Ex-regime backers bombing suspects

Thailand’s military-backed government named supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Monday as unofficial prime suspects in New Year’s Eve bombings that killed three people and wounded 38 in the capital.

Nine foreigners were among the wounded after nine small bombs exploded across Bangkok and its environs Sunday night. The attacks caused city authorities to shut down large-scale celebrations.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for the bombings, but the government is focusing on supporters of the former regime – though it has named no one specifically and presented no proof.

A bloodless military coup against Thaksin Sept. 19 was the culmination of months of tensions, as a popular movement staged protests demanding he step down for alleged corruption and abuse of power.

Thaksin, who has been barred from the country since the coup and is traveling in China, said through his lawyer that he had nothing to do with the bombings.

COPENHAGEN, Denmark

Danes praised for free speech stand

The Danish prime minister on Monday praised his nation for defending free speech and not yielding to authoritarian forces during last year’s international uproar over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad.

Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen also said during his annual New Year’s Day speech that he hoped to start scaling back Denmark’s 460 troops in Iraq this year.

The 12 drawings were first published in September 2005 in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten and reprinted four months later in a range of Western media, triggering Muslim protests in late January and February from Morocco to Indonesia and in some cases attacks on Danish embassies.

Throughout the crisis, the Danish government resisted calls to apologize for the cartoons and said it could not be held responsible for the actions of Denmark’s independent media.

TOKYO

Japan’s birth rate goes up slightly

Japanese births rose for the first time in six years in 2006, according to government statistics announced Monday, offering a glimmer of hope for a rapidly aging society.

Japan’s population of 127 million shrank in 2005 for the first time on record, mostly due to a steadily falling birth rate.

But preliminary data for 2006 showed there were 1.086 million births in Japan last year, 23,000 more than the previous year, the Health Ministry said Monday.

Based on that data, the Yomiuri Shimbun newspaper calculated the birth rate for last year at 1.29 babies per women, up slightly from a record low of 1.26 in 2005.