DENVER, Colorado: US authorities were on Tuesday investigating an alleged plot to kill Barack Obama as he claims the Democratic nomination later this week in Denver, after four people were arrested with a haul of weapons.

Denver police were due to reveal details of the case at a 4:00 pm (2200 GMT) press conference, after one of the suspects told a local television station in a chilling interview that the Illinois senator “don’t belong in political office” because he is black.

The incident was the latest sombre reminder of security risks faced by presidential hopefuls, and anxieties felt by many supporters for Obama, who was offered Secret Service protection earlier than any other candidate.

Denver police appeared to downplay the seriousness of the plot, which reports said was due to unfold during Obama’s acceptance speech on Thursday at a 75,000-seat sports stadium.

“We’re absolutely confident there is no credible threat to the candidate, the Democratic National Convention, or the people of Colorado,” US Attorney Troy Eid said in a statement.

Three men appeared to be the focus of the investigation, with earlier reports also saying that a woman had been held.

One of the suspects told local television station CBS4 that his friends did not want to see a black man become president.

Nathan Johnson insisted in a jailhouse interview that he was not part of the plot to kill Obama, but said his friends intended to shoot the Democratic standard bearer from a “high vantage point” on Thursday night at the 75,000-seat Invesco stadium.

“He don’t belong in political office. Blacks don’t belong in political office. He ought to be shot,” Johnson said as he explained the motivations of his friends.

The incident is also being probed by the FBI, the Secret Service and the joint terrorism task force.

The plot was unravelled on Sunday after a police officer spotted a truck driving erratically in a suburb of Denver, Colorado where the four-day convention is being held.

“The sergeant discovered inside his truck a bullet proof vest, two rifles, ammunition, walkie talkies and drugs,” Aurora police detective Marcus Dudley told reporters.

“Additional information was then developed which led to the arrest of others.”

The suspects were being held on drugs and weapons charges while the alleged plot was being investigated by the US Secret Service which protects the US president and White House candidates and the FBI and the joint terrorism task force.

One of the men arrested had to be taken to hospital after he jumped out of a sixth floor hotel room window in an attempt to flee police, Dudley said.

Asked about the alleged plot on Obama’s life, campaign spokeswoman Anita Dunn said: “We are not commenting on security issues.”

Campaign communications director Robert Gibbs said no change was being made to Obama’s schedule in light of the Denver arrests.

The Illinois senator is due in the convention city on Wednesday, ahead of his acceptance address the next day.

A tight security net has enveloped Denver to protect tens of thousands of supporters and protestors who descended on the city for the Democratic Party’s political extravaganza.

An estimated 3,000 to 5,000 police and security personnel from 55 agencies, including the FBI and US military, are being deployed.

CNN reported on Tuesday that some officials question whether the Illinois senator’s life ever had been in danger.

The cable network quoted one official as saying the alleged plot may be nothing more than “some methed-up yahoos high on drugs, talking out of their heads.”

For a country which has been traumatised by political assassinations, and still scarred by the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, events such as conventions pose a huge security headache and conjure up nightmarish scenarios.

The Denver gathering also falls on the 40th anniversary of the 1968 Chicago convention which erupted in violence when anti-Vietnam war protestors fought running battles with police. - AFP/de

Channel News Asia

SINGAPORE : Royal scandals, bent cops, corrupted government officials, and above all, a well-executed bank robbery with an oxymoron: innocent robbers. Sounds like the British tabloid’s had a field day back in 1971.

Based loosely on the famed “Walkie Talkie bank job” of 1971, “The Bank Job” boasts a brilliant rendition of the notorious raid in Baker Street, London, from which more than four million pounds of money and valuables stolen were never recovered.

The movie starts with a confusing crossfire of different scenes, from naughty royals in compromising acts to grand tea parties to extortion acts in a car garage.

