Businessman gets death for fraud
Businessman gets death for fraud
VIETNAM: A Vietnamese businessman will face the firing squad for defrauding investors out of US$1.6 million, state media said on Saturday.
Tran van Giao, the director of a privately owned construction company, was sentenced to death on Friday by the Ho Chi Minh City People's Court, the ruling Communist Party's Nhan Dan newspaper said.
His deputy was given a 12-year jail sentence.
The government has vowed to crack down on economic crime. At least people 77 have been sentenced to death this year in the communist nation and 40 have been executed by firing squad. -- AFP
;AP; ANPAi..r.. High-Japan-Typhoon Strong typhoon hits Japan JP/2/HIGH
Strong typhoon hits Japan
JAPAN: A strong typhoon pummeled southern Japan with powerful winds, heavy rains and huge coastal waves on Saturday, disrupting transport services, forcing dozens to evacuate their homes and leaving at least one person injured.
Typhoon Namtheum was packing winds of up to 126 kilometers per hour as it churned slowly to the northwest.
It was centered near Kochi city on the southern main island of Shikoku by midday, about 625 kilometers southwest of Tokyo, the Meteorological Agency said.
All Nippon Airlines, Japan Transocean Air and Japan Air Commuter canceled more than 60 flights due to the typhoon. Some train and ferry services were halted, public broadcaster NHK TV said. -- AP
;AP; ANPAi..r.. High-Cambodia-Refugees Refugees reach Phnom Penh JP/2/HIGH
Refugees reach Phnom Penh
CAMBODIA: A final group of 31 ethnic Vietnamese hill tribespeople who fled persecution in their country arrived in the Cambodian capital on Saturday, a UN official said.
The men and six women were taken to a United Nations shelter, bringing to 198 the number of tribespeople in Phnom Penh under the protection of the world body, said Cathy Shin, an officer for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
Shin said a doctor and nurse were examining the tribespeople, collectively known as Montagnards.
They were part of a group of about 200 who had sought shelter in Cambodia's remote mountainous province of Ratannakiri, bordering Vietnam. Others were flown to the capital earlier this week. -- AP
;REUTERS; ANPAi..u.. High-Thailand-violence Thaksin admits troops 'impatient' JP/2/HIGH
Thaksin admits troops 'impatient'
THAILAND: Thai security forces may have overreacted when they stormed a mosque in the violence-torn south and killed 32 young Muslims in April, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Saturday.
The security forces should have displayed more patience, Thaksin said in his weekly radio address.
"The troops were under pressure," he said of a day when 108 people were killed on the worst day of violence since trouble reerupted in the largely Malay-speaking Muslim south in January.
"Because of that pressure, they might have used a bit too much force instead of being more patient," he said. -- Reuters
;AP; ANPAi..r.. Philippines-Abu Sayyaf Soldiers capture Abu Sayyaf member JP/2/HIGH
Soldiers capture Abu Sayyaf member
PHILIPPINES: Antiterrorist agents have captured a suspected member of an al-Qaeda-linked extremist group who allegedly helped kidnap an American and a group of schoolchildren four years ago, the military said Saturday.
Binang Andang, suspected to be a senior member of the Abu Sayyaf group, was arrested late Friday on a ferry to Tawi-Tawi, the Philippines' southernmost province, a military report said.
Andang allegedly participated in the August 2000 kidnapping of Jeffrey Schilling, an American Muslim convert, who escaped eight months later.
The military said agents disguised as ferry passengers captured Andang shortly before the vessel arrived in Tawi-Tawi from nearby Jolo island. -- AP