Yingluck: No plan to get Thaksin a new passport

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said yesterday that giving a diplomatic passport back to her brother, fugitive ex-premier Thaksin, was not one of her government's plans.

Yingluck said that she would not get involved in the process and the matter would depend on Foreign Ministry regulations and procedures.

Foreign Minister Surapong Towichukchaikul yesterday dismissed media reports that the government planned to reissue a diplomatic passport to Thaksin, because he was a former prime minister.

The new foreign minister said he had not investigated the feasibility of reinstating a "red passport" or diplomatic passport to the former premier, as he had not officially startedwork at the ministry.

"I'm not prepared to return the red passport to Thaksin but I will consider the case based on principles and fairness," Surapong said.

The foreign minister denied he had initiated a process to re-issue a passport, saying he would start work on Wednesday. He said if the Foreign Ministry wanted to bring the issue up, he would look at it and adhere to righteousness.

"What the previous government did by politicising the issue, we should not follow suit. The Foreign Ministry always acts in line with good protocol," he said.

Democrat Party spokesman Chavanont Intarakomalsut said, however, the Foreign Ministry did not have authority to re-issue a passport to Thaksin, who was sentenced to two years jail in late 2008 over a scandal involving a deal to buy a prime plot of land on Ratchadapisek. The ministry could not issue a new passport. Only the court, police or prosecutors could make a new decision on the matter.

"I want the new Foreign Minister or the PM to think of her acceptance statement - that she would not work for any particular person or group," Chavanont said.

Asked if a move by Japan to allow Thaksin to enter their country would be a slap on the face of the government or not, Chavanont said the Democrat government never banned Japan from allowing Thaksin to enter the country.

Senator Somchai Sawaengkarn said any Foreign Ministry move to return a Thai passport to Thaksin would cut the Yingluck administration short, because the new government was being closely watched on whether it worked for a particular group or person.

He also believed that the Pheu Thai led-government would be able to amend the Constitution - and remove appointed Senators - because it had a majority of votes in Parliament.

Pheu Thai Nonthaburi MP Chalong Riewraeng said Thaksin could get his Thai passport back because the Court has already nullified the purchase of the Ratchadapisek land and refunded Thaksin and ex-wife Pojaman Damapong the money with interest.

"The Ratchadapisek case was not corruption but political case. Thaksin delivered great achievements during his administration, he deserved to get it back," he said.

Yesterday, Surapong said he had met with the Japanese ambassador to Thailand, Seiji Kojima. He said Japan wanted to know about the Pheu Thai policy on travel restrictions that Thaksin faced. Surapong said he told the ambassador the country had no restriction and that Thaksin had travelled to many countries. He said it depend entirely on Japan whether to grant Thaksin a visa.

Thaksin is said to be planning a visit to Japan from August 22 to 28 to look at areas in Miyagi prefecture in the north, which were devastated by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Japan's immigration law forbids any foreigner convicted of breaking a law and sentenced to a jail term of one year or more from entering the country. But, the law also makes an exception for people who may have been convicted for political reasons. The justice minister has the final say in each individual case.

Thaksin's legal adviser Noppadon Pattama said yesterday that the ex-premier had received an invitation from a Japanese academic institution to give a lecture and visit an area affected by the tsunami.

Meanwhile, Surapong said he expected relations with Cambodia to improve because Phnom Penh was the first to send a congratulatory note when the Yingluck Cabinet was sworn in. He said he would look into details if there was a chance to co-register historical sites near Preah Vihear Temple as World Heritage sites. He insisted that there was no conflict of interest in this move, despite the fact there has been grave concerns about demarcation of the border, both on land and sea.

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Children step in to cover for Indian priest shortage

By Zubair Ahmed BBC News, Mumbai

Some 700 children are training to be priests

In a crowded neighbourhood building in the western Indian city of Mumbai (Bombay), 30-odd teenagers are chanting Hindu scriptures and singing religious songs.

These children, along with several hundred others, are training in batches to become priests for the city's biggest religious festival.

The 10-day Ganesh Utsav - when the elephant god is worshipped - begins this month and there are not enough priests available to handle the rush of ceremonies: More than 12,000 in different neighbourhoods, and several thousand private ceremonies in homes.

According to one estimate, there are barely 3,500 priests in the city when it needs at least eight times the number.

