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Blast in south Thailand injures 39

YALA, Thailand (AP) — Suspected Islamic militants bombed a busy market in southern Thailand on Tuesday, wounding more than three dozen civilians a day after a rebel ambush killed eight soldiers.

The attacks came as the separatist rebellion entered its fifth year and as Thailand prepared to bring in a new government.

Also Tuesday, the Cabinet renewed an emergency decree that gives security forces special powers of arrest in three southernmost provinces, government spokesman Chaiya Yimwilai said.

The insurgency in mostly Buddhist Thailand’s Muslim-majority deep south has taken the lives of more than 2,800 people since flaring in January 2004.

Little progress has been made in curbing the violence despite the presence of nearly 40,000 police and soldiers in the region, as well as several changes of military leadership and strategy.

Many southern Muslims feel unfairly treated by the country’s Buddhist majority, and their discontent has fueled separatist movements since Thailand annexed the area a century ago.

During the past few months the situation seemed to quiet down, maybe because of heavy suppression by the government, said Muslim academic Vitaya Visetrat.

The insurgents use the communist tactic of fighting the authorities based on the motto, ‘When you come, I go hide; when you are not alert, I will strike,’ Vitaya said.

Tuesday’s bombing at a market in the capital of Yala province wounded at least 39 people, six critically.

The bomb was hidden in a motorcycle and exploded shortly after a young Muslim man parked the vehicle, said police Col. Phumphet Phiphatphetphum.

The attack came a day after eight soldiers were killed in an ambush. One of the victims was decapitated after his death.

Lt. Col. Karnnart Nikornyanont, the local army commander, said eight suspects were detained in the attack.

The soldiers had been patrolling Narathiwat’s Chanae district when a bomb hidden on the road exploded and flipped their truck over, according to the army. The attackers emerged from hiding and fatally shot all the soldiers.

More than 30 people, many of them civilians, have been decapitated during the insurgency. The object appears to be to terrorize Buddhists into leaving the region. Most attacks are on civilians, and usually involve drive-by killings or small bombings.

Six militants escaped from police custody in Narathiwat on Sunday. Since December, seven police officers, two soldiers and a civil servant — all Muslims — have been arrested on charges of leaking confidential information to insurgents.

The government of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted by a 2006 coup, pursued a hard-line military approach against the insurgents, but made little headway.

The military-installed interim government that succeeded him vowed to employ more political tactics instead of force to avoid antagonizing southern Muslims, but also failed to stem the violence.

Despite such failures, political parties that contended for a general election in December failed to address the southern crisis during the campaign. It was uncertain what initiatives a new government to be installed within a month would employ. E-mail to a friend

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Mitchell says Clemens’ former trainer ‘truthful’ about steroids

WASHINGTON (CNN) — George Mitchell, the senator-turned-baseball-investigator who last month linked dozens of players to steroid use, on Tuesday told a House committee that he firmly believes the former trainer who says he injected pitching ace Roger Clemens with performance enhancers.

Clemens, the seven-time Cy Young winner who quickly became the poster boy for the Mitchell Report, was named along with home run king Barry Bonds and former all-stars Andy Pettitte, Mo Vaughn, Paul Lo Duca and Eric Gagne.

Also named was Houston Astros slugger Miguel Tejada, who committee Chairman Henry Waxman will ask the Justice Department to investigate to determine if he committed perjury when he said he never used steroids and that he knew of no players who did.

According to the Mitchell report, which gave details on the pervasive use of steroids in baseball, Clemens in 1998 asked former trainer Brian McNamee, then a strength coach with the Toronto Blue Jays, to inject him with the steroid Winstrol in Clemens’ Toronto apartment.

McNamee knew the substance was Winstrol because the vials Clemens gave him were so labeled, the report says. McNamee injected Clemens approximately four times in the buttocks over a several-week period with needles that Clemens provided.

Clemens has denied McNamee’s account and filed a defamation suit against the former trainer earlier this month. Clemens addresses allegations of steroid use

However, Mitchell told legislators Tuesday that he believes McNamee’s account.

We believe that the statements provided to us were truthful, the former Senate majority leader said.

McNamee signed an agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of California promising to cooperate, Mitchell told congressmen.

