Briefly

VIETNAM

Police surround Buddhist monks

HANOI | Followers of a world-famous Buddhist teacher who were forced out of a Vietnamese monastery over the weekend have taken refuge at a nearby pagoda, but they say they have once again been surrounded by police.

The monks’ ongoing standoff with Vietnamese authorities has tested the communist country’s sometimes edgy relationship with religion, which the government views as a potential rival power structure. The government closely monitors all churches in the country.

The Buddhists say the police are now pressuring them to leave the Phuoc Hue pagoda in Lam Dong province, even though local officials of the state-sanctioned Buddhist Church of Vietnam have welcomed them to stay.

The 376 monks and nuns are followers of Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese-born monk who helped popularize Buddhism in the West, has sold millions of books worldwide and now lives in France. He was once nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King.

THAILAND

U.S. under fire on climate change

BANGKOK | The honeymoon appears to be over for the United States at U.N. climate talks.

After being applauded for re-engaging in negotiations this year, members of the American delegation at talks in Bangkok find themselves being tagged like their George W. Bush administration predecessors - as villains who aren’t serious about reaching an ambitious global warming treaty when leaders from 120 countries meet in Copenhagen in December.

The deal would replace the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012.

The delegation hasn’t brought much to the table - partly because climate change legislation hasn’t passed the U.S. Congress - angering some developing countries by insisting they must show proof they are taking action to reduce heat-trapping emissions.

NORTH KOREA

11 defectors flee to South by sea

SEOUL | South Korea’s military says a group of 11 North Koreans have defected by sea.

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