Reuters Southeast Asia News Highlights 0900 GMT Dec. 23

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HANOI - Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has
warned senior police that 2009 will be a difficult year for the
economy and said preventing demonstrations would be one of the
force's core roles.

Police also need to be vigilant against "'peaceful
evolution' plots by hostile forces", the government's Web site
quoted Dung as saying at a national public security meeting
held on Monday.

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BANGKOK - A Thai court adjourned an extradition hearing for
alleged Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, who is wanted by the
United States on suspicion of trying to sell weapons to
Colombia's FARC rebels.

The presiding judge at Bangkok's Criminal Court rescheduled
Bout's next extradition hearing to Mar. 6 after two defence
witnesses failed to turn up.

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KUALA LUMPUR - At least around 4,750 workers in Malaysia
will be retrenched by 137 employers in the next three months, a
newspaper reported on Tuesday, reflecting the impact of falling
exports on the economy.

Most of the layoffs would be from the electronics sector,
Human Resources Minister S. Subramaniam was quoted as saying by
The Star newspaper.

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HONG KONG - Access to maternal healthcare in eastern
Myanmar is inadequate and most expectant mothers suffer from
poor nutrition, anaemia and malaria, raising the risk of
pregnancy complications, researchers said.

In an article in the medical journal PLoS Medicine, they
said forced relocation doubled the risk of women developing
anaemia and decreased their chances of receiving any antenatal
care.

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KUALA LUMPUR - The Philippines' autonomous Muslim region
plans to set up a sharia bank to draw Islamic investments, an
industry publication reported.

The lender would be the official depository bank of the
Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao's (ARMM) units, the
region's governor Zaldy U Ampatuan was quoted as saying by
Islamic Finance Asia magazine.
(Compiled by Jijo Jacob; Editing by Valerie Lee)