News/S. Asia/Philippines

MANILA: The Philippine and Chinese governments simultaneously declared fishing ban at the disputed Panatag (Scarborough) Shoal yesterday. The Chinese directive covered most of the areas of Spratlys and other islands dotting the South China Sea, whil...

MANILA:  The month-long standoff between the Philippines and China has put into stake two major interests of United States of America (USA) -- security of treaty allies and freedom of navigation, a senior security analyst said. Walter Lohman, Direc...

ZAMBOANGA: Former members of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) in Siocon town here have gone big-time in the fishing industry following the launching of a livelihood project that benefited over 70 erstwhile guerilla members. Dubbed as the Ku...

MANILA: Two people were killed while three others were wounded in separate attacks perpetrated by suspected members of the New People’s Army rebel group in Mindanao yesterday, a ranking military official said. Army Major Jacob Obligado, commander ...

ZAMBALES: A United States nuclear-powered submarine was spotted off the coast of Subic Bay Freeport Zone yesterday at the height of the ongoing tension between the Philippines and China on its territorial dispute on Scarborough Shoal. A source from ...

MANILA: Chief Justice Renato Corona vowed yesterday to disprove the bloated wealth allegation of Ombudsman Conchita Carpio-Morales in the Senate impeachment court. “We will debunk all her bloated numbers. And once she is proven wrong, I urge her t...

  MANILA: The court has denied yesterday the pleas for three separate trials of police officers accused in the Maguindanao massacre case. “Even assuming that the prosecution will still present several witnesses before resting its case, accused-m...

yangon: South Korea’s president won a promise from Myanmar to refrain from military cooperation with nuclear-armed North Korea during a two-day trip that included a meeting with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Lee Myung-Bak’s visit is the fi...

beijing: China said yesterday British Prime Minister David Cameron’s meeting with the Dalai Lama was an “affront to the Chinese people”, and launched “solemn representations” with London. The statement from the Chinese foreign ministry cam...

TOKYO: The tropical island chain of Okinawa yesterday marked 40 years since US occupying forces returned it to Japan, as locals readied to protest against the continued American military presence there. A ceremony, attended by Prime Minister Yoshihi...

kathmandu: Inexperienced pilots, poor management and ineffective rules are endangering air travellers’ lives in mountainous Nepal, aviation experts warned after the latest in a series of fatal accidents. The comments came after the crash of an Agn...

seoul: North Korea has stopped transmitting signals which jammed the GPS systems of hundreds of civilian aircraft and ships in South Korea for two weeks, officials said yesterday. The state Korea Communications Commission said the signals designed t...

TOKYO: Japanese researchers yesterday unveiled a population clock that showed the nation’s people could theoretically become extinct in 1,000 years because of declining birth rates. Academics in the northern city of Sendai said that Japan’s popu...

CIJERUK: Indonesian rescuers yesterday found the bodies of 12 people killed when their Russian jet crashed into the face of a mountain during a sales flight. Questions mounted over how the twin-engine Sukhoi Superjet 100, a new passenger plane with ...

  KATHMANDU: A 48-hour strike brought much of Nepal to a standstill on Friday, two weeks ahead of a deadline for the country to complete its first peace-time constitution. Protest groups have been making various claims for their rights ahead of a ...

VEAL BEI: Hundreds of Cambodians held a memorial service yesterday in a remote forest where a prominent environmental activist was shot dead two weeks ago, vowing to keep his legacy alive. Some 300 villagers whose lives have been affected by defores...

SEOUL: Six leaders from South Korea’s biggest Buddhist order have quit after secret video footage showed some supposedly serene monks raising hell, playing high-stakes poker, drinking and smoking.     The scandal erupted just days before Korean...

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan doctors demanding higher pay went on strike at state-run hospitals yesterday, turning away thousands of patients and cancelling hundreds of routine surgical operations, officials said. The Government Medical Officers' Association...

Manila: Hundreds of Filipinos demonstrated outside the Chinese embassy in the Philippines yesterday over an escalating territorial row, with Beijing advising its citizens here to stay indoors for possible escalation of tensions between the two nation...

MANILA: Same sex marriage in the Philippines? Legally impossible, says a spokesman of President Benigno Aquino III.“Our laws are very clear... Our definition of marriage is a union between a man and a woman,” Presidential Spokesperson Edwin Lacie...

ZAMBOANGA CITY: The Department of Energy  declared yesterday that the five-month power crisis in Mindanao is finally resolved with the repair of a major hydro-electric plant. Energy Undersecretary Josefina Asirit announced in a dialogue with power ...

MANILA: Police investigators yesterday said that other personalities, other than Ryan Dominguez, may be involved in the killing of state witness Alfred Mendiola. “As far as our office is concerned, we have sufficient evidence (against Ryan Domingu...

ZAMBOANGA CITY: Alerted bomb squad personnel recovered yesterday more than 6,000 blasting caps and large volume of explosive chemical near the blast site that killed two “bomb makers” four days ago in a slum village, west of this city, a police o...

beijing: Laos yesterday handed over the suspected leader of a drug gang accused of killing 13 members of Chinese boat crews on a lawless stretch of the Mekong River, an incident that caused Beijing to send gunboat patrols to the region downstream fro...

Hanoi: Vietnamese police have arrested a number of farmers in the latest dispute over land ownership rights in the communist nation, state media said yesterday. The farmers were upset with the compensation they were offered to give up their land for...

seoul: North Korea said yesterday it would strengthen its nuclear deterrent and other defences regardless of cost, amid fears it is preparing for another atomic weapons test. “No matter what high expense the army and people of the DPRK (North Kore...

seoul: The leadership of South Korea’s largest Buddhist order resigned en masse yesterday after video footage emerged of junior monks playing poker with thousands of dollars at stake. Prosecutors launched a probe after the footage came to light th...

Beijing: China has moved a leading ethnic Mongol dissident to a “luxury resort”, a rights group said Thursday, in the first indication of his whereabouts since his jail term ended 17 months ago. Hada, who like many Mongols goes by one name, comp...

Dhaka: Myanmar lawmakers paid the country’s first ever visit to the European parliament yesterday in a new sign of growing warmth between the European Union and the Southeast Asian nation. Headed by lower house speaker U Shwe Mann, the delegation,...

Philippine President Benigno Aquino (left) and Laos Prime Minister Thongsing Thammavong review the guard of honour during the arrival ceremony at the Malacanang Palace in Manila, yesterday.