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President-Elect Obama Reaches Out To Indian Prime Minister (AHN)

(AHN) - President-elect Obama has reached out to Indian Prime Minister Singh to express condolences for those killed in the terrorists attacks in Mumbai. At least 183 people were killed in the attacks that spanned nearly 60-hours and extended across nine different locations. - Sun, 30 Nov 2008 06:35:02 GMT

Our international approach to search

In previous posts in this series, you have read about the challenges of building a world-class search engine. Our goal is to make Google?s search be relevant to all people, regardless of their language or country. As my colleague Amit Singhal described, we use statistical data as the basis for making sweeping algorithmic changes. Many of these changes can be rolled out across all languages we support, but in some cases the unique characteristics of each language require some algorithmic considerations and tuning. And to make things really interesting, there are cases where the same language is different across countries. Obvious examples are "color" in the U.S. vs. "colour" in the U.K., or "camião" in Portugal vs. "caminhão" in Brazil.My name is Daphne Dembo, and my focus is improving Google's international search. This is a tough challenge, since Google search is used in many countries and languages where our engineers have little personal knowledge. Initially, the international search improvements were done by Search Quality engineers who were passionate about their languages and countries: Lina from Sweden improved our parsing of compound words in German and Swedish; Dimitra from Greece introduced diacritical support; Ishai from Israel worked on transliteration corrections for Hebrew and Arabic; Trystan from Australia created methods for identifying local search results and ranking them together with foreign ones from the same language; Alex, a bilingual Ukrainian and Russian, introduced morphological understanding of these languages. As the importance of our international search grew, we solicited help from Googlers in all our offices. Finally, we are leveraging an international network of search specialists who help us understand search within the unique combination of their language and country.Our first step in providing search support for a language is to train our language model on a large collection of documents in that language. This ensures that our language model is more precise and comprehensive ? for example, it incorporates names, idioms, colloquial usage, and newly coined words not often found in static dictionaries. For instance, we recently started identifying Swahili, and used pages such as this one for the Parliament of Tanzania to train our system with the language's nuances. Having a trained language model helps to categorize documents during crawling and indexing of the web and to parse the user's query. Once this stage was complete, we launched Swahili search in countries such as Tanzania and Kenya, enabling local searches for the "Dar es Salaam stock exchange" [Soko la hisa dar es salaam], and "cure for Malaria" [Tiba ya malaria]. (As always, we are using square brackets to denote a search query. For example, you can search for "soccer" in Hamburg, Germany by clicking on [fußball in hamburg]).We learn some things from our users, so as people start using our search engine, we can improve the way we rank in that language. Here are few examples:Spell corrections: We recently launched spell corrections in Estonian. If your Estonian is rusty, and you don't remember how to spell "smoke detector," we can suggest a spell correction for [suitsuantur], leading to better search results.Diacritical marks: Many languages have diacritical marks, which alter pronunciation. Our algorithms are built to support them, and even help users who mis-type or completely ignore them. For example, if you're a resident of Quebec, Canada and would like to know the weather forecast in Quebec City, we'll serve good results whether you type with diacritical signs [Météo à Québec] or without [meteo quebec]. Czech users can read the same excellent results for a popular kids' cartoon by searching for [krtecek] and [krte?ek]. On the other hand, sometimes diacriticals change the meaning of the word and we have to use them correctly. For example, in Thai, [????] is "rice," with completely different results than [????], which is "news"; or in Slovakia, results for "child" [die?a] are different than results for "diet" [diéta].Synonyms: A general case of diacritical support is the handling of synonyms in different languages. Korean searches showed that "samsung" can be viewed as a synonym of "??", so that when users search for [samsung], they find results which have the company's name in Korean. Compounding: Some languages allow compounding, which is the formation of new words by combining together existing words. You can see a nice example in Swedish, where we return documents about a Swedish credit card for both compounded [Visakort] and non-compounded [visa kort] queries. Stemming: Google has developed morphological models that can receive compound words as queries, and return pages which contain their stem, possibly