Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
Fifty-nine Rohingya people have been discovered on a Thai island, saying they were abandoned by traffickers en route to Malaysia, a senior police officer said Sunday. The group — among them five children — were found on Koh Dong island in the southern Satun province on Saturday, said lieutenant general Surachet Hakpan. Each year, thousands of the mostly Muslim minority Rohingya people, heavily persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, risk their lives in months-long expensive journeys to […]
Myanmar‘s junta will execute a former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party and a prominent democracy activist, both of whom were convicted of terrorism, in the country’s first judicial executions since 1990, a spokesman told AFP on Friday. Four people, including former MP Phyo Zeya Thaw and democracy activist Ko Jimmy, “who were sentenced to death will be hanged according to prison procedures”, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP. The junta has […]
by Sam JAHAN / Shamsuddin Illius Bangladesh authorities accused a container depot operator Monday of not telling firefighters about a chemical stockpile before it exploded with devastating consequences, killing at least 49 people — nine of them from the fire service. The toll from the giant blast, which followed a fire at the B.M Container Depot in Sitakunda and sent fireballs into the sky, was expected to rise further. Some containers were still smouldering on […]
Australia’s new prime minister and Indonesia’s president rode bamboo bicycles together on Monday as they held talks to boost ties, as Canberra embarks on a diplomatic charm offensive aimed at countering China’s growing assertiveness in the region. Anthony Albanese hailed relations with Indonesia and vowed to strengthen them on his first bilateral trip since being elected last month, heading to Southeast Asia’s biggest economy in what has become a traditional tour for new Australian premiers. […]
Beijing on Monday warned Australia to “act prudently” or face “serious consequences” after Canberra accused a Chinese fighter jet of dangerously intercepting one of its spy planes over the South China Sea. Australia has argued it is not unusual for it to undertake surveillance flights in the South China Sea — a region Beijing insists comes under its domain despite a 2016 Hague ruling that dismissed its claims. China’s stance has heightened tensions with […]
South Korea and the United States fired eight ballistic missiles on Monday in response to North Korean weapons tests the previous day, Seoul’s military said. The Joint Chiefs of Staff said the allies launched the ground-to-ground Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile at targets in the East Sea, also known as the Sea of Japan, in the early morning. The 10-minute volley comes a day after North Korea launched eight short-range ballistic missiles following a […]
by Holmes CHAN Hong Kong authorities on Saturday detained multiple people as they pounced on any attempt at public commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of the Tiananmen crackdown, as China vies to remove all reminders of the deadly event. Discussion of June 4, 1989, when China set troops and tanks on peaceful protestors, is all but forbidden on the mainland. Semi-autonomous Hong Kong had been the one place in China where large-scale remembrance was still […]
by Sunghee Hwang North Korea launched eight ballistic missiles from multiple locations Sunday, South Korea‘s military said, a day after Seoul and Washington completed their first joint drills involving a US aircraft carrier in more than four years. Pyongyang has doubled down on upgrading its weapons programme this year, despite facing crippling economic sanctions, with officials and analysts warning that the regime is preparing to carry out a fresh nuclear test. “Our military detected eight […]
A world severely blighted by plastic pollution is on track to see the use of plastics nearly triple in less than four decades, according to findings released Friday. Annual production of fossil-fuel-based plastics are set to top 1.2 billion tonnes by 2060 and waste to exceed one billion tonnes, according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). Even with aggressive action to cut demand and improve efficiencies, plastic production would almost double in […]
Cash-strapped Sri Lanka is seeking urgent United Nations help to build a stockpile of essential foods, the prime minister’s office said Friday, after authorities warned of looming starvation. Acute shortages of food, fuel and other essential goods, along with record inflation and rolling blackouts, have inflicted widespread misery in the island nation’s unprecedented economic crisis. Scarce supplies of petrol, diesel and fertiliser have made it difficult for farmers to grow crops, while the agricultural sector […]
China and Papua New Guinea held talks on a free-trade deal Friday, as Beijing’s foreign minister wrapped up a landmark tour of the Pacific Islands with a stop in the resource-rich nation. Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape said discussions in the capital Port Moresby had focused on economic cooperation and a long-mooted trade agreement. China is already a major investor in Papua New Guinea and buys much of the country’s gas, minerals, timber […]
The police chief in charge of operations at the Texas elementary school where a gunman murdered 21 people was not informed of desperate calls made by children trapped inside, a state senator said Thursday. The 911 calls “were not being communicated to the so-called incident commander,” Senator Roland Gutierrez told a news conference, referring to the school district’s police chief, Pete Arredondo. “There is human error, there is system error,” Gutierrez said, adding it was […]
