Thai Stock Rally Awaits After Opposition Wins Decisive Election
The SET Index could jump as much as 20 points at the open from its close Thursday at 1041.48 points, said Mayuree Chowvikran, head of research at Kim Eng Securities. Thai markets were closed for a holiday Friday. She pegged immediate resistance at 1060 and the next resistance at 1080.
The U.S. dollar has already tumbled in early trade after For Thais Party, led by Yingluck Shinawatra–sister of exiled former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra–won a majority in Sunday’s elections, making her Thailand’s first female prime minister.
The dollar was trading at THB30.42 at 0224 GMT, sliding from THB30.75 late Thursday in Asia.
Yields on Thai government bonds were down in early morning trade on hopes that the next government will bring stability after a decisive election result. However, profit-taking is emerging and some investors may sell bonds for riskier assets, including stocks.
“Stability is now very good, and fund flows are now going to move back into the market because the political issue is over and they can start to focus on things such as second-quarter earnings and first-half dividends,” Mayuree said.
Guests targeted in ‘meticulously planned’ hotel attack
Seven militants on a night-time suicide mission stormed the Intercontinental Hotel, penetrating the hotel’s normally heavy security with relative ease in what one expert is calling a “meticulously planned” attack.
Once inside some of them blew themselves up in the lobby while others started shooting at guests and eventually made their way to the roof of the hotel.
From the roof three of the attackers made a final stand and fired rocket-propelled grenades (RPGs) at a nearby house until the siege ended several hours after it began when NATO helicopters fired missiles at the roof of the burning hotel.
Afghan authorities say at least 11 people were killed in the attack along with the seven militants.
Military officials say two New Zealand special forces troops were also wounded while supporting Afghan commandos during the siege.
Unconfirmed reports say one of the injured New Zealanders was a sniper onboard the helicopter involved in the NATO response.
A US citizen who was staying at the hotel a the time of the attack says he had just finished dinner and returned to his room on the fourth floor when the lights went out.
Tornado touches down at Churchill Downs, Ky.
There was no live racing at the track at the time, and officials say two buildings were damaged and some wires were down.Police say they have no reports of death or injuries anywhere in the city.
Photos: The 2011 Kentucky Derby
Photos: Kentucky Derby hats
Photos: Stars at the Kentucky Derby
The National Weather Service confirmed reports of a tornado in the area, which also struck the University of Louisville campus.Weather service meteorologist Ryan Sharp says there are reports of debris from the storm Wednesday about 8:10 p.m. EDT near Churchill Downs in south Louisville. Eyewitnesses said they saw about a dozen power poles downed near the track and university.Sharp says there’s also damage reported in the Shively area, west of downtown Louisville.Storm sirens wailed in Kentucky’s largest city as the storm went through.
Violent thunderstorms kill 7 in Oklahoma, Kansas
The high-powered storms arrived as forecast, just two days after a massive tornado tore through the southwest Missouri town of Joplin and killed 122 people.
Several tornadoes struck Oklahoma City and its suburbs during rush hour, killing at least five people and injuring at least 60 others, including three children who were in critical condition, authorities said.
Cherokee Ballard, a spokeswoman for the state medical examiner, said four people died west of Oklahoma City in Canadian County, where a weather-monitoring site in El Reno recorded 151 mph (243 kph) winds. She did not have any immediate details about the deaths.
At Chickasha, 25 miles (40 kilometers) southwest of Oklahoma City, a 26-year-old woman died when a tornado hit a mobile home park where residents had been asked to evacuate their trailers, Assistant Police Chief Elip Moore said. He said a dozen people were injured and that hundreds were displaced when the storm splintered their homes.
In Kansas, police said two people died when high winds threw a tree into their van around 6 p.m. near the small town of St. John, about 100 miles (160 kilometers) west of Wichita. The highway was shut down because of storm damage.
Everyone who’s anyone was at royal wedding
the big kahuna of British politics was in attendance. Cameron is the head of England’s Conservative party, and his wife, Samantha, is a business executive and the daughter of a baronet, who ranks below a baron and above a knight. “Quite surprising that Sam, as she’s known, didn’t wear a hat,” said Tina Brown on Good Morning America. “The Camerons are a very upper-class couple, very grand beginnings … this is the one day when it’s kind of OK for him to be posh.” Cameron, a former PR executive, was appointed to the post last May and is the youngest British prime minister since 1812.
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Sir Elton John
The musician performed Candle in the Wind at Diana’s funeral. He walked into the wedding with a grin alongside his partner, filmmaker David Furnish; the two recently welcomed son Zachary.
Gaddafi’s forces push back rebels in key city; world leaders call for his ouster
Rebel fighters fled under fire from a key town in eastern Libya on Tuesday as world leaders convening in London insisted that Moammar Gaddafi step down but offered no new suggestions for how to dislodge him from power.
The rebels’ chaotic retreat from the town of Bin Jawwad, which they had captured from troops loyal to Gaddafi just two days earlier, reversed the momentum they had seized over the weekend and suggested that the ad hoc and lightly armed opposition force may have reached the limits of its capacity.
It was the fourth time Bin Jawwad has changed hands in less than three weeks, raising the specter of a prolonged stalemate along the sparsely populated stretch of coastal highway between the rebel stronghold of Benghazi to the east and Gaddafi’s heavily garrisoned home town of Sirte to the west.
