Six In The Morning Tuesday May 20

20 May 2014 Last updated at 08:23

Thailand army declares martial law

The Thai army has imposed martial law amid a political crisis "to preserve law and order".

The surprise announcement also granted the army sweeping powers to enforce its decision.

The military insisted it was not a coup. Soldiers have taken over TV and radio stations, and blocked off roads in the capital, Bangkok.

Martial law comes after months of escalating tensions between the government and the opposition.

Correspondents say the move could enrage supporters of the government, especially if it is seen as amounting to a coup. The army has staged at least 11 coups since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932.

Ukraine crisis: Vladimir Putin meets Chinese president for trade talks to shut out West – as Russian troops ‘begin returning to home bases’

Russia ramps up trade to the east in a bid to shield itself from impact of EU and US sanctions

ADAM WITHNALL 

Tuesday 20 May 2014

Vladimir Putin has met with the Chinese president Xi Jinping for trade talks in Shanghai that Russia hopes will cancel out the impact of Western sanctions over the ongoing Ukraine crisis.

Speaking before the summit, Mr Putin described China as “our reliable friend” and said that a shift in diplomatic focus to the east was “undoubtedly Russia's diplomatic priority”.

With the deterioration in the relationship between Russia and the West over Ukraine, and in light of growing sanctions imposed by the US and EU on the President and his allies, Mr Putin said the talks in Shanghai were aimed at “diversifying gas supply destinations”.

Meanwhile today, the Russian defence ministry said its troops had begun dismantling camps in Bryansk, Belgorod and Rostov near Ukraine in preparation for a return to their home bases.

South Korea ferry: legal system offers little help for crew of Sewol

May 20, 2014 - 3:05PM

Ju-min Park

Mokpo: South Korea's legal system appears to be failing 15 surviving crew of a ferry that sank last month, killing hundreds of children, with their being tried and convicted by an angry public before the case has even come to court.

Lawyers are agonising over how they can mount a convincing defence of the crew, who jumped ship as the children waited in their cabins dressed in life jackets, obediently following orders before a disaster that put the whole country in mourning.

The absence of determined defence may mean the crew's side of the story – whether, for instance, they were adequately trained or whether they were given strict orders to abandon ship – may never be heard in court.

Brotherhood supporters sentenced to death, imprisonment in Egyptian mass trials

Brotherhood supporters: In some cases, the verdicts came after no more than two hearings, drawing criticism from human rights activists and foreign governments.

By Hamza Hendawi, Associated Press 

CAIRO

A pair of Egyptian courts on Sunday convicted 170 suspected supporters of toppled President Mohammed Morsi on charges related to violent attacks last year, the country's latest mass trials ahead of this month's presidential elections.

The convictions in the courts in Cairo and in the Nile Delta city of Kafr el-Sheikh are the latest in a series over recent months that saw hundreds of people prosecutors identified as Morsi supporters sentenced to death or imprisonment.

In some cases, the verdicts came after no more than two hearings, drawing criticism from human rights activists and foreign governments as Egypt's military-backed interim government continues its crackdown on Morsi supporters and his MuslimBrotherhood group.

China turns 'shabby' mines to eco-zone for Horticulture Expo

By Jaime A. FlorCruz, CNN

(CNN) -- Qingdao, famously known as the home of Tsingtao Beer and fine beaches, has found another way to attract tourists -- plants.

The coastal city on China's eastern Shandong Province is hosting the 2014 International Horticultural Expo.

The Expo, which opened on April 25, is expected to attract 12 million visitors before it closes on October 25.

With the theme "From the Earth, For the Earth," it features gardens and pavilions specially constructed on one end of the Laoshan Mountain, one of the most sacred Taoist destinations in China.

Afghan notebook: Life inside Badam-Bagh women's prison

By Kawoon KhamooshBBC Persian

The release of 29 inmates from Kabul's Badam-Bagh women's prison once again raises questions over whether some of those inside are held unlawfully.

Many of those freed this month had been held after running away from home - escaping from a forced marriage or domestic violence is not uncommon in Afghanistan.

Running away from home is not a criminal offence, and some of the released women told the BBC that they were jailed without ever going to court.

Some said they were imprisoned without conviction for up to two years.

The women's affairs ministry is looking for shelters to take the women, who are unable to return home after their release.