US alert over Mexico killings

The US State Department has authorised the families of diplomatic personnel based in northern Mexico to leave the country after the murder of two Americans connected with the consulate in the city of Ciudad Juarez.

On Saturday an American woman working at the consulate and her US husband were shot dead by suspected drug gang hitmen in broad daylight as they left a consulate social event.

The couple's baby girl, who was in the car with them, survived the attack.

Around the same time a Mexican man married to another consulate employee was killed in another part of the city after he and his wife left the same event.

The killings were among dozens over the past two days, as rival Mexican drug gangs fight for turf with civilians caught in the middle.

A US official, who asked not to be identified, told the Reuters news agency it was not clear if the victims had been specifically targeted.

A spokesman for the US president, Barack Obama, said he was "saddened and outraged" by the killings.

'Growing tragedy'

Meanwhile the US state department said it had updated travel warnings to the area and authorised the departure of dependents of consular staff.

"These appalling assaults on members of our own State Department family are, sadly, part of a growing tragedy besetting many communities in Mexico," Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, said in a statement on Sunday.

Nearly 19,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence since late 2006 when Felipe Calderon came to power as Mexico's president and launched a military assault on the country's powerful drug cartels.

Mexican authorities say they have launched a full investigation into Saturday's killings.

"The Mexican authorities are determined to clarify what happened and bring those responsible to justice," the Mexican foreign ministry said in a statement.

Beheaded

Across Mexico, drug-related violence has reached record levels with at least 27 people over the weekend around the Pacific resort city of Acapulco.

Four of the dead were beheaded.

According to police at least 13 people died on Saturday and at least another 14 on
Sunday.

The victims included nine men killed in a shootout and a young woman shot as she drove by in a taxi.

Red shirts up pressure on Thai PM

Thousands of anti-government protesters in Thailand have begun rallying outside on a military base on the outskirts of Bangkok as they step up pressure on the country's prime minister to stand down and call fresh elections.

The protesters, known as the reds shirts, have set a deadline of noon on Monday for Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign or face what they say will be crippling mass demonstrations in the capital.

Amid the escalating protests Abhisit has ordered tens of thousands of soldiers and police on to the streets of Bangkok and moved his government to the 11th Infantry Regiment headquarters outside of Bangkok.

But he has indicated he has no plans to dissolve parliament.

"We will march over there, brothers and sisters. We will go to the infantry to get an answer from Abhisit himself," said Nattawut Saikua, a leader of the red shirt protesters known formally as the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).

"With this many people on the streets, I don't see how he still thinks he has any legitimacy."

Bangkok rally

Thousands of red shirt demonstrators began gathering in Bangkok on Friday, with around 150,000 attending a huge rally in the city on Sunday.

Most red shirts are supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Thai prime minister ousted in a 2006 coup.

They believe the current government, led by Abhisit, did not take power legitimately and is propped up by segments of Thailand's traditional ruling class who were threatened by Thaksin's popularity, especially among the poor.

Many of the protesters travelled to Bangkok from Thailand's poor, rural northern and eastern provinces – areas where support for Thaksin has traditionally been strongest.

So far the protests have been peaceful and UDD leaders have pledged they will remain that way.

But Monday's threat to step up disruption if Abhisit resists calls to stand down could spark anger by paralysing traffic-choked streets all over Bangkok.

Abhisit himself has warned the public not to be complacent about the potential for violence.

Tense

In his weekly television address on Sunday, the Thai prime minister indicated immediate elections were unlikely, citing the tense political climate and his government's parliamentary majority.

Several main roads near government offices were blocked off either by protesters' pick-up trucks and motorcycles, or cordoned off by police and soldiers.

Authorities have deployed 50,000 police, soldiers and other security personnel across the city, with thousands more placed on alert at barracks across the city.

An army spokesman said security had been beefed up with hundreds of extra troops at the infantry base where Abhisit and other key ministers along with the country's top brass were staying during the protests.

Suthep Thaugsuban, the Thai deputy prime minister in charge of the country's security, said the protesters would be permitted to approach the base but added that it was too early to say if emergency rule would be invoked to crackdown on the rally.

"Protesters can circle the barracks but they must not obstruct traffic or intrude into the barracks or they will be arrested," Suthep told reporters.

"We have to see how the situation develops but I reaffirm that we will act reasonably and appropriately."

'Victim of bullies'

Last April, mass protests by the red shirts led to violent clashes on the streets of Bangkok with at least two people killed and 120 injured in the capital's worst unrest in almost two decades.

Red shirt leaders say the violence was stirred up by gangs of hired pro-government thugs.

The Red Shirts are loyal to Thaksin, who was ousted in a coup in 2006 and is living abroad, mostly in Dubai, to escape a jail term for corruption.

Last month Thailand's supreme court confiscated $1.4bn of his assets after ruling the money had been obtained through abuse of power when he was prime minister.

In an address to supporters on Sunday night he urged them to keep up the fight against those in the Thai elite he says are destroying the country's democracy.

"This is not a one-person issue, we all fight for justice. I am the victim of bullies among the elites," Thaksin told the rally in a 50-minute video message.

"To solve problems related to democracy, equality and justice, the ruling elites won't be able to do that because they don't have the conscience. The people will have to do it."

