Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Facebook said Thursday it will invest over $1 billion to build a data center in Singapore, its first in Asia, powered by renewable energy and adapted to the city-state’s tropical climate. The center is expected to be operational around 2022, and will host Facebook servers and centralize its IT operations, Thomas Furlong, Facebook vice president of infrastructure data centers, told reporters. The 170,000 square meters (1.83 million square foot) site in the […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — The jailing of two Reuters journalists shreds what remains of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi’s reputation as a rights champion, critics say, after she failed to come to their defence or speak up for the persecuted Rohingya minority. Suu Kyi was once a staunch advocate for the free press and a darling of the foreign media. During her long years of house arrest under the former junta — which choked […]
by Richard Sargent and Hla-Hla Htay Agence France Presse YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Two Reuters journalists accused of breaching Myanmar’s state secrets law during their reporting of a massacre of Rohingya Muslims were jailed for seven years Monday, drawing outrage over the attack on media freedom and calls for their immediate release. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, who have been held in Yangon’s Insein prison since their arrest in December, were charged […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar’s military has released 75 child soldiers, a UN agency said, its first discharge this year as part of a gradual process to end decades of forced recruitment of underage fighters. There are no concrete figures on how many children are still among the estimated 500,000 troops that serve in Myanmar’s military, or the ethnic rebel armies that it battles in the country’s border regions. The state’s army — also referred […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump will not attend regional summits with Asian allies in November but will send Vice President Mike Pence instead, the White House announced Friday. Pence will travel to Singapore to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit and the East Asia Summit, it said. He will then go on to Papua New Guinea for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings, the White House said. […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar rejected Wednesday the findings of a UN probe alleging genocide by its military against the Rohingya, in a strident government response to a damning report on the crisis. Myanmar has come under immense pressure this week over last year’s military crackdown that pushed more than 700,000 of the Muslim minority into Bangladesh. On Monday, a UN probe detailed evidence of genocide and crimes against humanity “perpetrated on a massive scale” […]
KUPANG, Indonesia (AFP) — A strong 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck eastern Indonesia on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, but there was no tsunami warning or immediate reports of damage. The offshore tremor struck at a shallow depth of eight kilometres (five miles), about 100 kilometers southeast of Kupang on the Indonesian portion of Timor island, the USGS said. Witnesses described a powerful jolt that lasted a few seconds. “I was on the second floor […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — A Myanmar court postponed its ruling Monday on whether two Reuters journalists violated a state secrets law while reporting on a massacre of Rohingya Muslims, delaying the decision for a week. Wa Lone, 32, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 28, have been detained in Myanmar’s infamous Insein prison since December in the case which has ignited a global outcry. The two journalists had been investigating the September 2017 killings of 10 Rohingya Muslims […]
(Eagle News) — The Philippines on Thursday, Aug. 23, reiterated its readiness to extend assistance to Indonesia, following the earthquakes that struck Lombok and that left hundreds dead. “As a neighbor and close friend in (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations), we stand ready to lend a helping hand much like you have done when we were struck with disasters,” Foreign Affairs Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano told Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi during his recent official […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) – A police crackdown on petty crime in the run-up to the Asian Games in Indonesia has claimed dozens of lives, Amnesty International said Friday, criticizing what it said was an “unnecessary and excessive” campaign. The rights group said at least 31 suspects were killed under a “shoot first and ask questions later” operation in host city Jakarta and South Sumatra in the lead-up to the world’s second-biggest multi-sport event, which kicks […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s 2019 presidential race took shape Friday with incumbent Joko Widodo choosing to run alongside a conservative Islamic cleric against controversial ex-general Prabowo Subianto. Widodo, whose down-to-earth style and ambitious infrastructure drive has made him popular with many Indonesians, picked cleric Ma’ruf Amin as his vice presidential nominee. The decision will bolster the president’s Islamic credentials but could be polarizing among more progressive voters. Amin, 75, is the current chairman the […]
by M. Jegathesan Agence France-Presse KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak was hit with new charges Wednesday linked to a multi-billion-dollar financial scandal that contributed to his shock election defeat in May. Appearing at a court in Kuala Lumpur, Najib was charged with three counts of money-laundering over claims he pocketed 42 million ringgit ($10.3 million) from a former unit of scandal-hit sovereign wealth fund 1MDB. These are in […]
