Thai "red shirts" gather after botched arrests

Fri Apr 16, 2010
Nopporn Wong-Anan and Sukree Sukplang

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thousands of Thai anti-government protesters gathered at a central Bangkok site on Friday after police botched an attempt to arrest three of their leaders as the authorities vowed to crack down on "terrorists."

One protest leader slid down a rope from a hotel balcony to escape riot police, while others were rescued by hundreds of "red shirts," who heavily outnumbered security forces at a Bangkok hotel owned by the family of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

The three leaders later joined around 10,000 of their supporters at a shopping center in the middle of the city, now the main site of month-long protests in the Thai capital.

"If they use force to disperse us, we will flatten the entire neighborhood," said Jatuporn Prompan, a protest leader who was not among the three escapees, on a red shirt stage at the intersection of posh shopping malls and luxury hotels.

The government, which had previously said it would not directly confront the protesters, also stepped up the rhetoric,

although there were no troops on the streets of Bangkok.

"We will arrest and suppress the terrorists. We have set up special task forces hunting for the terrorists," Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said.

The move against leaders of the red shirts on Friday follows a failed attempt by troops to eject protesters from one of their encampments in the city last weekend. At least 24 people were killed and more than 800 injured in Thailand's worst political violence since 1992.

STOCKS FALL

The risk of further instability in Thailand sent stocks down 2.1 percent and the market has now lost almost all its gains this year.

Thailand's five-year credit default swaps (CDS), often used as a measure of political risk, were trading at 110/115.57 against 105/111 bps on Monday, the last trading day prior to a three-day holiday.

The "red shirts" back Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 coup, and want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to step down immediately and call early elections, which he has refused to do.

Abhisit had been due to hold his first news conference in four days at 1 p.m. local time (2:00 a.m. EST) but it was delayed, although no reason was given.

Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij told Reuters on Thursday Abhisit would not resign as it would "be very negative for the country.

Protesters called off plans to march on television stations that they accused of biased coverage, removing one potential flashpoint with security forces. They hunkered down at their base in a central Bangkok shopping district, which they vowed to make a "final battleground" with the security forces.

The government has also said it would crack down on people it believed to be financing the red shirts and issued summonses under emergency powers for 60 people to report to a military barracks, where Abhisit has set up emergency headquarters.

The violent protests have hit Thai tourism, with occupancy rates less than a third of normal levels in Bangkok, according to a tour operator body.

According to a report from investment bank Morgan Stanley, losses to tourism, which accounts for 6 percent of gross domestic product, could clip 0.2 percentage point from economic growth this year.

The government believes Thailand's economy could grow 4.5 percent this year, although Korn warned that forecast could prove optimistic.

(Additional reporting by Viparat Jantraprap; Writing by David Chance; Editing by Alan Raybould and Bill Tarrant)

Al Jazeera's "101 East" - Thai red shirts

Red shirts consolidate forces

The area near Phan Fa Bridge on Ratchadamnoen Avenue is practically deserted by Wednesday afternoon after red shirt protesters abandoned the site to consolidate their forces at Ratchaprasong intersection. APICHART JINAKUL

ANALYSIS: The UDD has moved to Ratchaprasong to prepare for what one leader says is the 'final stage' of the fight

15/04/2010
Wassana Nanuam, Mongkol Bangprapa and Achara Ashayagachat
Bangkok Post

The red shirts' strategic decision to move to a single stronghold in the heart of the capital will force the government to abandon any plans to launch another crackdown, a source says.

It means the government's only course to resolve the stalemate will likely be through negotiations.

Four days after the deadly clashes between soldiers and anti-government protesters, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship yesterday abandoned its stage at Phan Fa Bridge to consolidate its forces at one main gathering site at Ratchaprasong intersection.

Last night, tens of thousands of red shirts had gathered in the upmarket shopping district.

''The government said it wanted the Phan Fa area back but never said it wanted Ratchaprasong intersection. So we returned Phan Fa and moved to Ratchaprasong intersection because we do not want another clash,'' UDD co-leader Natthawut Saikua said.

''I hope the government won't demand the return of another area as another excuse for gunning down people again.''

The idea behind shutting down the Phan Fa stage and keeping only one going in the shopping and tourism district is to strengthen the numbers and morale of the anti-government group.

The move is to prepare for the ''final stage'' of the fight against Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his administration, said Jatuporn Prompan, another UDD leader.

The UDD yesterday cancelled a march to the 11th Infantry Division to avoid confrontation with the army.

A source at the Centre for Public Administration in Emergency Situations said the one-stage tactic was a strategy to corner the government to end the stand-off by political means only.

The Ratchaprasong area posed a problem for the use of force to clamp down on the demonstrators because there are too many buildings for soldiers to control, the source said.

The location was perfect for snipers to shoot people from high vantage points and a crackdown could cause severe damage to shops, shopping centres and hotels around the occupied area, the source said.

''A decision to crack down on protesters at Ratchaprasong would mean solders would have to take control of every floor in every building, which would require a huge force.

''More importantly, the operation needs units specially trained in an urban operation. I cannot imagine the number of soldiers needed,'' the source said.

''Key UDD leaders have advisers who are current and retired soldiers. They have studied the same textbooks and probably studied at the same army command school [as serving officers].

''They believe the army will probably launch another attack on the Phan Fa demonstration and have decided to move to only one place at Ratchaprasong intersection, which is more difficult for military operations.''

The Phan Fa stage was set up on March 12 and the Ratchaprasong area has been occupied since April 4.

A commander of an army unit in Bangkok said soldiers were very familiar with areas on Ratchadamnoen Avenue as it has been the site of bloody clashes from Oct 14, 1973, to Black May in 1992 and the most recent deadly incident on Saturday.

The officer admitted the army would obviously be at a disadvantage if another military operation was carried out at Ratchaprasong.

''The other side has stayed there for some time. They [their security guards] have checked and prepared for this scenario,'' he said.

Another source at the centre said that if a military crackdown was ruled out, another option for security authorities would be to capture key leaders who are the subject of arrest warrants.

Michael Nelson, a visiting scholar in political science at Chulalongkorn University, said confusion loomed large as the government had still to find those responsible for the bombings and shootings that took place before the April 10 skirmish.

''No one would like to see more casualties. No one would like to see third- or fourth-hand instigators. But the situation is still fluid and the responsibility lies with all sides not to kick-start the next round of mayhem,'' Mr Nelson said.

The UDD's relocation to Ratchaprasong intersection is due to be completed this morning with all traffic routes returned to normal.

Pitsamai Mokekul, 39, from Sakon Nakhon, said the merger of the Phan Fa and Ratchaprasong stages would give the UDD more bargaining power.

''Here we are in the heart of the business quarter. If the government remains defiant, it risks dragging down the national economy,'' she said.

