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| Thai, Cambodia troops clash for fourth day on disputed border Posted: 06 Feb 2011 06:34 PM PST BANGKOK, Feb 7 — Thai and Cambodian troops clashed for a fourth straight day today over a disputed border area surrounding a 900-year-old Hindu temple, as Cambodia urged the UN Security Council to intervene. Shelling and machine gunfire resounded in the morning in the 4.6-sq-km contested area around the 11th-century Preah Vihear temple on a escarpment covered in jungle and claimed by both Southeast Asian neighbours, witnesses said. Fighting in the area killed at least five people on Friday and Saturday, the deadliest clashes since Cambodia's bid in 2008 to list the ruins as a World Heritage Site sparked sporadic exchanges of fire in the rugged area. — Reuters |
| Two Americans deny spy charges in Iranian court Posted: 06 Feb 2011 04:32 PM PST  Sarah Shourd stands with Cindy Hickey (left), mother of Shane Bauer, and Laura Fattal (right), mother of Josh Fattal, during a news conference in New York September 19, 2010. — Reuters pic Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal were arrested on July 31, 2009 near Iran's border with Iraq, along with a third American, Sarah Shourd, who was released on US$500,000 (RM1.52 million) bail in September and returned home. The trio, in their late 20s and early 30s, say they were hiking in the mountains of northern Iraq and, if they crossed the unmarked border into Iran, it was by mistake. Under Iranian law, espionage can carry the death penalty. State-run English language Press TV said the two men had appeared in court but that Shourd, who had been summoned, did not. All three pleaded not guilty of espionage and illegal entry, Press TV said. No date has been set for the trial to resume, it added. The proceedings were closed to the public and press. Later yesterday, Press TV showed short footage of the two men in the courtroom, looking gaunt and worried. They appeared to be giving details of their travels in the Middle East. "I have been in Iraq and Kurdistan as a tourist with my fiancé Sarah, Josh and our friend Sean," Bauer said. The affair has compounded tension between Tehran and Washington, which have had no diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent storming of the US embassy by revolutionary students. A trial date set for last November was postponed at the last minute due to the absence of Shourd, who has met President Barack Obama and his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the United States since her release. Press TV quoted the Tehran prosecutor's office as saying "it has 'compelling evidence' that three were cooperating with US intelligence agencies." The defence lawyer, who was barred from seeing his clients for four months before the day of their trial, said he was confident the spying charge would be shown to be baseless and even charges of illegal entry into Iran could be beaten. "I have studied all the details and I am sure that my clients are not guilty and the espionage charge does not have any substance," Masoud Shafii told Reuters before the trial. "Even if the illegal entry happened, due to the fact that the border is not signposted and they could not have recognised it; even if it did happen, they are not at fault," he said. — Reuters |
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