RP confident of Al-Ghozi's capture

RP confident of Al-Ghozi's capture

PHILIPPINES: President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo expressed
confidence on Friday that Philippine authorities would soon
recapture fugitive Indonesian bombmaker Fathur Roman Al-Ghozi.

"We are not pegging a date for the capture of Al-Ghozi, but
the hunt for him will be focused, intense and relentless," Arroyo
said in Manila. "The dragnet is closing in on him and we are
severely limiting his chance of getting through it."

Al-Ghozi, a self-confessed member of al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah
Islamiyah, was serving a 12-year prison term for possession of
explosives and was scheduled to be arraigned in connection with
the 2000 Manila bombings that killed 22 people when he escaped
from a maximum security cell at the national police headquarters
in July.

Arroyo said she would visit soon the southern Mindanao region,
where Al-Ghozi is believed to be hiding, to check on the efforts
to track him down and to review peace efforts with Moro rebels.

Formal peace talks with the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation
Front were expected to resume in October. -- AP

;AFP;ANJ;
ANPAu..r..
Glance-S'pore-politics-poll
People want Lee to retire: Poll
JP/11/Spore

People want Lee to retire: Poll

SINGAPORE: A majority of Singaporeans want their nation's elderly
founding father, Lee Kwan Yew, to quit politics, according to an
Internet poll held after he said he would not retire while he
could still contribute.

Lee, who turned 80 this week, served as prime minister from
the nation's independence in 1965 to 1990 and has since kept an
influential role in the government as senior minister, a Cabinet
post.

Lee told the Straits Times newspaper in an interview to mark
his birthday that he would remain senior minister as long as he
could contribute, and after that he would keep his parliamentary
seat until he was no longer fit and able.

"You don't have to tell me. I can feel it when I am no longer
making a contribution," Lee said.

But many Singaporeans, who live under a political system that
has allowed the People's Action Party to rule since independence,
want him to retire, according to the poll carried out by Internet
portal Yahoo Singapore.

By 2 p.m. (1 p.m. Jakarta time) on Friday, 43 percent of 5,675
respondents said they wanted Lee to retire from politics
immediately, while another 10 percent said he should retire
"soon".

Forty-four percent said he should continue in politics while
the rest were unsure. -- AFP

;AP;ANJ;
ANPAu..r..
Glance-death-penalty
Amnesty launches campaign against death
JP/11/death

Amnesty launches campaign against death

SINGAPORE: A convicted Malaysian heroin trafficker was launching
a last-ditch bid on Friday to avoid the death sentence, while
international human rights group Amnesty International urged
Singapore to grant a retrial.

Amnesty International issued a news release late on Thursday
asking people to write letters urging Singapore authorities to
grant Vignes Mourthi, 23, a new trial, saying the previous one
was flawed.

"Amnesty International is concerned about a number of alleged
irregularities during the trial proceedings," the statement said.

The human rights group says that a handwritten police
transcript of a conversation between Mourthi and an undercover
officer used as evidence in the trial should not have been
admissible in court. Mourthi denies the conversation took place,
the statement said.

Mourthi was convicted in September 2002 of heroin trafficking.
A High Court judge rejected his appeal earlier this month, saying
only the country's president had the power to overturn a death
sentence.

"We are asking for a retrial," said M. Ravi, Mourthi's lawyer.
"The appeal is exhausted so now we file a motion for retrial." --
AP

;REUTERS;ANJ;
ANPAu..r..
Glance-Vietnam-Iraq-crash
Vietnamese killed in Iraq
JP/11/Iraq

Vietnamese killed in Iraq

VIETNAM: Three officials, on their way to talks with Iraq's U.S.-
backed transitional government on humanitarian aid from Vietnam,
were killed in a car accident after crossing the Jordan border,
the government said on Friday.

Vietnam's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement
three men, two of whom were trade attaches at the Vietnamese
Embassy in Iraq, died in the car accident on Sept. 16.

The statement did not mention the cause of the accident but
state media said the car overturned after a tire punctured.

The officials were on a mission to promote economic and
commercial links between Vietnam and Iraq, now under the rule of
the U.S.-selected Iraqi Governing Council, on humanitarian aid
from Vietnam, said the statement.

Nguyen Kim Trong, general director of the state-run tea firm
Vinatea, was among the three victims, it added.

Trong was seeking to reestablish Vietnam's tea exports to
Iraq. Iraq was Vinatea's biggest client before the U.S.-led war
with sales in 2002 of US$11.5 million. -- Reuters