Category: Southeast Asia

CPP: NPA did not attack relief convoy

The Communist Party of the Philippines has denied the New People’s Army was responsible for the attack on a relief convoy in Surigao del Norte on Wednesday. In a statement Friday, the CPP labeled as dubious the reports coming from the Armed Forces of the Philippines that the NPA ambushed the ABS-CBN relief mission in Barangay Linanggonan, San Francisco, Surigao del Norte.

Cambodian king to open Jolie’s film on Khmer Rouge survivor

This Nov. 16, 2013 file photo shows Maddox Jolie-Pitt, with Angelina Jolie on the red carpet at the 2013 Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Governor Awards, in Los Angeles. Cambodia’s King Norodom Sihamoni will preside over the premiere of Angelina Jolie’s film based on a memoir from a Khmer Rouge survivor.

Surigao quake might have helped trigger new temblor

Another temblor may be in the offing along the Philippine Fault Zone which generated last week’s 6.7 magnitude earthquake off Surigao del Norte province. Movement of PFZ’s Surigao segment triggered such earthquake and may have also “disturbed” any of the adjacent Leyte and Mindanao segments, possibly increasing chance for a new temblor there, noted science research specialist Rhommel Grutas from Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology .

It’s A Dirty Job, But IWK Does It Without Fail

By Nurul Halawati Mohamad Azhari KUALA LUMPUR — Every day, Malaysians use an average of 65 litres of water a day, which will ultimately become sewage water that needs to be treated by Indah Water. Has anyone ever wondered what happens to the sewage water from their bath, laundry and other domestic chores? Imagine what would happen if the sewage was left untreated.

Cambodia’s estates look to reap benefits of Thai ‘Industry 4.0’ drive

THE GOVERNMENT’S “Thailand 4.0” development drive is seen as providing a potential windfall for Phnom Penh Special Economic Zone Plc , whose industrial-estate operators hope manufacturers from Thailand and other countries with production at the Industry 1.0 or Industry 2.0 stage will shift their operations to Cambodia’s economic zones. PPSEZ, which was founded in 2006, runs two industrial estates one in the capital and the other in the Poipet Special Economic Zone.

SIPA giving SMEs, OTOPsdigital lift

THE SOFTWARE INDUSTRY Promotion Agency plans to promote 4,000 small and medium-sized enterprises and OTOP entrepreneurs to utilise digital technology to support their businesses. Chainarong Chatrattanawaree, business promotion measures manager at SIPA, said that the agency had develop Entrepreneur Total Digital Services to allow SMEs and OTOP entrepreneurs to utilise digital technology in terms of digital commerce, enterprise resource planning software for SMEs, training and consultants to support their businesses.

Death toll in Surigao quake rises to 6

Six people, including a four-year-old boy, have been confirmed dead while 202 were injured after a powerful magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck near Surigao City in Caraga Region, Mindanao at 10:03 p.m. Friday, February 10, the local disaster mitigation agency said. A report by the Caraga Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council as of 11 a.m. Saturday also said a bridge collapsed, some roads sustained cracks and were not passable, and residential houses and some commercial buildings were damaged.

Mr X’s gang unravels

Sayobphairee Operation 60/1, the biggest trafficking takedown since the army chased Khun Sa back to Myanmar, began with the largest drug bust outside a nightclub urine test-centre. On March 23 last year, police got a tip and searched the Bangkok-to-Butterworth train as it chugged south.

Keeping Chinese relations on the rails

Having been posted in Bangkok for three-and-a-half years, Chinese Ambassador Ning Fukui discusses collaboration between China and Thailand in a Facebook Live interview with Suthichai Yoon, a digital journalist of Nation Multimedia Group. The joint committee of the two governments has had 16 meetings and there has been some progress.

Cambodian opposition chief resigns from party

In this Aug. 16, 2015 file photo, Sam Rainsy, leader of the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party , waves from a car upon his arrival at Phnom Penh International Airport in Phnom Penh, Cambodia as hundreds of cheering supporters greeted him on his return from a trip abroad. The head of Cambodia’s opposition party has announced his resignation from the group after the country’s long-serving prime minister announced plans for a law that could lead to the party’s dissolution.

Nighttime quake in Philippines kills at least 3, injures 80

Civil defense officials in the southern Philippines say a powerful nighttime earthquake has killed at least three people, injured about 80 others and damaged buildings and an airport. The late Friday quake with a magnitude of 6.5 roused residents from sleep in Surigao del Norte province, sending hundreds to flee their homes.

