NEWS

NARATHIWAT, Aug 30 - Three defence volunteers on Monday were severely wounded in a bomb blast as an explosive attached to their pickup truck exploded near the Chanae district office in violence-plagued Narathiwat province, said a senior police officer.
Pol Lt Terdsak Meejit of Chanae police station said the victims were identified as Abdullah Abdullatae, Ahama Jawae and Adisorn Bado. The three men are currently receiving medical treatment at Naradhiwasrajanagarindra Hospital.
The pickup truck was completely destroyed and fragments of a homemade explosive device scattered near the checkpoint at the Chanae district office.
The five-kilogramme bomb placed in a metal box was triggered by a cellphone, according to investigators.
Meanwhile, Defence Volunteer Pongsakorn Panti, owner of the vehicle, said he drove the vehicle carrying his three colleagues from his home to the district office in the morning.
Following the incident, Mr Pongsakorn presumed that insurgents may have attached the explosive to the vehicle, which was usually parked in front of his home. When he and the trio left home for work, the suspects on a motorcycle follow him and passengers.
Mr Pongsakorn added that when he was passing the checkpoint, the presumed insurgents then triggered the bomb by using a cellphone. (MCOT online news)

NEWS

BANGKOK, Aug 31 – Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs has submitted a US government request to withdraw the second case regarding suspected Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout related to money laundering and wire fraud charges from consideration, said Sirisak Tiyapa, Director-General of the International Affairs Department in the Office of the Attorney General (OAG).Mr Sirisak said that the OAG had received the US request through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr Bout is facing the second case concerning money laundering and wire fraud charges which has been accepted by the Court of First Instance for consideration.Mr Sirisak said the prosecutors are now considering legal aspects related to the case before proceeding with legal procedures. A clearer picture is expected within one or two days, he said.The Thai Court of Appeals ruled on August 20 to extradite Mr Bout, dubbed as the 'Merchant of Death', to the US to face charges of conspiracy to kill Americans, conspiracy to kill officials and employees of the United States government, conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles and conspiracy to provide material support or resources to a foreign terrorist organisation.The ruling of the Thai Court of Appeals to extradite Mr Bout overturned a lower court's ruling in August 2009 that rejected a US request that Mr Bout face trial there. (MCOT online news)

NEWS

(See "Eric Massa Takes the Steam Out of Glenn Beck.")
Tens of thousands had gathered along the reflecting pool in the name of "restoring honor" — the name and theme of the rally — yet no one could quite specify what that meant. And though the conservative media personality was full of passionate exhortations for his audience, most of Beck's instructions weren't exactly intuitive. (How does one, for example, "wrap truth in boldness"?) All present agreed that America needed to be rebuilt, but with no list of grievances, no Vietnam-sized conflict to end, no particular right to extend, it remained unclear what the blueprint should look like.
One attendee from Ohio said they gathered to spread a message of "respect for all religious and political parties." Another said the day was largely about getting away from computers and talking to people face to face. A third was more blunt: "We're here to unite — as long as you believe in the United States of America, the Constitution, conservative values and God." At its heart, the day was more a celebration of Christianity and the military than anything else. As Beck said, "It has nothing to do with politics, it has everything to do with God."
Looking out upon the carpet of Stars and Stripes–clad people spilling out from around the pool, across nearby fields and up the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, Beck went for an old chestnut: the field-of-dreams reference. "If you build it, they will come," he said as he greeted his jubilant audience — and they had come in earnest. A person wearing a "Buck Ofama" button, sparkly American-flag hat and "Don't Tread on Me" T-shirt was by no means overdressed.
Beck went on stage following a mixed-race a cappella group who sang the national anthem, and his effort to include a heterogeneous lineup — although his crowd was homogeneous (read: white, Christian, conservative) — continued to show. There were rabbis and preachers, black people and white people, immigrants and Native Americans on the stage — all amid two women everyone was particularly excited to see: Sarah Palin and Alveda King, an antiabortion activist and niece of Martin Luther King Jr. Read more: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2014336,00.html#ixzz0yEipahrg