as part of a different compound. For example, when searching for cars in Saudi Arabia, you can search for [?????] and [??????] because both are variants of the same stem, and both return many common results. A Polish user can search for "movie" [film], and get back results that contain other variants of the stem, such as "filmów," "filmu," "filmie," "filmy." A user from Belarus will find results for all word forms of the capital, Minsk [?????]: "??????," "??????," "????????." In addition to these semantic factors, Google does even more to parse documents and queries. Understanding the details of language usage in a country is important. Notation of acronyms is different across languages: In Hebrew it is double quotes before the last (left-most) character, as in "prime minister" [??"?]; in Thai ? a dot at the end of the word, as in police station [??. ]; while in the U.S. ? dots after each character, as in [I.B.M.]. Chinese users quote works of art with a "?", as in: [??????], and denote dates with a "?", as in: [2006?1?13?].Beyond the linguistic elements of a language, we consider how people enter a query. For example, some languages that do not have Latin scripts require keyboards with dual alphanumeric keys. The user can switch between language input modes by typing special keystrokes. In case the user forgets to type this sequence, the queries end up being gibberish. You can see correct handling of these mistakes in Arabic ([hgsuv] corrected to [?????]) and ([???????????? ?????????? ] corrected to [presidential elections]), Hebrew ([vdrk, kuyu] corrected to [????? ????]), and Cyrillic ([rehc ljkffhf] corrected to [???? ???????]).Another way of avoiding the inconvenience of switching keyboard modes is by typing the phonetic sounds of the query in Latin characters. Recreating the correct query in the target language isn't trivial, since there might be many possibilities. We can see several such examples in which we suggest the same query in the intended language for Russian ([biskvitnyi rulet] to [?????????? ?????]), "movies" in Chinese ([dianying] to [??]), and "Bank of Attica" in Greek [trapeza attikhs] returns good results for "??????? ???????". Users of 8 Indic languages (such as Hindi, Gujarati, Telugu) can type the phonetic sound of the query, and choose the words in Hindi script:Ease of typing and reading is also influenced by the language used. Since every Chinese word requires several keystrokes on a standard keyboard, we provide category browsing by Images and related searches so that people don't need to type as much. Similarly, we are now launching Google Suggest, or real-time completion of queries, in many languages.So far I described how we improve the quality of search in a language. However, there is a strong effect of the location of the user, even if it is only approximated to the country, since in many cases local content is more relevant than global information. For example, searching for Spanish Yellow Pages [Páginas Amarillas] will result in several documents of global interest and several local results in Peru, Mexico, and Spain. Similar to that, searching for [Côte d'Or] in France will return results for that region, whereas searches in Belgium will return results about the chocolate maker.Note that the display of information should conform to the standards in that country, so we display "," as a decimal notation for Croatian users who want to know how many millimeters are in an inch [in? u milimetrima], or for Italian users who are interested in currency exchange rates [50 euro in dollari]. Similarly, temperatures in Norway [Været i Oslo] will be displayed in Celsius, while in the U.S. ? in Fahrenheit [weather Boston].If everything else fails, we provide cross-language translations based upon Google's translation technology described in this blog post. We will translate your query to English, search English documents on the web, and translate the returned results from English back into the original query language. For example, Japanese users who are interested in viewing Halloween illustrations (Halloween is a holiday which originated in Ireland) can search for [????? ????]. You can then request a Japanese translation of the English pages (at the bottom of the page), which will bring up the translation page in the screenshot below. Similarly, Korean users can search for the latest on Harry Potter [?? ??], and Arabic readers can search for the opening of the Sydney Opera house [?????? ??? ??????? ?? ?????]. (Click on the image to see a larger version.)All in all, Google Search is being actively developed for more than 100 languages, in 150+ countries, with dozens of improvements launched each month. So far I've covered the basics of how international search works, but this is just the surface of all the international work we do. There are many other interesting topics that impact international markets like usability, homepage and results page layout, and connectivity. An understanding of real cultural and human factors is essential to creating a search engine that resonates with the people who use it. (Click on the image to see a larger version.)(Update: Replaced example in the 4th bullet point.)Posted by Daphne Dembo, Engineering Director

