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.
;AP;KOD; ANPAi..r.. 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
;DPA;KOD; ANPAu ..r.. 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
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. 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