Children and hostages are being forced to fight alongside pro-Islamic State gunmen waging a seven-week battle for a Philippine city, the country’s military said on Monday.
Militants seized Marawi, considered the Muslim capital of the largely Catholic Philippines, on May 23 in a bid to create an IS province, and over 100 remain holed up in the city despite intense military efforts to oust them.
Some of the extremists are teenagers who may have been recruited and trained to use guns when…
Requirement for large companies to publish their tax strategy
Large companies and partnerships need to publish their tax strategy online before the end of their first financial year beginning after 15 September 2016.
A break-up of Air India could be an option as Modi pushes for quick sale
India is considering selling state-owned Air India in parts to make it attractive to potential buyers, as it reviews options to divest the loss-making flagship carrier, several government officials familiar with the situation said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet gave the go-ahead last month for the government to try to sell the airline, after successive governments spent billions of dollars in recent years to keep the airline going.
Air India – founded in the 1930s and known…
Zimbabwe’s Mugabe has ‘routine medical check-up’ … in Singapore
Zimbabwe’s 93-year-old President Robert Mugabe is in Singapore for a “routine medical check-up”, state media reported on Sunday.
“President Mugabe on Friday left the country for Singapore for a routine medical check-up,” the Sunday Mail newspaper reported.
The paper said the veteran ruler is expected back in Zimbabwe midweek.
Mugabe’s medical trips to the Southeast Asia city state have become more frequent in recent years. His previous visit was in May, also…
Death toll rises to 15 in flood-hit southern Japan as search for survivors continues
The death toll from heavy rains and flooding in southern Japan has risen to 15, a government official said on Saturday, as rescuers continued work to evacuate isolated survivors.
Raging rivers overflowing with water and mud have devastated swathes of Kyushu – the southernmost of Japan’s four main islands – after heavy rainfall, sweeping away roads and houses and destroying schools.
Thousands of rescuers have been fighting through thick mud and battling rain to search for…
Thai police claim successful crackdown on ivory trafficking
Efforts by Thailand’s government to curb sales of ivory have been successful following criticism of widespread trafficking in the country, police and conservationists said.
Police announced on Friday that since January, officials have seized two elephant tusks and 422 tusk fragments in a single case, while in all of last year they seized 99 tusks and 22 fragments. Deputy Police Commissioner General Chalermkiat Sriworakhan said the drop in the number of cases showed that strict enforcement…
‘Team UK’ construction consortia set up to bid for overseas contracts
Some of the UK’s biggest construction companies have teamed up with the government to bid for overseas contracts under a single ‘Team UK’ banner.
Thai officials sue news outlet for calling tourist spot ‘Death Island’
Thai officials have filed criminal charges against a news website for branding the popular beach destination of Koh Tao “Death Island” in reports about a string of murky tourist fatalities.
Koh Tao’s reputation as a tropical paradise was first sullied in 2014 when two British backpackers were brutally murdered on one of its white-sand beaches.
A series of other foreign tourist deaths have fuelled press coverage about the island’s ‘dark side’, with allegations…
Appeal court confirms scope of presumption in favour of sustainable development
The Court of Appeal has confirmed that the presumption in favour of sustainable development, as set out in paragraph 14 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), should only be treated as a material consideration by a planning inspector in the limited circumstances set out in that paragraph and not in any other circumstances.
Indonesia police question Trump partner over threat claims
Police are questioning the Indonesian business partner of President Donald Trump over allegations he sent threatening text messages to a deputy attorney general.
A smiling Hary Tanoesoedibjo arrived at the national police’s Criminal Investigation Agency in central Jakarta on Friday morning after failing to comply with a summons for questioning last week.
The 51-year-old billionaire, better known as Tanoe, is barred from leaving Indonesia from June 22 to July 12, which could be extended at…