Brown is urged to launch wide inquiry after Baby P case

A coalition of politicians, child experts and family organisations has called on the prime minister to launch a long-term, cross-party inquiry into how to stop children growing up to become abusive parents in the wake of the Baby P case and the jailing last week of a father who made his two daughters pregnant 19 times.The letter, which is published in today's Guardian, is signed by 19 individuals including Graham Allen, Labour MP for Nottingham North, the former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith, the Liberal Democrat peer Lady Walmsley and the heads of leading organisations concerned with social welfare and family issues.It comes as the children's secretary, Ed Balls, is due to receive the report that he commissioned into the state of child protection in Haringey, the London borough where Baby P died in August 2007 after months of abuse.The report will place intense pressure on Sharon Shoesmith, director of children's services at Haringey council. It is widely believed that she will be persuaded to resign or placed under strong pressure to quit as a result. Westminster sources say the buck stops with her, and she has so far chosen not to go. A Haringey council spokesman said any recommendations would be followed. The letter urges Gordon Brown to be "far-sighted" and to use this opportunity to tackle inter-generational transmission of abuse."Clearly, when horrendous cases like Baby P and the Sheffield family come to public view we should always have the appropriate inquiry into the individual case ..." it says. "We also ask that the prime minister seizes the opportunity of initiating a long-term inquiry to examine how we can stop some of today's children becoming the abusing parents of tomorrow. The government now has the chance to be far-sighted in initiating the review of long-term social policies necessary ..." The letter also asks Brown to work with David Cameron and Nick Clegg to find a "broad political and social consensus" on how best to ensure that vulnerable children are helped and protected.During the two-month Old Bailey trial of the three people found guilty of causing or allowing Baby P's death, it emerged that the toddler's mother had been removed from the care of her own mother, a heavy cannabis smoker, when she was 12. The death of the 17-month-old boy led Balls to order Ofsted, the Healthcare Commission and the police inspectorate to conduct an "urgent and thorough" inspection of children's services in Haringey. Balls will give his response to the report this afternoon or tomorrow. Allen, who coordinated the letter, said "wonderful things can be done with children who are very badly damaged". He also praised the government's record on children's mattersBaby PChild protectionguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Pakistan warns west: we cannot fight al-Qaida if crisis escalates

