For the first time, the Philippine government has offered self-determination to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, or MILF, which is fighting for a Muslim homeland in the southern Philippines. While both sides welcome the development as a breakthrough, much work remains ahead to hammer out the details of any settlement.

There are conflicting reports on the case of Filipina businesswoman Josiebeth Foroozan whom the Nigerian Police reported had been abducted in the southern oil city of Port Harcourt as she got out of her car on February 7, 2007. But her abduction has been denied by a Foreign Affairs official in Manila, Philippines.

A United Nations official investigating hundreds of political killings in the Philippines said he will disclose preliminary conclusions of his probe during a news conference Wednesday.

The Philippines has recently been on the front line in the war on terror, taking out top leaders of the deadly Abu Sayyaf Islamic militant group, which has links with the regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiah. Douglas Bakshian recently traveled to the southern Philippine island of Jolo where about 5,000 Philippine soldiers, Marines and other forces are hunting down the Abu Sayyaf. He joined the Marines on a jungle patrol.

Philippine officials say separatist rebels have released a group of high-level government peace negotiators after holding them for two days on the southern island of Jolo.