Supreme Commander Gen Boonsrang Niempradit yesterday told Cambodia to stay away from Ta Moan Thom after the 13th-century temple became the latest hot spot between the two countries.

The army has informed its Cambodian counterpart of the Thai position, Gen Boonsrang said, adding that if Cambodian soldiers come to the area, they will be pushed back.

Lt-Gen Niphat Thonglek, chief of the Border Affairs Department, said Cambodian troops would be barred from entering the area, as Thailand and Cambodia have not settled the dispute over land surrounding the Preah Vihear temple.more…

The Primate of the Anglican Province of Myanmar, the Most Revd Stephen Than Myot Oo, has thanked the churches of Lichfield Diocese for their prayers and generosity after his country was hit by Cyclone Nargis.

He made his comments as it was announced that the Bishop of Lichfield’s emergency appeal for Burma, which was launched with the support by the Bishops of Shrewsbury, Stafford and Wolverhampton in the immediate aftermath of the cyclone, is to be closed. The emergency appeal has raised £35,000 from churches and Christians in the Lichfield Diocese and this has been sent in regular intervals to the church in Myanmar through the agency USPG: Anglicans in World Mission.more……….

12:53PM BST 02 Aug 2008

Monks demonstrate against the government prior to the 1988 massacre

The regime appears determined to stop any attempt to mark the date, which with four eights – 8.8.88 – is of magical importance in Burma’s calendar and of huge significance to protesters who two decades on are still trying to bring down a military government in power under a different dictator.

On 8th August 1988 Burmese soldiers are believed to have shot, suffocated and drowned more than 3,000 protesters after weeks of anti-government demonstrations.more………….

Song lyrics would work well in such legal documents as divorce decrees. We’d suggest "Breaking Up is Hard to Do."

The national legal correspondent for the New York Times, Adam Liptak, was looking through a U.S. Supreme Court decision in what he describes as an achingly boring case.

The tedium lifted when he discovered that no less than the chief justice of the land, John Roberts, had spiced his opinion with lyrics from the classic Bob Dylan folk song, "Like a Rolling Stone":

When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose.

Liptak astutely pointed out that the chief justice slightly misquoted the folksinger. Dylan actually wrote:

When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose.

But after reading a long paper by a University of Tennessee law professor, Liptak went on note that many judicial opinions borrow from popular songs.more……….

On Sunday night at least 17 people were killed and over 150 injured in 2 deadly bombings in Turkey’s largest city Istanbul.  The attacks took place in a residential district of western Istanbul.  The bombings occurred as Turkey is in the midst of a political crisis involving the the ruling AKP Party.  Dorian Jones reports for VOA from Istanbul.
 

Police forensic experts examine the scene after explosions in Istanbul, 27 Jul 2008

Local hospitals were overwhelmed with the casualties and an urgent appeal has been put out for blood donors. Many of those injured are in critical condition. The President of Turkey Abdullah Gul condemned the attack saying no goals can be achieved by terrorism and these attacks show how inhumane the instigators are. According to local.more…….

For horse lovers, the main event of the Olympics is the equestrian competition – and that will be held in Hong Kong, not Beijing. In Hong Kong, Claudia Blume has this report on preparations for the biggest sport event ever hosted in the city.

Olympic logo for Equestrian competition

It’s happening in Hong Kong, not only in Beijing – the Olympics that is. This television commercial, featuring international movie star Jackie Chan, was produced by Hong Kong’s tourism board to promote the equestrian events in the city.

Organizers of the Olympics moved the equestrian competition here because Beijing and other mainland Chinese cities could not guarantee disease-free zones for the horses. Lam Woon Kwon, chief executive of the company that organizes the equestrian Olympics, says Hong Kong, by contrast, meets international veterinary standards.

"Hong Kong of course has an international reputation of being a clean city in terms of quarantine for horses," Lam said. "We haven’t had any major horse disease for more than 16 years – so we are a very clean city, so people have confidence in us."more……….

The four main non-ruling parties said Sunday’s elections were seriously flawed with a number of voting irregularities.

Representatives from four non-ruling parties gathered at opposition headquarters Monday to reject Sunday’s national election as "a sham," after the ruling Cambodian People’s Party appeared to have won enough seats to form a single-party government.

Top officials of the Sam Rainsy, Human Rights, Norodom Ranariddh and Funcinpec parties signed a letter calling on "Cambodian public opinion and the international community not to recognize the results of the July 27, 2008, elections, which were manipulated and rigged by the ruling Cambodian People’s Party."

There have not been five separate parties elected to the National Assembly since the 1993 Untac elections, and the joining together of four against one is unprecedented.

In 1998, the Sam Rainsy and Funcinpec parties joined together to protest election results in the wake of the 1997 coup.

That three-month crisis of government led to mass demonstrations in the capital and a brutal crackdown by government forces, where scores of demonstrators were disappeared and presumed killed.more…………