Senior Pakistani intelligence officials have threatened to end military operations against Islamist militants along the country's Afghan border if India deploys troops on their eastern frontier.In a rare briefing to senior local journalists, intelligence officials said the coming days would be "crucial" and threatened to pull out all the troops committed to the "war on terror" in the event of "an unwanted conflict" with India. "We will not leave a single troop on the western [Afghan] border if we are threatened by India," an official was reported as saying.Pakistan currently has more than 100,000 soldiers engaged in operations in the semi-autonomous tribal zones where senior international militants connected to al-Qaida, local extremists and a significant proportion of the Taliban's leadership are thought to be based.The Pakistani operations, largely funded by the United States, are seen by Nato commanders as vital to keep open supply lines to their troops in Afghanistan and to block, or at least hinder, movement by militants across the porous Afghan-Pakistan frontier."These statements are aimed at sending a clear message to the US to intervene to defuse the situation, and that if India wants to use these tragic events as a pretext for a border conflict then that will not be tolerated," said Rasul Bakhsh Rais, professor of political science at Lahore University of Management Sciences."They are saying that if Pakistan has to choose between fighting India and fighting the militants, then it will fight India."There are fears of a breakdown of the recent peace process between the nuclear-capable countries. After a bloody attack on India's parliament by militants linked by New Delhi to Pakistan in 2001, troops faced off across the Indian-Pakistan border throughout most of the following year with fierce artillery duels across the shared border of Kashmir.Washington, concerned about the distraction from efforts to contain Islamist extremism in the region, brokered a peace deal and encouraged a subsequent thaw. The two countries have fought three wars since achieving independence.Pakistan's government condemned the Mumbai assault as a "barbaric act of terrorism" and denied any involvement by any state institutions. But the groups that have been named by India as having some responsibility for the attacks, the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Muhammad, both have longstanding relationships with Pakistan's security establishment.Islamabad has also been forced to backtrack on a promise to send the chief of its main intelligence service, the military Inter-Service Intelligence (ISI) to India to help with the investigation.Confusion over the dispatch of Lieutenant General Shuja Pasha to India, announced by Pakistan's prime minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani last week, has revealed the tension between the military establishment and the civilian government in Pakistan, local analysts say.A lower ranked official will now travel instead. The mix-up has been blamed on "miscommunication" by Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari."The very fact that they wanted to send the head of the ISI shows how much the [civilian government] want to cooperate," said Tariq Fatemi, a former Pakistani ambassador to Washington and Brussels."But the decision was taken without due recognition of the ground reality in Pakistan, that is to say without consultation with the military and other political players."Mohammad Sadiq, a spokesman for the Pakistani government, dismissed reports of tensions as "humbug". "Everything is very much in sync," he said.Pakistan is making efforts to rally international diplomatic support. Yesterday its foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi spoke by telephone to his counterparts in China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates as well as to the EU foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, Sadiq said. Pakistani analysts and commentators have insisted that India has been too hasty to blame Islamabad for the attacks. Many in Pakistan believe that New Delhi is using Pakistan as a scapegoat and are calling for an independent international commission of inquiry."There was a massive intelligence failure on the part of India," said Rais. "The Pakistani government does not want another conflict. They have two insurgencies to deal with and enough other problems already."Pakistan's long history of using militants to further foreign policy objectives, initially against Soviet forces occupying Afghanistan in the 1980s and then subsequently in Kashmir, means their current claims of innocence are greeted with scepticism.In recent years Pakistan has tried to rein in groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba, prime suspects for the Mumbai attack, or Jaish-e-Muhammad, blamed for the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament, but it is unclear how much effort has been made to control the extremists, nor if those efforts have been successful.A Pakistani official yesterday suggested that one possibility was a "rogue" militant group, pointing out that the ISI itself had been bombed recently by extremists.'State within a state'Pakistan's Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), was founded in 1948 by a British army officer seconded to the fledgling country's military forces after independence. The agency became known for involvement in domestic politics, a trend accelerated by Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, father of Benazir Bhutto, who set up a political wing. In the 90s, the ISI set up or encouraged a number of jihadi groups as irregular proxies fighting Indian troops in Kashmir. Recent efforts to dismantle or downgrade these groups have proved ineffective, with Pakistan itself suffering regular bombings. The ISI also aided the Taliban in the 90s and is alleged to have contacts with Afghan insurgents. Though frequently called a "state within a state", retired and serving officers insist the ISI is fully integrated into the military chain of command. It is staffed by regular army officers as well as some contractors and civilians, and is the means by which Pakistan's military projects its power internally and overseas.PakistanIndiaAl-QaidaGlobal terrorismAfghanistanguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

