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A Roman Catholic priest who was one of the earliest critics of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s deadly crackdown on drugs has gone into hiding due to what he says were signs he’s being targeted by motorcycle-riding hitmen.
The Reverend Amado Picardal said Monday that he has gone into a “more secure location” and out of the public view after workers in a Catholic monastery that he visits in central Cebu city reported seeing motorcycle-riding men watching the…

As a prisoner of war in the “Hanoi Hilton”, navy pilot John McCain was known as uncompromising, frank and an avid reader who fiercely debated the war with his Vietnamese jailers.
One of them, the former director of the infamous Hoa Lo prison, recalls verbally sparring with the famous inmate and says McCain’s refusal to budge on his views eventually earned his admiration.
“It was his stubbornness, his strong stance that I loved when arguing with him,” said retired…

Five years ago in September, during a visit to Kazakhstan, President Xi Jinping first proposed building the Silk Road Economic Belt, which included countries along the ancient Silk Road leading through Central Asia and the Middle East to Europe.
In October that year, while visiting Indonesia, he followed up by suggesting a “21st Century Maritime Silk Road”, tracing the old trading routes that took Chinese merchants to Southeast Asia, Arabian countries and all the way to eastern…

Indonesia’s jailing of a woman for complaining about the volume of a mosque loudspeaker has sparked a wave of criticism, with a petition calling for her release gaining more than 100,000 supporters.
Rights groups and the Muslim-majority country’s biggest religious organisation slammed the 18-month blasphemy sentence handed out on Tuesday to the defendant, an ethnic Chinese Buddhist, in Medan on Sumatra island.
The 44-year-old woman named Meiliana was found guilty of insulting Islam…

Thousands of Rohingya refugees staged protests for “justice” on Saturday on the first anniversary of a Myanmar military crackdown that forced them to flee to camps in Bangladesh.
About 700,000 of the Muslim minority poured across the border after attacks by the Myanmar military and Buddhist groups that the United Nations has likened to ethnic cleansing.
Thousands held peaceful marches and attended rallies chanting “We want justice from the UN.” At the Kutupalong camp, a…

There will be no changes to UK employment and workplace rights derived from EU law if the UK leaves the EU without a formal deal in place, the UK government has confirmed.

EU state aid rules will be fully transposed into UK law should the UK leave the EU without a formal deal in place, the UK government has confirmed.

Proposals allowing the forced sale of long-term vacant or derelict land in Scotland could be more burden than boon for local planning authorities if introduced, experts have warned.

More than 130 members of parliament, across five countries in Southeast Asia, have demanded that Myanmar be investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the most united condemnation from the region since the violence began against the Rohingya a year ago.
In a joint statement released by Asean Parliamentarians for Human Rights, they called for the Myanmar military to be “brought to justice” for its “murderous operation in Rakhine State”.
Rohingya crisis:…

Malaysian police on Friday filed criminal charges against fugitive financier Low Taek Jho, who is wanted in connection with a multibillion-dollar money laundering scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB).
Low, popularly known as Jho Low, is regarded as having been close to former prime minister Najib Razak and has been identified by investigators in Malaysia and the United States as a top suspect in the 1MDB case.
He was slapped with eight charges of money laundering at a court…