Red shirt protesters call time out for annual water festival

Rescuers Rush to Aid Survivors of China Quake; at Least 400 Dead

Closeup map of China's Qinghai province, locating the epicentre of the 6.9 magnitude earthquake. Rescuers dug with their bare hands through the rubble of a devastating quake which hit a remote area of China, killing 400 people and injuring thousands as it toppled mud-and-wood houses and school buildings. (AFP/Graphic)
Chinese rescue workers search through the rubble of collapsed buildings following a strong earthquake in Qinghai province. Rescuers dug with their bare hands through the rubble of a devastating quake which hit a remote area of China, killing 400 people and injuring thousands as it toppled mud-and-wood houses and school buildings. (AFP/CCTV/Cctv)
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, an injured woman is rescued after a quake in Yushu County, northwest China's Qinghai Province, Wednesday, April 14, 2010. A series of strong earthquakes struck a mountainous Tibetan area of western China on Wednesday, killing hundreds of people and injuring more than 10,000 as houses made of mud and wood collapsed, officials said. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Ren Xiaogang)

APRIL 14, 2010
By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH
The Wall Street Journal

SHANGHAI—Rescuers used shovels, pry bars and their bare hands to dig through the rubble of collapsed homes and schools as they raced to find survivors of a severe earthquake that authorities said killed about 400 people and injured roughly 10,000 in a remote, predominantly Tibetan community in western China.

The quake hit shortly before 8 a.m. Wednesday, jolting mountainous Yushu prefecture, part of the Chinese province of Qinghai on the Tibetan plateau, and flattening most of the town of Jiegu, one of the area's main population centers. About 97% of the people in Yushu are ethnically Tibetan. Many earn their living raising yaks, sheep and horses.

As darkness fell and temperatures dipped below freezing in Jiegu, hundreds of soldiers, troops from the paramilitary People's Armed Police and other emergency workers searched the wreckage looking for signs of life. Injured townspeople were being treated at improvised medical centers in the town's central square and at a horse-racing track, officials said.

"We are short of equipment," said Guoyang Zhaxi, a 42-year-old resident helping to free survivors. "So the speed of the rescue efforts is very slow." He said nearly all houses in the town—many of which used traditional wood-and-earth construction—had been destroyed. "We need to hurry up or the people who are buried will have no hope," he said.

Chinese seismologists said the quake had a magnitude of 7.1. The U.S. Geologic Survey said the magnitude was 6.9. A series of aftershocks continued throughout the day. Specialized search and rescue teams as well as hundreds of soldiers were being sent to Yushu from elsewhere in China to assist in the hunt for survivors.

Rescuers said their first priority was schools, where there could be large concentrations of casualties. Zhuohuaxia, a spokesman for Yushu prefecture, told the official Xinhua news agency that "many students are buried." Xinhua reported that at least 30 people were trapped when a dormitory building at the Yushu Ethnic Normal School collapsed.

Wednesday's quake in Qinghai also toppled dormitories and other buildings of the Yushu Primary School, where five students were killed, a teacher at the school told Xinhua. "Some pupils ran out of the dorms alive, and those who had not escaped in time were buried," said the teacher, identified only by the surname Chang.

One of the most politically sensitive legacies of the massive 2008 earthquake that devastated large parts of southwestern China's Sichuan province was disputes between parents and the government over the deaths of thousands of students killed when their schools collapsed on them.

Officials said a year ago that 5,335 students were among the 86,633 dead and missing from the 2008 quake. If accurate, that figure would mean school children didn't suffer disproportionately in the disaster, despite evidence of shoddy school construction that drew the ire of grieving parents. The government took stern measures to silence protests.

Tibet activist groups say that Yushu prefecture and Jiegu town were the scenes of protest activities by Tibetan students and others in 2008, when a wave of unrest swept through Tibetan areas of China. In March that year, bloody riots erupted in Lhasa, and widespread demonstrations by Tibetans led to a crackdown by security forces.

Many Tibetans chafe at what they say are government restrictions on their civil liberties and religious practices, and complain that they have missed out on the country's economic boom. The rural per capita net income in Yushu is about $340 a year, less than half the national average.

Ethnic Tibetan residents of Yushu reached by phone Wednesday said relations between them and China's majority Han Chinese, and between locals and the government, weren't strained. Residents said Tibetans and soldiers and armed police from local garrisons worked side-by-side to save lives.

Guoyang Zhaxi said he and employees of his trading and real-estate company had pulled 30 people from the rubble alive, four of whom, including an infant, later died, he said. He said soldiers and police labored to move heavy steel-reinforced concrete slabs to reach survivors trapped below.

A soldier surnamed Li, interviewed by China National Radio, said many people remained trapped in fallen buildings and could be heard calling for help. Local officials said they needed heavy excavating equipment to reach more victims and medical supplies to treat the injured.

Survivors pitched tents and prepared to sleep outside. Relief officials said they would be bringing in thousands of tents, as well as quilts and warm clothes. Temperatures are expected to fall well below freezing overnight. Meteorologists said there was a chance of snow in the area on Friday.

-- Kersten Zhang and Sue Feng in Beijing and Bai Lin in Shanghai contributed to this article.

Thailand's military sticks knife in as election commission rules against Abhisit

[Thailand] Democrat Party faces dissolution

Bangkok Post

The Election Commission on Monday decided by a vote of 4-1 to recommend the dissolution of the ruling Democrat Party for receiving an illegal 258 million baht donation and the alleged misuse of a 29 million baht political development fund provided by the EC.

The decision was made at a special meeting of the EC chaired by Apichart Sukhagganond.

Mr Apichart, who is ex officio political party registrar, presented his recommendation to the commission for consideration.

Commissioner Sodsri Sattayatham revealed earlier the crucial meeting would be held today.

In December last year, the EC resolved that Mr Apichart, as the political party registrar, should decide whether to propose the dissolution of the Democrat Party to the Constitution Court.

Today's decision dealt a severe blow on the Democrat Party, whose leader and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is under unrelenting pressure from the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) to immediately dissolve the House of Representatives and call a general election.

The red-shirts at the Ratchaprasong intersection roared with joy on hearing the news from leader Veera Musikhapong, who said he hoped the case would proceed quickly.

Thousands of UDD's red-shirts on April 5 converged on the EC headquarters on Chaeng Wattana road and accused the commission of the dragging out a decision in the case against the Democrat Party.

Bowing to the UDD's demand, the EC said it would come up with a decision by April 20.

The EC will forward its decision to the Office of the Attorney-General. The OAG then has 30 days to review the case.

If the OAG's decision contradicts the EC's ruling, a joint committee would be set up to consider the case. If the OAG agrees with the EC, it will refer the case to the Constitution Court for a final decision.

The Democrat Party, Thailand's oldest political party, was accused of receiving more than 258 million baht in illegal donations from TPI Polene for use in the 2005 general election and not declaring it. The party was also accused of misusing the Politics Development Fund worth 29 million baht.

The current and previous constitutions limit individual donations to 10 million baht a year.

