RP to host ASEAN
RP to host ASEAN antipiracy summit
THE PHILIPPINES: The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is mulling a regional system to strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR), the Philippines said on Wednesday.
ASEAN IPR experts and trade officials are to meet in Manila in August to discuss the plan, said Edu Manzano, chairman of the Philippines' Optical Media Board, which is spearheading the effort.
ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
"Abuse of intellectual property rights restrains trade and adversely affects the international transfer of technology," Manzano said.
"ASEAN countries are now aiming to strengthen their cooperation in the field of IPR through an open and outward- looking attitude with a view to contributing to the promotion and growth of regional and global trade liberalization." -- AFP
;DPA;APS; ANPAu..r.. Singapore-Maid Prosecutor says Indonesian maid's testimony unbelievable JP/11/ASEAN
RI maid's testimony false: Prosecutor
SINGAPORE: The prosecution wrapped up its case against an Indonesian maid accused of murdering her employer by describing Sundarti Supriyanto's testimony as "incredible and unbelievable", news reports said on Wednesday.
The 23-year-old woman is accused of murdering employer Angie Ng, 33, with a knife in her office on May 28, 2002.
The bodies of Ng and her daughter, 3-year-old Chrystal Poh, were found near a toilet in the office.
Justice MPH Rubin said on Tuesday he would deliver his verdict after the court vacation ended on June 25.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Eugene Lee said Sundarti's claims that she was abused were "patently false," The Straits Times said. -- DPA ;AFP;APS; ANPAu..i.. Philippines-attacks Three Abu Sayyaf rebels slain, seven captured in southern Philipp JP/11/ASEAN
Three rebels slain, 7 captured in RP
PHILIPPINES: Government troops killed three Abu Sayyaf kidnappers and arrested seven others in a major antiterrorist operation in the southern Philippines, the military said on Wednesday.
The suspects, holed up on the island of Umapoy, were allegedly involved in last year's abduction of a group of Indonesian, Filipino and Malaysian resort workers from the nearby Malaysian state of Sabah.
Marines and Navy Special Forces units raided on Tuesday the island on the southeast edge of the Tawi-Tawi group near the sea border with Sabah, following a tip-off that Abu Sayyaf kidnappers had hid their hostages there for a time, task force commander Navy Captain Feliciano Angue said.
Navy gunboats and attack helicopters sank two motorboats belonging to fleeing gunmen and intercepted at least one other vessel, he told reporters. -- AFP