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;
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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.