No truthful statements can be used against him in any federal prosecution by that office. If, however, he should be untruthful in any statements made pursuant to that agreement, he may be charged with criminal violations, including making false statements, which is a felony, Mitchell said.

McNamee and Clemens are scheduled to appear before another meeting of the same House panel February 13. An attorney for Clemens said he will be there.

In opening statements Tuesday, Chairman Waxman said he was asking the Justice Department to investigate whether Tejada lied three years ago when he told the committee he had never used performance-enhancing substances and had no knowledge of other players using or even talking about steroids.

The Mitchell report, however, linked to Tejada to drug use.

The conflict between Tejada’s testimony and the Mitchell report, Waxman said, is stark and fundamental to the committee’s 2005 investigation. As a result, ranking member Tom Davis and I will be writing the Department of Justice today to request an investigation into whether Mr. Tejada gave truthful answers to the committee.

Tejada was the American League MVP in 2002 when he played for the Oakland Athletics. He was recently traded to the Houston Astros by the Baltimore Orioles.

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr said Tuesday the department will review and respond to the letter from Chairman Waxman and Rep. Davis, but offered no further comment.

Tuesday’s hearing also featured testimony from baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and Donald Fehr, executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, a union.

The report was commissioned by Selig and compiled from a 20-month, multimillion-dollar investigation that included more than 700 interviews and a review of thousands of documents.
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Four dead as blast hits U.S. Embassy car

BEIRUT, Lebanon (CNN) — An explosion ripped through a U.S. Embassy vehicle Tuesday as it traveled along a coastal highway north of Beirut, killing four Lebanese civilian bystanders, a U.S. State Department spokesman told CNN.

State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the driver of the vehicle was slightly injured and the only passenger — a foreign service national — was not hurt.

McCormack could not confirm that the vehicle was the target of the blast, or if it tripped a roadside bomb intended for a different target.

A Western diplomatic source said an American, an Iraqi and three Lebanese were among those wounded in the blast, which happened around 4:45 p.m. (9:45 a.m. ET).

Lebanese media reported about 20 people were injured in the blast, which appears to be the latest in a series of attacks against pro-Western, anti-Syrian targets in the Lebanese capital.

Most recently, an explosion in Beirut’s Christian suburb of Baabda killed Brig. Gen. Francois Al-Hajj, the head of operations for the Lebanese army, and his bodyguard on December 12.

Al-Hajj was believed to be a top candidate to take over as army commander in the event current commander Gen. Michel Suleiman was elected to replace Emile Lahoud as president.

Lebanon has been in the midst of a political crisis as pro- and anti-Syrian lawmakers in parliament are locked in a battle to elect a new president.

The nation has been without a president since November 23, when the pro-Syrian Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term.

In February 2005, the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in Beirut sparked widespread protests that led to the ousting of Syrian forces from Lebanon.
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Venus joins Serena in second round

MELBOURNE, Australia — Venus Williams joined her sister Serena in the second round of the Australian Open as he saw off a spirited challenge from China’s Zi Yan in a night match at Melbourne Park on Tuesday.

Wimbledon champion Venus won 6-2 7-5 but was made to battle in the second set after falling an early break behind to Yan who is one of a number of players from China making their impression on women’s tennis.

The eighth-seeded Williams, who lost in the first round at Melbourne Park in 2006, was often erratic and gave Yan two break points with a pair of double-faults in the first set, then virtually handed the doubles specialist an early break in the second with a string of unforced errors.

Williams, forced to run from side to side, finished with 29 unforced errors and only 19 winners, but Yan lacked the offensive power to really trouble the American.

Williams won five consecutive games after trailing 0-2 in the second set. Serving for the match at 5-3, she double-faulted twice while getting broken at love.

But Williams joined defending champion Serena in the second round, for a clash with France’s Camille Pin, when she broke for the match as Yan netted a string of groundstrokes.

I felt good out there, Williams said. Had a lot of fun. Got to hit a lot of balls, which I felt was good. She definitely made me play some balls that I wasn’t expecting to come back.

Earlier, second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova made a confident start to her campaign with a straight-sets demolition of Nathalie Dechy.