TPI Polene, a cement firm, was alleged to have made donations totalling 258 million baht to the Democrats through Messiah Business and Creation Co, an advertising company.

The Democrat Party faces possible dissolution and its executives could be banned from politics for five years if the Constitution Court upholds the Election Commission's finding.

Thailand’s protests claim 21

Photo by: AFP

A protestor gets his picture taken next to a seized army armoured vehicle after overnight clashes between the army and “Red Shirt” protesters in central Bangkok on Sunday. Demonstrators vowed to remain on the streets of the Thai capital and bring down the government, the day after the country’s worst political violence in nearly two decades.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It’s frightening. We heard explosions and people were running all around.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

via CAAI News Media

Monday, 12 April 2010 15:03 Thanaporn Promyamyai

Red Shirts remain defiant after attempts to remove them left over 800 injured; army retreats, calling for a truce after protesters took five soldiers hostage.

Bangkok

DEFIANT Red Shirt Thai protesters vowed Sunday to keep up their bid to topple the government, after the country’s worst political violence in almost two decades left 21 dead and over 800 injured.

Protest leaders, who have promised to maintain their campaign until the government dissolves parliament and calls fresh elections, demanded Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva step down and leave the country.

Seventeen civilians, including a Japanese TV cameraman, and four soldiers were killed in Saturday’s crackdown on the Red Shirt supporters of fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra in Bangkok, the emergency services said.

On Sunday evening Red Shirts gathered to mourn the loss of their comrades at the city’s Democracy Monument – the scene of a fierce battle on Saturday – where grieving relatives led a procession holding up gold-framed pictures of the dead.

They were followed by crying men carrying caskets, a couple containing bodies draped with Thai flags and flowers. Some onlooking protesters prayed and others waved red banners.

It was the latest chapter in years of turmoil pitting the ruling elite against the mainly poor and rural Red Shirts, who say the government is illegitimate as it came to power in 2008 after a court ousted Thaksin’s allies from power.

The violence erupted when troops tried to clear one of two sites in the centre of the capital occupied by the protesters for the past month. Soldiers fired in the air and used tear gas, and the Red Shirts responded by hurling rocks.

As the clashes intensified gunshots echoed around the city, and each side accused the other of using live ammunition. Emergency services said two protesters were killed by gunshot wounds to the head.

The government denied troops had opened fire on protesters with live rounds.

“Weapons were used only in self-defence and to fire into the air. We don’t find any evidence that soldiers used weapons against people,” government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told a press conference.

Photo by: AFP

Reuters cameraman Hiroyuki Muramoto is shown in Banda Aceh in 2005.

More than 200 soldiers were injured, 90 of them seriously, he said. One of the dead was a colonel.

At one stage protesters overwhelmed and captured an armoured personnel carrier, and army spokesman Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said government weapons had fallen into the hands of the demonstrators.

The army later retreated, calling for a truce with the demonstrators, who were holding five soldiers hostage. Thousands of protesters remained on the streets at the two main protest sites on Sunday.

“Abhisit must leave Thailand,” Red Shirt leader Veera Musikapong told supporters. “We ask all government officials to stop serving this government.”

The government said an investigation had been launched into the violence, and that negotiations were under way to bring about a resolution to the standoff without more unrest.

The Thomson Reuters news agency said one of its journalists, Japanese cameraman Hiro Muramoto, died after being shot in the chest during the protests.

Tokyo urged Bangkok to investigate the death and ensure the safety of Japanese nationals.

The unrest marked Thailand’s worst political violence since 1992, and the United States urged both sides to show restraint.

The protesters called on the country’s revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej to intervene to prevent further bloodshed.

“Did anybody inform the king that his children were killed in the middle of the road without justice?” Red Shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan said. “Is there anyone close to him who told him of the gunfights?”

Although he has no official political role, the hospitalised king is seen as a unifying figure. During a 1992 uprising he chastised both the military and protest leaders, effectively bringing the violence to an end.

Thai flags, red roses and incense sticks were placed on pools of blood where protesters were killed or wounded in the Khaosan Road backpacker district, a few yards from a clump of ruined cars with their windows smashed in.

“It’s frightening. We heard explosions, and people were running all around,” said Sharon Aradbasson, a 34-year-old Israeli tourist.

Abhisit offered his condolences over the deaths but refused to bow to the protesters’ calls to resign.

Thaksin, who was ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006 and is now based mainly in Dubai, also offered his condolences to the victims and their families via the micro-blogging site Twitter.

Arrest warrants have been issued for many of the senior Red leaders, but so far none are reported to have been taken into custody. AFP

For Poland, plane crash in Russia rips open old wounds

A firefighter examines wreckage of the plane that carried Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and some of the country's most prominent military and civilian leaders. (Associated Press / April 10, 2010)

The 97 aboard a Soviet-era plane were heading to Katyn, site of the 1940 massacre of Polish prisoners of war. Now Poland, which never forgot its tragic past, must grieve the loss of its key leaders.

April 10, 2010
By Megan K. Stack
Reporting from Moscow
Los Angeles Times (California, USA)

With a single swipe, the plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski on Saturday gutted a nation's leadership and silenced some of the most potent human symbols of its tragic and tumultuous history.

It was, literally, a nation colliding with its past: They ran aground on a patch of earth that has symbolized the Soviet-era repressions that shaped much of the 20th century, near the remote Russian forest glade called Katyn where thousands of Polish prisoners of war were killed and dumped in unmarked graves by Soviet secret police in 1940.

The toll cut a swath through Poland's elite. Along with the president, the 97 dead included the army chief of staff, the head of the National Security Office, the national bank president, the deputy foreign minister, the deputy parliament speaker, the civil rights commissioner and members of parliament.

But also aboard the plane were war veterans and surviving family members of Poles killed by the Soviets. There was 90-year-old Ryszard Kaczorowski, Poland's last "president-in-exile" during the Soviet years. And Anna Walentynowicz, the shipyard worker whose dismissal sparked the Solidarity union protests that eventually led to the collapse of Polish communism.

And, of course, Kaczynski himself -- a former Warsaw mayor imprisoned in the 1980s for his opposition to communism.

"The contemporary world has not seen such a tragedy," said Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, who called for two minutes of silence at noon Sunday.

Flying on a 26-year-old, Soviet-designed plane, these iconic Polish figures were headed to a Catholic Mass to honor the 70th anniversary of the deaths at Katyn. It was to be a tribute to long-smothered truth.

The massacre was denied for decades by the Soviet Union, and even today, Russian reluctance to open the investigation files on the Polish prisoners remains a deeply sensitive topic between the two countries. To many Poles, the very name Katyn is shorthand for decades of secret grief and impotence in the face of Soviet power.

"I just have this feeling that Katyn is a sort of diabolical place in Polish history," said Tomasz Lis, a prominent Polish journalist and author. "It's just unimaginable; it's horrible."

As the news spread, a shiver of repulsion ran through a shocked country.

