RP legislator handed over to U.S. officials: A wealthy Filipino

RP legislator handed over to U.S. officials: A wealthy Filipino
legislator was handed over to American officials on Thursday who
will escort him to the United States to face charges that he made
illegal campaign contributions to the Democratic Party and former
President Bill Clinton. Manila Rep. Mark Jimenez, 55, arrived in
a 40-car convoy to the Manila airport VIP lounge, where two U.S.
marshals took him into custody, immigration officials said. --AP

Thailand checking some Muslims for militant links: Some Muslims
in southern Thailand are being investigated for possible links
with the militant Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) network, which is
suspected of being behind the Bali bombings, a top Thai security
official said on Thursday. The JI group, which wants to set up an
Islamic state across a swathe of Southeast Asia, is seen by some
experts as the regional wing of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda
network. --Reuters

Israeli troops kill 6 in West Bank: Israeli troops shot dead six
Palestinians in raids across the West Bank and swept back into
Bethlehem to reimpose a curfew on Thursday, ending a brief
Christmas respite from occupation. The flurry of military
operations drew vows of revenge from militant groups, aggravating
tensions. In Bethlehem, troops fired teargas at Palestinians
shopping near the town center, ordering them by loudspeakers to
return home, and resumed patrols in front of the Church of the
Nativity, which Christians revere as Jesus's birthplace. --
Reuters

Twelve slain in ambush in RP: At least 12 Filipinos were killed
and nine wounded in an ambush in the southern Philippine island
of Mindanao on Thursday by suspected Muslim guerrillas, military
officials said. Security guards and employees of Toronto Ventures
Inc., a mining company, were riding aboard a light truck when
they were attacked in Siocon town, Zamboanga del Norte province,
military spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero said. Three guards and
nine mining company employees were killed and at least nine other
people were wounded, Lucero said. -- AFP

S'pore stresses rights over disputed island: Singapore said on
Thursday it has exercised sovereign rights for "more than 150
years" over an islet claimed by Malaysia. Singapore foreign
ministry denied it has carried out new construction on the tiny
rocky outcrop where it maintains a lighthouse. Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad said on Thursday that Malaysia was unlikely to
send warships to defend its claim to the tiny island of Batu
Putih -- Singapore called Pedra Branca-- but the government won't
back down from the dispute either. --Agencies

Iran bans death penalty by stoning: Iran has abolished stoning as
a form of capital punishment, an Iranian newspaper reported on
Thursday, in an apparent bid to ease European Union human rights
concerns ahead of a possible breakthrough trade agreement. Under
Iran's strict Islamic law, in place since the 1979 Islamic
revolution, men and women convicted of adultery are normally
sentenced to death by stoning. --Reuters