Briefly

Thailand

Suspected insurgents ambush train, injure 19

Suspected Islamic rebels detonated two bombs and opened fire on authorities riding in an armored railway car early Sunday in southern Thailand, wounding at least 19 people, police said.

The armored car was making a routine inspection of track near the Ra-ngae district station in Narathiwat province when the bombs exploded, tearing apart the track and overturning the car, police Lt. Nathiwat Deekaew said.

Insurgents hiding nearby then ambushed the passengers, leaving at least 11 police officers and eight railway officials wounded, he said, adding it was not known how many passengers were on the train. A gunfight ensued and was continuing early Sunday.

Narathiwat, Yala and Pattani are the only Muslim-dominated provinces in this largely Buddhist country. More than 700 people have been killed in the area since January 2004. The government blames separatist rebels for the violence.

Congo

U.N.: 20 children die every day in camps

Disease and a lack of clean water are killing 20 children every day in squalid camps of eastern Congo, victims of ethnic-driven violence that has created the world’s worst humanitarian crisis, according to U.N. officials.

Those deaths may be an indicator of a much larger tragedy, according to U.N. and government security officials who toured three sprawling camps in remote Ituri province on Friday, where about 75,000 people have fled.

Thousands of children and adults gathered behind a cordon of razor wire in the Che, Gina and Kafe camps to greet the white U.N. helicopter carrying the visitors, before parting to reveal a sea of ratty green tents amid a haze of cooking fires.

Nearly 20 children die each day among 25,000 people in Gina camp, mostly from measles and diarrhea, said Rachel Scott, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Venezuela

Startup TV channel aims to be Latin CNN

Loose computer cables, laptops and a video camera fill a cramped hotel room where a team of journalists is laying the groundwork for a new satellite television station that they say will be Latin America’s alternative to CNN.

With financial backing from Venezuela’s government, Telesur is scheduled to begin transmitting by satellite 24 hours a day within three or four months, offering news and opinion shows from a decidedly South American perspective.

The idea has long been discussed across Latin America and is now receiving a boost from governments like Venezuela that are concerned with increasing their countries’ cultural independence.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called Telesur an important step toward Latin American integration.

London

Former prime minister dies at age 92

Former British Prime Minister James Callaghan, the affable, self-educated sailor’s son who rose from poverty to become Lord Callaghan of Cardiff, died Saturday on the eve of his 93rd birthday and 11 days after the death of his wife of 67 years.

Callaghan’s family said he died at his home in East Sussex county, south of London.

Callaghan succeeded Prime Minister Harold Wilson in April 1976, in the dying days of Britain’s post-World War II consensus politics, and governed until May 1979.

Callaghan, who entered Parliament as a Labour Party lawmaker in 1945, was the only British politician to hold, at different times, the four posts of prime minister, Treasury chief, foreign secretary and home secretary.