"This is unbelievable -- this tragic, cursed Katyn," Kaczynski's predecessor, Aleksander Kwasniewski, said on Polish television. "It's hard to believe. You get chills down your spine."

The historic freight of the crash was so eerie that it seemed destined for conspiracy theory. Russian officials were careful to vow in the earliest hours to closely involve Poland in the investigation.

Poland was invaded by the Soviet Union during World War II, and lived for decades under Moscow's domination. Long after the fall of the Berlin Wall, ties with Russia remain strained by old anxieties over independence.

As the presidential plane, a 26-year-old Tupolev, winged toward the western Russian city of Smolensk on Saturday morning, thick cords of fog wrapped the city. On the ground, air traffic controllers urged the crew to land either in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, or in Moscow rather than risk navigating the fog, Russian officials said.

But time was pressing. The crew decided to risk the landing, and ignored instructions from the air traffic controllers, the Russian air force said.

"The Polish presidential plane did not make it to the runway while landing," Smolensk region Gov. Sergei Anufriyev told reporters. "Tentative findings indicate that it hit the treetops and fell apart. Nobody has survived the disaster."

On the ground, about 1,000 people, many of them Poles, were milling around the memorial site. A Polish priest was to say Catholic Mass once the presidential delegation arrived.

"We were getting ready for the Mass and everybody was expecting the president to arrive any minute," said Yan Rachinsky of Russia's Memorial human rights group. "Suddenly people started talking quietly about something. There were many concerned faces. . . . Soon people started running around and talking to each other. Everybody was wondering what was going on. It was an atmosphere of tension."

The priest led a prayer. Then the Polish ambassador stepped up to break the news. The presidential plane had crashed, he told the crowd. There were no survivors.

"It was a moment of complete shock," Rachinsky said. "We were standing there speechless. We couldn't believe it."

Tears wetting nearly every face, Rachinsky said, the group went ahead with the Mass.

By late afternoon, 97 bodies were being packed into coffins and flown to Moscow for identification. The flight recorders had been found, and investigators were studying them for clues.

In an address shortly after the crash, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev was careful to emphasize recent improvements in relations between the two countries.

"These days we conducted memorial events in Katyn together grieving over the victims of totalitarian times," Medvedev said. "All Russians share your grief and mourning."

Earlier in the week, Prime Minister Tusk traveled to Katyn to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the massacre. In what was regarded as a turning point in the two countries' often frosty relations, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir V. Putin also attended the ceremony.

Kaczynski, a frequent and outspoken critic of the Kremlin, was not invited to the ceremony earlier this week.

Unlike Tusk's visit, which was given prominent coverage in Russian media, Kaczynski's plans to attend Saturday's commemoration were all but unmentioned. A few weeks ago, the Russian foreign ministry publicly griped that Kaczynski had not sent official word of his planned visit. The ministry had heard of his arrival from press reports, officials said.

On Saturday, Putin announced that he would personally head the investigation. He rushed to the scene of the crash, where he was to meet again with Tusk.

The crash throws Polish politics into uncertainty. Kaczynski was to run for reelection in October; the vote is now likely to be moved to June.

The leading left-wing candidate, Jerzy Szmajdzinski, was believed to have been aboard the plane. And Polish law calls for another of the candidates, speaker of the lower chamber of parliament Bronislaw Komorowksi, to take over as head of state after the president's death.

Kaczynski, 60, was elected to the presidency in 2005. He and his twin brother, Jaroslaw, were Soviet-era child actors who grew up to cut a prominent path through Polish politics. Kaczynski rose from the ranks of the Solidarity trade union before falling out bitterly with the group's leader, Lech Walesa, who went on to become the country's first post-Soviet president.

From 2005-2007, in the early years of Kaczynski's presidency, his twin served as prime minister.

The circumstances of Kaczynski's death carry a particular irony because of his long-standing interest in shedding light on some of the more painful moments of Poland's past. As mayor of Warsaw, he championed the construction of the Museum of the Warsaw Uprising, a tribute to the crushed resistance to the Nazis in 1944.

During his presidency, too, Kaczynski frequently hailed back to the heroic days of Solidarity's struggle against communism.

"Poland needs to reconsider its mistakes," he said in 2005. "But more than that, it needs a consensus based on truth."

megan.stack@latimes.com

Times staff writer Sergei L. Loiko contributed to this report.

Protesters swarm shopping district

Tens of thousands of red-shirt protesters blocked a major intersection in the capital's business centre on Saturday, paralysing traffic and closing shopping malls, as they continued their campaign to force Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to immediately dissolve the House of Representatives.

Leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) announced their mobile rally plan in the morning at Phan Fa Bridge, saying they would muster at two locations -- Ratchaprasong intersection and Vibhavadi-Rangsit Road.

The first group of protesters was dispatched to set up a stage at the intersection. A few hours later, thousands of red-shirts converged on the Ratchaprasong area, bringing business and traffic to a halt.

Police from Lumpini station tried to negotiate with the protesters, asking them to open one lane for traffic but they refused. Traffic around the intersection was totally blocked before noon.

Large shopping malls in the area closed, including Central World, Gaysorn Plaza, Big C, Siam Centre and Siam Discovery.

Pol Maj Gen Piya Utayo, spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said police have received reports that the protesters would stay overnight at the Ratchaprasong intersection.

Police would continue to negotiate with the protesters and ask them to withdraw from the area because there are schools and hospitals in the vicinity.

Red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan said this rally coud last for three days. A House dissolution is the least the government could give the protesters, he said, adding that Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuabn had no right to try to negotiate with them to reduce the dissolution timeframe to eight months.

"We cannot let Abhisit rule the country any longer," he told the crowd. "The government has no legitimacy to rule."

The Centre for Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO) estimated there were 60,000 people taking part in the red-shirt protest in the capital on Saturday, spokesman Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd said.

He urged the protesters to listen to police and open routes for traffic and pedestrians.

Col Sansern said CAPO had no plan to crackdown on protesters, provided they remain within the law.

In the morning, a group of people who called themselves "Silent Power" gathered at Rama IX Park in Prawet to voice their opposition to the continuing protest.

They distributed stickers saying, "End the protest. We want a peaceful life." Many of them wore pink shirts and waved Thai flags.

They marched from the park to Seri Centre shopping mall and back to the park. They dispersed afterwards.

Authorities have deployed 50,000 soldiers, police and security personnel in the city to maintain law and order under the provisions of the Internal Security Act.

This photo gallery shows red-shirt protesters at Ratchaprasong intersection on Saturday.

Senior Iran MP casts doubt on atom fuel deal

TEHRAN (Reuters) - A senior Iranian lawmaker rejected on Thursday the idea of sending low-enriched uranium abroad for further processing, casting doubt on a proposal aimed at easing international tension over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

The comment came a day after the U.N. nuclear watchdog presented a draft deal to Iran and three world powers for approval within two days to reduce Tehran's stockpile of enriched uranium, seen by the West as a nuclear weapons risk.

