RELEASED: Gloria Arroyo said after the hostage was released that she'd agreed to kidnappers' demands for the sake of 8 million Filipinos who work abroad
Relatives of a Filipino hostage freed in Iraq greeted news of his release yesterday with cheers and tears as the Philippine president defended her decision to yield to the demands of his kidnappers.

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MEETING WITH BUSH: Abdullah Ahmad Badawi warned that if Iraq were to fail, the US would pay a price for inflicting misery on Iraqis without providing any benefit
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said his country was ready to mobilize an international Muslim force to rehabilitate war-torn Iraq.

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Ship captains have written to maritime authorities expressing fears for their lives on voyages through the Malacca Strait after a spate of violent kidnappings last month, an ocean crime watchdog reported yesterday.

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Thailand yesterday urged poultry farmers to immediately report all suspected bird flu cases in a bid to prevent a second wave of human infections that killed eight people earlier this year.

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INTIMIDATION: A young supermarket stacker allegedly wanted to carry out killings for political reasons and because he was denied a passport
A young Australian-born Muslim was ordered yesterday to stand trial over alleged plans to kidnap and execute officers in Australia's spy agency and foreign ministry.

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Authorities in Shanghai are updating rules on religious worship, reportedly focusing on controlling Internet use by the faithful and coping with a growing number of foreign churchgoers.

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AIR STRIKES: Militants were killed and injured in Gaza and Lebanon as the Labor Party demanded legislation from the Israeli prime minister formalizing the Gaza withdrawal
Israeli helicopter gunships and tanks fired on Hezbollah guerrilla positions in southern Lebanon yesterday, killing one guerrilla, Lebanese officials reported.

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HUMILIATION: Arab women are alleged to have sung mocking and insulting songs even as their own men raped black Sudanese women
While African women in Darfur were being raped by the Janjaweed militiamen, Arab women stood nearby and sang for joy, according to an Amnesty International report published on Monday. The songs of the Hakama, or the "Janjaweed women" as the refugees call them, encouraged the atrocities which the militiamen committed.

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UNWELCOME DEPARTURES: The French don't like the country's reputation for egalitarianism to be trashed, and in this instance, Israel may be adding to the problem
Preparations for a welcome party are under way in Tel Aviv for the arrival next week of a specially chartered El Al flight carrying 200 French Jews who have abandoned their homes, jobs and families in France to start afresh in Israel.

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair yesterday launched Britain's strategy against the AIDS pandemic in the developing world, promising more money to children who have been orphaned by disease and to the Global Fund which helps countries pay for life-saving treatment.

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Moving to quell a feud for control of the Russian military and simultaneously reacting to a stinging military setback last month near Chechnya, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday dismissed four senior military and security officers.

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FOREIGN POLICY: Baghdad will retaliate against nations supporting insurgents, officials said. Meanwhile an Iraqi council member was killed in an attack in Basra
Iraq is ready to retaliate against countries it accuses of supporting violence wracking the country, the country's defense minister warned yesterday.

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STAY DENIED: Members of the victim's family and their friends cheered as officers removed the body of Eddie Crawford, who maintained his innocence until the end
A man who kidnapped, raped and murdered his 2-year-old niece was executed after the US Supreme Court rejected his request for a stay. Defense attorneys had argued DNA testing of two newly discovered hairs could prove he is not the killer.

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Samuel "Sandy" Berger, national security adviser under former President Bill Clinton, is under investigation after removing classified documents from the National Archives while preparing to appear before the Sept. 11 commission, a US official said on Monday.

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An animal rights group involved in a long legal dispute with Kentucky Fried Chicken about the treatment of the 700 million chickens it buys each year was to release a videotape yesterday showing slaughterhouse workers for one of its suppliers jumping up and down on live chickens, drop-kicking them like footballs and slamming them into walls, apparently for fun.

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The EU, former US president Jimmy Carter and the ex president of the former Soviet Union Mikhail Gorbachev called on the US Supreme Court on Monday to end the death penalty for offenders younger than 18 at the time of their crimes.

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In life, Hemingway liked a good conflict. And he certainly enjoyed a good drink. So the author would probably have enjoyed the row which has erupted between two bars in Key West, both of which are claiming to have been his favorite.

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■ Thailand
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