So the festival organisers have decided to train 700 young boys and girls this year so that more priests can be made available.

'Crash course'

Interestingly, many of the children taking the "crash course" in priesthood are girls.

"I know there will be some hesitation [to hire us] in the beginning because we are so young and then we are girls. But once [the clients] know that we are as good as traditional priests, they will hire us," says a visibly excited 15-year-old Neha.

And Manohar, also 15, says he has "stopped lying" ever since he began attending the classes.

"I am learning to be pious which would help me being accepted by those who need the services of a priest."

Pandit Vishwanath, one of the trainers, is confident that his young charges will be ready to become priests.

"They have been in training for over a month. They will have learnt all the scriptures in time to preside over the ceremonies," he says.

The Ganesh Utsav is Mumbai's biggest festival

But will the people accept the teenage priests?

The organisers are confident they will.

"If the children learn the scriptures which are available in a condensed form and take their job seriously they will be accepted," says Ganesh Pandey, a veteran priest.

The organisers plan to train more children every year to meet the rising demand for priests.

It is not clear why there is such a severe shortage of priests, but one of the organisers says children of priests are not taking up their father's vocations.

The upshot: the city's biggest festival simply doesn't have enough priests to carry out the ceremonies.

"They get so busy," says Naresh Dahibhavkar, one of the organisers, "that they don't even spend more than five minutes at one place for the ceremonies."

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Markets volatile following European Central Bank move

Market Data

Last Updated at 12:43 GMT

Dow Jones	11444.61	Up	60.93	0.54%
Nasdaq	2532.41	Down	-23.98	-0.94%
FTSE 100	5164.54	Down	-82.45	-1.57%
Dax	6097.60	Down	-138.56	-2.22%
Cac 40	3221.82	Down	-56.74	-1.73%
BBC Global 30	5200.82	Down	-44.90	-0.86%

Marketwatch ticker

Data delayed by 15 mins

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Global Economy

• Factors behind market turmoil
• What it means for you
• Charting Europe's economic woes
• Is the euro crumbling? Watch

European stock markets have given up early gains, which had been triggered by the European Central Bank saying it intended to buy up government debt.

Spanish and Italian markets jumped in early trading before slipping back, while major European indexes slid sharply in mid-morning trading.

Markets tumbled last week, forcing the ECB to intervene to address concerns the debt crisis is spreading.

Yields on Spanish and Italian bonds fell sharply after the bank's move.

The yield on Spanish 10-year bonds - an indication of the risk associated with lending Spain money - fell from more than 6% to about 5.2%. Yields on Italian bonds fell by a similar amount.

"Thanks to the ECB's intervention, [yields have] collapsed dramatically. I can't remember the last time I saw such a big move down," said Louise Cooper at BGC Partners.

Stock market investors appeared to be less enthusiastic about the ECB's bond purchases, as they continue to worry about the US economy following Friday's downgrade of US debt by ratings agency Standard and Poor's.

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“Start Quote

From the sidelines, many voices say that the answer to all of this is to launch a eurobond that would essentially turn nation's debts into common European debt. But in order to get close to selling this idea to the German public, the weaker countries would have to agree to a massive loss of sovereignty. Germany, France etc. would essentially want to manage the tax and spending of countries like Greece and Italy.”

Gavin Hewitt BBC Europe editor

• Hewitt: Stark choices for Europe
• Swiss concern over franc's rise

In London and Paris the FTSE 100 and Cac 40 indexes lost almost 2%, while Frankfurt's Dax was down almost 3%.

Earlier, Asian shares had fallen due to that downgrade of US debt.

Japan's Nikkei and Hong Kong's Hang Seng indexes lost 2.2%, while South Korea's Kospi dropped 3.8%.

Last week saw trillions of dollars wiped from the value of global markets, with the Dax losing about 13% of its value, the FTSE 100 dropping 10% and the Dow ending the week 5.8% lower.

More wobbles?

On Sunday, the ECB indicated that it would start buying the bonds of eurozone governments, hoping to instil confidence that some of its biggest economies would not default on their debt obligations.

Bonds are essentially IOUs issued by governments, or companies, to raise cash. Governments issue new bonds to help pay maturing bonds, which is why it is so important that investors continue to buy them - if they do not, governments are unable to pay their outstanding debts.