Thailand has been in constant political turmoil since early 2006, when anti-Thaksin demonstrations began following his ouster in a military coup.

The Red Shirts have held a number of rallies since Abhisit came to power in December 2008, after a court decision removed Thaksin's allies from government.

Kashmiris Seek Saudi Mediation

Kashmiris are urging Saudi Arabia to use its recent rapprochement with India to help advance their cause and solve the decades-long conflict.

"The Kingdom has a history of playing positive role in disputes, such as Afghanistan and Palestine," Mirwaiz Umar Farooq, leader of All-Parties Hurriyat Conference, an umbrella organization of 15 pro-independence groups in Kashmir, told the Saudi English-speaking daily Arab News on Sunday, March 14.

"Kashmiris would be more than happy if the Kingdom mediated on our behalf."

Farooq said a delegation of Kashmiri leaders will visit Saudi Arabia within a month and hold talks with officials to seek their help.

The Muslim-majority Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided into two parts and ruled by India and Pakistan, which have fought two of their three wars since the 1947 independence over the region.

Pakistan and the UN back the right of the Kashmir people for self-determination, an option opposed by New Delhi.

Farooq believes a Saudi mediation would be very helpful and acceptable to all parities involved.

"Given the strengthening of ties between India and the Kingdom, New Delhi would be more comfortable with Saudi mediation than any other country."

During a landmark visit to Riyadh last month, Indian Premier Manmohan Singh urged Saudi Arabia to mediate between India and Pakistan.

His Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Shashi Tharoor even said Saudi Arabia could be a "valuable interlocutor" in improving India’s ties with Pakistan.

Though not mentioned by name, many observers believe Indian officials were glancing at possible Saudi mediation on the contentious Kashmir issue.

Disappointed

Farooq, the Kashmiri leader, also revealed talks with the US to push for a solution of the decades-long conflict.

He spoke of "back channel" dialogue with Washington, but refused to divulge details.

He insists on a "political solution" and believes the formula tabled by former President Pervez Musharraf was workable.

Musharraf suggested identifying some regions on both sides of the Line of Control in Kashmir, demilitarize them and grant them the status of independence or joint control or under a UN mandate.

Despite insisting on peace with India, Farooq is disappointed with its failure to take action to ease the sufferings of his people.

"Nine thousand Kashmiris have been missing over the last 20 years."

He urged India to demilitarize Kashmir and come clean on missing persons.

"The mass graves discovered recently have further infuriated the people of Kashmir.

"They have lost faith in Indian courts and the security system," fumed the Kashmiri leader.

"It’s time New Delhi did something to gain the confidence of Kashmiris."

France Votes to Punish Sarkozy

French voters went to polling stations Sunday, March 14, in regional elections forecast to punish French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s party in the last ballot-box test before the next presidential vote.

"I don't think the national government is really tackling social welfare -- in terms of jobs for example," Patricia Abela, a 41-year-old insurance worker, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) after voting for the opposition Socialists in southwest Paris.

French voters cast ballot in a two-round election to choose 1,880 councilors for 26 regional councils, which are responsible for regional transport, secondary education and local economic development.

Turnout was weak, however, in line with pollsters' predictions -- reflecting a loss of faith in French politicians' ability to ease the pain from the 2008-2009 crisis.

Overall turnout was just under 40 percent at 1600 GMT, according to the interior ministry.

Socialists, who control 20 French regions, are expected to emerge the biggest winners in the vote.

Polls suggest they could even score what their leader Martine Aubry has called "a grand slam" -- taking all 26 regions.

Sunday's vote will be followed by a second round on March 21, when the top two parties in each of the 26 regions will face each other in a decisive runoff.

Christine Eluard, a 47-year-old child minder, cast her ballot for the local candidates of Sarkozy's centre-right Union for a Popular Movement party.

She, however, said that the elections would be "rather more as a vote of censure" for France's leaders.

Resentment has been growing at Sarkozy’s policies over the sluggish economy and skyrocketing unemployment, which soared above 10%, with nearly three million people now out of their jobs in 2009.

Social tensions are also being felt.

The government's public debate on "national identity" has raised racial sensitivities and been widely slammed as a divisive project that stigmatizes immigrants.

Last Test

The regional elections are the last ballot-box test for Sarkozy before the 2012 presidential polls.

"The balance of power is extremely favorable for the left," said Frederic Dabi, a director at the IFOP polling agency, predicting a heavy defeat for the UMP.

"It's a regional election, but on March 21, we will already be taking that turn toward the presidential campaign."

Many see the regional polls as an unofficial referendum on Sarkozy's policies before the upcoming presidential elections.

"Rarely has a regional election been so national," the leftwing daily Liberation declared in an editorial on Saturday.

"The last vote before the presidential election in 2012. It can change the political landscape."

Analysts predict that the French political landscape will be tilting towards the left, thanks to Sarkozy’s policies to favor right-wingers.

"The key point is that the Christian Democrat electorate, which used to vote for the right, has now moved left," Olivier Ferrand of the left-wing think tank Terra Nova told the BBC News Online.

"That's because the UMP under Sarkozy has made its position harsher and moved to the right to catch the National Front, the extreme right electorate.

"As a result, the Christian Democrats didn't follow... now they vote for the left."