FBI watches al-Qaeda funds in SE Asia
FBI watches al-Qaeda funds in SE Asia
SINGAPORE: The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is
monitoring al-Qaeda's financial activities in Southeast Asia
after the terrorist network's Middle East channels were
disrupted, diplomats said.
Dennis Lormel, chief of the FBI's anti-terrorist financing
unit, visited the region recently to meet with security officials
and bankers in order to share the bureau's experience in choking
terrorist funding, they said.
According to a presentation by Lormel made available to AFP,
Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia are being watched as possible
sources of funds for the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), a Southeast Asian
militant group linked to al-Qaeda.
The JI has allegedly been using legitimate businesses and non-
government organizations (NGOs) in the region to raise funds for
its operations and serve as fronts for clandestine activities.
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ATW-Australia-Obit-Enright
Playwright Enright dies of cancer
JP/10/ATW
Playwright Enright dies of cancer
AUSTRALIA: Australian playwright Nick Enright, who was nominated
for an Oscar in 1993 for his screenplay for Lorenzo's Oil, has
died of cancer, a spokeswoman for Australia's top drama academy
said on Monday. He was 52.
Andrea Moller of the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA)
said Enright died on Sunday. "He had been sick for a long time,"
she said.
The Australian and Sydney Morning Herald daily newspapers
reported that he was diagnosed with skin cancer about 12 months
ago.
He underwent radio and chemotherapy and traveled to Los
Angeles for natural therapy, on the advice of Australian-raised
actor Mel Gibson. --AP
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Aglance-Malaysia-RI-worker
30 Indonesians nabbed for rampage
JP/10/ASEAN
30 Indonesians nabbed for rampage
MALAYSIA: Thirty Indonesian factory workers have been detained
for sparking a major rampage that seriously injured three people,
police said on Monday.
The men, who work at a local textile factory in the southern
Malacca state, were arrested after police were called in to break
up a vicious fight believed to have started as a feud between two
Indonesian gangs, said state police chief Christopher Wan Soo
Kee.
Several villagers and passersby who tried to stop the fight
were also beaten, with three sustaining injuries, he said, adding
that police recovered a machete and a 1.3 meter-long iron bar.
Wan said the men, who were believed to have triggered a
smaller-scale rampage several months ago, would be held for
further investigation. --DPA
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ATW-Bangladesh-arsenic
Water poisons 13,000 Bangladeshis
JP/10/ATW
Water poisons 13,000 Bangladeshis
BANGLADESH: At least 13,000 Bangladeshis are ill with
arsenicosis, a disease brought about by drinking arsenic-tainted
water, a non-governmental organization (NGO) said on Monday.
"The arsenic-affected are not even aware of the disease," said
Abul Hasnat Milton, chief of the arsenic cell of the Forum for
Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation (FDWSS).
It was not until 1998 that the problem of naturally occurring
arsenic in the water drawn from wells in Bangladesh attracted
global attention, sparking a massive awareness campaign to
identify contaminated wells and prevent their use.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has said more than 250,000
Bangladeshis could die in the next decade from arsenic-tainted
water. --AFP