MANILA, Philippines – Police said Thursday they thwarted planned attacks on an airport, malls, a church and U.S. troops with the arrests of three members of an al-Qaida-linked terror group who allegedly came to the Philippines to train Muslim militants to make bombs. The two Indonesians and a Malaysian – all alleged Jemaah Islamiyah members – were arrested in Zamboanga city in December along with a Filipino member of the Abu Sayyaf Muslim extremist group with bomb-making manuals, bomb parts and money for attacks, officials said. Authorities said they recovered bomb components, about $7,000 and at least two pistols.
Afghanistan: Bodies recovered
The first bodies retrieved from a crashed Afghan Boeing 737 were returned to their grieving relatives Thursday, three weeks after the plane smashed into a mountain during a snowstorm. An official said the bodies of an American and a Russian have been identified. Bad weather has slowed recovery efforts on the freezing peak near the Afghan capital where the plane hit Feb. 3, killing all 108 people on board, in the country’s worst air disaster. More than 20 foreigners were among the dead.
Brazil: Nun’s slaying re-enacted
Two men suspected of killing an American nun who worked to defend the rain forest and its residents said she tried to protect herself with a Bible and her shoulder bag before she was gunned down, police said Thursday. Police, the two suspects and a witness on Thursday re-enacted the Feb. 12 killing of 73-year-old Dorothy Stang. The witness said the gunmen exchanged words with Stang, who read two verses of the Bible to them before she was shot.
Vietnam: New victim of bird flu
Vietnam confirmed another bird flu case today, the first reported infection in more than a month. A 21-year-old man from northern Thai Binh province tested positive for the H5N1 strain of bird flu, said Nguyen Thi Tuong Van of Bach Mai Hospital in Hanoi. Since Dec. 30, 12 people from Vietnam have died from the bird flu while four others who contracted the virus recovered. Last month, a Cambodian woman died of bird flu in a Vietnamese hospital.
Taiwan: Unification door is open
Taiwan’s president pledged Thursday he would not shut the door on eventual unification with rival China if Beijing expressed good will – one of his most specific pronouncements on the issue. Taiwanese President Chen Shui-bian, long viewed as rejecting the possibility of unification, clarified his position at a meeting with the leader of the opposition People First Party. They signed a joint declaration afterward. Unification is a passionate top priority for China’s leaders, who have routinely berated Chen as a traitor to Beijing.
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