Marcos delays husband's burial

MANILA (Reuter) - The former Philippines first lady, Imelda Marcos, has called off plans to bring her husband's body home for burial next week after rejecting a minister's offer to ferry the corpse back from Hawaii in a cargo plane.

'I will not subject my husband to that indignity of being put in a cargo plane,' the widow of the former dictator said in a statement yesterday. The family had planned to bring the former president's remains home next Tuesday for burial in his northern home province of Ilocos Norte after a nine-day wake.

The Marcoses have been accused of plundering dollars 5bn ( pounds 2.5bn) from the Philippines treasury. The presidential commission on good government, which is trying to recover the family's alleged ill-gotten wealth, began negotiations with Mrs Marcos's lawyers on a possible settlement, officials said.