North Korea confirms arrest of US citizen for illegal entry

Seoul - North Korea said Tuesday it had detained a US citizen who illegally crossed the border from China, confirming earlier reports that the activist entered the Stalinist state. Activists have said that Robert Park, 28, crossed into North Korea Friday, carrying a letter for leader Kim Jong II asking him to liberate concentration camps and raise awareness of Pyongyang's human rights abuses.

"An American citizen illegally entered the country across the North Korea-China border and has been detained," the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, without confirming the man's name. He was being questioned by a "related authority," KCNA added.

According to earlier media reports, Park, who leads a coalition of advocacy groups for North Korean defectors, said he would deliver a message to Kim Jong Il to step down, and that he wanted to be arrested to pressure the US, South Korean and Japanese governments to pay attention to the plight of North Korean people.

In March, North Korean border guards seized two Asian-American journalists from San Francisco-based Current TV near the Tumen River.

Pyongyang prosecuted Laura Ling and Euna Lee on charges of committing "hostile acts" against the regime. In a widely publicized visit, former US president Bill Clinton traveled to Pyongyang in August to secure the journalists' release.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301304,north-korea-confirms-arrest-of-us-citizen-for-illegal-entry.html.

EXTRA: Britain condemns execution of drug smuggler in China

London - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said Tuesday he was "appalled and disappointed" by China's decision to execute a British citizen for drug smuggling. Akmal Shaik, 53, from London, was executed despite a last-minute plea by the British government early Tuesday. His family said he was suffering from a mental illness.

"I condemn the execution of Akmal Shaikh in the strongest terms, and am appalled and disappointed that our persistent requests for clemency have not been granted. I am particularly concerned that no mental health assessment was undertaken," Brown said in a statement released in London.

Foreign Secretary David Miliband also condemned the execution. He said Britain was "completely opposed to the use of the death penalty in all circumstances."

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301310,extra-britain-condemns-execution-of-drug-smuggler-in-china.html.

Thai health minister resigns in stimulus scandal

Bangkok - Thai Public Health Minister Wittaya Kaewparadai resigned Tuesday after "irregularities" were exposed in the ministry's plans for an 86-billion-baht (2.6-billion-dollar) budget that was part of an economic stimulus scheme. "I will tender my letter of resignation tomorrow to confirm that some politicians can do what the people want," Wittaya told a press conference.

Wittaya, a member of the ruling Democrat Party, was one of 11 politicians and health ministry officials linked to irregularities in projects under the government's stimulus scheme, labeled "Thailand - Investing from Strength to Strength."

A committee set up to investigate loopholes in the scheme found that the health ministry had planned several dubious investments, such as the purchase of ultraviolet sanitizing fans for state hospitals for 80,000 baht (2,424 dollars), double the normal price.

The committee also found that the ministry had unfairly allocated funds to certain provinces, such as plans for new hospitals in Ratchburi province, a relatively small province which already has four hospitals while many larger provinces only have one.

Ratchburi happens to be the political base of Deputy Health Minister Manit Nop-Amornbodi, one of the other politicians fingered by the investigation.

Manit is a member of the Bhumjai Thai Party, one of the key partners in the current coalition government led by the Democrats.

The opposition Puea Thai Party plans to lodge a no-confidence motion against the government next month.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301308,thai-health-minister-resigns-in-stimulus-scandal.html.

Two Tajiks killed by mine near border with Uzbekistan

Dushanbe - A Tajik married couple collecting wood died after stepping on a landmine near the border with Uzbekistan, officials said Monday. The mine was left over from the 1992-97 civil war in the east of the former Soviet republic.

Tajikistan announced in March that it was unable to demine all of the conflict area, as it was supposed to do under the anti-mine convention signed in Ottawa in 1997.

Some 354 people have been killed by mines in the region since 1992, according to official Tajikistan figures.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301226,two-tajiks-killed-by-mine-near-border-with-uzbekistan.html.

Spanish police seize biggest ever airport cocaine haul

Vitoria, Spain - Spanish police on Monday intercepted a two- ton shipment of cocaine being smuggled into the Basque regional capital from Colombia, investigators said. Investigators said it was the largest illegal air-shipment of narcotics ever confiscated by Spanish police. The high-grade cocaine is worth approximately 70 million euros (100,860,000 dollars) on the black market, they said.

The cocaine, hidden amongst 47,000 roses and carnations, was discovered on an airplane which landed at the regional capital of Vitoria in northern Spain. Police arrested 13 people suspected of belonging to an international smuggling ring.

The smuggling band had recently conducted a test flight with legal goods. Police refused to identify the nationality of the suspects.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301228,spanish-police-seize-biggest-ever-airport-cocaine-haul.html.

Families of missing Israeli soldiers in Egypt for memorial ceremony

Cairo (Earth Times - dpa) - The families of 17 Israeli soldiers who went missing during the 1973 war with Egypt landed in Cairo Monday for a memorial ceremony, a source at Cairo airport said. The families arrived in the Egyptian capital aboard two Israeli military jets and were taken directly to the Gulf of Suez, where they planned to lay wreaths of flowers for their loved ones.

Their visit came a day ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's scheduled talks with Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak in Cairo.

Egyptian officials said the families would return to Cairo airport to be taken directly back to Israel.

Turkish prosecutors carry out new search of military premises

Istanbul - Prosecutors on Tuesday carried out another search of a military directorate in connection with an alleged plot to assassinate Turkey's deputy prime minister, media reports said. The search came two days after the Turkish military Saturday reported that eight of its officers were arrested in connection with the alleged plot.

In a note posted on its website, the General Staff said that the officers from the military's Mobilization Regional Directorate in Ankara were detained during a search of their offices by public prosecutors.

An investigation was launched last week after a guard at the home of Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc noticed suspicious activity near the property.

According to Turkish press reports, two members of the military who were parked near Arinc's house were arrested on December 19 but later released.

In a statement released on its website, the military said the two were conducting surveillance "regarding a military personnel member living in the area and who is suspected to leak information."

There are concerns that the arrests could lead to increased tension between the liberal Islamic government of the Justice and Development Party (AKP) and the traditionally secularist military.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301241,turkish-prosecutors-carry-out-new-search-of-military-premises.html.