Filipino mission to leave for Iraq
Filipino mission to leave for Iraq
PHILIPPINES: A 96-member humanitarian mission from the Philippines is to leave for Kuwait on Thursday en route to being deployed in Iraq, Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said on Wednesday.
The group is the first batch of an 178-man contingent to be sent as a contribution to a United Nations-led effort to help revive Iraq after the fall of strongman Saddam Hussein, Ople said.
A U.S.-chartered commercial flight is to ferry the Filipinos soldiers, police and doctors and their equipment first to Kuwait ahead of their deployment to Iraq.
The Filipinos will mainly be involved in civic and community- related missions, including training for local police and helping out in efforts to rebuild infrastructure. --AFP
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Thai-Afghanistan Thailand to send air force unit to Afghanistan JP/11/ASEAN
Bangkok sends air force to Kabul
THAILAND: Thailand will send an air force unit of 34 officers to provide security to Thai soldiers working in war-torn Afghanistan, a cabinet statement said on Wednesday.
The cabinet approved a request by the defense ministry to send the officers in response to the increasingly difficult security situation in Afghanistan, it said.
Thailand sent 90 engineers, 12 medics and 18 special warfare officers and coordinators to Afghanistan for a six-month mission to repair Bagram air base outside Kabul beginning on April 1.
The new unit of officers will provide escort security for the engineers as they fly between Bagram and other areas, and for their commanders during inspection trips from Thailand. The Bagram air base north of Kabul was a focal point in the fighting that ravaged Afghanistan for decades. --AFP
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-S'pore-crime University lecturer killed in front of colleagues in shock Singap JP/11/ASEAN
Lecturer killed before colleagues
SINGAPORE: A technician killed a university lecturer in Singapore on Wednesday by slashing his neck with a paper cutter in front of horrified staff members during a meeting, police said.
The lecturer, identified by broadcaster Channel NewsAsia as a Malaysian who had taught at the National University of Singapore's engineering department for 20 years, died at a hospital an hour after the attack.
Police said in a statement the suspect, a technician who worked at the university, had been arrested and would be charged in court on Friday.
The statement said police were investigating the case as murder but did not specify what the suspect would be charged with. The suspect entered a conference room where a management meeting was in progress, the statement said. --AFP
;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-RP-Coup Attempt Mutiny leader denies he and other rebel soldiers plotted to oust JP/11/ASEAN
Mutineer denies plot to oust Arroyo
PHILIPPINES: A leader of last month's failed military uprising denied on Wednesday that he and other renegade soldiers tried to oust President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, saying he tried to warn her of a planned coup but was ignored.
Navy Lt. Senior Grade Antonio Trillanes said he and other military men took over the upscale Oakwood residential building and an adjoining mall in a desperate attempt to inform the public of widespread corruption in the military and avoid arrest.
Trillanes told an independent commission looking into the July 27 uprising that he met Arroyo at the presidential palace on July 13 to inform her of military corruption and an intelligence report of a brewing coup. Instead of paying attention, an angry Arroyo allegedly suspected he was part of a planned uprising and ordered him detained, he said.
It was the first time the 32-year-old Trillanes, who wore a white uniform, appeared in public after being detained and charged with more than 300 middle-rank officers and soldiers following the uprising. His testimony was carried live on nationwide TV.--AP