ASEAN At A Glance

ASEAN At A Glance

Bystanders maul boxer for robbing

MANILA (AFP): A professional boxer was mauled by bystanders after he tried to rob a hotel supervisor by pointing his finger, police and the supervisor's staffers said here yesterday.

Nora Manuel, supervisor of the local Mandarin Hotel, was on her way home on Sunday when the boxer stuck his finger into her back and demanded she give him her money and jewelry.

Manuel managed to run from him and upon seeing that he was armed with nothing but a finger and yelled for help. Bystanders then beat up the unarmed man, after which he was turned over to the police.

Former Dutch pop singer killed

MANILA (AFP): A Dutchman who was part of the 1960s European singing duo Nina and Frederick has been murdered in the Philippines, apparently by a professional assassin, and his remains have been sent to the Netherlands, police said yesterday.

Frederik Von Gustav Floris, 50, also known as Frederick van Pallandt, was shot dead along with his Filipina girlfriend, Perpetua Tapon, last week in Puerto Galera, a resort south of Manila.

The Dutch embassy was closed yesterday. The Dutchman was a pop figure in Europe in the 1960s with his wife Nina, whom he later divorced.

Puerto Galera police said the two victims were each shot twice on the night of May 15, apparently by a professional hitman using a .45-caliber pistol inside the couple's rented house in a beach resort.

The Dutchman's body was flown to the Netherlands over the weekend.

Asian security meeting starts

BANGKOK (AFP): An international conference on Asia's growing security problems, including nuclear proliferation, Myanmar and Cambodia, opened in Bangkok yesterday.

Eighteen nations were represented at the meeting to lay the groundwork for the first Asia Regional Forum on Security, to be held in the Thai capital on July 25.

A Thai official said the conference aimed to promote "preventive diplomacy" and regional security mechanisms that would complement efforts by the United Nations.

The meeting started by looking at Cambodia, Myanmar and the rest of southeast Asia, according to its chairman, Pracha Guna- Kasem, secretary-general at the Thai foreign ministry.

U.K trade minister visits Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): British Trade Minister Richard Needham flew here yesterday armed with a secret message from Prime Minister John Major amid speculation Malaysia is soon to lift a near three-month boycott of British firms.

"I want to talk to him (Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad) about the ideas that I bring with me for the future of Malaysian- British relationship," Needham was quoted by Bernama news agency as saying on arrival for a two-day visit.

Needham said he was carrying the "original" of a letter from Major to be delivered to Mahathir, who had already received a copy of it.

Needham, scheduled to hold talks with Mahathir today, declined to comment on the contents of the letter, saying "that's a matter for the two prime ministers."

"Of course, I hope the ban will end as quickly as possible because we've got so many things we want to do in common," Needham said.

WB opens AIDS info center

BANGKOK (AFP): The World Bank is to fund an information center in Thailand to help Southeast Asian countries combat the spread of AIDS, a senior Bank official said yesterday.

Tanaporn Poshyananda, who heads the World Bank's regional office here said US$2 million are to be donated in start-up costs for the center which is expected to be co-supervised by the World Health Organization (WHO).

The Bank would seek matching grants from regional governments and elsewhere to support the clearing house for the first five years, Tanaporn said.

"We think it is likely the center will have eight to $12 million in the end," she said.

The center, in the planning stages for months, would be the first regional link for discussing and exchanging information on the devastating problems posed by acquired immune deficiency syndrome in Southeast Asia.