WORLDBRIEFS

Thai ‘Red Shirt’ protest leaders to go on trial

BANGKOK—Thai leaders of “Red Shirt” opposition protests that rocked Bangkok in 2010 are set to stand trial on Thursday for terrorism, in a case that risks inflaming the kingdom’s political tensions. The 24 accused, who include five current lawmakers, could in theory face the death penalty for their roles in the demonstrations, which at their height drew around 100,000 people, mostly supporters of ousted ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra. About 90 people were killed and nearly 1,900 were wounded in a series of street clashes between demonstrators and security forces, which culminated in a bloody military crackdown. Two foreign journalists were among those killed. AFP

Mexican beauty queen killed in gunbattle

CULIACAN, Mexico—A 22-year-old Mexican beauty queen was killed in a gunfight between soldiers and a suspected gang she was riding with in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, prosecutors said on Monday. Authorities suspect that Maria Susana Flores, who was the Woman of Sinaloa 2012, was part of the gang and may have fired a gun in Saturday’s violence. An AK-47 assault rifle was found next to her body in the group’s car. “She was in the criminal group that clashed with army service members,” Sinaloa State Prosecutor Marco Antonio Higuera Gomez told a news conference. He said a forensics test was positive for gunshot residue on her body, suggesting she fired a weapon. Two men and two women, including Flores, and a soldier died in the gunbattle in the municipality of Mocorito. AFP

Israel’s Barak leaving politics

JERUSALEM—Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, a leading strategist in confronting Iran over its nuclear program, said in a surprise announcement on Monday that he would leave political life after the Jan. 22 national election. “I stand before you to share my decision to resign from political life and not to run in the coming election for the Knesset,” Barak told a news conference, adding he would stay on as defense chief until a new administration is sworn in. Some commentators speculated Barak was trying to duck an anticipated trouncing of his tiny centrist party in the ballot, after which Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who heads the front-running, right-wing Likud, might return him to defense and military headquarters as a professional appointee. But others said the 70-year-old Barak, who has served as prime minister and armed forces chief, may have had enough of campaigning and wanted to focus on resolving the Iranian issue before leaving his post. Reuters

Bribed Chinese official in sex video fired

BEIJING—A 5-year-old sex tape of an 18-year-old woman allegedly hired by developers to sleep with a city official is causing yet another scandal for China’s ruling communists in the city formerly led by fallen politician Bo Xilai. The 50-something official, Lei Zhengfu, was fired from his position as district party secretary after the video, an apparent extortion attempt. The scandal went viral earlier this month and his jowly, pop-eyed mug became the butt of numerous Internet caricatures. News of the sex tape, which was apparently shot in 2007 but only leaked this month, comes as China’s newly installed leadership ramps up anticorruption efforts as it deals with a steady stream of bribery and graft cases that it fears has undermined its authority. The tape exploded on the Chinese Internet Nov. 20 when screenshots of it were uploaded by a Beijing-based former journalist Zhu Ruifeng to his Hong Kong-registered website, an independent online clearing house for corruption allegations. AP

Bangladesh workers protest after deadly fire

DHAKA— Garment workers in Bangladesh staged mass protests on Monday to demand the end of “deathtrap” labor conditions after the country’s worst- ever textile factory fire in which 110 employees died. Survivors of Saturday night’s fire joined several thousand colleagues blocking a highway during a march in the manufacturing hub of Ashulia, outside the capital Dhaka, with some protesters throwing stones at one factory. Bangladesh’s chief inspector of factories Habibul Islam told AFP that the nine- storey Tazreen factory where the blaze broke out, which was built in 2009, had permission for only three storeys. “They expanded the building without our approval,” he said. Ashulia’s more than 500 factories, which make apparel for top global retailers such as Walmart, H& M and Tesco, declared a “holiday”, fearing that the protests could worsen and turn into large- scale unrest. AFP