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JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s anti-drugs chief has supported implementing a bloody crackdown on traffickers like the war on crime in the Philippines that has left almost 3,000 dead. Budi Waseso, the tough-talking anti-drugs czar who once proposed holding death row traffickers on a prison island guarded by crocodiles, said he believed such a campaign would safeguard “our beloved country”. Indonesia says it is fighting a war against rising narcotics use. It has stepped up executions […]
* Chinese coast guard involved in two-thirds of incidents – CSIS * Coast guards not covered by expanding communications agreements * China now has largest coast guard fleet in the world (Adds Chinese Foreign Ministry comment) By Greg Torode HONG KONG, Sept 7 (Reuters) – Increasingly assertive action by China’s coast guard ships in the South China Sea risks destabilising the region, according to the authors of new research tracking maritime law enforcement […]
by Karl MALAKUNAS VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — The Philippines said China Wednesday of secretly preparing to build an artificial island on Scarborough Shoal, a tiny and remote outpost in a contested area of the South China Sea. Doing so risks a military confrontation between China and the United States. Here are five key questions and answers about the shoal and why it is so important. What is it? A small ring of reefs that lie […]
VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — Japan is “seriously concerned” about Beijing’s increasingly muscular claims in the South China Sea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Asian leaders Wednesday. Beijing insists it has sovereign rights to almost all of the strategically vital waters, where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims. It also has a simmering territorial row with Tokyo over disputed islands in the East China Sea. “I am seriously concerned with the continuing […]
(REUTERS) U.S. President Barack Obama and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte shook hands and had a brief chat on Wednesday, officials said, easing a standoff after Duterte called Obama a “son of a bitch” ahead of a summit of Asian leaders in Laos. The presidents of the two longtime allies were due to hold talks on Tuesday but the White House canceled the meeting after Duterte’s insult. “I’m very happy that it happened,” Philippines’ foreign […]
UNITED States President Barack Obama met briefly with Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday, their two governments said. The encounter took place just before a dinner during a summit of regional leaders in Laos, officials indicated. “They met at the holding room and they were the last people to leave the holding room. I can’t say how long they met,” Foreign Secretary Perfecto Yasay, travelling with Duterte, told reporters shortly afterwards. “I’m very […]
by Martin Abbugao and Karl Malakunas VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — Beijing came under pressure at an Asian summit Wednesday over its “illegal” island-building in the South China Sea, after the Philippines produced photos it said showed fresh construction activity at a flashpoint shoal. Any artificial island at Scarborough Shoal could be a game-changer in China’s quest to control the South China Sea and raises the risk of armed confrontation with the United States, security […]
Beijing’s “illegal” island building in the South China Sea moves centre stage at an Asian summit after the Philippines produces evidence it says shows fresh construction activity at a flashpoint shoal. Video courtesy Agence France Press TV
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia on Wednesday reported its first case of a pregnant woman with Zika — a resident of a Malaysian state bordering Singapore where authorities are grappling with scores of cases. The 27-year-old woman in the southern state of Johor is the third case in Malaysia of the virus, which can result in infected pregnant women giving birth to deformed babies. The virus causes infant microcephaly, a condition marked by abnormally […]
VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — The disputed South China Sea was in focus Wednesday at a regional summit in Laos, the first such gathering since an international court said Beijing’s artificial island building program there was “illegal”. China claims most of the sea, even waters approaching neighbouring countries, based on a vaguely defined “nine-dash-line” found on Chinese maps from the 1940s. The Philippines and other Southeast Asian nations dispute this claim. Commentators say the 3 million […]
VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — US president Barack Obama on Wednesday met a survivor maimed by American bombs covertly dropped on Laos decades ago after pledging to help clean up a country he said was still living in the shadow of war. A day after announcing $90 million to survey and remove unexploded ordinance, Obama visited a US-backed NGO which helps provide prosthetics to the tens of thousands maimed by US munitions. Between 1964 and 1973 […]
(REUTERS) The Philippines’ defense ministry released pictures on Wednesday showing what it said were Chinese boats near a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, just hours before Southeast Asian nations were due to meet China’s premier at a summit in Laos. There was no explanation for the timing of the release, but it came two days after Manila expressed “grave concern” about the increasing number of Chinese vessels around the Scarborough Shoal and […]