At war level: India raises security status amid grief

The Indian government raised the country's security to a "war level" yesterday saying it had certain proof of a Pakistani link to the Mumbai attacks.The dramatic move prompted Pakistan to say it would end military operations against Islamist militants on the Afghan border, which are critical to the "war on terror", for an "unwanted conflict" with Delhi.With bodies being pulled from the Taj Mahal hotel, where gunmen had made their last stand after a rampage that left more than 170 dead, Sri Prakash Jaiswal, India's minister of state for home affairs, said the country's "intelligence will be increased to a war level, we are asking the state governments to increase security to a war level". The Press Trust of India, India's official news agency also reported that the government was considering suspending the four-year-old peace process with its neighbour.Pakistan's government has condemned the Mumbai assault as a "barbaric act of terrorism" and denied involvement by any "state institutions". But the group named by India, Lashkar-e-Taiba, has longstanding relationships with Pakistan's security establishment. The US and UK have been urging restraint since the Mumbai terror attacks and escalating tensions on the subcontinent are likely to top the agenda when Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, meets David Miliband, the foreign secretary, today in London.The Indian minister said yesterday there was "no doubt that the terrorists had come from Pakistan ... We have evidence of their nationalities. We will reveal everything soon".Indian police say they have in custody one of the gunmen, a 21-year-old Pakistani, Ajmal Amir Kasab, and detailed accounts of an alleged confession given by him have been played out in the Indian media. Authorities have also recovered a satellite phone that appears to corroborate much of his testimony.A fresh confrontation between India and Pakistan would jeopardise attempts by western powers to persuade Pakistan to take on militants linked to the Taliban and al- Qaida in its tribal regions bordering Afghanistan, rather than pitting its forces against India. Pakistani defence sources said nearly 100,000 troops deployed on the western frontier with Afghanistan could be pulled back to deal with a more immediate threat. In India the government is struggling to contain public anger over the attacks with demonstrators taking to the streets to vent their anger over the inability to stop the killings. The wave violence unleashed claimed its first political casualty yesterday when India's home minister, Shivraj Patil, resigned as the government struggled under growing accusations of security failures. India's ruling Congress party, which faces a general election next year, has been attacked by opponents for being soft on terrorism, a potent charge given that India has suffered a major attack every month this year. The government said last night it would be urgently upgrading maritime and air security and looking to create a federal investigative agency.The peace process between India and Pakistan now appears in doubt. "There is a view in the government that India should suspend the peace process ... to show that it is not going to take lightly the deadly carnage in Mumbai," the Press Trust of India reported. It quoted sources as saying the government, "including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is very upset as it feels that Pakistan has not kept its promise made at the highest level to end terrorism directed at India".Lashkar-e-Taiba, which is fighting Indian control of the disputed Kashmir region, was behind a deadly 2001 assault on the Indian parliament that pushed New Delhi and Islamabad to the brink of war. It is believed at least 10 militants carried out the assault on Mumbai. Among the dead were 18 foreigners, including six Americans and a Briton.Mumbai terror attacksGlobal terrorismIndiaPakistanguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Thai anti-government protesters defy police warning to leave airports

Police in Thailand ordered protesters to leave Bangkok's two airports yesterday, and allow more than 160,000 stranded travellers to fly home.But the authorities showed little sign that they were about to move in forcefully to take control of the airports, which have been closed for six days amid mounting frustration of foreign governments concerned over their nationals.The rising alarm came as more than 10,000 of the beleaguered government's supporters gathered for a mass rally in Bangkok, leading to a fear of clashes with their rivals holding the airports and the prime minister's Government House headquarters.Fifty-one anti-government protesters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) were wounded - four of them seriously - when a grenade exploded in the early yesterday at Government House.Some foreign governments sent emergency planes to rescue their citizens, while airlines put on 60 special flights to a tiny Vietnam war-era airbase 90 miles south-east of Bangkok. Australia's foreign minister, Stephen Smith, expressed dismay at Thailand's inability to evacuate his nationals. "It's frustrating for us and ... for stranded Australians. Some are becoming increasingly distressed," he said.The deepening crisis has left the prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, powerless and isolated, governing from the northern city of Chiang Mai for fear of a coup. It has also left businesses, the tourist industry in particular, reeling.Even efforts by the airports authority to negotiate with the protesters occupying Suvarnabhumi - Thailand's main international airport - to allow 88 trapped aircraft to fly out empty were rebuffed.Last night it emerged that triple Olympic gold medallist Chris Hoy had been in Thailand on holiday and become one of the thousands of Britons stranded, but managed to get out.Hoy managed to get a flight out from Phuket - thanks to his long-standing links with global parcel delivery company DHL, The Scotsman reported.Hoy's agent Ricky Cowan said the 32-year-old athlete and his girlfriend had been able to fly out "avoiding the Bangkok airport altogether".The alliance demonstrators are demanding the prime minister step down, They invaded the international airport last Tuesday in their most audacious act in months of protests, and a day later seized the domestic hub at Don Muang, in effect cutting off the Thai capital.Attempts by police to take back Suvarnabhumi, which handles 700 flights and 125,000 passengers every day, appeared half-hearted, even after the sacking of the national police chief.But yesterday the police issued an ultimatum, banning gatherings of more than five people and warning that offenders would be imprisoned or fined.ThailandBangkokThailandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Coup fears rise after Thai prime minister sacks police chief

