Two ships collide off Malaysian coast
Two ships collide off Malaysian coast
MALAYSIA: Two ships have collided off Malaysia's southern Johor coast, a marine office spokesman said on Thursday.
The Sanko Robust, a cargo ship registered at Monrovia port, and the Tirta Mas, a semi-container registered in Jakarta collided Wednesday night near Kukup island, spokesman for the Marine Office's Malaysia Rescue and Coordination Center (MRCC) Hisham Ali was quoted as saying by the Bernama news agency.
The Tirta Mas partially sank. The Santo Robust suffered technical problems and was directed to dock at Kukup for further investigations.
However, Hisham said all 20 sailors on board Tirta Mas were rescued by marine police and were brought to Kukup. No injuries or loss of lives were reported. --AFP
;AP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Cambodia-blast Four dead, 44 wounded at party JP/11/ATW
Four dead, 44 wounded at party
CAMBODIA: A grenade exploded at a wedding celebration in southeastern Cambodia, killing four people and wounding 44 others, officials said on Thursday.
The blast occurred late Tuesday in a village in Prey Veng province, 50 kilometers east of the capital Phnom Penh, said Dim Yarom, the province's deputy police chief. It appeared to be an accident, he said.
Guests were dancing around midnight when the hand grenade exploded, killing three people instantly. A fourth person died later in a hospital and 44 people were injured.
One of the guests apparently had a grenade in his pocket, Dim Yarom said.
He did not explain why someone might carry a grenade to a wedding party, but Cambodia is awash with weapons, the deadly legacy of almost three decades of war and unrest. --AP
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-RP-MILF Southern RP blacked out by rebels JP/PHILIPPINES
Southern RP blacked out by rebels
PHILIPPINES: Moro separatists blacked out the southern third of the Philippines in overnight sabotage attacks, leaving about 18 million people in the dark for hours, officials said on Thursday.
Electricity supply was restored to most of Mindanao island by Thursday as the government fired up emergency generating stations to temporarily replace baseload plants disabled by the toppling of transmission pylons overnight Wednesday, they said.
Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) guerrillas blew up at least five steel transmission towers before midnight using improvised explosives from mortar shells on Wednesday, knocked out the key Agus hydro-electric power complex outside this city.
No casualties were reported in the attacks, which blacked out the key Mindanao cities of Davao, General Santos, Cagayan de Oro, Cotabato, Butuan and Malaybalay, said Max Adiong, operations chief for Mindanao of state-run National Power Corp. (Napocor). --AFP
;AFP;KOD; ANPAu..r.. Aglance-Thailand-drugs Thai govt to review drugs blitz JP/11/ASEAN
Thai govt to review drugs blitz
THAILAND: Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Thursday his government would review its controversial drugs blitz, which has led to the killings of around 1,000 people across the country.
In particular, the widely criticized policy of measuring the performance of provincial governors and police commanders in the campaign by how far they reduce controversial suspect blacklists could change, Thaksin told reporters.
Provincial governors and police commanders across the country have been ordered by the interior ministry to reduce the numbers on their lists by 25 percent by Feb. 28, the end of the first month of the crackdown.
The accuracy of the ministry's list of 46,177 names has been widely questioned in the media, with the national police chief Sant Saratunond distancing himself from it. --AFP