[Inquirer] A militiaman was killed when Philippine security forces and New People's Army insurgents clashed in Magpet, North Cotabato on Tuesday.
Military spokesman Silver Belvis said troops were conducting combat patrol in Sitio Buay-buay in Barangay Basak when shot at by NPA militants, who were positioned on higher ground. He said, "Our troops immediately established defensive position and engaged the rebels who withdrew toward the northwest direction of the village."
Belvis said the 15 militants came from the NPA's Southern Mindanao Regional Command that has been operating in the towns of Magpet, President Roxas and Arakan.
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[Inquirer] Maoist militants in Mindanao on Thursday said they were finalizing the release of six soldiers, militiamen and a policeman in their custody even while fighting continues on the ground.
Joaquin Jacinto, spokesman for the National Democratic Front of the Philippines in Mindanao, identified four of those set to be released. He said two other captives would be released by the New People's Army unit holding them. Jacinto said the decision to release their captives was a "gesture of support for the resumption of formal talks between the [government] and the NDFP."
In an earlier statement, Maj. Gen. Rafael Valencia, commander of the military’s 10th Infantry Division, said President Duterte ordered the military to continue the offensive against NPA militants even while efforts to rescue their captives were continuing. He said if NPA insurgents were serious about talking peace, they should lay down their arms and stop their attacks on government troops and other targets.
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[SCMP] An arrest warrant was issued Thursday for the highest-profile opponent of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly war on drugs, but she dodged police and sought refuge in the Senate.
The planned arrest of Senator Leila de Lima outraged her supporters and human rights ...which are usually open to widely divergent definitions... activists, who said the government had manufactured drug trafficking charges to silence her criticism of Duterte and intimidate others.
The 57-year-old lawyer, who has spent nearly a decade trying to link Duterte to death squads that have allegedly killed thousands of people, could be incarcerated Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw! for life if she is found guilty of drug trafficking.
"I have no plans of fleeing and I have no plans to go in hiding. I will face all these charges," a tearful De Lima told news hounds at the Senate in the early evening after a Manila court issued the arrest warrant.
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Indonesia President Joko Widodo will discuss the prospect of joint patrols with Australia in the South China Sea when he meets his counterpart Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull at the weekend.
Widodo told The Australian newspaper he would like to see joint patrols with Australia, but only if did not further inflame tensions with China.
"If there is no tension I think it's very important to have the patrols together. We will discuss this with PM Turnbull," said Widodo.
Indonesia has traditionally taken a neutral position on the South China Sea, acting as a buffer between China and fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) that have the most at stake, the Philippines and Vietnam.
But after China angered Indonesia by saying the two countries had "overlapping claims" to waters close to Indonesia's Natuna Islands, Jakarta staged large-scale exercise on the edge of South China Sea in October.
China claims almost the entire South China Sea, through which about $5 trillion worth of trade passes each year. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam also have claims to parts of the sea.
Australia - which says it takes no sides on South China Sea disputes but has supported U.S.-led freedom of navigation activities in the region - has been seeking to repair ties with Indonesia after their most recent spat. Indonesia suspended military cooperation with Australia in January after "insulting" teaching materials were found at an Australian base. While Australia's army chief apologized to Indonesia in February, military cooperation remains suspended.
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[Reuters] Thailand's military has reached a breakthrough agreement with a Muslim separatist group to create a safety zone in the southern provinces. The army has been negotiating with Mara Pattani, a longstanding umbrella group that claims to speak for the rebels.
Major General Sithi Trakulwong, "Both sides have agreed to the creation of a safety zone in one of the three southern provinces to show their good faith. This is the most progress we've made in over two years of negotiations."
Sithi said the agreement would be finalized next week in Malaysia, once senior government officials arrive to conclude the talks.
Talks between the Thai government and the rebels began in 2013 under then Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, but stalled after the military coup in 2014.
Some analysts say the government is negotiating with a group comprised mostly of exiled fighters that is not influential on the ground. The rebel group Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), which has been left out of negotiations, is now the main actor in the southernmost provinces, they say.
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
[Inquirer] Maoist militants in Mindanao on Thursday said they were finalizing the release of six soldiers, militiamen and a policeman in their custody even while fighting continues on the ground.
[Reuters] Thailand's military has reached a breakthrough agreement with a Muslim separatist group to create a safety zone in the southern provinces. The army has been negotiating with Mara Pattani, a longstanding umbrella group that claims to speak for the rebels. 
