ASEAN IN FOCUS

Indonesia volcano belches ash tower 2 km into the sky

BUKIT TINGGI, Indonesia (AFP) – A volcano in western Indonesia erupted on Thursday, spewing an ash cloud two kilometres into the sky as authorities warned residents over potential dangers from cold lava flows. Mount Marapi in West Sumatra province erupted at 1:04 pm (0604 GMT), spewing thick grey clouds of ash two kilometres (1.2 miles) above its peak, the national disaster mitigation agency, or BNPB, said in a statement. The volcano — one of Indonesia’s […]

Amateur, 22, is first Singaporean golfer to qualify for Masters

LOS ANGELES, May 29, 2024 (AFP) – Young amateur golfer Hiroshi Tai will be the first Singaporean to play in the US Masters after he won the prestigious national college championship in the United States. The 22-year-old, who studies at Georgia Tech, won the NCAA Individual Men’s Championship in California on Monday by one stroke to earn a place at Augusta in April 2025 and a major debut at next month’s US Open at Pinehurst. […]

China says military pressure on Taiwan to ‘continue’

  BEIJING, May 29, 2024 (AFP) – China on Wednesday vowed military pressure on Taiwan would carry on as long as “independence” provocations continued on the self-ruled island. Last week, China held two days of military drills around Taiwan that saw warships and jets loaded with live munitions practise seizing and isolating the self-ruled island. The exercises were launched three days after Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te took office and made an inauguration speech that China […]

Ex-Thai PM Thaksin to face trial for royal insult

BANGKOK, May 29, 2024 (AFP) – Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be prosecuted for insulting the monarchy, the attorney general’s office said Wednesday, over comments he made almost a decade ago. Prayuth Pecharakun, spokesman for the attorney general, said Thaksin would be summoned to court on June 18 to answer charges under the kingdom’s strict lese-majeste laws. The decision comes as a blow to Thaksin, a two-time premier ousted in a 2006 coup […]

Indonesia’s Mount Ibu erupts again, spews hot ash and sand

JAKARTA, May 27, 2024 (AFP) – A volcano in eastern Indonesia spewed a six-kilometre cloud of ash into the sky on Monday in the latest of nearly 100 eruptions since early this year. The fresh eruption at Mount Ibu on Halmahera island in North Maluku province occurred at 03:30 am local time (1830 GMT Sunday), and sent sand falling onto surrounding areas, according to authorities. The volcano, which has erupted at least 95 times since […]

Thousands flee as Philippine storm hits main island

MANILA, May 26, 2024 (AFP) – A severe storm battered the Philippines’ most populous island on Sunday, dumping heavy rain and causing flooding that forced more than 8,000 people to flee their homes. After making landfall on the central island of Samar late Friday, the first storm to hit the Philippines this year strengthened as it swept northwest to the main island of Luzon where it hovered near the capital Manila. Severe tropical storm Ewiniar, […]

Large apartment fire in central Hanoi kills 14 people: state media

    HANOI, May 24, 2024 (AFP) – A fire that ripped through a small apartment block in central Hanoi early Friday has killed at least 14 people and injured three others, state media said. “The fire broke out at around 12:30 am (1730 GMT Thursday). The fire was big, with several explosions,” Vietnam News Agency said. Pictures from the scene Friday morning showed charred belongings in the building’s courtyard and the blackened interior of […]

Singapore boosts security after Malaysia police station attack

  SINGAPORE, May 22, 2024 (AFP) – Singapore has tightened security after an attack on a police station in neighbouring Malaysia by a man with suspected ties to an Al-Qaeda-linked group, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said Tuesday. Two police officers were killed and another injured by the machete-wielding attacker on Friday in Malaysia’s southern Johor state, near the narrow waterway separating the country from Singapore. The man, whose father is a member of Southeast Asia-based […]

One dead, dozens injured as Singapore-bound flight hits turbulence

BANGKOK, May 21, 2024 (AFP) – A 73-year-old British man died and more than 70 people were injured Tuesday in what passengers described as a terrifying scene aboard a Singapore Airlines flight that hit severe turbulence, triggering an emergency landing in Bangkok. An initial data analysis by the aviation tracking service Flightradar24 suggested the London-Singapore flight experienced more than one minute of extreme turbulence at around 11,300 metres (37,000 feet) over Myanmar, during which it […]

Manila and Washington sign agreement to develop Philippines’ nuclear workforce

MANILA, May 21, 2024 (AFP) – The Philippines and the United States agreed Tuesday to train Filipinos how to build and operate nuclear power plants, as the Southeast Asian country seeks to boost its electricity supply. The announcement comes after Manila and Washington struck a nuclear cooperation agreement in November that cleared a path for US investment to jumpstart atomic power in the energy-hungry Philippines. Under Tuesday’s deal, the Philippine Department of Energy and the […]

Tycoon Musk touches down in Bali for Starlink launch

DENPASAR, Indonesia, May 19, 2024 (AFP) – Tech billionaire Elon Musk launched Sunday his Starlink service on Indonesia’s resort island of Bali as the country aims to extend internet to its remote areas. Millions of people in Indonesia, a vast archipelago of more than 17,000 islands, are not currently hooked up to reliable internet services. Musk, making his first visit to the Southeast Asian nation, inaugurated the satellite unit services at a clinic in Bali’s […]