The Thai prime minister sacked the country's police chief last night after security forces failed to evict anti-government demonstrators from Bangkok's two airports, leaving the country all but cut off and thousands of overseas travellers stranded.Somchai Wongsawat's decision to remove police general Pacharawat Wongsuwan was another sign of the deepening tensions between the government and the security forces that have raised fears of another coup. But as the airport demonstrators were given an ultimatum to leave, riot police were seen gathering at Suvarnabhumi international, suggesting that they were preparing to clear the terminal, which had been shut down for a fourth day.In a move to rescue thousands of travellers stranded by the closures, passengers were being bussed from the nearby resort town of Pattaya to the Vietnam war-era naval airbase of U-Tapao, south of Bangkok, where 60 flights departed yesterday.Several Asian airlines were planning further flights today to rescue staff and passengers. The Thai tourist authority hoped the aircraft might also bring in new arrivals for the start of the tourist high season, though the capacity of U-Tapao will be a fraction of that of the main airports.The removal of the police chief "as a result of his performance during this crisis" suggested that the four-day standoff between the government and protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) might be moving towards a conclusion.As darkness fell last night PAD "guards" clad in hardhats and goggles brandishing iron bars, continued to man a razor-wire barricade checkpoint on the five-lane airport approach road. Just a few hundred metres away 200 police with batons and shields gathered and scores of ambulances were lined up, suggesting the security forces were preparing an assault that might turn bloody.The recently appointed police chief, an opponent of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was deposed in a coup in 2006, had joined Thailand's armed services chiefs last month on television, suggesting Somchai should step down.Despite the tough stand, the prime minister tried in another national address yesterday to reassure the public that a softly-softly approach would be used to clear the airports. "Don't worry," he said. "Officials will use gentle measures to deal with them."Earlier in the day police began negotiations by phone with the protesters' leaders, who are demanding that Somchai's government step down unconditionally. Officers hinted of sterner measures if the demonstrators did not leave quietly."We are asking them to allow the airport to resume operations," said Lieutenant General Suchart Muenkaew, the chief negotiator. "We will keep talking, but if it fails we will take other steps. The last step will be to disperse them."Somchai had declared a state of emergency on Thursday evening at Suvarnabhumi and Bangkok's second airport, Don Muang, leading to expectations that police and some military units were on the brink of evicting the protesters by force.Yet after a night when rumours swept the Suvarnabhumi protesters' ranks that a police invasion was imminent, the government backed off and said it would seek to get them out in a "peaceful manner".A similar emergency rule order declared by the previous prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, in September to clear the demonstrators occupying the grounds of Government House also fell flat when the military refused to intervene.The inaction after the latest emergency rule declaration raised questions about whether Somchai was in total control, a suspicion amplified by his decision to remain in the northern city of Chiang Mai among his bedrock supporters because of tensions with the military.The sacking of the police chief was clearly an attempt to wrest back the initiative. It prompted renewed speculation that the prime minister would also remove army chief Anupong Paochinda because of his criticism of Somchai, a scenario categorically denied earlier.But the new tougher stance drew a stern response from PAD, whose members said they were prepared to "fight to the death" if they did not get their way. "We are ready to defend ourselves against any government's operations to get us out of those places," a spokesman said.Thailandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Besieged prime minister declares state of emergency in showdown with protesters

