China to join ASEAN at SARS summit

China to join ASEAN at SARS summit

THAILAND: Bangkok said on Wednesday Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
would join Southeast Asian leaders in Bangkok next week to find
ways to tackle the SARS virus that has killed more than 200
people and hurt the region's economies.

Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai told reporters leaders
of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
would gather for a one-day meeting on April 29 in Bangkok, and
then hold talks with Wen immediately afterwards.

"China's participation in this summit is very significant
because it will show the outside world the close cooperation of
the countries in the region to tackle this problem," he said.

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) has killed about 250
people worldwide and infected more than 4,200 more since it
appeared in China late last year. China has more than half of the
world's known cases. --Reuters

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Aglance-Cambodia-crime
Judge in backpacker trial shot dead
JP/11/ASEAN

Judge in backpacker trial shot dead

CAMBODIA: The Cambodian judge who jailed a former Khmer Rouge
commander for the 1994 murder of three Western backpackers was
shot dead on Wednesday by an unidentified assailant, court
officials said.

Phnom Penh municipal judge Sok Setha Mony, 42, was shot five
times at 7:45 a.m. as he was driving his car to work, police and
court officials said.

Last December Setha Mony was the presiding judge in a landmark
trial which convicted former Khmer Rouge commander Sam Bith for
the abduction and murder of three Western backpackers in 1994.

Sam Bith was sentenced to life in prison for the killings of
Australian David Wilson, 29, Briton Mark Slater, 28, and
Frenchman Jean-Michel Braquet, 27, who were abducted from a train
traveling between Phnom Penh and the southern city of
Sihanoukville. --AFP

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Aglance-Malaysia-Anwar
Anwar files new bail application
JP/11/ASEAN

Anwar files new bail application

MALAYSIA: Jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has
filed a fresh bail application pending the outcome of his appeal
to the Federal Court against his sodomy conviction, his counsel
said on Wednesday.

Sankara Nair said the bail application was filed on Tuesday,
adding that "a certificate of urgency will be filed on Wednesday.
We hope the court will hear the application within a month."

Anwar was convicted on charges of sodomy and sentenced to nine
years' imprisonment on Aug. 8, 2000.

The court had rejected a bail application by Anwar. He was
told to file a new application. --AFP

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Aglance-Thailand-Laos-attack
Lao govt denies rebels attacked bus
JP/11/ASEAN

Lao govt denies rebels attacked bus

LAOS: The weekend ambush of a bus in Laos which left at least 12
people dead was not the work of anti-government dissidents, the
Lao deputy Prime Minister Somsavat Lengsavad said in a report in
Bangkok on Wednesday.

Thirty-one people were also wounded in the dawn attack on
Sunday, which occurred at a stop on Route 13, the highway linking
the Laotian capital Vientiane to the former royal capital Luang
Prabang.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the attack, the
second in the area in less than three months.

Somsavat, who is also Laos' foreign minister, told the Nation
newspaper that the attack was similar to the one that took place
on Feb. 6 near Vang Vieng, just north of Vientiane.

Thirteen people, including two Westerners, were killed on the
highway in that incident, which the authorities attributed to
bandits. --AFP