Manila set to court-martial mutineers
Manila set to court-martial mutineers
PHILIPPINES: Soldiers who allegedly took part in a mutiny last month are set to stand trial in a military court, President Gloria Arroyo said on Monday.
Arroyo, the commander-in-chief of the military, has accused more than 300 junior officers and men of mounting a coup attempt during their brief takeover of part of Manila's Makati financial district.
The armed forces inspector-general has recommended that 108 officers and 45 enlisted men face court-martial, on top of rebellion charges already filed against the entire group who surrendered peacefully within 24 hours of seizing Makati.
Six of the junior officers accused of leading the rebellion meanwhile showed up in court on Monday in a habeas corpus hearing. --AFP
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Malaysia-RI-crime Four Indonesians killed in shootout JP/11/robber
Four Indonesians killed in shootout
MALAYSIA: Four armed Indonesian robbers suspected of carrying out more than 25 heists were shot dead in a clash with Malaysian police in southern Johor state, reports said on Monday.
The four were believed to be en route to another robbery when they were intercepted by police at a highway after a tip-off, The Star said.
Police, who had been tracking the suspects for two weeks, fired several warning shots and ordered them to surrender but the four charged at the policemen with knives and machetes, prompting them to shoot, it said. --AFP
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Vietnam-piracy Malaysian pirates kill fisherman JP/11/pirates
Malaysian pirates kill fisherman
MALAYSIA: Suspected Malaysian pirates attacked a Vietnamese fishing boat and killed its captain in the South China Sea near Malaysia, the coast guard said on Monday.
Three pirates in a boat approached the fishing vessel last Wednesday and gestured for it to stop.
But the Vietnamese vessel tried to outrun the pirates, who opened fire with a semi-automatic weapon, killing its 33-year-old skipper, Le Van Tam. Eight other Vietnamese on board were not injured.
The pirates boarded the boat and made off with the fishermen's catch and fishing equipment, said a coast guard official from the central province of Quang Ngai.
The fishermen, who were all from Quang Ngai, only reached shore at Khanh Hoa province on Saturday. --AFP
;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Thailand-Brennan U.S. priest dies in Thailand JP/11/priest
U.S. priest dies in Thailand
THAILAND: Father Raymond Brennan, an American Roman Catholic priest who cared for abandoned children for 31 years at an orphanage he founded in Thailand, has died of heart failure, his publicist said on Monday. He was 70.
Brennan, born into a devout Irish Catholic family in a poor neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, died on Saturday at a Bangkok hospital, a public relations firm representing his orphanage said in a statement.
Brennan was a highly respected figure in the Thai seaside town of Pattaya where he had lived and worked since 1972 for children and other destitute Thais, said the statement.
Fondly known as Father Ray, Brennan joined the missionary Redemptorists and was ordained on July 2, 1959, a year before he was posted to Thailand where he had expected to stay for only one or two years. --AP