Cotabato City, Philippines - Kidnappers in the southern Philippines freed a Filipino-Chinese businessman and his 10-year-old daughter after ransom was allegedly paid, officials said Monday.
Wilson Tan, 50, and his daughter Jennifer were released by their captors in Talayan town in Maguindanao province, 930 kilometres south of Manila, on Sunday evening.
They were kidnapped just outside their house in nearby Cotabato City on February 19.
Army Colonel Domingo Gubway said that based on unconfirmed reports, the family paid ransom for the release of the hostages.
"There maybe ransom money involved, but we have no idea as to the amount," he said.
Singapore - A Singapore court sentenced a former primary school teacher and married woman to 10 months in jail on Monday for having sex with a 15-year-old student, local media reported.
The 32-year-old woman, a mother of two, had developed an intimate relationship with her young charge when he was 14 years old and after they had gone on an overseas school trip.
After the trip they stayed in touch through frequent telephone calls and SMS messages. The woman declared the boy her godson and began showering him with care and attention.
The relationship continued even after he left primary school to go to secondary school.
Manila - A radio broadcaster was killed Monday by unidentified gunmen in a southern Philippine city, the second journalist to be killed this year, a police report said.
Ernie Rollin was on his way to work when gunmen shot him in the village of Talic in Oroquieta City, 765 kilometres south of Manila, the report said.
The victim was parking his motorcycle at the gasoline station before taking a bus ride to his work when two motorcycle-riding gunmen approached and fired at him. He died on the spot.
Rollin, in his mid-40s, was known for hard-hitting commentaries against graft and corruption in the southern region of Mindanao.
Bangkok - Thai police were searching Monday for the body and identity of a foreigner whose head was found hanging by a rope off a Bangkok bridge over the weekend.
Singapore - Singapore police arrested a 19-year-old man on Saturday in connection with an SMS hoax suggesting a terrorist attack in the city-state, media reports said Sunday.
The text message, which had several variations, said terrorists were planning to bomb the Bugis area and that there were many policemen there. It also advised the public to avoid the area, the Sunday Times newspaper reported.
Singapore - Singapore police arrested a 19-year-old man on Saturday in connection with an SMS hoax suggesting a terrorist attack in the city-state, media reports said Sunday.