Four dead, dozens hurt in Philippine quake

At least four people have been killed and more than 100 others injured in a powerful earthquake that hit a southern Philippine city on Mindanao island, media reports said on Saturday. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said in its revised report the magnitude-6.7 quake struck 10:03 p.m. Friday 14 km northwest of Surigao City in Surigao del Norte province.

Strong quake damages buildings in southern Philippines

A strong earthquake with a magnitude of 6.5 shook a southern Philippine region late Friday, damaging some buildings, knocking out power and sending residents fleeing to safety, officials said. There were no immediate reports of injuries from the quake in Surigao del Norte province, which struck about 14 kilometres northwest of Surigao city at a relatively shallow depth of 11 kilometres , officials said.

Suspect in Thailand murder found: report

Cambodian authorities were yesterday prepared to hand over to Thai authorities one of two men wanted in the murder of British national Tony Kenway in Pattaya last month, according to a Bangkok Post report attributed to a senior police official. While numerous Cambodian border control and police officials contacted by The Post yesterday denied knowledge of the alleged arrest and transfer, Houth Borom, chief of staff of Koh Kong province’s international checkpoint seemed to indicate there was truth to it.

At Valentino’s, a palatial club for late-night revellers

A new venue in the heart of Phnom Penh is aiming to offer Cambodia’s gay community something it doesn’t have yet: a place to dance until daybreak. “We’re going to have three floors of music blaring everything from 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s music to Rihanna,” says William Sanz, the club’s Spanish manager who has been working in the capital’s sizeable bar and restaurant scene for three years.

Appeal Court upholds Rainsy’s guilty verdict

The Appeal Court yesterday upheld a defamation conviction against opposition leader Sam Rainsy for accusing a Cambodian People’s Party official of ordering members to artificially boost Prime Minister Hun Sen’s Facebook “likes”. Presiding judge in the case Sam Rith Sophal ruled to uphold the November decision delivered by the Phnom Penh Municipal Court, which ruled in favour of CPP official Som Soeun.

Jomsap gets her first day in court seeking retrial

A three-day court hearing began Wednesday for former teacher Jomsap Saenmuangkhot, who is seeking justice and reversal of her conviction in a fatal 2005 hit-and-run highway accident. The three-day hearing to determine whether to hold a retrial of the hit-and-run killing case involving a former Sakon Nakhon female teacher opened Wednesday.

Thaipusam Should Be Declared A Public Holiday Nationwide – Mah

Thaipusam which is a public holiday in certain states and federal territories in Malaysia should be gazetted as a public holiday nationwide, says Gerakan president Datuk Seri Mah Siew Keong. In his message today in conjunction with Thaipusam tomorrow, he said other states should do the same and gazette the special religious festival in recognition of the contribution of two million-strong Indian community in the country.

Philippine army arrests communist rebel leader after peace bid collapses

Philippine soldiers arrested on Monday a communist rebel leader, days after President Rodrigo Duterte scrapped a ceasefire with the insurgents and as clashes between them and the army erupted in several places. Duterte announced on Friday the government was scrapping the ceasefire with the New People’s Army and he ordered soldiers to prepare to fight, saying the rebels were making “huge”, unacceptable demands despite government concessions.

Death threats against Prayut, Prawit made in Laos: NSC chief

National Security Council Secretary General Thawip Netniyom said Monday assassination plots targeting top two country leaders came from lese majeste suspects who are living in Laos. Last week, Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha ordered a manhunt for people posting death threats against him and his Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan.

Mainland tourists injured in Taiwan bus accident

Eighteen people, including seven children, were slightly injured, and another three were “observed with apparent wounds,” according to the Taiwan Strait Tourism Association. The top of the bus, carrying 28 passengers, hit the top of a tunnel at about 10:04 a.m. as the driver took the wrong way.

Malaysians demonstrate against Trump’s xenophobia

CITIZENS of Muslim-majority Malaysia are banding together in solidarity with those affected by U.S. President Donald Trump’s seven-country immigration ban , with several groups across different political affiliations staging a protest Friday at the U.S. embassy in the capital Kuala Lumpur . The protest dubbed #NoBanNoWall saw about 150 activists, politicians and student leaders gather at 2.30pm after the Muslim Friday prayers to deliver a memorandum to the embassy.

