Five countries in military exercises
Five countries in military exercises
MALAYSIA: Troops from Australia, Britain, New Zealand, Malaysia and Singapore have begun a 15-day major military exercise codenamed Flying Fish in the South China Sea, officials said on Monday.
Some 24 warships, 71 attack aircraft and hundreds of personnel including commando units from the Five Power Defense Arrangement (FPDA) have been engaged in various military exercises since Saturday, said a Malaysian naval official who did not want to be named.
"The main objective is to exercise FPDA participating forces in the conduct of combined military maritime, air and land operations for the defense of Malaysia and Singapore in a limited conflict scenario," the army said in a statement.
It said that the exercise was designed to strengthen military ties between the five countries. --AFP
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Cambodia-rebels-vote Group threatens to overthrow govt JP/11/ASEAN
Group threatens to overthrow govt
CAMBODIA: An outlawed Cambodian group blamed for a coup attempt in 2000 has threatened to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Hun Sen if upcoming elections prove unfair, a report said on Monday.
The English-language Cambodia Daily newspaper quoted Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF) leader Chhun Yasith, an accountant based in Long Beach, California, as saying: "If there is a (electoral) fraud then the CFF has plans."
The CFF was blamed for the Nov. 24, 2000, coup attempt when about 60 armed men stormed into Phnom Penh firing AK-47s and rockets at government buildings, leaving at least four people dead. More than 100 people have since been jailed over the attack.
Some 22 political parties -- including Hun Sen's ruling Cambodian People's Party (CPP), the royalist FUNCINPEC and the main opposition Sam Rainsy Party -- will contest the July 27 polls. --AFP
;DPA;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Thailand-Murder Woman kills husband, boils his penis JP/11/ASEAN
Woman kills husband, boils his penis
THAILAND: A Thai woman, upset by her husband's plans to leave her for another woman, hacked him to death with a garden hoe, cut off his penis and boiled it in an electric cooker and then hanged herself, news reports said on Monday.
Police in the northeastern province of Nakhon Pathom said the jealous wife, Preeyapha Tasuwan, 37, left a note saying she killed her husband, Rangsan Supaktattana, 46, late Saturday night because he intended to marry another woman.
Rangsan's daughter, Amporn, 22, was quoted by The Nation newspaper as saying she found the bodies when she came to visit her father. She said her father had been married for four years to Preeyapha, her stepmother, who had recently been taking medication for mental problems.
A note found near Preeyapha's body read: "When we loved each other a lot, you never reprimanded me. You asked me to stop working as a prostitute and I obeyed." --DPA
;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Malaysia-Headhunt No promotion of head-hunting history JP/11/ASEAN
No promotion of head-hunting history
MALAYSIA: Malaysian officials urged tour operators on Monday not to promote Borneo island's history of head-hunting, saying visitors might mistakenly fear for their safety.
Abang Johari Openg, tourism minister of eastern Sarawak state, said the government was trying to evoke images abroad of exotic parks and colorful festivals - not an ancestral practice discarded decades ago.
Abang Johari said tour operators who emphasize Sarawak's head- severing history could "drive tourists away and tarnish the state's tourist image."
Indigenous warrior tribes that once inhabited Sarawak's steamy jungles and mountain ranges were renowned for collecting human skulls as victory trophies. But many natives began abandoning the habit when British and Dutch colonists took over most of Borneo in the late 19th century. --AP