Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte won martial law powers across the southern third of the country for one more year on Wednesday to combat Islamic militants and leftist rebels, as Congress brushed aside fears of a looming dictatorship.
Duterte’s request to extend martial law in the Mindanao region until December 31 next year and detain suspected rebels there without charge was overwhelmingly approved by the Senate and House of Representatives.
“The motion to further extend the…
Indonesia corruption trial delayed by accused parliamentary speaker Novanto’s ‘diarrhoea’
Indonesia’s biggest corruption trial in years was derailed on Wednesday after its graft-charged parliament speaker Setya Novanto claimed a bout of diarrhoea had left him too sick to participate, prompting jeers from the courtroom gallery.
The claim was just the latest in a string of manoeuvres – including allegedly faking an injury in a car crash – that critics say the 62-year-old has employed to dodge serious charges.
Novanto – who has faced corruption allegations in…
New regulations expanding personal portfolio bond asset types in force from January
ANALYSIS: New regulations will permit additional property categories to be held within a personal portfolio bond (PPB) from 1 January 2018, making these bonds potentially more attractive to investors.
‘Inside job and a cover-up’: Philippine bank points finger at Bangladeshis over US$81 million heist
A Philippine bank on Tuesday accused Bangladesh’s central bank of a “massive cover-up” over an US$81 million cyber-heist last year, as it rejected allegations it was mostly to blame.
Unidentified hackers shifted US$81 million in February last year from the Bangladesh central bank’s account with the US Federal Reserve in New York to a Manila branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC). The money was quickly withdrawn and laundered through Manila casinos.
With only…
Thai police arrest Australian man for smuggling drugs, highlighting growing influence of foreign biker gangs
An Australian man linked to a “Hells Angels” chapter has been arrested in Bangkok for smuggling drugs, police said on Tuesday, as Thai authorities tackle organised crime run by motorcycle gangs in the kingdom.
Immigration officials detained 34-year-old Luke Joshua Cook and his Thai wife Kanyarat Wedphitak at Bangkok’s main airport on Saturday for attempting to smuggle half a tonne of crystal meth into Thailand in 2015.
Cook is accused of trying to bring the drugs to land from…
Sport body’s restrictions on athlete participation in non-affiliated events breach EU competition rules, says Commission
The penalties an international sports body can impose on athletes’ participation in non-affiliated events breach EU competition laws, the European Commission has said.
‘The Cove’ dolphin hunters break silence over documentary
Taiji is still in darkness when a dozen men gather at the quayside and warm themselves over a brazier. While the rest of the town sleeps, they sip from cans of hot coffee, smoke cigarettes and talk in hushed tones.
As soon as the sun edges above the peninsula, they take to their boats, steering out to sea in formation in search of their prey: the dolphin.
It has been eight years since the Oscar-winning film The Cove propelled this community in an isolated corner of Japan’s Pacific coast…
American prisoner on the run after cutting through bars of his cell and escaping Bali’s Kerobokan jail
Indonesian police are hunting for a US citizen who escaped on Monday from an overcrowded prison on the holiday island of Bali by cutting through steel bars in a ceiling, the jail’s second breakout of foreign inmates this year.
The Kerobokan prison, about 10km from the main tourist beaches in the Kuta area, often holds foreigners facing drug-related charges.
Cristian Beasley, who was a suspect in crimes related to narcotics but had not been sentenced, escaped at 4.10am, said Badung police…
Peace Prize winners issue nuclear warning about North Korea crisis
The winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), on Sunday voiced alarm about an “extremely dangerous situation” in North Korea before receiving the award in Oslo.
“We are seeing right now an extremely dangerous situation that makes a lot of people very uncomfortable,” ICAN head Beatrice Fihn said before the Nobel ceremony. “But if you are worried about Donald Trump having nuclear weapons or Kim Jong-un, you’…
Guantanamo prosecutor charges three over Southeast Asia terror plots
A US prosecutor has issued charges against the alleged leader of an al-Qaeda affiliate in Southeast Asia, blaming him for the 2002 Bali nightclub bombing and adding two Malaysian captives to the proposed case as alleged co-conspirators.
A copy of the non-capital charge sheet obtained by The Miami Herald, accuses Indonesian Riduan bin Isomuddin, known as Hambali, of sending fighters from his Islamic extremist group Jemaah Islamiyah to Afghanistan after the September 11, attacks to meet Osama bin…