Buenos Aires  - The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum is set to be held Saturday and Sunday in Lima with the focus on the global economic crisis.

The meeting is set to be George W Bush's last major international gathering as US president as he prepares to leave office in January after eight years on the job.

Lima  - The extreme-left Peruvian armed group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) was preparing attacks during this week's meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, police said Tuesday.

Documents confiscated by authorities at the camp of Shining Path leader "Artemio" - the alias of a man believed to be Filomeno Cerron - described the summit as a good time to carry out attacks based on the stir they would cause and the media attention that they would generate.

It remained unclear whether the confiscation of the material put an end to the plans or whether attacks were still feared when the leaders of APEC economies, including US President George W Bush and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, meet from Friday to Sunday in Lima.

Lima - Peruvian Police colonel Oswaldo Alfaro, who was to be in charge of security at the 16th summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, was removed from the job a week before the gathering that is set to be held in Lima, Peruvian media reported Friday.

New Interior Minister Remigio Hernani was said to have removed Alfaro along with all other officials with ties to former head of police Octavio Salazar, a personal rival whom he has already dismissed.

Lima- Two soldiers were killed and another five injured in an attack by militants of the Maoist Shining Path group in southern Peru, local media reported Wednesday, citing the country's military.

The attack in the central mountain area of Vizcatan in the Ayacucho region was the second in less than a week. On October 9, thirteen soldiers and two civilians were killed in an attack in the same area.

Lima - Peruvian President Alan Garcia accepted the resignations of his entire cabinet Friday in the face of a brewing corruption scandal over petroleum concessions.

"This cabinet will leave with their heads high, and Peru will reflect on the good work that they have contributed," Garcia said. "The road ahead of us is wide open."

Lima - An ambush by alleged remnants of the leftist armed group Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) claimed the lives of 12 soldiers and seven civilians in Peru's central mountains, the Peruvian Armed Forces said Friday.

The ambush happened Thursday in the Tayacaja province, in the Huancavelica region, some 445 kilometres east of Lima, as the soldiers were returning in four trucks along with some local civilians from an event in the town of Tintaypuncu.