ASEAN IN FOCUS

Japanese fugitive wanted for Covid relief fraud held in Indonesia

Indonesian police have arrested a fugitive accused of masterminding a lucrative scheme in his native Japan to defraud a government fund offering Covid-19 relief subsidies, officials said Wednesday. Mitsuhiro Taniguchi, 47, was arrested in Lampung province in the south of Sumatra island late Tuesday and flown to the capital Jakarta, national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo told journalists. The Japanese national and several associates are accused of submitting false applications to claim 960 million yen ($7.2 […]

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Update: US suspending solar panel tariffs on four ASEAN nations, not China

 President Joe Biden on Monday will suspend tariffs for two years on solar panel imports from Cambodia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Vietnam — but not China — as the US seeks to boost domestic clean energy manufacturing, the White House said. Biden’s administration will also invoke the Defense Production Act (DPA) to accelerate domestic production, and use the federal government’s purchasing power to increase demand, a fact sheet said. China is excluded as the Commerce Department […]

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Philippine Independence Day Parade returns to NYC

Thousands of Filipinos commemorated the 124th Philippine Independence Day Parade that takes place annually on Madison Avenue from 38th to 27th Street where it ends with a cultural festival.  This is the first time in two years that Pinoys were able to celebrate since the COVID-19 pandemic started.    

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Myanmar villagers accuse junta troops of burning spree

Myanmar junta troops have torched hundreds of buildings during a three-day raid in the country’s north, local media and residents said, as the military struggles to crush resistance to its rule. The Sagaing region has seen fierce fighting and bloody reprisals since the coup last year, with local “People’s Defence Force” (PDF) members clashing regularly with junta troops. Analysts say the informal militia has surprised junta forces with its effectiveness, and the military has on […]

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President-elect BongBong Marcos, Jr. vows to continue vlogging to raise public awareness

President-elect Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has vowed to continue vlogging during his presidency to keep the public posted, as well as solicit advice from them through various social media platforms. In his latest vlog uploaded on his official Youtube account on Saturday, Marcos said he has decided to continue posting videos on social media so as not to limit the dissemination of government information to mainstream media. Marcos said vlogging will serve as a bridge […]

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Nearly 60 Rohingya found abandoned on Thai island: police

Fifty-nine Rohingya people have been discovered on a Thai island, saying they were abandoned by traffickers en route to Malaysia, a senior police officer said Sunday. The group — among them five children — were found on Koh Dong island in the southern Satun province on Saturday, said lieutenant general Surachet Hakpan. Each year, thousands of the mostly Muslim minority Rohingya people, heavily persecuted in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, risk their lives in months-long expensive journeys to […]

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Myanmar junta says will carry out first judicial executions in decades

    Myanmar‘s junta will execute a former lawmaker from Aung San Suu Kyi’s party and a prominent democracy activist, both of whom were convicted of terrorism, in the country’s first judicial executions since 1990, a spokesman told AFP on Friday. Four people, including former MP Phyo Zeya Thaw and democracy activist Ko Jimmy, “who were sentenced to death will be hanged according to prison procedures”, junta spokesman Zaw Min Tun told AFP. The junta has […]

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New Australia PM, Indonesia president ride bikes as diplomatic wheels turn

Australia’s new prime minister and Indonesia’s president rode bamboo bicycles together on Monday as they held talks to boost ties, as Canberra embarks on a diplomatic charm offensive aimed at countering China’s growing assertiveness in the region. Anthony Albanese hailed relations with Indonesia and vowed to strengthen them on his first bilateral trip since being elected last month, heading to Southeast Asia’s biggest economy in what has become a traditional tour for new Australian premiers. […]

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Vietnamese police net biggest bear bile haul

Vietnamese police have arrested a bear owner for the first time after netting a record haul of hundreds of bile bottles in Hanoi, a wildlife protection organisation said Friday. The communist country is a major hub for the illegal trade in wild animals and bears are kept to drain the bile from their gallbladders for use in traditional medicine. Authorities outlawed bile extraction in Vietnam in 2005, but bear farms were allowed to keep the animals […]

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US backs Philippines in China fishing ban

The United States on Thursday backed the Philippines in criticizing a unilateral seasonal ban on fishing declared by Beijing in the dispute-rife South China Sea. The State Department pointed to a 2016 ruling by a court in The Hague that rejected Beijing’s claims, as well as the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, ratified by China although not by the United States. “The PRC’s unilateral fishing moratorium in the South China Sea is […]

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One killed, 9 injured in Yangon bomb blast: Myanmar police source

A bomb blast killed one person and injured nine others in a busy district of central Yangon on Tuesday, a Myanmar police source told AFP. The blast occurred around 3:20 pm local time (0850 GMT) near a bus stop,” the police source said, requesting anonymity. “One man died in hospital and nine others are injured.” A bomb squad team was working to determine if the blast came from a grenade or mine, the police source […]

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Philippines summons Beijing diplomat over South China Sea ‘harassment’

MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — Manila revealed on Tuesday that it had summoned a senior Beijing diplomat to protest the alleged harassment of a marine research vessel by a Chinese coast guard ship in Philippine territorial waters. The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was also reviewing reports on the “presence of foreign coast guard vessels around Reed Bank”, site of the 2019 sinking of a Filipino fishing vessel that sparked domestic outrage. The revelation came […]

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