Wikinews:Briefs/April 22, 2010

Intro
From Wikinews, the free news source, this is the audio Wikinews brief for Thursday, April 22nd, 2010. I'm Dan Harlow and here are today's top stories:

Three dead, over 70 injured in Bangkok blasts (0:17)
A series of explosions occurred in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand, today, in which at least three people died and 70 were wounded. The explosions, caused by five M-79 grenades, occurred in the business district of the city. Three of the explosions were in the Saladaeng Skytrain station, one at a hotel and another was near a bank.

The Thai government said the attacks had been from anti-government protestors named the Red Shirts who have been demanding new elections and the resignation of the Prime Minister for the past five weeks. On April 11, 21 people died in clashes between the Red shirts and government forces. The military has recommended using tear gas, rubber bullets and other ammunition to prevent the protesters from causing disruption, if necessary. However, the Army has been reluctant to use such ammunition, being unwilling to renew the violence.

Train derails in South Africa; at least two dead (1:12)
A luxury train traveling in South Africa just outside the capitol of Pretoria yesterday, derailed killing at least two people and leaving 25 injured.

Although the exact cause is yet to be determined, it appears that when the train was entering the station in Pretoria, seventeen of the cars derailed during a switch between steam and electric locomotives. An emergency worker at the scene said that the derailment had produced "absolute carnage." and that rescue workers had to use hydraulic equipment to cut some of the people free.

Nationalities of the deceased were not released, however, a spokesperson for the operator of the train said that most passengers were from the US or Europe.

US Treasury unveils new $100 note (1:57)
For the first time since 1996, the United States Department of the Treasury has issued a redesign the $100 bill.

This new design brings the note in line with the updated scheme of the 5, 10, 20, and 50 dollar notes which were introduced in 2006.

The note bears a new stylized portrait of Benjamin Franklin and new security and design features such as a more secure watermark and a new feature called 'motion' which uses 650,000 micro lenses to create a moving image. On the reverse it has a new, larger '100' printed in gold lettering.

The note was originally slated for release in 2008 although budget constraints pushed the release date back. The note will go into general circulation by early 2011.

On this day in history (2:49)
In 1969 British yachtsman Sir Robin Knox-Johnston completes the first solo non-stop circumnavigation of the world.

Outro
And those are the top headlines for Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

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