Thailand

Protesters to test appeal to end unrest

An appeal by Thai coup leader General Prayuth Chan-ocha for demonstrations against his May 22 takeover to end as part of a plan to restore democracy is likely to be tested this weekend with protesters expected on the streets. Prayuth ousted the government of prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra after months of violent protests against it and late on Friday he set out a plan for reconciliation and reform, which he said would take about a year.

United States

Veterans affairs chiefresigns with 'regret'

Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki resigned on Friday after a political firestorm over widespread delays in veterans' medical care. President Barack Obama announced that he accepted Shinseki's resignation "with considerable regret", after the two met on Friday to review initial findings of an internal audit of scheduling abuses at VA facilities across the country.

Man returns $125,000 from armored car

A California man who found a bag containing $125,000 said he returned the cash to the armored truck company that accidentally dropped it because it was the "right thing to do". Joe Cornell, 52, told the Fresno Bee newspaper he saw the bag of cash fall out of the back of a Brinks armored cash transport car as it drove over railroad tracks in downtown Fresno on Thursday afternoon.

Dprk

Missionary sentenced to hard labor for life

A Democratic People's Republic of Korea court sentenced a missionary from Republic of Korea convicted of "subversion, espionage and agitation" to hard labor for life, the official KCNA news agency reported on Saturday. At a trial held on Friday, Kim Jong-uk, a 50-year-old Christian missionary arrested in October, pleaded guilty to his crimes, including anti-DPRK religious acts, setting up underground churches and spying on the DPRK.

Pakistan

17 dead after ambush on border post

A soldier and 16 Taliban militants were killed on Saturday after an ambush on a border post in Pakistan's restive northwestern tribal area, military officials said. "Up to 200 Taliban militants from across the border attacked a group of Pakistani posts and at least 16 militants were killed in the fierce fighting," a senior military official said.

AFP-Reuters-Xinhua

(China Daily 06/01/2014 page4)