Manila, Mar 13 : The Philippine Lawn Tennis Association has asked Davis Cup organizers to move the July regional playoff against Pakistan from Lahore to Manila due to fears of its players being attacked.

PLTA vice president Randy Villanueva cited the March 3 attack on Sri Lankan cricketers in Lahore, which killed six police officers and a driver and injured several players, as evidence of the risk for sports team visiting Pakistan.

Manila  - The Philippine police force has formed dedicated teams to track down suspects in the killings of journalists as part of an effort to end unabated attacks on media representatives, a spokesman said Friday.

Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome said national police chief Director General Jesus Verzosa instructed a police task force to supervise the manhunts for suspects in media killings.

Hanoi  - Vietnam has protested new moves by China and the Philippines asserting sovereignty over the disputed Spratly and Paracel Islands in the South China Sea, local press reported Friday.

China announced recently it would allow a tourist agency to offer trips to an island in the Spratly archipelago known in Vietnamese as Phu Lam.

"This act seriously infringes upon Vietnam's territorial sovereignty and is harmful to bilateral negotiations to seek a fundamental and durable solution to the sea issues between the two parties," the Vietnam News Agency quoted government spokesman Le Dung as saying Thursday.

Mexico City  -

Manila - Almost half the Philippines' police officers have no handguns as they battle rampant crime, a national police official said Thursday.

Chief Superintendent Lani-O Nerez, deputy director for logistics for the Philippine National Police (PNP), said 51,242 out of 125,000 police officers had not been provided handguns due to a shortage in weapons.

He said the PNP has a total of 73,758 short firearms such as pistols and revolvers.