ASEAN IN FOCUS

Blinken to meet Philippine leader on bolstering alliance

MANILA, March 19, 2024 (AFP) – US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is due to hold talks with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos on Tuesday, as the countries seek to reinforce security and economic ties in the face of growing Chinese aggression. Blinken’s visit to Manila — his second since Marcos took office in June 2022 — is part of a brief Asia tour that also included South Korea. Washington is keen to improve relations with […]

Biden to host Philippines, Japan leaders to counter China

WASHINGTON, March 19, 2024 (AFP) – WASHINGTON, March 19, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden will hold the first three-way summit with the leaders of the Philippines and Japan next month, the White House said Monday, as the United States boosts alliances against China. Biden’s meeting with Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida at the White House on April 11 is the latest in a series of meeting with Asia-Pacific […]

Hundreds rescued from Philippines scam centre: police

Hundreds of people forced to work in an online scam centre in the Philippines were rescued in a raid on Thursday that also saw eight suspects arrested, according to police. Acting on a tip from a Vietnamese man who alleged to have escaped the sprawling compound north of capital Manila, police said they unmasked an operation where suspected victims of human trafficking were forced into conducting various online scams. “The rescued workers told us (the […]

Bali landslide kills two foreign tourists

  BADUNG, Indonesia, March 14, 2024 (AFP) – Two foreign tourists including an Australian woman have been killed on the Indonesian resort island of Bali after heavy rain triggered a landslide that swept away their villa, an official said Thursday. Large areas of the archipelago of 17,000 islands are prone to flooding and landslides during the wet season which starts around November. The wooden villa in Jatiluwih village on the popular tourist island was hit […]

Thai ex-PM Thaksin makes first public appearance since release: AFP

By Thanaporn Promyamyai and Sarah Lai BANGKOK, March 14, 2024 (AFP) – Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited a Bangkok temple Thursday in his first public appearance since being freed early from a jail sentence for graft and abuse of power. The controversial billionaire, twice elected premier and ousted in a 2006 military coup, went to the Bangkok City Pillar Shrine ahead of a three-day trip to Chiang Mai in the kingdom’s north later […]

Thai poll body asks court to dissolve reformist MFP party

By Thanaporn PROMYAMYAI BANGKOK, March 12, 2024 (AFP) – Thailand’s election commission said Tuesday it will ask the Constitutional Court to dissolve the reformist Move Forward Party, which won the most seats at last year’s polls. The MFP upended the kingdom’s political order in May’s election, scoring the most votes after a campaign promising reform of the military, business monopolies and to amend the lese-majeste laws. But their audacious bid shocked the Thai establishment and […]