MANILA - ACTIVISTS criticized the Philippine president for commuting two 40-year jail terms for a former congressman convicted of raping an 11-year-old girl and allowing him to walk free on Thursday.

Bureau of Corrections Director Oscar Calderon said former Rep Romeo Jalosjos was freed two years after President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo cut his sentence to 16 years. He served 13 years and received three years' credit for good behavior, Calderon said.

LUCKNOW (India) - SUSPECTED bandits burned a family of 12 to death on Thursday in central India in a revenge attack involving rival gangs, police said.

The bandits attacked the family and beat them up before 'locking them up in a thatched roof hut and then setting it on fire,' said Brij Lal, a senior police officer in Uttar Pradesh state.

COLOMBO - CIVILIANS pouring out of the war zone in Sri Lanka's north are in dire need of emergency surgical and psychological help, an international aid group said on Thursday.