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View from the trading floor

Joe Lynam BBC News, at BGC Partners

On days like this, blood pressure, adrenalin and voices can rise dramatically.

That's been the case so far today as the FTSE has gone from badly down to solidly up to dramatically back down again.

I gauge the intensity of trading by the number of men on their feet shouting into their phones.

By that yardstick, the market - like a flock of swallows - could be about to turn in one direction or the other and take the whole gang with it.

Lunch here is not just for wimps but worse - for those who aren't busy.

Not busy equals no money. No money equals no house hunting in Surrey or car buying with HR Owen.

On days like this, reputations and millions are made and shed on trading floors.

In a separate statement, the G7 group of developed countries said members were "determined to react in a co-ordinated manner" to preserve financial stability.

Analysts were mixed in their reaction to the ECB's move, and said the markets would be hoping to see more action from European policymakers.

"The markets are looking for a concrete plan out of Europe and the US in terms of how they are going to deal with their deficits and those plans need to be implemented," said Richard Hunter at broker Hargreaves Lansdown.

"Until the market can get comfort on these matters, there is going to be more volatility."

The intervention by the ECB is seen as a short-term measure to help calm stock markets, but what investors want to see most of all is highly-indebted countries reducing their levels of debt, by spending less and raising more in revenues.

On Friday, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi announced plans to balance the country's budget by 2013, a year earlier than planned, while Spain has also promised to speed up cost-saving measures.

Knock-on effects

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“Start Quote

Many will see the ECB as taking a serious credit risk in bailing out two financially over-stretched governments and as behaving contrary to the rules of prudent central banking”

Robert Peston Business editor, BBC News

• Peston: The ECB's risky strategy

S&P's downgrade of US debt has also underminded investors' confidence.

"The ratings downgrade has been an unprecedented event," said Alvin Liew of UOB Bank in Singapore.

Standard & Poor's cut the US's top-notch AAA rating for the first time, citing concerns about the size of the country's budget deficit and the acrimonious and protracted battle in Congress to raise the country's debt ceiling at the eleventh hour. It has graded the US at AA+.

The fear for many investors is that the US economy will slow further, and even enter a double-dip recession.

This in turn would hurt Asia, which relies on the US, the world's biggest economy, to buy billions of dollars of exports every month.

It would also hamper efforts of governments to reduce their debt load, as it would cut tax revenues.

Click to play

BBC correspondents assess the financial markets

The downgrade was heavily criticised by the US administration, with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner telling NBC news S&P had shown "terrible judgement" and a "stunning lack of knowledge about basic US fiscal budget maths".

But China, which is the world's biggest investor in US debt, has told Washington to address its high levels of debt rather than blaming S&P.

An editorial in Monday's China People's Daily newspaper, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party, called on the US not to "become blind to the great risks that a weak greenback could pose to the world's fragile economic recovery by lifting dollar-denominated commodities prices".

"It is time for the US to tighten its belt and solve its structural problems, in order to resume its reputation and restore world confidence," the paper said.

Gold standard

Fears of renewed global slowdown were reflected in the price of gold and oil.

Gold, which is seen as a safe investment in times of economic uncertainty, jumped to a new record high of $1,706 an ounce on increased demand.

Meanwhile the price of oil slipped further, reflecting concerns that weak global growth could lead to a fall in demand. US light crude fell 3.3% to $83.59 a barrel, while Brent crude lost 3.4% to $105.96.

"There are few places you can obviously hide," said Greg Gibbs of RBS in Sydney. "And the ones that you can hide in are doing very well. Gold is the beneficiary because there is no central bank to sell it."

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London riots: Theresa May to meet police chiefs

Police clashed with youths in Enfield as violence spread across London

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London Riots

• London riots: Your reaction
• Locals voice tension behind riots
• London riots: Timeline
• Was riot a cry of rage?

Home Secretary Theresa May is to return from her summer holiday following a second night of violence in London.

More than 100 people have so far been arrested and 35 officers injured. Police vehicles were damaged and shops looted in parts of the capital.

Following riots in Tottenham on Saturday, disorder spread to Enfield in the north, Walthamstow in east London and Brixton in the south of the city.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg called the rioting "opportunistic theft".

Mrs May, who has been in contact with other senior politicians and senior police officers while overseas, is meeting Acting Metropolitan Police (Met)Commissioner Tim Godwin and other officers on Monday afternoon.

