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The Star Online: Metro: South & East


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The Star Online: Metro: South & East


Indian Kashmir shuts down over election killing

Posted: 01 May 2014 02:15 AM PDT

SRINAGAR, India: Indian Kashmir largely shut down on Thursday over the shooting death of a man during protests one day earlier against the country's ongoing mammoth election, residents and police said.

Schools, shops and other businesses were mostly closed in the Kashmir Valley after separatist leaders opposed to Indian rule of the region called for a general strike over the shooting by security forces.

Authorities also imposed a curfew in the main city of Srinagar in the wake of the shooting, which occurred when police fired on protesters during clashes after polling ended on Wednesday in the latest leg of the election.

One person was killed and two others were critically injured in the incident in Srinagar's old town, police have said.

"No one is being allowed to move out or even peer out of the windows," Abdul Rashid, a resident of the old town, told AFP over the phone from his home of the curfew.

The University of Kashmir indefinitely postponed examinations scheduled for Thursday, and tensions remained high in Srinagar and the wider valley, where a separatist insurgency has long been waged.

In the northern town of Bandipore, police used tear smoke and batons against scores of protesters who were shouting anti-India slogans, a police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"Restrictions have also been imposed in Baramulla (a major town in northern Kashmir) and the shutdown is peaceful across the valley today," inspector general of police Abdul Gani Mir told AFP.

Voter turnout was low on Wednesday when the central Kashmir constituency of Srinagar went to the polls. Separatists have called for a boycott of the election and militants have threatened violence against those voting.

Elections end on May 12 with results four days later when Hindu nationalist hardliner Narendra Modi and his opposition party are expected to vault to power over the ruling Congress party.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, with both claiming the disputed Muslim-majority territory in full since 1947 when the two countries gained independence from Britain.

The insurgency has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians dead since 1989.-AFP

Japan travel agent forgets booking, forges suicide note

Posted: 01 May 2014 02:13 AM PDT

TOKYO: A Japanese travel agent who forgot to book a fleet of buses for a school trip tried to cover his tracks by forging a student's suicide note in a failed bid to get the excursion cancelled.

Regulators from the Japan Tourism Agency raided the offices of JTB Corp, the country's biggest travel agency, after a 30-year-old employee failed to order 11 buses for a high school in central Japan for its trip scheduled for April 25.

The man noticed his mistake on the day before the students were due to depart, but instead of owning up to his error, he hatched a wild-eyed plan to get himself off the hook.

The man, who has not been identified, drafted a note in the style of a student threatening to commit suicide unless the trip was cancelled.

He then handed the note to the school's principal, saying he had found it nearby.

After questioning all of its more than 300 students, the school decided to go ahead with the trip as planned, only to find the next morning that they had no transport.

JTB has promised to conduct a detailed internal review and said it will punish the employee.

The school has rearranged its trip for a future date, with a different agency.-AFP

Thai comedian loses appeal against royal slur jail term

Posted: 01 May 2014 12:37 AM PDT

BANGKOK: A Thai comedian and prominent "Red Shirt" political activist lost an appeal Thursday against a two-year prison term under the kingdom's strict royal defamation law.

The Court of Appeals upheld the sentence handed to Yosawaris Chuklom, who goes by the stage name Jeng Dokchik, last year in connection with a speech delivered during mass protests against the previous government in 2010.

While he did not explicitly mention the royal family, "the court said my speech led people to understand that I was talking about the monarchy," he told AFP from the court.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 86, is revered by many Thais and protected by harsh royal defamation laws.
Under the lese majeste rules, anyone convicted of defaming the king, queen, heir or regent faces up to 15 years in prison on each count.

Critics say the legislation has been politicised, noting that many of those charged are linked to the Red Shirts, who are broadly supportive of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Royalists have recently urged heightened vigilance against remarks deemed critical of the monarchy.

The call comes against a backdrop of a six-month deadly political crisis that has shaken the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

Thaksin, her elder brother, clashed with the kingdom's royalist establishment before he was ousted in a military coup in 2006. He lives overseas to avoid prison for a corruption conviction.

During the 2010 Red Shirt protests, more than 90 people were killed and nearly 1,900 were wounded in street clashes between demonstrators and armed soldiers. - AFP

Kredit: www.thestar.com.my

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