 activists and volunteers were allowed into Gaza with
the medical supplies, but most of the more than 100 group members were
denied entry.
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