The Philippines said on Wednesday it is withdrawing from the International Criminal Court (ICC) due to what President Rodrigo Duterte called “outrageous” attacks by UN officials and violations of due process by the ICC.
The decision marks an about-face by Duterte, who initially welcomed a preliminary examination by the International Criminal Court, announced last month, into a complaint filed by a Philippine lawyer accusing the president and top officials of crimes against humanity…
Universities to be rated by subject in England
Universities in England will be rated by subject under new plans announced by the UK government. The new scheme, if introduced, would expand the scope of the existing Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF).
Singapore, UN ‘working closely’ after leaked report says local firms traded with North Korea despite sanctions
Singapore said Tuesday it was “working closely” with the United Nations after a leaked draft report said two local firms sold luxury items to North Korea in violation of UN sanctions. The UN report, cited by the BBC, alleges that the two Singaporean companies and other firms in Asia had been supplying luxury goods, including wine and spirits, to North Korea until as recently as July 2017, despite the sanctions aimed at forcing Pyongyang to abandon its nuclear weapons programme…
One-eyed Hun Sen likes his Japanese contact lens very much
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, who lost an eye fighting for the Khmer Rouge in 1975, has spoken about the “extremely good” Japanese contact lens he has been using in his other eye for more than two decades.
Speaking on Tuesday at an event concerning national road improvement under Japanese grants, Hun Sen said some of his colleagues even joked that he has a long-term vision for the country’s governance and development because of his good contact lens.
“I visited Japan…
Challenge to investor-state jurisdiction award successful
A recent ruling has highlighted the willingness and competence of courts to determine a tribunal’s scope of jurisdiction over disputes between investors and nation state governments, an arbitration expert has said.
Bangladeshi passenger plane crashes on football pitch near Kathmandu airport
A Bangladeshi plane with 71 people on board crashed near Kathmandu airport on Monday as it was coming in to land, officials said. Firefighters battled to extinguish the burning wreckage and rescue passengers.
At least 27 people were killed, according to an official.
Plumes of black smoke could be seen rising from the football pitch where the plane crashed, to the east of the runway at Nepal’s only international airport, in the capital Kathmandu. “There were 67 passengers and 4 crew…
Churning political storms collide: what will prove decisive in Malaysia’s election?
Scholars are finding it harder to predict what is next for Malaysian politics. The once familiar script for political change, employed since 1998 when Anwar Ibrahim was ousted from the ruling regime – institutional failure, corruption, cronyism, abuse of the judiciary – got stood on its head when the man claimed by the opposition to be responsible for the many wrongs in Malaysia’s politics, Mahathir Mohammed, became head of the oppositional alliance, the Pakatan Harapan (PH…
Police investigate fresh anti-Muslim attack in Sri Lanka
Vandals attacked a Muslim-owned restaurant in Sri Lanka on Sunday in an alleged “hate crime”, police said, as tensions were high across the island following a week of violent riots.
The restaurant in Anamaduwa – 130km (81 miles) north of the capital Colombo – was hit despite police being on high alert after a spate of anti-Muslim attacks.
The government declared a state of emergency last week as 11 mosques were torched and 200 Muslim-owned businesses destroyed in riots…
Four men spot a Sumatran tiger and run for their lives. One didn’t make it
A Indonesian man has been mauled to death by a Sumatran tiger in a remote village, authorities said Sunday, the second deadly attack this year.
Yusri Effendi, 34, was found with fatal wounds to his neck by workmates and local villagers in Riau province on Sumatra island on Saturday evening, the local conservation agency said.
The victim was working on a building to lure the edible-nest swiftlet in Tanjung Simpang village when the tiger began lurking around the construction site.
Several hours…
Wild boars are taking over Japan’s small towns and residents are either too old or too few to scare them away
Rapidly shrinking towns and cities across Japan are experiencing a population explosion, but not of humans – of wild boars.
Across the country, wild boars are moving in as Japan’s ageing population either dies or moves out. The boars come for the untended rice paddies and stay for the abandoned shelters.
“Thirty years ago, crows were the biggest problem around here,” said Hideo Numata, 67, a farmer in Hiraizumi, which has a human population 7,803. “But now we have…