"They (the West) tell us: you give us your 3.5 percent enriched uranium and we will give you the fuel for the reactor. It is not acceptable to us," parliament's deputy speaker Mohammad Reza Bahonar was quoted as saying by ISNA news agency.

"The IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) is obliged to provide us with the fuel based on the safeguards," he said.

Iran has yet to give an official reaction to the plan submitted by the IAEA Agency after talks this week in Vienna.

Western diplomats said it would require Tehran to send 1.2 tonnes of its known 1.5-tonne reserve of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia and France by the end of the year. The material would be converted into fuel for a nuclear medicine facility in Tehran.

Iran's IAEA envoy has hinted that his government may seek amendments. Western diplomats suggested this could jeopardize the deal if they overstepped "red lines" set to create confidence that Tehran is not pursuing a nuclear weapons option.

(Reporting by Parisa Hafezi; writing by Fredrik Dahl; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Pakistan Closes Schools Amid Attacks

ISLAMABAD -- Pakistan's schools closed their doors Wednesday, a day after bombings at an Islamabad university, amid warnings of more attacks on a wider range of targets around the country.

The recent spate of attacks in Pakistani cities has come as the army prepared for, and launched, a military offensive in the tribal region bordering Afghanistan that is seen as a stronghold for Taliban and al Qaeda militants.

Intelligence officials warned that the militants could target foreign-controlled gas stations, banks and food chains.

All schools, universities and student hostels were ordered closed and vacated for an indefinite period, "until appropriate security measures are taken," said Qamar Zaman Kaira, the federal minister for information.

Many private schools in Islamabad and other major cities had already shut this week after intelligence reports that suggested militants would try to take students hostage to exchange for militants held by the security forces.

The Taliban has claimed responsibility for the two suicide bomb attacks on International Islamic University, which killed four students and two bombers Tuesday.

Tariq Azam, a spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan, a loose organization of Taliban factions, warned of more such attacks in a phone call to the BBC. Islamic militants have blown up hundreds of girls' schools in northwestern Pakistan, but it was the first time a university was targeted.

Tuesday's university bombing was the seventh major militant attack in just over two weeks and the first since the launch of the military offensive in South Waziristan.

Rehman Malik, the interior minster, said unarmed security guards posted at schools weren't capable of stopping terrorist attacks, and that police had been deployed around major educational institutions.

Fighting continued for the fifth day between government forces and Taliban militants in South Waziristan. Last week, around 30,000 troops launched the biggest offensive yet carried out by Pakistan to clear militants from the border region.

"The troops are facing stiff resistance and the militants are fighting for every space," said Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas, the chief military spokesman.

At least 105 militants and 13 soldiers had been killed since the military offensive began on Saturday, according to the military. Access to the region is restricted, and reports by the military couldn't be confirmed.

More than 150,000 civilians have now fled the war zone, according to aid agencies.

A major battle is being fought for the control of Koktai, the hometown of Hakimullah Mehsud, the chief of the main Pakistan Taliban faction. Gen. Abbas said government forces have secured the high ground around the town. The troops have also demolished the houses of Mr. Hakimullah and Qari Hussein, the main trainer of suicide bombers for the faction, the military said.

Rome goes fishing in Anglican pond

By Robert Pigott Religious affairs correspondent, BBC News

The nature of the news conference was kept secret beforehand

The announcement from the Vatican, made simultaneously in Rome and at a news conference in London was dramatic, even historic.

The Roman Catholic Church was going to extraordinary lengths to make it easy for disenchanted Anglicans to convert to Catholicism.

They could join the Roman Catholic Church as full members, but hang on to many of their Anglican traditions and practices - and indeed preserve much of their "Anglican identity".

In the past Anglicans have converted (although many have and are moving in the opposite direction), but it's been on a case-by-case basis.

The creation of a special section of the Roman Catholic Church - backed up by church law - especially for Anglicans all around the world is unprecedented.

At the somewhat bizarre press conference secretively arranged at the offices of the Catholic Church in London, the Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols acknowledged converts had never before been provided with this structure.

"I can't remember quite a response that gives a juridical structure. And in that sense I think I would describe this as a courageous and a generous response by Pope Benedict."

'Progressive' trends

It wasn't just that Rome is paving the way for traditionalists on the Catholic wing of the Church of England to jump ship - it is doing so at a critical moment.

But first a word of explanation - about why this move has such huge implications for the Anglican Church.

Since the Protestant Reformation, when the Church of England broke away from Rome, it has been a sometimes uneasy coalition between its Catholic and Protestant members.

It's the huge achievement of the Church that it has kept these two wings together through numerous crises - that over homosexuality being only one of the more recent.

But traditionalists on the Catholic wing have become increasingly disenchanted by "progressive" trends, not so much with respect to liberal moves on homosexuality, but about the ordination of women as priests, and, in the next few years, as bishops.

This development - utterly rejected by the Vatican for the Catholic Church - has been agreed by the Church of England Synod, and the only question is how far traditionalist parishes and clergy will be "sheltered" from having to serve under a woman bishop.

That debate is in the balance, and the Vatican's initiative is bound to have a profound effect - not just on the numbers who leave, but on the sort of church they leave behind.

Many traditionalist "Anglo-Catholics" have threatened to leave the Church and convert to Catholicism, and leaders of their cause say having a home already prepared for them will greatly increase the exodus.

'Immediate exodus'

Fr David Houlding, the leader of the Catholic Group on the Church's synod, said "several hundred" clergy would leave immediately, and something like 1,500 altogether.

Fr Houlding might have his own reasons for thinking big, but it does stand to reason that many wavering Anglicans, including married priests, will go and others will watch to see how they fare.

If they do leave in such numbers, the ground will be cut away from those left in the Church of England trying to preserve the Anglo-Catholic wing of this "broad church".

The departure of the most vociferous opponents of women bishops would surely reduce the pressure on the Synod to make concessions.

Some liberal Anglo-Catholics, who have no problem with women bishops but are desperate to preserve "catholic" traditions, fear they would leave behind a more Protestant church.

Other groups are also deeply unhappy about the way the Vatican sprang its idea.

Bear in mind that the Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams knew nothing about this far-reaching move until two weeks ago, and made no contribution to it.

(Could it be a coincidence that at roughly that time news emerged that a special committee was suggesting more generous concessions to traditionalist opponents of women bishops?)

'Unnecessary move'

Some evangelicals - traditionalists but on the Protestant wing of the Church - have joined forces with Anglo-Catholics in an alliance resisting a number of "liberal trends".

Their targets have included the Church's approach to homosexuality, but also their joint opposition to the ordination of women as bishops.

Traditionalist evangelicals now stand to see an important ally massively weakened.

Their powerful lobby, the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, set up in Jerusalem last year, criticised the Pope's move as unnecessary, insisting that Anglo-Catholics had a home in their alliance.

