Muslim cops leave Misuari stronghold
Muslim cops leave Misuari stronghold
THE PHILIPPINES: Three hundred Muslim rebels-turned-policemen finally obeyed a government order and left the island stronghold of their detained leader Nur Misuari after a series of bloody battles with the military, officials said in Zamboanga Saturday.
Regional police commander Acmad Omar said the 300 took a chartered ferry to the province of Maguindanao where they will stay in a police training camp while the violence on Jolo island is investigated.
The policemen, former members of Misuari's Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF), were involved in a series of clashes that claimed the lives of at least 12 Marines and elite Scout Rangers in Jolo island following protests over the detention of Misuari.
The Rangers and Marines had earlier been pulled out of Jolo to defuse tensions but the police had threatened to take up arms and refused orders to leave until now.
The former rebels were integrated into the police force as part of a peace accord between the government and Misuari in 1996 in which Misuari was installed as governor of a Muslim autonomous area. -- AFP
;AFP; ANPAc..r.. Hilite-Japan-politics Koizumi rated as desirable premier despite economic failure JP/2/HIGH
Koizumi rated desirable PM
JAPAN: Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was rated the best suited for the post a poll revealed Saturday, despite his failure to spur the flagging economy, while the main opposition party declared war to oust him.
In a poll of 2,000 adults, 27.1 percent said Koizumi was the most desirable politician to hold the prime minister's office, Jiji Press news agency said.
His runner-up, opposition leader Ichiro Ozawa, who used to be a strongman in Koizumi's long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party, could wow only 6.9 percent, compared with 5.9 percent for Naoto Kan, number-two in the main opposition Democratic Party. Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka was rated by 5.6 percent of respondents.
In the poll held a week earlier, 2,000 responded with valid answers, Jiji said. -- AFP
;AFP; ANPAc..r.. Hilite-Vietnam-rights Vietnam dismisses critical rights report as "groundless" JP/2/HIGH
Vietnam condemns rights report
VIETNAM: Vietnam's communist authorities Saturday dismissed as "totally false and groundless" an annual report by Human Rights Watch criticizing "major steps backward' in their human rights record during 2001.
The accusations "only serve to tarnish the organization's image", said foreign ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh, accusing the respected New York-based advocacy group of "frequently joining overseas anti-Vietnam organizations to spread fabrications and slander against Vietnam".
"Nobody has been arrested or jailed in Vietnam on religious or political charges," Thanh insisted, adding that "legal actions were being taken only against those who violated the laws of the nation".
But she offered no defense of laws which grant recognition to just a handful of officially approved religious leadership, and which continue to allow dissidents to be detained without charge or trial. -- AFP
;AP; ANPAc..r.. Hilite-Russia-arm Russian general: Moscow, Washington to reach new arms agreement by JP/2/HIGH
Russia, the U.S. to reach arms agreement
RUSSIA: A top Russian general said Saturday he expected a new arms control agreement between Moscow and Washington to be worked out by the summer, when the U.S. withdrawal from the Anti- Ballistic Missile Treaty becomes final.
Gen. Anatoly Kvashnin, chief of the General Staff of the Russian armed forces, said a new agreement on nuclear weapons cuts was needed "to lay the foundation for strategic stability as a whole on a new basis and under new conditions, taking into account the United States' unilateral decision to withdraw from the ABM treaty," according to the Interfax and ITAR-Tass news agencies.
Russian and U.S. delegations discussed plans for military cooperation and arms reductions in Washington this week. Douglas Feith, the undersecretary of defense who headed the U.S. delegation, said Washington was willing to put new agreements in writing -- something U.S. officials have not been eager to do, but on which Moscow has insisted. -- AP
;AP; ANPAc..r.. Hilite-Malaysia-Anwar Malaysia's highest court sets Feb. 4 for Anwar Ibrahim's appeal JP/2/HIGH
Ibrahim's appeal set for Feb. 4
MALAYSIA: Jailed politician Anwar Ibrahim called off his one- week hunger strike after Malaysia's highest court set Feb. 4 to hear the final appeal against his conviction and six-year prison sentence for corruption, Anwar's lawyer said Saturday.
Officials at the Kuala Lumpur Federal Court faxed a notice to Sankara Nair informing Anwar's defense team to prepare for the hearing, which has been postponed twice in two months. It will be the ousted deputy prime minister's last legal avenue to appeal the conviction and sentence.
Anwar launched a "stringent fast" of a meal a day on Jan. 11 after the Federal Court had postponed the hearing, which was set to begin on Monday at the request of the Attorney-General.
Sankara said Anwar, who has been confined to a wheelchair since suffering a slipped disc in Nov. 2000, was "very happy" when informed of the new dates and had agreed to resume normal meals. -- AP
;REUTERS; ANPAc..r.. Hilite-China-cloning China's first cloned calf dies soon after birth JP/2/HIGH
China's first cloned calf dies
CHINA: China's first domestically cloned calf died minutes after its birth in the eastern province of Shandong just as the experiment was being celebrated as a major technological feat, state television reported on Saturday.
China Central Television (CCTV) broadcast images of black and white calf Weiwei heaving for breath after it was born late on Friday.
The calf died half an hour after it was pulled out of its mothers' womb by specialists who performed a Caesarean section. The images were in stark contrast to an earlier report by the official Xinhua news agency which quoted a researcher as saying the successful experiment showed China's "cloning technology has reached the world's most advanced level".
Global advocates of cloning say technology being used in other parts of the world such as Australia promises to revolutionize the multibillion-dollar beef and dairy markets. -- Reuters
;REUTERS; ANPAc..r.. Hilite-China-bugs China says president's jet bugged JP/2/HIGH
China says president's jet bugged
LONDON: China has said its intelligence officers found more than 20 spying devices in a Boeing 767 meant to become President Jiang Zemin's official plane after it was delivered from the U.S., the Financial Times said on Saturday.
Citing Chinese officials, the newspaper said it was unclear when the aircraft was fitted with the bugs, said to be tiny and operated by satellite.
The devices were detected after the plane emitted a strange static whine during test flights in China in September, shortly after it was delivered. One device was found in a lavatory and another in the headboard of the presidential bed.
The discovery came ahead of a planned summit between U.S. President George W. Bush and Jiang in Beijing next month. The Chinese president was said to be furious about the find, the FT said.
The aircraft was made at the Boeing factory in Seattle and then fitted with VIP equipment and upholstery by another company. The plane was under surveillance by Chinese officials throughout, the newspaper said. A Boeing spokesman declined to comment on the report. -- Reuters
;REUTERS; ANPAc..r.. Hilite-U.S.-shoebomber Accused shoebomber pleads not guilty to all charges JP/2/HIGH
Richard Reid pleads not guilty
UNITED STATES: Richard Reid, who U.S. officials say trained with Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network in Afghanistan, pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges he tried to destroy an airliner with 197 people on board last month by detonating explosives in his shoes.
"Not guilty," Reid answered softly when asked to enter a plea in the case.
Reid's lawyer, Assistant Public Defender Tamar Birckhead, did not comment after the arraignment, but said earlier this week she was unaware of any evidence that supported a link between her client and al Qaeda.
No trial date was set. The next court date in the case will be a status hearing on March 4 when scheduling and other issues will be addressed before Judge William Young, to whom the case has been assigned. Reid, a 28-year-old Briton, was not expected to attend. -- Reuters