Yingluck denies approaching outsiders

The Pheu Thai Party had not yet offered any outsider a seat on the incoming government's cabinet, prime minister-in-waiting Yingluck Shinawatra said on Tuesday. Prime minister-in-waiting Yingluck Shinawatra (Photo by Apichart Jinakul) Ms Yingluck was responding to reports that her party had invited Vichit Surapongchai, executive chairman of the Siam Commercial Bank, to lead the economic team in the Pheu Thai-led coalition government. The reports said Mr Vichit would be deputy prime minister for economic affairs and finance minister."No decisions have been made at this time on the final cabinet lineup, but approaching outsiders is an option," she said.The youngest sister of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin said the selection of...

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Helicopter crash kills three: Myanmar official

YANGON - THREE Myanmar nationals were killed when a helicopter chartered by Malaysian energy firm Petronas crashed into the Andaman Sea after taking off from an offshore gas field, an official said on Tuesday. The helicopter suffered engine trouble soon after leaving the southern Myanmar Yetagun field, which is operated by Petronas, the Myanmar government official said. Nine other passengers, including foreigners, were rescued but the official declined to give details of their condition. Another official confirmed the crash and said a second helicopter was dispatched immediately to pick up survivors. The US made Sikorsky S-76 helicopter was owned by French firm Heli-Union and hired by Petronas, Malaysia's state oil and gas ...

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Media watchdog criticises Vietnam harassment

Vietnamese protesters walk past the Opera House during an anti-China rally in downtown Hanoi on July 3, 2011 amid an ongoing territorial row in the South China Sea. -- PHOTO: AFP HANOI - VIETNAM must stop harassing media reporting on public protests, an independent US-based press watchdog said on Tuesday, after three correspondents were briefly detained at an anti-China rally. 'Journalists are not pawns to be used in Vietnam's dealings with China,' Shawn Crispin, the senior South-east Asia representative for the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said in a statement. ...

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Thai cabinet extends emergency rule on south

BANGKOK - THAILAND'S outgoing government extended a state of emergency across the restive Muslim-majority deep south during its last cabinet meeting on Tuesday following its election loss to the opposition. The next cabinet is set to be headed by Yingluck Shinawatra, the youngest sister of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whose Puea Thai Party swept to victory in the July 3 poll on a wave of support among rural voters. One of the final acts of outgoing prime minister's Abhisit Vejjajiva's cabinet was to extend emergency rule, introduced in 2005, in an area covering most of Thailand's three southernmost provinces for a further two months. Critics accuse the government of failing to address the grievances of Thailand's Malay...

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UN rights disappointed by Malaysian police crackdown

Malaysian police fire tear gas onto protestors prior to a mass rally organised by Bersih 2.0 calling for electoral reform in Kuala Lumpur on July 9, 2011. -- PHOTO: AFP GENEVA - THE UN human rights office expressed disappointment on Tuesday at Malaysia's crackdown on peaceful demonstrators, saying that police appeared to have used excessive force. Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon and arrested more than 1,600 people to end a rally to demand electoral changes on Saturday, drawing intense criticism from human rights groups. 'We are very concerned by the recent...

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Cambodia's ancient wonders suffer modern ills

In this photo taken on May 11, 2011, western tourist and others gather on the top of the 10th century temple Bakheng in the Angkor Wat complex near Siem Reap, Cambodia, to view the setting sun. -- PHOTO: AP SIEM REAP - THE blistering heat at Cambodia's Angkor temples eases, and the sun's last soft shimmer will soon brush some of the most wondrous monuments ever created by man. A moment for peaceful reverence? Hardly. A traffic jam of up to 3,000 tourists surges up a steep hillside, trampling over vulnerable stonework and quaffing beer at a sacred hilltop that provides spectacular...

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Lift your look with drops of colour sent from over the rainbow

By Justine Knight, Photography by Jonathan Fenn The electric eye Match bold-as-brass peepers with nude lips for an eye-catching look that's easy-peasy to achieve Step 1 Start by brushing a little long-lasting foundation on to your eyelids. Rimmel Match Perfection Cream Gel Foundation, £6.99 helps neutralise any redness and puts eyeshadow on lockdown. Bright eyes! Step 2 Use a medium-sized eyeshadow brush to apply colour - we heart Rimmel Glam Eyes Mono Eye Shadow in Posh Peacock, £4.49 (1). Press over your eyelid, from your lashes to just above your socket line. Step 3 Frame eyes with liner, like Chanel Stylo Yeux Waterproof Long-Lasting Eyeliner, £18 (2). Finally, add a slick of lengthening...

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'I just wanted to make something of my life'

She vowed to "live the dream" after winning Celebrity Big Brother in 2006, but fame has been hard on Chantelle Houghton. So why does she continue to dance with the devil? By Beth Neil, photography by Barnaby Wilshier July 3, 2011 Chantelle Houghton is nothing if not resilient. Five and a half years on from winning Celebrity Big Brother and still, here she is, valiantly eking every last drop of mileage from her 15 minutes of fame. It seems she's always lurching from one doomed relationship to another, stumbling from one emotional trauma to the next. And with each incident comes a new opportunity to be in the headlines. The latest event is her very public split with Rav Wilding after those rowing pictures were publicised....

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Karis The Little Helper

... now she's helping five people to live after she died Caring... Karis on her 12th birthday Pictures: WORLDWIDEFEATURES.COM Exclusive by Lucy Laing IN her short life, nothing gave kind-hearted schoolgirl Karis Darling more pleasure than looking after others. Karis (right)... with mum Kerri and older sister Kristi Known by her loving family as the Little Helper, she ran errands for her housebound gran and nursed her mum Kerri when she had breast cancer. And when a killer bug tragically took caring Karis's life at the age of 12, she went on helping others after her death. Her grieving father John revealed how her organs have saved the lives of FIVE people - including young children like herself - and said:...

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Guardian girl mocks dead gap year boys

THE grieving mum of a British teenager killed in a Thai coach crash has blasted a Guardian newspaper journalist who cruelly mocked his death on Twitter. Devastated Madeleine Boomgaarden said columnist Kia Abdullah had caused the family "much pain" and urged the newspaper to ban her. Cruel... columnist Kia Abdullah Gap year students Max Boomgaarden-Cook, Bruno Melling-Firth and Conrad Quashie, all 19, died instantly when the coach they were travelling in was hit by another bus as they travelled from Bangkok on Tuesday. Within minutes Abdullah tweeted: "Is it really awful that I don't feel any sympathy for anyone killed on a gap year?" Unbelievably, she then added: "I actually smiled when I saw that they had double-barrelled...

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