Some 50 black-clad gunmen armed with grenades and bombs stormed the city jail at Kidapawan, Mindanao. They were repulsed by police in a chaotic night battle that killed threeâtwo civilian by-standers and an ambulance driver.
Accused Indonesian terrorist Umar Patek went on trial for the 2002 Bali bombing and other attacks. He was arrested in Abbottabad, Pakistan, just a few weeks before US special forces killed Osama bin Laden in the same town.
Buddhist monk Shin Gambira, recently freed under a government amnesty, was again arrested in Rangoon. Wildcat strikes have meanwhile hit two Rangoon footwear factories, and ceasefires with Shan and Karen rebels have broken down in Burma’s north.
Indonesia opened the trial of five pro-independence activists on makar (treason) charges in the West Papua capital of Jayapuraâamid protests from international human rights groups, who say the five were exercising free expression.
Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Bureau issued a warning that Hezbollah militants could be preparing an attack in Bangkok. Thai authorities have arrested one suspect, and are reportedly conducting a manhunt for others.
The government of Burma signed a ceasefire agreement with ethnic Karen rebels who have been fighting for regional autonomy since independence from Britain in 1948. Some 100,000 have been displaced by the conflict.
Local environmentalists and Philippine opposition lawmakers charge that unbridled logging and mining activities in Northern Mindanao are behind the devastating floods that have left nearly 1,000 dead and hundreds missing.
Unknown gunmen opened fire on a helicopter carrying Freeport-McMoRan mining company workers in Indonesia’s restive West Papua, injuring one passenger. The attacks comes as thousands of workers settled a months-long strike.
The Dutch government on Dec. 9 formally apologized for a massacre of at least 150 non-combatants in the village of Rawagede, in West Java, 64 years ago that day. The apology comes after a long legal battle by survivors and widows.
Hillary Clinton makes an historic visit to Burma as the junta’s army chief signs a new military cooperation pact in Beijingâand the regime is accused of war crimes against ethnic minorities in remote Kachin state.
The relatives of 57 people killed in a 2009 massacre on the conflicted Philippine island of Mindanao have sued former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for allegedly assisting the perpetrators, the militia controlled by a local clan.
Human rights groups staged a demonstration at the headquarters of Ve Wong Corp in Taipei, accusing the snack food giant in the illegal seizure of farmland in Cambodia, and using private security forces to repress peasant protests.
