The Malaysian Insider

TOKYO, March 16 — Support for Japan’s governing party has more than halved since it took power six months ago, a poll showed today, in a further sign of trouble for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama ahead of an election expected in July.

Hatoyama’s Democratic Party swept to power on Sept. 16 after a historic win in an election for parliament’s powerful lower house, but since then voter support has slid to 32 per cent from initial highs above 70 per cent, the Asahi newspaper said.

It was down from 37 per cent from the previous month.

BANGKOK, March 16 — Tens of thousands of protesters pressed ahead with a mass street rally in Bangkok yesterday after Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva rebuffed their demand for elections at a time of heightened political tension.

After three days of peaceful demonstrations, fears of violence resurfaced when three grenades exploded at an army base in central Bangkok, wounding two soldiers, reinforcing concerns over Thailand’s long-term investment outlook.

The attack failed to deter foreign investors, who bought US$40 million (RM133 million) of Thai stocks yesterday. Thailand’s stock market, which leapt 63 per cent last year, remained in positive territory, while the baht currency hardly moved.

SINGAPORE, March 16 — She would address well-known paraplegic athlete William Tan as “dearest” in emails and wrote about both of them living “in a big bungalow house with grandchildren running around”.

And when Dr Tan was not able to use the Internet broadband in his house, Dr Stephanie Chee invited him to use her bedroom to surf the Internet while she moved to her children’s room.

In a birthday card to Dr Tan in November 2000, her children addressed him as “Daddy”. But the two of them were only in a platonic relationship and were never intimate, insisted Dr Chee on the stand yesterday as her civil suit against Dr Tan opened in the High Court.

UNITED NATIONS, March 16 — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon suggested in a new report on Afghanistan that the United Nations is ready to continue informal talks with the Taliban but the contact must be discreet, diplomats said.

The 15-nation UN Security Council will discuss Ban’s report the day after tomorrow and vote next week on his recommendation to renew the mandate of the UN mission in Afghanistan (Unama) for another 12 months.

Ban said Unama’s mandate “allows it to provide good offices to support the implementation of Afghan-led reconciliation programs” with which President Hamid Karzai is trying to reach out and offer an amnesty to Taliban insurgents.

WASHINGTON, March 16 — Toyota Motor Corp said yesterday it had found no evidence to support the driver’s account of a widely publicised “runaway” Prius incident in California.

The report had threatened to overshadow Toyota’s attempts to restart sales after a punishing series of recalls.

US safety investigators said separately that they had yet to pinpoint any evidence to support or disprove the claim that a 2008 Prius sped out of control near San Diego a week ago.