ST. PETERSBURG, Russia
For once, cops allow protesters to rally
Russia’s most vocal opposition movement, headed by former chess champion Garry Kasparov, demonstrated in a major city Saturday without police violence or interference for the first time in months of protests.
The march and rally took place as President Vladimir Putin courted foreign business executives elsewhere in the city, raising speculation that police wanted to avoid creating a stir as Russia tried to attract more investment dollars.
Protesters chanted “Russia without Putin!” and “No police state!” as police shouted through bullhorns for them to stay on the sidewalks.
The protest was the latest in a series of marches organized by Kasparov and allies, who accuse Putin of stifling democracy and dissent before presidential elections next year.
BANGKOK, Thailand
163 ethnic Hmong deported to Laos
Thailand deported 163 ethnic Hmong asylum-seekers to Laos on Saturday who authorities said had entered the country illegally in recent years trying to reach a refugee camp.
The deportations come after one of the most prominent Hmong exiles, former guerrilla leader Vang Pao, was charged in U.S. federal court in California on Monday with plotting to overthrow Laos’ communist government.
Vang Pao, 77, led CIA- backed Hmong forces as a general in the Royal Army of Laos in the 1960s and 1970s. After he emigrated to the U.S. around 1975, he pledged to lead his people back to a free, democratic Laos.
Tharit Charungvat, a spokesman for Thailand’s Foreign Ministry, said Saturday’s expulsions were not related to the charges against Vang Pao.
“It’s the policy to send back illegal immigrants, that’s all,” he said.
JERUSALEM
Palestinians break across border fence
At least four Palestinian gunmen using an armored vehicle and grenade launchers broke through Israel’s border fence from Gaza on Saturday and fought a gun battle with soldiers, while Israeli troops entered Gaza to search for weapons and tunnels used to smuggle arms from Egypt.
One Palestinian gunman was shot dead after the armored vehicle, labeled “TV,” crashed through the border fence at the old Kissufim crossing, near Deir el Balah, according to the Israeli army.
A spokesman for Islamic Jihad, Abu Ahmed, said three of the four gunmen had returned to Gaza, and the intention had been to try to capture an Israeli soldier. The battle lasted two to three hours, but no Israeli was wounded or captured, the Israeli army said.
LONDON
Report: Prince Harry training in Canada
Britain’s Prince Harry is training at a British army base in Canada in preparation for possible deployment to Afghanistan, a newspaper reported today.
Prince Harry, third in line to the British throne, has been sent to the Canadian province of Alberta to receive additional training on Scimitar armored reconnaissance vehicles, a month after army chiefs ruled out sending him to Iraq, The Sunday Times reported.
The Defense Ministry said it would not comment on where the 22-year-old prince was serving or where he was to be deployed.
The News of the World tabloid published photos of Harry purportedly posing with waitresses at a Calgary bar called Cowboys Niteclub.
