S'pore nabs more terror suspects
S'pore nabs more terror suspects
SINGAPORE: Singapore said on Monday it had arrested 21 terror suspects in August in addition to 13 now in detention for plotting to blow up the U.S. embassy and other targets in the city state.
The Ministry of Home Affairs said the 21 were Singaporeans and that 19 were members of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a Muslim group which Singapore says has links to the al-Qaeda network accused of carrying out the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
"The latest arrests have seriously disrupted the JI network in Singapore," the ministry said in a statement. "There is no known imminent security threat from other JI elements."
Singapore, a long-time ally of Washington and which hosts a U.S. navy logistics base, is also holding 12 Singaporeans and one Malaysian who were arrested in December under the internal security law that allows for detention without trial. --Reuters
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Thai-student-vice Student prostitution on the rise JP/11/ASEAN
Student prostitution on the rise
THAILAND: Thai education officials have found themselves in a quandary over what to do about the phenomenon of university students selling their bodies to finance their education, a report said on Monday.
Deputy Education Minister Sirikorn Maneerin said greater compassion and understanding was needed to deal with student prostitutes, in the wake of a Thai politician's demand that they be expelled from university.
The Bangkok Post reported that Chart Thai MP Vichai Chaijitvanichkul had urged a crackdown on the alarming number of students known to be engaged in the vice trade.
Thailand is notorious as the home of a booming sex industry, but the revelation earlier this year that increasing numbers of university students were having sex for money alarmed the traditionally conservative population. --AFP
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Vietnam-drugs Drug addicts break out of cure center JP/11/ASEAN
Drug addicts break out of cure center
VIETNAM: More than 100 inmates have staged a mass breakout from a rehabilitation center for drug addicts in southern Vietnam, officials said on Monday.
The escape took place on Thursday when the detainees overpowered guards at the main gate of the Social Support Center No. 2 in Ho Chi Minh City's Binh Thanh district.
Police recaptured 62 of the 105 escapees on the same day. Others were caught over the weekend, but around 10 inmates are still on the run, an official from the detox center told AFP requesting anonymity.
In June, hundreds of drug addicts at a center in the southern province of Can Tho staged a mass breakout in revolt against the tough new drug reform policy. --AFP
;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Myanmar-soldiers 80 soldiers jailed over coup attempt JP/11/ASEAN
80 soldiers jailed over coup attempt
MYANMAR: Myanmar's military government has sentenced more than 80 soldiers to 15 years in prison for their role in a failed coup attempt allegedly plotted by members of former dictator Ne Win's family.
A military tribunal on Sept. 12 sentenced the troops from Light Infantry Regiment 304, which was charged with guarding Ne Win's 11-hectare lakeside compound, some of the soldiers' wives said on Monday.
Ne Win's son-in-law Aye Zaw Win and three grandsons were arrested in March on accusations they tried to recruit army officers for a coup against Myanmar's ruling junta. They face a maximum penalty of death. The verdict is set to be delivered on Sept. 26.
The soldiers, ranging in rank from private to major, were transferred after the sentencing earlier this month to Yangon's Insein prison, where their wives visited them last Friday. --AP