A Home Office spokesman could not confirm whether Mrs May has cut short her holiday to come back to the UK, or whether she was already due to return on Monday.

Earlier the home secretary said: "Last night, police officers again put themselves in harm's way to protect Londoners and their property.

"Londoners have made clear that there are no excuses for violence, and I call on all members of local communities to work constructively with the police to help them bring these criminals to justice."

A spokesman for Prime Minister David Cameron, who is on holiday in Italy, said: "We are very clear that those responsible for that violence and looting will be made to face the consequences for their actions."

'Copycat criminals'

On Sunday night, three officers were hurt when a vehicle hit them as they tried to make an arrest in Chingford Mount, north London.

Clashes later broke out in Enfield where shop windows were smashed and a police car damaged.

Continue reading the main story

Travel disruption

• Brixton Tube station is closed
• Tottenham High Road and Bruce Grove closed between Monument Way and the Roundway
• Lordship Lane closed between the A1010 High Road and Bruce Grove
• Church Street in Enfield closed between Chase Side and Willow Road
• Bus routes 67, 123, 141, 243, 259, 279, 349, 318, 341 and W4 are on diversion

Up to 200 youths looted shops and charged police in Coldharbour Lane and the High Street in Brixton.

The disorder followed rioting in Tottenham which began on Saturday night and continued into Sunday morning.

A peaceful protest over the fatal shooting by police on Thursday of 29-year-old Mark Duggan was followed by violence later in the evening.

The unrest spread into nearby Wood Green and Tottenham Hale.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg described the second night of rioting as "needless opportunistic theft and violence" which he said had "absolutely nothing to do with the death of Mark Duggan".

The Met said it had dealt with several incidents of "copycat criminal activity" across London on Sunday night:

These included:

• Three officers injured after being hit by a vehicle in Chingford Mount, Waltham Forest, at about 00:45 BST
• More than 30 youths vandalising and looting a number of shops in Walthamstow
• About 50 youths gathered in Oxford Circus, central London, and threw objects at shops
• A police vehicle being attacked in Islington, north London
• A shop on the King's Road in Chelsea damaged
• A Tesco store in Ponders End being attacked and items stolen

Click to play

Nick Clegg: "People indulging in violence, looting and theft have absolutely no excuse."

Metropolitan Police Commander Adrian Hanstock said: "This is not groups of people acting on behalf of communities or with any consent.

"This is individuals who are actually attacking communities, businesses, properties and houses and actually causing a huge amount of upset and criminality."

Kit Malthouse, Deputy Mayor of London and Chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, described the scenes of the last two nights as "disgusting and shocking" and said the police did a good job.

He added: "Obviously there are people in this city, sadly, who are intent on violence, who are looking for the opportunity to steal and set fire to buildings and create a sense of mayhem, whether they're anarchists or part of organised gangs or just feral youth, frankly, who fancy a new pair of trainers."

Talking about the impact on the capital's image, one year ahead of the Olympic Games, he said: "It's pretty rotten for London, it does not look good.

"What we need to do over the next few months is to underline to people the fundamental truth about London which is that it is one of the safest, great big cities on earth."

He said the Mayor Boris Johnson, who is on holiday, was in touch with events and "all over this issue".

'Rocks and bottles'

BBC London's Paraic O'Brien said he had witnessed widespread looting in Brixton.

He said: "What really struck me was the small number of police officers that there actually seem to be on Brixton High Street responding to this."

Mark Duggan was shot dead by police in Tottenham

Deputy Assistant Commissioner Steve Kavanagh told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme there were too few officers in Tottenham on Saturday night.

But he said: "Social media and other methods have been used to organise these levels of greed and criminality."

Mr Kavanagh pledged that more officers would be on London's streets on Monday night to prevent or tackle further outbreaks.

Press Association photographer Lewis Whyld saw looters battle police at a Currys store in Brixton.

He said: "A couple of hundred youths were rioting and looting. Riot police went in to get them out and there was a big fight in the street.

"Youths were throwing rocks and bottles and there was a bin on fire. They used a fire extinguisher to push the police back so they could get back into Currys and continue taking things out."

Tube closed

Parts of Tottenham are still cordoned off, as officers and forensic specialists continue to examine Saturday's riot scene.

