Thai-Myanmar

Thai-Myanmar border to re-open

BANGKOK (Agencies): Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Myanmar would reopen its three main border gateways with Thailand on Sunday, after having closed them in February amid tension between the two countries.

Thaksin told reporters after meeting visiting Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung that the border passes in Thailand's Chiang Rai, Tak and Ranong provinces would be fully open for all commercial products, including exports of "strategic items" such as fuel which were previously banned.

Fighting between Myanmar government troops and ethnic minority guerrillas in northeastern Myanmar's Shan State spilled over into Thailand's Chiang Rai province early this year.

Thaksin said that the troubled bilateral relationship would be back to normal "within two months".

;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-S'pore-snake Singapore raises $42,000 in snake skin auction JP/14/ASEAN

S'pore gets $42,000 in snake skin sale

SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore authorities on Friday raised S$75,000 (US$42,000) in an auction of 25,000 pieces of illegally imported snake skin belonging to an endangered species.

Customs officials confiscated the contraband after an Indian man who was caught with 691 pieces of snake skin led authorities to a warehouse where another 25,000 pieces were found, the Agri- food and Veterinary Authority said in a statement.

The company which imported the skins was fined for not having a valid permit.

The skins belong to the banded rat snake, classified under international convention as a species in danger of decimation if trade in its skin is not regulated.

Snake and reptile skins are favorite materials for luxury goods such as bags, belts and shoes.

;AP;REUTERS;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Cambodia-KRouge Draft law to try Khmer Rouge leaders takes another step forward JP/14/ASEAN

Khmer Rouge come closer to justice

PHNOM PENH (Agencies): The Cabinet on Friday amended a Khmer Rouge tribunal draft law to ensure that the maximum punishment for the former leaders of the communist regime would be life imprisonment.

The amendment cleared another hurdle for setting up a United Nations-assisted tribunal to try the surviving leaders of the murderous regime blamed for 1.7 million deaths during its 1975-79 rule.

The Cabinet added a single sentence to the draft law, making it clear that the severest penalty the planned tribunal can hand out is life imprisonment, spokesman Khieu Thavika said. The death penalty is forbidden by the Constitution.

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen said on Friday that the trials of former leaders of Cambodia's Khmer Rouge, blamed for some 1.7 million deaths in the 1970s, should start by the end of the year.

;AP;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Thai-bomb Vietnamese in embassy bomb case jailed for illegal entry JP/14/ASEAN

Bomb suspect in Thailand jail

BANGKOK (Agencies): One of the three Vietnamese arrested after a bomb scare at the Vietnam Embassy was sentenced on Friday to two months in jail for violating immigration laws, a radio station reported.

INN Radio said Tran Anh Tuan, 42, who was arrested on Wednesday, was sentenced to one month in prison for illegally entering Thailand and one month for illegally staying in the country. The two sentences are to run consecutively.

Another Vietnamese, Pham Thanh Binh, was also arrested along with Tuan on charges of illegally entering Thailand but the radio report did not mention him.

Thailand's national security chief said on Friday he will meet with U.S. and Vietnamese officials to devise ways to prevent a repeat of this week's bomb attack on the Vietnamese embassy in Bangkok.

;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Vietnam-AIDS Vietnamese man gets eight years in jail for AIDS extortion JP/13/ASEAN

Man gets 8 years for AIDS extortion

HANOI (AFP): A Vietnamese man has been jailed for eight years for extorting money from a mother by threatening to infect her children with HIV, the virus which leads to AIDS.

Vu Hoang Thiep, 27, was found guilty by a court in Ho Chi Minh City of demanding $30,000 from the woman in August last year.

Police, who were tipped off by the women, arrested the unemployed man in September when he went to collect the amount, a court official said.

There have been several reports of criminals using the HIV virus threat to extort money from the public or to threaten policemen in Vietnam.

;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-KL-media Mahathir admits political motive in Chinese paper takeover JP/14/ASEAN

Mahathir admits newspaper takeover

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP): Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Friday he supported an allied party's controversial takeover of two Chinese newspapers, describing them as "instruments" of the opposition.

Mahathir said he had given the go-ahead to the Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) to buy Nanyang Siang Pau and China Press because "we are not comfortable with the previous owners".

"They have always highlighted anything against the government. They have supported the extremist views such as Suqiu and the Chinese school teachers. Is it wrong if newspapers were to be more supportive of the government?"

It was the first time the premier has admitted any political aspect to the takeover, which he previously depicted as a purely business deal.

Last August, the veteran premier angered many Chinese with a strong attack on the Chinese pressure group Suqiu, which had urged that affirmative action programs be extended to all those in need and not just Malays.