Considering the audacity of the Vatican's initiative, it was muted criticism. But, off the record, evangelicals were briefing that Rome was capitalising on Anglican divisions to poach clergy.

It has no negative impact on the relations of the (Anglican) Communion as a whole to the Roman Catholic Church as a whole Dr Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury

Only last week the Vatican's senior spokesman on relations with other churches, Cardinal Walter Kasper, said "full visible unity" with Anglicans was Rome's long-term goal.

"We are not fishing in the Anglican pond," he insisted.

But by removing a potentially significant portion of the most "catholic" element from the Church of England, surely that sort of "reunion" has been set back.

Dr Williams stressed the Pope had only been responding to pleas for help from Anglo-Catholics, and insisted that this was not a hostile takeover.

"It has no negative impact on the relations of the (Anglican) Communion as a whole to the Roman Catholic Church as a whole."

However, the archbishop's representative in Rome, Bishop David Richardson, described the Vatican's move as surprising, asking "why this, and why now?"

The initiative, and the extraordinary way it emerged, also indicated the distance between the churches and the public they serve.

Journalists were called to a news conference, but officials refused to say what it was about.

Then the language in which the mysterious developments were explained would have struck most people as complete gobbledygook.

We learned that an "Apostolic Constitution" had been prepared, introducing a "canonical structure" which would establish "Personal Ordinariates".

These would allow former Anglicans to "enter full communion with the Catholic Church" while preserving their "spiritual and liturgical patrimony".

It gave the misleading impression of institutions that were out of touch and irrelevant to the lives of the many unattached but spiritually hungry people whom the churches need to attract.

Afghan elections: Your stories

Officials involved in flawed Afghan elections are being removed ahead of next month's run-off, the UN has said.

The second round, between Mr Karzai and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, has been scheduled for 7 November.

Voters in Afghanistan have been digesting the news that they will be required to cast their votes again. Here are some of their thoughts.

Read the full story

EBRAHIM BAREKZAI, 35, GOVERNMENT WORKER, KABUL

It is clear to all that Mr Karzai is our legitimate president after the elections on 20 August.

If the US and other Western countries want a peaceful and stable Afghanistan, they should respect the votes of the poor Afghan people.

My request to the international community is - don't interfere in the elections, otherwise the consequences will be very bad for Afghans and for our international friends.

I am sure that President Karzai will win in the second round - but it's going to be a waste of time and money in such a poor and unstable country.

This is Afghanistan, not Germany or the UK. Democracy is new here.

There is no guarantee that there won't be fraud during the run-off. Only one thing is certain - the Taliban will benefit from this situation.

AIMAL ABDUL GHAFAR, 32, COMPANY WORKER, KUNDUZ

The people of Afghanistan are not allowed to make decisions anymore. It's Western countries and America in particular who make the decisions in Afghanistan.

They are not here to bring peace, but chaos.

There are explosions and suicide bombings all the time

There was some fraud, I am not rejecting that and it is a concern. Once they establish who committed the fraud, that person should be disqualified for ever. They should not be allowed to run in an election again, as they might do it again.

You can't run for government office if you are guilty of corruption and fraud. There should be new requirements for entry into the election race and we should have new candidates.

Otherwise the problems surrounding the election on 20 August will exist during the run-off. This is disrespectful for those who dared to vote during a difficult security situation.

There is lots of Taliban activity in the whole province of Kunduz, where I live. There are explosions and suicide bombings all the time.

There was fighting in the main city of Kunduz and there were rocket attacks on election day. The highway from Kunduz to Baghlan has also been in the control of militants.

People took the risk and their votes were dismissed. I am not going to vote again

Going to the polls was a big risk. Many preferred to stay at home and only a few went out to vote.

I took the plane to Kabul so I could vote there and I waited there for the ink on my finger to fade away before I returned to Kunduz. The Taliban gave a clear message as to what they would do with those who voted.

People took a risk to vote and then their votes were dismissed. I am not going to vote again.

ABDUL MALIK NIAZI, DIRECTOR, KABUL

This is bad news for Afghanistan. We, Afghans, risked our lives in order to elect our president and now, due to foreign interference, we have to do it again.

The international coalition blames our government for everything from the day they put their soldiers on our land. Decisions are made from outside Afghanistan, and I am worried that we'll have a president we didn't want imposed on us.

I doubt that the ECC findings are correct. I do accept that there was fraud, but there should have been some kind of compromise. Why did they have to annul 30% of the votes for Karzai? They could have said only 10 or 20. But I think they wanted to make sure that he didn't get the 50% he needed to win.

The same will happen in the second round, so it doesn't really solve the problem.

It's not going to be possible to hold the elections in two weeks. The weather is changing, it's getting cold and it's going to be very difficult for people to go out and vote. The timing is bad and the turnout will be very low.

The security situation also worries me. This is not Europe - it's Afghanistan.

MUZAFAR ALI, 28, OFFICE WORKER, DAIKUNDI, HAZARAJAT

Unfortunately the decision for a run-off has come too late. The government backed election commission has (unintentionally and unwillingly) dented Karzai's chance of retaining his post for a second time by delaying a run-off, because of upcoming severe cold weather in most parts of the country will prevent people from voting.

This is the first Afghan led election and it was overshadowed by irregularities in the process. A run-off means the next Afghan election will need more intense involvement of foreign observers during the process.

The Taliban's presence and anti-government propaganda has intensified in many areas. People are concerned about this matter, especially in many parts of Taliban ruled Gezab district which borders peaceful Dai Kundi province.

In the places where the Taliban used to have surprise visits in Gezab; they now have a permanent presence. They thoroughly search incoming and outgoing vehicles and passengers.

I am quite hopeful that the run-off will bring a glimmer of hope for Afghans

To some extent the run-off can wash off the bad reputation of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan.

I am quite hopeful that the run-off will bring a glimmer of hope for Afghans who are currently disappointed. The IEC also needs a major overhaul to prevent such irregularities in future elections.

If IEC officers and authorities were responsible for fraud they should not only be sacked from their position but should also be investigated and put in prison if they are found guilty. Afghans have to pay huge price for such irregularities in elections. It will take time to fully recover from current situation created by the current political dilemma.

Talks show Iran open to pressure - Israeli official

Featured Broker sponsored link

JERUSALEM, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Talks that produced a draft deal presented on Wednesday to Iran and three world powers by the U.N. nuclear agency prove that Tehran is vulnerable to international pressure, a senior Israeli defence official said.

The remarks by Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai came as Israelis debate the value of diplomatic efforts to curb Iran's nuclear programme.

Many Israelis are sceptical that Tehran is open to persuasion. Their leaders have made clear they may use force instead if talks do not deliver the results they want.

"This proves just how much international pressure is significant," Vilnai told Israel Army Radio when asked about the plan for uranium stocks put to Iran.

"Iran is a country susceptible to pressures more than we tend to estimate."