Supermarket worker convicted of planning to join terror group in Philippines

A supermarket worker who had copies of a bomb-making manual and bought flights and equipment to travel to fight with a group linked to Islamic State in the Philippines has been found guilty of terrorism offences. Ryan Counsell, of Russell Road, Forest Fields, Nottingham, was in the “advanced stages of planning” to visit a remote part of the south-east Asian country and had bought military equipment to “engage in combat or support an extremist group”.

New Indonesia tsunami network could add crucial minutes

Indonesia’s tsunami detection system, made up of seafloor sensors that communicate with transmitting buoys on the surface, has been rendered useless by vandals and lack of funding. Now Indonesian and U.S. scientists say they’ve developed a way to dispense with the expensive buoys and possibly add crucial extra minutes of warning for vulnerable coastal cities.

Malaysia capsize survivor tells of hanging on to friend’s body

Police coast guards escort a Chinese tourist rescued after the boat sank off the coast of Borneo, at a port in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Photo: Reuters Chinese tourist Fan Li Xia and other passengers held on to the body of a dead friend for as long as they could as they trod water after a catamaran capsized in the cold waters of the South China Sea.

Sabah boat mishap: China satisfied with rescue efforts

Chen with Pang speak to the media after a press conference on Sunday over the boat mishap. – Bernama pic KOTA KINABALU: China’s Consul-General in Sabah Chen Peijie has expressed satisfaction with search and rescue efforts following the capsize of a boat carrying Chinese tourists off Sabah on Saturday.

6 Chinese tourists missing after boat sinks off Malaysia

Three people died, six are missing and nearly two dozen were rescued after a catamaran carrying Chinese tourists sank in Malaysian waters, officials said Sunday. The boat carried 31 people, including 28 tourists from China, and was sailing Saturday from Kota Kinabalu to Pulau Mengalum, a popular tourist island, some 37 miles west to Kota Kinabalu, according to the Chinese consulate in Kota Kinabalu, the state capital.

25 from missing Malaysian boat rescued; search on for 6 more

Twenty-five, mostly Chinese tourists, were rescued Sunday after spending more than a day drifting in Malaysian waters after their boat sank, officials said. Six of the 31 people on board were still missing Sunday evening, Shahidan Kassim, a minister in the prime minister’s department, told reporters in Sabah state.

Most of 31 on board missing Malaysian boat reported rescued

More than two dozen people were rescued Sunday more than a day after a boat carrying Chinese tourists disappeared in Malaysian waters, officials and local media said. The captain and a crew member made it to safety earlier Sunday while authorities said others may be drifting in the water waiting to be rescued.

Boat with 31 mostly Chinese tourists missing in Malaysia

Chinese state media say a boat carrying 31 people, including more than 20 Chinese tourists, is missing after sailing out from an eastern Malaysian city. The official Xinhua News Agency cited the Chinese Consulate General in Kota Kinabalu in the Malaysian state of Sabah as saying Sunday that the boat lost contact after sailing out on Saturday.

Khmer Krom ethnic group denied many rights: report

While Cambodia in theory offers full citizenship to members of its Khmer Krom minority, in practise, many members of the community remain in a legal shadowland, unable to access a wide range of rights, a new report released yesterday shows. Despite a professed open-door policy to the ethnic Khmer group from Vietnam, an estimated 20 to 30 percent still lack identity cards, a fact that prevents them from voting and accessing employment.

Troop carriers moved out of compound ready to ship back to Singapore

Military vehicles held in the city for two months will be transported to a container terminal and loaded on a cargo vessel Nine Singaporean military vehicles confiscated in Hong Kong more than two months ago were being moved out of the customs’ cargo examination compound in Tuen Mun on Thursday afternoon in an apparent preparation for their return to the Lion City. A giant crane and several container trucks were seen driving into the compound near the River Trade Terminal off Lung Mun Road in the morning before one of the Terrex armoured troop carriers, covered with a grey sheet, was moved out shortly after lunchtime.

Tourism ad highlights how Filipinos make it more fun in PH

The newest campaign advertisement of the Department of Tourism was launched Thursday, January 26, highlighting not just a tourist destination this time, but another answer to the question why it’s “More Fun in the Philippines.” DOT’s newest TV commercial opens with a male blonde-haired tourist visiting the prized Enchanted River in Surigao and while admiring the natural wonder before him, is approached by a Filipino woman.