But as the movie develops, the chips fall neatly into place to put a whole new spin on a robbery gone horribly wrong - that is, if you can still remember what happens in the beginning.

Terry Leathers (Jason Statham) is a family guy who runs a struggling car workshop, and is knee-deep in debt. So when ex-girlfriend Martine (Saffron Burrows) masterminds a seemingly clever, foolproof plan to hit a bank, Terry rounds up his crew of shady friends for the underground job.

By digging a tunnel beneath the vault, the gang hit jackpot and made off with over four million pounds of money and goods. But behind the mastermind’s gorgeous model looks and chic exterior lies a hidden, darker agenda - she is to recover a stash of dirty little secrets in forms of photographs and documents.

The contents of the Pandora’s box stir up quite the hornets nest, with the British secret service, the government in all its conspiratorial glory and shady deals, and even members of the underworld hot on their trails.

The thugs, who ironically are the least guilty of all involved, are plunged into an aftermath of cat-and-mouse games across London.

It is a simple robbery made complicated by the external factors and the real suspense and excitement comes after the robbery.

Unlike a typical Hollywood cop-and-robber movie, there are no adrenaline-pumped car chases, action-packed shoot-outs or heart-thumping big bang explosions. But the plot alone is guaranteed to keep you at the edge of your seat.

The cast also delivers, with Jason Statham stealing the show as the charmingly flawed gang leader and Saffron Burrows as the composed double-faced agent with an internal struggle.

The only downside to the show is that it demands your undivided attention from the start - blink, and you may just miss the whodunit. The tortuously confusing story is simply not ideal for countless occasions such as brain-dead after office hours or a lazy Sunday morning.

While the movie certainly doesn’t have the wittiest of lines like that of the Ocean’s Trilogy, a healthy dose of British humour here and there adds a delightful flair to the film.

“The Bank Job” definitely delivers all the goods and is worth a shot, but if you know you are slow at catching on, getting it on DVD will be a better choice instead.

*The movie is rated R21 for scenes of nudity.

- CNA/yb

Channel News Asia

YANGON: Hundreds of Buddhist monks have taken about 20 members of Myanmar’s security forces hostage inside their monastery, one day after clashes broke out at an anti-junta protest, residents told AFP on Thursday.

The security forces came to the monastery to apologise for the violence on Wednesday in the central town of Pakokku, about 500 kilometres (310 miles) north of the country’s commercial capital Yangon, residents said by telephone.

At least three monks were injured after security forces fired shots into the air and used bamboo sticks to disperse a crowd of 300 monks who were protesting against a massive hike in fuel prices, they said.

The monks locked the security forces inside the monastery and set four of their vehicles on fire, the residents said.

“The monks told the people in the town not to participate in this matter. They want to solve the problem themselves,” one resident told AFP.

The gates to the Aletaik monastery, where about 700 monks live, have been locked since 10:30 am (0400 GMT), the residents said.

All the town’s shops had closed as hundreds of people poured into the streets to applaud the monks from outside the gate, one resident said.

“The security forces outside the monastery are too afraid to go near the crowd. They won’t even show their walkie talkies,” said another resident.

“I fully support the monks. They were just peacefully praying for the people. The monks are absolutely right,” he said. “I’m surprised that these security people would dare to harm Buddhist monks in this country.”

Monks are important cultural standard-bearers in this devoutly Buddhist nation formerly known as Burma. Their participation was credited with helping to bring popular support to a pro-democracy uprising in 1988.

Those protests were brutally crushed by the military, when soldiers opened fire on the crowds in the streets of Yangon and killed hundreds, if not thousands.

The protest Wednesday in Pakokku was the first time that uniformed soldiers are believed to have been deployed to break up one of the near-daily protests that have erupted around the country since August 19.

Until now, plainclothes police and militia had been used to break up crowds that have been protesting against a massive hike in fuel prices, which has left some unable to afford even bus fare to work.

- AFP/so

Channel News Asia