Vilnai also stressed that even if Iran endorses the plan to reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium, world powers would need to keep pressure on the Islamic Republic to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons capabilities.

"It's a reason to continue it with full strength, and if we achieve something here, there will be nothing more important."

Iran declined to say if it would endorse the plan, which Western diplomats said would require Tehran to send 1.2 tonnes of its known 1.5-tonne reserve of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to Russia and France by the end of the year for conversion into fuel for a nuclear medicine facility in Tehran.

Though Iran denies seeking nuclear weapons, the lack of transparency around its programme and the virulently anti-Israel rhetoric from Tehran has stirred global fear of secret bomb designs that could draw pre-emptive Israeli military strikes.

Israel, assumed to have the Middle East's only nuclear arsenal, and the United States launched an air defence drill on Wednesday as part of what Israeli public radio called preparation for a face-off with Iran.

Vilnai said Israel would examine the U.N. draft agreement cautiously, "paying attention to every detail", to make sure Iran was not just trying to buy time. (Writing by Ari Rabinovitch; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Japan's Long-Ruling Party Suffers Crushing Defeat in Elections

Aug. 30: Yukio Hatoyama, who leads Japan's main opposition party, the Democratic Party of Japan, smiles inside the party's election center in Tokyo.

Sunday, August 30, 2009
AP

TOKYO — Japan's ruling party conceded a crushing defeat Sunday after 54 years of nearly unbroken rule as voters were poised to hand the opposition a landslide victory in nationwide elections, driven by economic anxiety and a powerful desire for change.

The left-of-center Democratic Party of Japan was set to win 300 or more of the 480 seats in the lower house of parliament, ousting the Liberal Democrats, who have governed Japan for all but 11 months since 1955, according to exit polls by all major Japanese TV networks.

"These results are very severe," Prime Minister Taro Aso said in a news conference at party headquarters, conceding his party was headed for a big loss. "There has been a deep dissatisfaction with our party."

Aso said he would have to accept responsibility for the results, suggesting that he would resign as party president. Other LDP leaders also said they would step down, though official results were not to be released until early Monday morning.

The loss by the Liberal Democrats — traditionally a pro-business, conservative party — would open the way for the Democratic Party, headed by Yukio Hatoyama, to replace Aso and establish a new Cabinet, possibly within the next few weeks.

The vote was seen as a barometer of frustrations over Japan's worst economic slump since World War II and a loss of confidence in the ruling Liberal Democrats' ability to tackle tough problems such as the rising national debt and rapidly aging population.

The Democrats have embraced a more populist platform, promising handouts for families with children and farmers, a higher minimum wage, and to rebuild the economy.

"The nation is very angry with the ruling party, and we are grateful for their deep support," Hatoyama said after the polls closed. "We will not be arrogant and we will listen to the people."

The Democrats have also said they will seek a more independent relationship with Washington, while forging closer ties with Japan's Asian neighbors, including China. But Hatoyama, who holds a doctorate in engineering from Stanford University, insists he will not seek dramatic change in Japan's foreign policy, saying the U.S.-Japan alliance would "continue to be the cornerstone of Japanese diplomatic policy."

National broadcaster NHK, using projections based on exit polls of roughly 400,000 voters, said the Democratic Party was set to win 300 seats and the Liberal Democrats only about 100 — a third of its strength before the vote.

TV Asahi, another major network, said the Democratic Party would win 315 seats, up from the 112 seats it held before parliament was dissolved in July.

As voting closed Sunday night, officials said turnout was high, despite an approaching typhoon, indicating the intense level of public interest in the hotly contested campaigns.

Even before the vote was over, the Democrats pounded the ruling party for driving the country into a ditch.

Japan's unemployment has spiked to record 5.7 percent while deflation has intensified and families have cut spending because they are insecure about the future.

Making the situation more dire is Japan's aging demographic — which means more people are on pensions and there is a shrinking pool of taxpayers to support them and other government programs.

Many voters said that although the Democrats are largely untested in power and doubts remain about whether they will be able to deliver on their promises, the country needs a change.

"We don't know if the Democrats can really make a difference, but we want to give them a chance," Junko Shinoda, 59, a government employee, said after voting at a crowded polling center in downtown Tokyo.

The Democratic Party would only need to win a simple majority of 241 seats in the lower house to assure that it can name the next prime minister. The 300-plus level would allow it and its two smaller allies the two-thirds majority they need in the lower house to pass bills.

Having the Democrats in power would smooth policy debates in parliament, which has been deadlocked since the Democrats and their allies took over the less powerful upper house in 2007.

To ease parenting costs and encourage more women to have babies, the Democrats propose giving families 26,000 yen ($275) a month per child through junior high. Japan's population of 127.6 millionpeaked in 2006, and is expected to decline to 115 million in 2030 and fall below 100 million by the middle of the century.

The party is also proposing toll-free highways, free high schools, income support for farmers, monthly allowances for job seekers in training, a higher minimum wage and tax cuts. The estimated bill comes to 16.8 trillion yen ($179 billion) if fully implemented starting in fiscal year 2013 — and critics say the plans would further bloat Japan's massive public debt.

The Democrats will likely face resistance from Japan's powerful bureaucrats, who favor the status quo and hold a great deal of influence in shaping policy.

Aso — whose own support ratings have sagged to a dismal 20 percent — repeatedly stressed his party led Japan's rise from the ashes of World War II into one of the world's biggest economic powers and are best equipped to get it out of its current morass.

In the end, voter worries about the economy and disenchantment with the LDP's long grip on power proved too much to overcome.

"It's revolutionary," said Tomoaki Iwai, a political science professor at Tokyo's Nihon University. "It's the first real change of government" Japan has had in six decades.

August tied for deadliest month in Afghanistan

KABUL — A U.S. service member died Thursday in a militant attack involving a roadside bomb and gunfire, a death that pushed August into a tie with July as the deadliest months of the eight-year war.

The death brings to 44 the number of U.S. troops who have died in Afghanistan this month. But with four days left in the month, August could set a new record.

More than 60,000 U.S. troops are now in the country — a record number — to combat rising insurgent violence. The number of roadside bombs deployed by militants across the country has skyrocketed, and U.S. forces have moved into new and deadlier areas of the country this summer, in part to help secure the country's Aug. 20 presidential election.

Violence is on the rise in Afghanistan even as it falls in Iraq, where nearly twice as many U.S. troops are still based. Five U.S. troops have died in Iraq this month, three fewer than in July.

A statement from the NATO-led force in Kabul said the U.S. service member died in southern Afghanistan when the troop's patrol responded to the bombing and gunfire attack. No other details were released. Thousands of new American troops are operating for the first time in Helmand and Kandahar, two of the country's most dangerous provinces, in part to secure the country's Aug. 20 presidential vote.

Afghan election officials have released two batches of vote tallies that show President Hamid Karzai with 44.8 percent of the vote and top challenger Abdullah Abdullah with 35.1 percent, based on returns from 17 percent of polling stations. The next partial results are expected Saturday.