The 22-year-old Russian saw off her French opponent 6-3 6-1 in the Rod Laver Arena, while Serbia’s Ana Ivanovic, Kuznetsova’s potential opponent in the semis, was less impressive but still advanced after seeing off Romania’s Sorana Cirstea 7-5 6-3.

Other seeded players in the bottom half, Anna Chakvetadze, Daniela Hantuchova, Nadia Petrova, Alona Bondarenko, Maria Kirilenko, Katarina Srebotnik, Agnieszka Radwanska and Sania Mirza also made it into the final 64.

But 2007 Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli lost 6-7 6-4 6-3 to Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson.

France’s Bartoli, the tenth seed, was the last player to beat world number one and title favorite Justine Henin who progressed to the second round on Monday.

Other seeds departing were Russian 16th seed Dinara Safina who was ousted by German Sabine Lisicki and 22nd seed Lucie Safarova was upset by Colombian Catalina Castano.

Hungarian Agnes Szavay, the 20th seed, went out in three sets to Ekaterina Makarova. E-mail to a friend

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Djokovic impresses in first round

MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Novak Djokovic gives a different kind of impression on the court.

Most players have been asked for their impression of the new, blue Plexicushion courts at Melbourne Park.

After Djokovic beat Benjamin Becker 6-0 6-2 7-6 on Tuesday in his first-round match at the Australian Open, the television commentator implored Djokovic to do one of his impressions of another player — specifically Maria Sharapova — that have generated huge attention on YouTube.

At first, he resisted — I don’t want to offend anybody, he said.

But he soon gave in and did a reasonable imitation, right down to the Russian player’s tendency to brush strands of her long blonde hair back over her ears as she prepares to serve.

The crowd gave him a standing ovation, and Djokovic later assured a news conference that Sharapova doesn’t mind the impersonations.

She’s OK with it, he said.

Third-ranked Djokovic raced through the first set in just 22 minutes, generating sympathy for underdog Becker, who couldn’t seem to find anything that worked and won only three points on his serve.

About the only pain that Djokovic suffered early was self-inflicted. He had to call for the trainer after the fifth game to treat a small cut on his left knee from hitting himself with his racket.

Becker, looking increasingly disconsolate and frustrated, got a loud ovation when he held to win his first game. But Djokovic ran off the last four games of the second set.

The third set turned into a struggle.

I lost my momentum, Djokovic said. I almost lost that third set, then who knows what would happen?

Becker broke for the first and only time in the first game at love on a rash of Djokovic errors. Djokovic leveled the set at 2-all when Becker double-faulted on break point.

Becker won the first three points of the tiebreaker. He got an ace on a challenge of a line call to make it 5-5, but sent two forehands wide to finish the match.

The loss continued a stretch of five consecutive first-round exits at Grand Slams for Becker since his upset over Andre Agassi in the fourth round at the 2006 U.S. Open — the last match of Agassi’s career.

No. 10 seed David Nalbandian recovered from back spasms that forced him out of the Kooyong exhibition last week to beat Australian Robert Smeets 6-1 6-1 7-6).

Fifth seeded David Ferrer beat Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-2 6-2 6-1 and Dutch player Robin Haase ousted No. 17 Ivan Ljubicic 6-7 6-3 6-0 7-6.

Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 runner-up, beat 2002 champion Thomas Johansson 7-6 6-2 3-6 6-3 and Amer Delic beat fellow American Robert Kendrick 6-4 7-5 6-2.

Other men advancing included No. 19 Lleyton Hewitt, No. 21 Juan Monaco of Argentina and No. 25 Fernando Verdasco of Spain.

Women’s No. 6 Anna Chakvetadze only played six points before advancing to the second round when Germany’s Andrea Petkovic retired with a leg injury.

No. 9 Daniela Hantuchova advanced 6-3 7-5 over Vania King of the United States; No. 27 Maria Kirilenko beat American Meilen Tu 6-4 4-6 6-3; Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark upset Gisela Dulko of Argentina 6-1 6-1 and Japan’s Akiko Morigami beat Michaella Krajicek 6-2 6-2.

Top-ranked Federer, aiming for a third consecutive Australian title and claiming to be 100 percent recovered from a stomach virus that interrupted his preparation, had a night match scheduled against Diego Hartfield of Argentina.

Venus Williams was to play China’s Yan Zi on Rod Laver Arena in the first night match.
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