Although the 40 world leaders meeting in London pledged humanitarian aid and continued airstrikes to protect civilians, they indicated that it would be up to the Libyans themselves to force Gaddafi out, leaving it unclear how they were supposed to do so.
The question of whether to arm the rebels was not publicly discussed, nor was the question of how to release frozen Libyan assets to help fund them. But the leaders attending the conference made it clear that the military campaign in Libya would not end until Gaddafi had gone.
Air raids target Gaddafi’s hometown
Gaddafi, have both come under attack in coalition air raids, state television has announced.
Two loud explosions were heard around 05.00 AEDT in the city of Sirte as planes flew overhead, an AFP correspondent reported, while in the capital Tripoli explosions and anti-aircraft fire were reported.
Shortly after the explosions in Sirte, Libyan television confirmed the city had been the target of air raids by “the colonial aggressor”, as had Tripoli.
Witnesses in the capital said the strikes targeted the road to the international airport, 10 kilometres outside the city, as well as the Ain Zara neighbourhood on its eastern outskirts.
The 20 or so journalists invited to Sirte by the Libyan authorities to view the state of the city for themselves, were unable to identify where the explosions were coming from or whether the previous night’s coalition air raids had caused any damage.
Sirte is where Gaddafi has long chosen to receive visiting foreign dignitaries in a grand tent complex on its desert outskirts. The Libyan leader has always prided himself on his nomadic bedouin roots.
Before leaving Tripoli, many of the travelling journalists called their embassies to ask that they not be targeted in any coalition air strikes.
It appeared that anti-aircraft guns were not brought into action in the town, which is the next target of the rebel forces as they continue their push on the road west towards Tripoli.
Agency: Radiation in seawater off nuclear plant 1,250 times normal
Tests showed that levels of radioactive iodine in seawater just offshore of the embattled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant are more than 1,250 times higher than normal, Japan’s nuclear and industrial safety agency said Saturday.
Similarly high levels of radiation had been detected in the same locales in recent days, though the latest readings indicate a notable increase.
These high levels suggest there may have been some sort of leakage directly into the ocean — unlikely to be because of atmosphere emissions or rain alone, said an official with the Tokyo Electric Power Co., which operates the nuclear plant.
But an official with Japan’s nuclear safety agency told reporters Saturday that — while drinking such water would be dangerous, given the radiation’s potential to cause cancer — the effect on aquatic life in the Pacific Ocean may be relatively minimal.
That’s because the radiation tends to dilute, the further one moves away from the nuclear plant. Data posted on the website Japan’s education and science ministry showed relatively small amounts of radioactive particles several kilometers offshore.
That said, its potential effect on Japan’s fishing industry — even if consumers stay away, for simple fear of contamination — remains a major concern. So, too, is the fact that authorities have yet to pinpoint the exact source of the radiation, and thus to determine if it’s stopped.
The latest data, from Friday, posted online by Japan’s education, science and technology ministry show continuing evidence of airborne radiation in prefectures around the nation. Still, in no cases is the exposure considered harmful to human health — and, in fact, in many cases, radiation readings have gone down.
In the Fukushima prefecture where the plant is located, officials had screened 87,813 people for radiation exposure as of Thursday, Japan’s nuclear safety agency said a day later in a news release.
Of those 98 people had tested above limits for exposure, but once their clothes were removed and other measures taken, the exposure levels dropped and there was no effect on health.
North-east Burma hit by 6.8-magnitude earthquake
At least 11 people have been killed by a magnitude-6.8 earthquake in Burma which hit near the borders with Laos and Thailand, officials say.
It struck at 1355 GMT and was centred about 70 miles (110 km) from the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai, the US Geological Survey said.
The quake was shallow, at a depth of 6.2 miles (10km).
It struck in a sparsely populated and remote area, but tremors could be felt as far away as Bangkok and Hanoi.
There are fears the casualties could be much higher.
A Burmese official told AFP news agency that 25 people had been killed in the town of Tarlay alone.
The official said five monasteries and 35 buildings in the town had collapsed and that roads in the area had been damaged, making access for rescue parties difficult.
Factbox: Restrictions on Japanese food imports
(Reuters) – The United States became the first nation to block produce from Japan’s radiation zone, saying on Wednesday it will halt milk, vegetable and fruit imports from areas near the tsunami-damaged nuclear plant because of contamination fears.
Food makes up 1 percent of Japanese exports, according to World Bank data.
Graphic: link.reuters.com/kar68r
Following are steps countries have taken to test or block Japanese food imports:
* SINGAPORE
Singapore has suspended the import of milk, meat and produce from areas near the crippled nuclear power plant due to radiation contamination, a government agency said.
The import ban from the four prefectures of Fukushima, Ibaraki, Tochigi and Gunma covers milk, milk products, fruits and vegetables, seafood and meat, the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority of Singapore said.
* AUSTRALIA
Australia’s government is set to restrict food imports from areas near the nuclear power plant, but said the risk to consumers was negligible due to the limited amounts being brought in.
Australia’s regulator Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) said on its website that it was a “precautionary measure, and consistent with approaches internationally”.