Meanwhile, U.S. and Afghan forces battled Taliban militants at a medical center in eastern Afghanistan after a Taliban commander sought treatment there, and a U.S. helicopter gunship fired on the clinic after militants put up resistance.

Reports of the militant death toll from Wednesday's firefight varied widely. The spokesman of the governor of Paktika province said 12 militants died, while police said two were killed. The U.S. military did not report any deaths. It wasn't clear why the tolls differed.

The fighting began after a wounded Taliban commander sought treatment at a clinic in the Sar Hawza district of Paktika. Afghan forces went to the center and got in a firefight with militants. U.S. forces later provided backup.

Hamidullah Zhwak, the governor's spokesman, said the Taliban commander was wounded Aug. 20, election day. Militants brought him and three other wounded Taliban to the clinic at noon Wednesday. Afghan forces were tipped off to their presence and soon arrived at the scene, he said.

Insurgent snipers fired from a tower near the clinic, and troops called in an airstrike from U.S. forces, Zhwak said. Fighting between some 20 militants and Afghan and U.S. forces lasted about five hours, and 12 Taliban were killed in the clash, he said.

"After ensuring the clinic was cleared of civilians, an AH-64 Apache helicopter fired rounds at the building ending the direct threat and injuring the targeted insurgent in the building," a U.S. military statement said.

A U.S. military spokeswoman, Lt. Cmdr. Christine Sidenstricker, said the clinic's doctor gave U.S. troops permission to fire on the clinic. After the battle, Afghan and U.S. forces met with villagers and discussed rebuilding the clinic, a U.S. summary of the meeting said.

Villagers expressed "disgust" that militants used the medical center to fire from and that they understood that the action by Afghan and coalition forces was necessary, the summary said.

"The local villagers thanked the Afghanistan National Security Forces for ensuring all civilians were out of harms way before they were forced to use Coalition helicopters to engage the enemy," the summary said.

Seven insurgents — including the wounded commander — had been detained, the U.S. statement said.

Gen. Dawlat Khan, the provincial police chief, said two militants died in the encounter.

The Taliban have gained control of large segments of Afghanistan's south and east over the past few years, prompting the U.S. to send an additional 21,000 troops to the country this year.

The latest clash comes as the war-torn country awaits results from last week's election. The lengthy vote count, coupled with ongoing accusations of fraud, threatens to undermine hopes that Afghans can put together a united front against the insurgency.

Tropical Storm Strengthens, May Brush Long Island, New England

By Alex Morales

Aug. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Tropical Storm Danny strengthened and may brush Long Island and New England as a hurricane on a path for landfall in Canada at the weekend.

Danny’s maximum sustained winds intensified to 60 miles (95 kilometers) per hour from 50 mph late yesterday, the National Hurricane Center said on its Web site at about 4:45 a.m. Miami time. The system was 370 miles east-northeast of the Bahamian capital, Nassau, and heading northwest at 10 mph.

“Slow strengthening is forecast during the next couple of Days,” the center said. “Interests from the Carolinas northward to New England should monitor the progress of Danny.”

The center’s five-day forecast shows Danny strengthening on a northward track that may see the storm pass near the Carolinas late tomorrow and New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts on Aug. 29, before hitting Canada in the area of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick late that day or early on Aug. 30.

Danny, the fourth named storm of the June 1 to Nov. 30 Atlantic hurricane season, is forecast to become a hurricane, with winds of at least 74 mph, late tomorrow or early Aug. 28.

The eye of the storm, which the hurricane center yesterday described as “disorganized,” formed again today “a little farther to the north,” the forecaster said. The latest position east of the Bahamas is also about 575 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Tropical storm-force winds of at least 39 mph extend up to 205 miles from the eye, and Danny is forecast to turn toward the north and accelerate tomorrow.

Danny would be the second cyclone to hit Canada this season, after Hurricane Bill on Aug. 23 and 24 brushed past Nova Scotia before hitting Newfoundland.

To contact the reporter on this story: Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

Jockeying Begins to Fill Massachusetts' Open Senate Seat

See details on possible contenders.

Under Massachusetts law, a special election to fill Mr. Kennedy's seat must take place between Jan. 18 and Feb. 2. Days before his death, Mr. Kennedy, who had served in the Senate since 1962, requested that the state's legislature—controlled by Democrats—pass an amendment that would allow Democratic Gov. Deval Patrick to appoint a temporary replacement. Lawmakers are debating the request.

Either way, the list of potential contenders is long. One possible candidate is Mr. Kennedy's nephew, Joseph P. Kennedy II, who served as a U.S. congressman between 1987 and 1999 and heads Citizens Energy Corp., a nonprofit that distributes heating oil to the poor.

The son of the late Robert F. Kennedy, Joseph Kennedy is "one of the most popular figures in Massachusetts," said David Paleologos, director of the Political Research Center at Suffolk University in Boston. In Suffolk's March poll of 400 likely voters in Massachusetts, 67% had a favorable view of him.

The younger Mr. Kennedy "has youth and spunk and government experience, and he has the Kennedy name," Mr. Paleologos said. If he chose to run, others said to be interested—including Democratic U.S. Reps. Michael Capuano and Stephen Lynch—"would take a second look at running," Mr. Paleologos predicted.

Mr. Kennedy's office didn't return a call seeking comment.

Edward Kennedy's widow, Victoria, also has been discussed as a possible candidate, but she reportedly has denied interest. Ms. Duffy said if Mrs. Kennedy ran, "there are a number of [potential candidates] who would naturally defer to her."

Other possible Democratic candidates include Martha Coakley, the state's attorney general since 2006, who has paid for polling about her viability as a Senate candidate. Ms. Coakley earned a 56% favorable rating in Suffolk's March poll. A spokeswoman for Ms. Coakley had no comment on her polling.

Martin Meehan, a former Massachusetts congressman who serves as chancellor of the University of Massachusetts campus in Lowell, "has always held aspirations to the Senate," Ms. Duffy said. Mr. Meehan still controls a campaign chest with $4.9 million left over from his tenure in Congress. The funds could jump-start a run, but Mr. Meehan has said he won't leave Lowell's chancellorship for several more years.

Mr. Meehan's office didn't respond to a request for comment.

U.S. Rep. Edward Markey, who represents a district near Boston, may also consider running. A spokesman declined comment.

Possible Republican candidates in the heavily Democratic state include Kerry Healey, a former lieutenant governor, and Michael Sullivan, a former U.S. attorney and state legislator.

Until 2004, Massachusetts's governor had the authority to appoint a replacement senator until the next general election. But the state legislature took away that power over concerns that then-Gov. Mitt Romney, a Republican, might appoint a Republican if Democratic Sen. John Kerry won his campaign that year for president.

Write to Jennifer Levitz at jennifer.levitz@wsj.com and Keith J. Winstein at keith.winstein@wsj.com