KUALA LUMPUR: Controversial blogger Alvin Tan who was released on bail yesterday together with his girlfriend Vivian Lee, described his eight-day prison stay as “not bad.” Tan, who with Lee were charged with publishing a seditious photograph caption on Facebook and denied bail before this, made the remark when met by reporters after the bail process. High Court judge Datuk Mohd Azman Husin allowed them bail in one surety of RM30,000 each with four conditions. The conditions are, the couple must surrender their passports to the court, report themselves at the nearest police station in the first week of each month, be prohibited from uploading obscene photographs, provocative comments or articles that touch on religious and racial sensitivities, and be prohibited from using network communication devices to upload them.
Haiku poem killer held
TOKYO: Japanese police yesterday arrested a man who left a “haiku” poem when he disappeared after five people were murdered in a tiny mountain village. Investigators found Kosei Homi, 63, dressed only in his underwear early yesterday in mountains near the hamlet in western Yamaguchi prefecture, police and reports said. The manhunt began on Sunday after officers found three corpses inside two burned-out houses. They subsequently uncovered two more bodies in separate homes. Police had found a “haiku” poem stuck to the window of Homi’s house and a mobile phone registered to Homi and a shirt and a pair of pants, believed to be his, in mountains nearby on Thursday, as they homed in on the fugitive, Jiji press said.
No end to rebel peace deal
MANILA: The government is not going to end its peace agreement with the former secessionist Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) after the Aquino administration signed a pact with another Muslim rebel group, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said yesterday. His remarks came after MNLF founding leader Nur Misuari claimed that the government was asking the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to end all deals with his group. Valte said that Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Deles is in Indonesia which is the head of the OIC’s Committee of the Eight overseeing the 1996 peace agreement between Manila and the MNLF. AGENCIES
