Kidnappers threatening to kill a Filipino and two Bulgarians in Iraq kept the hostages' loved ones on tenterhooks yesterday, as Baghdad said security fears should not scare foreign workers away.
Militants had said they would kill Filipino driver Angelo de la Cruz on Sunday unless Manila vowed to bring its 51-strong contingent home by July 20, a month earlier than scheduled, but a Philippine official said the deadline had been extended.
"I think there are now new signals that the extension of the deadline has been given another 48-hour life," Labor Secretary Patricia Santo Tomas said, without elaborating.
Bulgaria said it was still confident its two nationals were alive despite the passing of an execution deadline on Friday.
"We ... have enough operational data which show that the two are alive and that the captors are receiving our messages through the Arabic satellite TV al Jazeera and the Bulgarian media," Defense Minister Nikolai Svinarov said.
Four days ago kidnappers threatened to kill the Bulgarians within 24 hours unless the US freed Iraqi prisoners.
Iraq said kidnappers should not be allowed to extract ransom or deter foreigners from working in the country.
"We still ask foreign workers to come to Iraq and try to rebuild Iraq, but also to be very careful and cautious," Mowaffaq Abboud, an adviser to Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari, told a news conference.
"Still there are safe places for foreigners in Iraq," he said, citing southern and northern provinces.
The hostage crisis is among many challenges for Iraq's new government. President Ghazi al-Yawar was quoted yesterday as saying Baghdad would introduce an amnesty for rebels within "a couple of days."
Also see story:
‘CORRECT IDENTIFICATION’: Beginning in May, Taiwanese married to Japanese can register their home country as Taiwan in their spouse’s family record, ‘Nikkei Asia’ said The government yesterday thanked Japan for revising rules that would allow Taiwanese nationals married to Japanese citizens to list their home country as “Taiwan” in the official family record database. At present, Taiwanese have to select “China.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said the new rule, set to be implemented in May, would now “correctly” identify Taiwanese in Japan and help protect their rights, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. The statement was released after Nikkei Asia reported the new policy earlier yesterday. The name and nationality of a non-Japanese person marrying a Japanese national is added to the
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
RSS