Filipino sailor George Miranda was racing to help a stricken vessel aboard the tugboat Mussafah 2 when he last spoke to his wife and young daughter.
The 46-year-old, whose small ship was struck by a pair of missiles this week in the Strait of Hormuz, is the only seafarer from the Philippines known to be missing in the Middle East war, the government says.
But more than 6,000 others from the country that supplies a quarter of the world’s sailors are still working in the conflict zone and…
Child privacy warning as UK launches consultation over digital ID scheme
UK government plans for a new digital ID system represent a “high-stakes balancing act” between online safety and young people’s privacy rights, according to an expert.
India opens door to more Chinese investment after 6-year freeze
India has relaxed curbs on Chinese investments in certain sectors to attract more foreign capital, as Beijing and New Delhi continue to gradually repair their economic relationship after years of tense relations.
In a cabinet statement released on Tuesday, New Delhi introduced a fast-track approval mechanism for investments from land-bordering countries – including China. The move amends a previous restriction that had mandated government scrutiny for all such capital inflows.
Under the new…
Thailand smashes coconut-profiteering web led by Chinese firms
Thai police have broken up a web of Chinese companies allegedly using Thai fronts to control the kingdom’s coconut supply, squeezing prices to record lows of 2 baht (6 US cents) per fruit and allowing wide profit margins on sales into China.
The probe, launched across western agricultural provinces where the nam hom coconut farms are based, reflects broader concerns about the exploitation of Thai fruit farmers by foreign businessmen who set prices and dictate market terms.
Raids on eight…
Implications of the Middle East conflict for businesses
The conflict in the Middle East is having profound human and economic cost across the region and beyond.
Malaysia had him on bail for child abuse. The US had other plans
A Bangladeshi man who spent over three years on bail in Malaysia fighting local child pornography charges has been spirited to Alaska by the FBI to face what prosecutors describe as one of the most prolific child exploitation cases in US history.
Zobaidul Amin, 28, was brought from Malaysia to the United States last Wednesday and made his initial appearance in a federal court in Anchorage the following day, where he pleaded not guilty to all 13 counts, according to the US Department of Justice…
Mistaken for drunks, left to die: Thailand’s police have a deadly blind spot
Warissara* survived the crash. It was the next four hours that killed her.
The 21-year-old had been riding home from her restaurant job on the night of February 20 last year, caught in heavy rain on a slick Bangkok road, when she came off her motorbike.
Emergency responders who arrived at the scene found only a few visible scratches – and detected the smell of alcohol. She had no identification on her. The call was made: send her to the police station, not the hospital.
She arrived at…
A heatwave is coming to Southeast Asia. So is an energy shock
Southeast Asia is set to see a warmer-than-usual early summer, potentially raising power demand for fuel and straining grids at a time when the Middle East conflict has tightened energy supplies in the region.
Across most of maritime and mainland Southeast Asia, home to more than half a billion people, temperatures will be above average for the March-April-May period, according to the latest seasonal outlook published by the Asean Specialised Meteorological Centre (ASMC) on Friday.
The forecast…
The Philippines says its communist rebels are defeated – but are they?
The mountains of the Philippines are quieter now.
The jungle bases that once sustained Asia’s longest-running communist insurgency are mostly emptied out. Its tens of thousands of guerrilla fighters have been reduced, by the military’s account, to something “very, very negligible”.
After 56 years, the Philippine military thinks the fight is almost over – and that conviction is transforming the armed forces from the inside out.
Commanders are overhauling training and strategy, moving away from…
Philippines’ only cockroach expert defends bugs from extinction
A thin band of light from Cristian Lucanas’ headlamp pierces the blackness of a Philippine rainforest as he digs through the underbrush before gently scooping up a cockroach with his bare hands.
As the Southeast Asian country’s lone expert on the oft-misunderstood insect – and discoverer of 15 species – friends have dubbed the soft-spoken scientist “Ipis Lord”, after the local name for the ubiquitous bug.
While fully aware most view cockroaches as disgusting, disease-bearing pests, the…