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Batara said the earlier ambush was not an indication that the Abu Sayyaf has regained strength following setbacks dealt by a massive U.S.-backed offensive last year that led to the killing of its top two leaders. "They've been attacking our soldiers when they're not in battle mode," Batara said. "They could not fight frontally. They're treacherous." (AP)

Court Sentences Six Cambodian in Terrorist Plot

Six Cambodian men were jailed for up to 12 years for plotting to bomb a crowded festival in the capital last year as part of a broader plan to overthrow the government, a judge said Friday. Judge Kim Ravy of the Phnom Penh Municipal Court said the plan to plant bombs among the crowd at the traditional water festival in Phnom Penh last October was foiled when authorities arrested the six men. He said the bombings were part of a plot to remove the government. It was unclear how close the plan came to being realized. The judge said he sentenced four men, who appeared in court Thursday, to six years' jail. Two other men were convicted in absentia and sentenced to 10 years and 12 years in prison, he said. Tieng Vuthea, a Cambodian lawyer representing the four men at Thursday's hearing, said the charges against his clients were groundless and that he will appeal the ruling.

Earlier this month, in an apparently unrelated case, a Cambodian court charged two men with terrorism over a failed plot to blow up a controversial monument in the heart of the capital. Police arrested the two on July 30, a day after explosive disposal experts defused bombs planted at Phnom Penh's Cambodia-Vietnam friendship monument. (AP)

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Wednesday, August 08, 2007

Vietnam Storm Kills 29

At least 29 people have died and 12 more are missing and feared dead in the worst tropical storm to hit Vietnam this year, officials said Wednesday as downpours continued across central provinces. The bodies of four more drowning victims were recovered Tuesday in Daklak, taking the death toll in the Central Highland province to 11, while nine others swept away in the floods remained missing, said provincial official Phan Thi Thu Hien. Lightning killed three farmers in Ha Tinh province on Monday, and seven people died in a flash flood in the province the following day, said Trinh Nhu Tien, a provincial disaster official. In Lam Dong province, flash floods killed at least four people, while another was missing and feared dead after being washed away, Duong Thanh Hung, a provincial official, said. A 13-year-old boy was killed by a falling tree, he said. Three people also died in Nghe An, Phu Yen and Gia Lai—one in each province—and two more were reported missing in Dac Nong province, disaster officials there said. No deaths were reported in Quang Binh where floods isolated three districts, but casualties were expected because the floodwaters were the deepest in 30 years, said Nguyen Ngoc Dien, a provincial disaster official. The tropical storm was downgraded to a depression on Monday, but heavy rains continued, the national weather center said. (AP)

Thai Police Seek Colonel's Arrest for Alleged Bribery Attempt

An arrest warrant was issued on Wednesday for a police colonel suspected of attempting to bribe two judges to help former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's party in a key electoral fraud trial. Police Col Chanchai Nitiratakan allegedly offered 30 million baht (US $990,000) each to two of the nine Constitutional Court judges, said police Lt-Gen Jongrak Chutanont. Testimony of Krairisk Kasemsan, one of the judges, showed the colonel had tried unsuccessfully to bribe him, said senior Justice Ministry official Jaran Pakdithakul, adding that neither of the two judges had accepted the alleged bribes. Thailand’s Constitutional Court unanimously ruled on May 29, after a six-month trial, that Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party was guilty of violating election law in the April 2006 general balloting. It ordered the party to disband and banned 111 party executives from politics for five years. Thaksin, who led Thai Rak Thai to two landslide general election victories, was ousted in a military coup last September after mass street protests called for his removal for alleged corruption and abuse of power. (AP)

Singapore Park Forbids Gay-rights Picnic, Jog

Singapore banned a gay rights group Wednesday from holding a picnic and fun run at a popular park, saying politics were not welcome in the country's green spaces. Gay rights group People Like Us had planned a picnic at the downtown Botanic Gardens on Thursday and a 5-kilometer (3.11-mile) run the following day as part of a series of activities marking gay and lesbian pride month.