Thailand last night declared a state of emergency at Bangkok's airports, setting the scene for a showdown with anti-government protesters who have occupied both transit hubs, halting all flights and stranding tens of thousands of travellers.The cabinet resolved to use emergency powers and appeared to be preparing to send in police and some military units to clear the airports, the closure of which has been strangling the tourist industry.Earlier the prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, urged the military to remain in barracks as rumours of a coup reached fever pitch in the capital, with many offices, including those of the UN, closing early so staff could go home before dark.Bangkok was effectively cut off yesterday when its second airport, Don Muang, was closed after it was stormed by protesters who were also laying siege to the city's main international hub. Don Muang handles only a handful of domestic flights, but it has also served as the prime minister's temporary offices after demonstrators occupied his Government House headquarters compound three months ago.The blockade of Don Muang was an apparent attempt to stop ministers flying to meet Somchai, who summoned the cabinet for crisis talks in the northern city of Chiang Mai. The prime minister's flight was diverted there as he returned from an official trip.The crisis paralysing Thailand is the culmination of months of turmoil that has pitted the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), backed by the country's royalist-military elite, against the ruling coalition led by the People Power party, which derives most of its support from the rural poor.The highly organised and well-funded PAD, spearheaded by a business mogul and a former army general, regards the government as a puppet of the former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a September 2006 coup, the 18th since Thailand became a constitutional monarchy 76 years ago.The prospect of another putsch capping the instability spawned by almost six months of sometimes violent street protests has raised questions about Thailand's reputation as a regional beacon of relative harmony and prosperity.With the closure of Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi airport for a third day, overseas passengers had little choice but to wait in the hotels provided, hoping for a quick end to the deadlock.Somchai vowed that the tense stand-off would be resolved peacefully. "I have no intention of hurting any members of the public," he said, but added: "I need to do something to restore peace and order."The state of emergency restricts mass movements, bans gatherings of more than five and allows the government to use the security forces to restore order.Last night ambulances were seen arriving at Survanabhumi and 30 medical teams were on standby, raising speculation of an imminent police assault that could turn bloody, as PAD leaders called on supporters to join the thousands of protesters occupying the airport.Protest leaders said they would not leave until Somchai resigned unconditionally. They shrugged off an order from the army chief, General Anupong Paochinda, to quit the airport. "We will not leave," said the PAD's leader, Suriyasai Katasil. "We will use human shields against the police if they try to disperse us."Somchai also dismissed the army chief's advice to dissolve parliament and call snap elections as a way out of the impasse.Fearing protracted deadlock, British embassy officials began considering ways to get stranded Britons out of the country, perhaps aboard special charter flights from Thai military bases. Thousands of stranded tourists are being put up in hotels around Bangkok and the resort town of Pattaya, with their accommodation bill footed for the time being by their airlines or the Thai government.One British visitor, Craig Boyle, 24, from Llangollen, north Wales, was offered a hotel after his Emirates flight to Manchester through Dubai was cancelled, but found his own accommodation. "It was suggested to me that an alternative route home was through Kuala Lumpur, but that's a long way," he said. "So at the moment I'll stick it out in Bangkok. It's not restrictive, so I'm considering going north to Chiang Mai for a bit."FAQ Turbulent TimesWho are PAD?The People's Alliance for Democracy is mobilising to oust a government it claims is a pawn of Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister removed in a 2006 coup. The confrontation began three months ago when its members occupied the prime minister's office.Will they be evicted from the airports?The state of emergency would appear to make provisions for a forcible eviction by police and security forces. But the PAD is armed and fired on police lines last month.Do ordinary Thais support the anti-government protesters?PAD says it gets 1m baht (£18,350) a day from the public. But anti-Thaksin interests are suspected of providing most of its funds. The airport siege may be costing it support - millions of Thais rely on tourism for a living.Is there a chance of a military coup?The army says not, but rumours mounted after Thailand's army chief General Anupong Paochinda suggested that new elections should be called. Thailand has had 18 coups or attempted coups in the past 76 years.Thailandguardian.co.uk © Guardian News & Media Limited 2008 | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds

Thai army leader asks prime minister to step down

Attacks on antigovernment protesters injured at least seven at Thailand's main airport and in Bangkok Wednesday.

Israeli PM 'attends Jordan talks'

Israel's prime minister and defence minister made a secret visit to Jordan on Tuesday to discuss the Gaza Strip, officials say.