SECTION C NEWS BROADCAST
News Item 1
The New Year celebration in Thailand was shattered by violence, (21) when 9 bombs exploded across Bangkok around midnight. Three Thai citizens were killed and more than 30 injured. No terrorist group claimed responsibility for the bombings by Tuesday. Some believe the explosions were the work of Muslim separatists. Bombings and shootings occur almost daily in Thailand's three southernmost provinces: Yala, Narathiwat and Purtonia have a dominant Muslim population and have long complained of neglect and discrimination in the largely Buddhist nation. (22) They have asked for independence and a separate Islamic state. Since 2004, the insurgences have carried out numerous attacks in the south, and more than I , 900 people have been killed. The Thai government has been unable to curb the violence, though thousands of troops have been sent to the south.

News Item 2
U, S. President George W. Bush will layout his new policy for Iraq Wednesday night in a TV speech. However, some details of the policy have been leaked to the media.

National oil law: a date is to be announced for the release of a national oil law in Iraq. (23) The law will give the Iraqicentral government the power to distribute current and future oil revenues to provinces and regions, based on their population size. The achievement of a fair distribution of oil revenue is seen as a corner stone of Iraqi security.

More troops.-the U. S. now has 132 000 troops in Iraq. The number will temporarily be increased by 20 000. A renewed construction package costing up to I billion U. S. dollars is also to be announced. (24) The money is to help create jobs and boost the Iraqi economy. Young Iraqis are to be encouraged to participate in the country's reconstruction by cleaning the streets and repairing schools.

News Item 3
A joint committee will soon seek further cooperation between Egypt and Spain in (25) industry, trade, investment and science and technology. (26) Egyptian economic sources said the two sides will discuss the possibility of setting up a joint business council when the Egyptian-Spanish Higher Committee meets in the first half of September in Madrid, Spain. The business council is aimed at balancing bilateral trade by expanding trade volume.

News Item 4
(27) "Japanese teenage women have grown increasinsly violent in the last 20 years. " A criminologist said yesterday." The ratio of women in their teens inflicting bodily injury has risen to more than 20 per 100,000 of the total Japanese population , more than 7 times the level 20 years ago, " said Jinsuki Kajiyama, a professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology." Japanese males have shifted increasingly to aggression previously linked with women, such as bullying others by excluding them from conversation, " he said.

News Item 5
Despite reports of intimidation, (28) Zimbabweans swarmed to polling stations on the final day of voting in the most competitive parliamentary election in Zimbabwe's history. On the first day of voting, lines of hundreds of voters sneaked around some of the country's 4,000 polling stations. A total of 120 seats were being contested, and Mugabe appoints another 30 law makers giving him and his party a built-in advantage.

News Item 6
"About 40,000 Indian telecom workers called off their work to rule yesterday after reaching an agreement with the government" , officials and union leaders said. The employees of the department of telecommunication services launched their action on Friday (29) in protest against plans to covert the department into a company, and the recent appointment of a nontechnical official as a department head. ( 30 ) Banks, major companies and long-distance customers were hit by the work to rule which involves obeying minor regulations only so as to slow down the workflow.