A total of 61 arrests have been made in connection with the first night of rioting.

The majority were for burglary, and other offences including violent disorder, robbery, theft and handling stolen goods.

Sixteen people have been charged with offences including burglary, violent disorder and possession of a pointed or bladed weapon following the Tottenham riots.

A police officer was also shot in Thursday's incident where Mr Duggan lost his life, which happened in what was called a "pre-planned" event under Operation Trident, which investigates gun crime in London's African and Caribbean communities.

Police had stopped a minicab which Mr Duggan had been travelling in.

An inquest into Mr Duggan's death is due to open at High Barnet Coroner's Court on Tuesday.

The violence has also affected public transport and the roads. This includes:

• Brixton London Underground station closed
• Tottenham High Road and Bruce Grove closed between Monument Way and the Roundway
• Lordship Lane shut between the A1010 High Road and Bruce Grove
• Church Street in Enfield closed between Chase Side and Willow Road
• Bus routes 67, 123, 141, 243, 259, 279, 349, 318, 341 and W4 are on diversion

Are you in London? Have you been affected by the unrest this weekend? Send us your comments using the form below.

Send your pictures and videos to yourpics@bbc.co.uk or text them to 61124 (UK) or +44 7725 100 100 (International). If you have a large file you can upload here.

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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 cabinet members will be decided by the party's executive members, based on the capability and suitability of the nominees, including competent outsiders.

She insisted that the selection would not be a benefit sharing process, or reciprocation for political faction support inside the Pheu Thai Party, as has been suggested.

Ms Yingluck said the formation of the cabinet would not be completed this month. Her party and the other coalition partners would wait until the Election Commission had endorsed at least 95 per cent (475) of the 500 MPs.

EC chairman Apichart Sukhagganond yesterday reaffirmed that the EC could endorse the required 95 per cent of MPs this week.

Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit said a meeting of the party's executive has passed a resolution giving the authority to select the new speaker of the House of Representatives to Ms Yingluck and party leader Yongyuth Wichaidit.

Mr Prompong said the selection of the new House speaker, who is also ex-officio parliament president, will be jointly decided by Ms Yingluck and Mr Yongyuth within the next week.

He said the meeting also gave them final authority in selecting individuals for other political positions such as deputy House speaker, chairs of various parliamentary committees and the panel members, cabinet ministers and advisers to ministers.

Ms Yingluck and Mr Yongyuth were both appointed the party's representatives for coordinating with other coalition partners, the spokesman added.

Democrat Party member and outgoing Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij (Photo by Patipat Janthong)

Outgoing Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said the next financial minister should not be an outsider because non-MPs might not truly understand the people's problems and the economic policies might not be sustainable.

"The new finance minister should have a good knowledge of financial and monetary issues as well as macro and micro economics.

"The public must be able to rely on and have confidence in the person.

"The new finance minister has to work honestly and transparently, maintains financial discipline, is ready to speak the truth for the best interests of the country and have enough standing to be able to halt some projects," Mr Korn said.

He said the next government should not only be immersed in macroeconomic figures, as this would not solve cost of living problems.

The state sector would likely collect about 100 billion baht in revenue for fiscal year 2012, giving the next government to more money to spend, he said.

"I hope the new government under the Pheu Thai Party will maintain financial discipline and keep the budget deficit at 350 billion baht," the Democrat Party key member said.

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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 company, for its operations in southern Myanmar, the first official said.

The 56-year-old pilot was a retired Myanmar Air Force lieutenant colonel. -- AFP

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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.

'Vietnam should allow free reporting of these protests.' The Vietnamese journalists, working for the Associated Press of the United States and Japan's NHK television and Asahi Shimbun, were among at least 10 people detained when police dispersed a rally on Sunday in Hanoi sparked by tensions in the South China Sea.

'Reporters had previously been permitted to photograph and film the small rallies which had been held in the national capital on five consecutive Sundays,' CPJ said.

Political protests are not common in authoritarian Vietnam, but the unprecedented rallies against China occurred after Hanoi in late May accused Chinese marine surveillance vessels of cutting the exploration cables of an oil survey ship inside Hanoi's exclusive economic zone.

The two communist neighbours have long been at odds over the potentially oil-rich Paracel and Spratly island groups, which straddle vital commercial shipping lanes in the South China Sea. -- AFP

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