Six workers kidnapped from Sabah

Six workers kidnapped from Sabah

MALAYSIA: Gunmen have kidnapped six workers, three Filipinos and
three Indonesians, from a beach resort in the eastern Malaysian
state of Sabah, police said on Monday.

About 10 men armed with modern weapons, some wearing
camouflage fatigues, forced the six into a boat and took them
away late on Sunday, Inspector General of Police Norian Mai told
a news conference.

The raid appeared to be the work of local bandits seeking
ransom, although Sabah, on the north of Borneo island, has been
targeted in the past by militants from across the Sulu Sea in the
strife-torn southern Philippines.

"We believe the kidnapping was done by a local group, and not
a foreign group, whether from the southern Philippines or
Indonesia," Norian said.

Police were conducting sea and air searches, he said.

Norian said the six workers were taken from the Borneo
Paradise Resort, which runs a summer camp for children. There
were no guests at the resort, at Kuala Sungai Sabahan on Sabah's
east coast, at the time of the raid. -- Reuters

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Vietnam-media-attack
Two Vietnamese reporters attacked
JP/11/ASEAN1

Two Vietnamese reporters attacked

VIETNAM: Two reporters for state-run newspapers in Vietnam were
detained and one was attacked by a local official while
investigating complaints that a cooperative was misusing
government funds, one of them said on Monday.

Nong Huyen Son of the Ministry of Labor, War Invalids and
Social Affairs' Lao Dong-Xa Hoi newspaper and Ho Xuan Dung from
Phap Luat, the justice ministry's mouthpiece, were assaulted on
Saturday in Dong Thap province.

The two Ho Chi Minh City-based journalists had originally
traveled to the southern province's Tan Phu Dong commune to
report on the flour-making industry there.

However, while speaking to local people they were told that
the Tan Phu Dong Flour Processing Cooperative, whose management
they had hoped to interview, effectively existed in name only,
Son told AFP.

Instead of advising farmers and helping them find markets for
their products, it was used as a vehicle by the management and
commune officials to receive poverty relief funds or preferential
credits from the government.

That money was then lent to farmers at very high interest
rates, angry locals told Son.

After being held for around three hours they were released but
their papers, identification cards and their two motorcycles were
confiscated, Son added. -- AFP

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Airlines-Singapore-threat
Flight canceled after bomb threat
JP/11/ASEAN3

Flight canceled after bomb threat

SINGAPORE: Police were investigating a bomb threat that forced
Singapore Airlines to cancel a flight to London on Monday,
airline officials said.

Singapore Airlines flight SQ318, due to leave at 9 a.m. (8
a.m. Jakarta time) with 127 passengers, was rescheduled because
of the threat, said airline spokesman Rick Clements.

"It was a bomb threat," he said.

The airline said passengers would be transferred to another
flight due to leave later on Monday.

Singapore Airlines and its unit Silk Air have already
installed bullet-proof reinforced cockpit doors and use sky
marshals armed with stun guns on flights deemed high risk.

Singapore stepped up security after the Sept. 11, 2001 hijack
attacks on the United States and tightened it again after last
October's devastating bomb blasts on the resort island of Bali in
neighboring Indonesia.

The last known bomb threat against Singapore Airlines involved
a flight bound for Los Angeles in October last year. -- Reuters