A man rides an electronic bike past a billboard for the upcoming G20 summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, July 29, 2016. Picture taken July 29, 2016. REUTERS/Aly Song China is hoping to cement its standing as a global power when it hosts leaders from ... More »
A contractor fogs a condominium garden in Singapore in an effort to kill mosquitoes, September 5, 2013. REUTERS/Tim Wimborne/File Photo Singapore has confirmed 41 cases of locally transmitted Zika virus, mostly among foreign construction workers, and said it e... More »
MANILA When the image of Jennelyn Olaires weeping as she cradled the body of her slain husband went viral in the Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte called it melodramatic. There’s not much Duterte hasn’t said when it comes to his war on drugs, his only rea... More »
MANILA New Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte will lay out his goals for his six-year term on Monday and has set a simple tone for his inaugural national address by ordering the event stripped of its trademark swank and opulence. For years the State of the N... More »
VIENTIANE Southeast Asian nations overcame days of deadlock on Monday when the Philippines dropped a request for their joint statement to mention a landmark legal ruling on the South China Sea, officials said, after objections from Cambodia. Beijing publicly t... More »
BEIJING Freedom of navigation patrols carried out by foreign navies in the South China Sea could end “in disaster”, a senior Chinese admiral has said, a warning to the United States after last week’s ruling against Beijing’s claims in the area. China has refus... More »
MANILA Patrolling downtown Manila in his new Toyota, Uber driver Daniel Canezal is grumpy. It’s not from the heat, grime or traffic of the capital’s clogged streets – it’s the Philippines’ ramshackle internet service that is making his life a misery. Since sig... More »
BEIJING/MANILA China vowed to take all necessary measures to protect its sovereignty over the South China Sea and said it had the right to set up an air defence zone, after rejecting an international tribunal’s ruling denying its claims to the energy-rich wate... More »
BEIJING European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said on Wednesday that the European Union does not take a stance on sovereignty in South China Sea. Speaking in Beijing, Mogherini said the EU called on all parties to respect legal decisions and u... More »
SINGAPORE China rebuffed U.S. pressure to curb its activity in the South China Sea on Sunday, restating its sovereignty over most of the disputed territory and saying it “has no fear of trouble”. On the last day of Asia’s biggest security summit in Singapore, ... More »
DAVAO, Philippines Philippine President-elect Rodrigo Duterte warned mining companies to “shape up”, as he signaled he would prefer ownership of mining assets to be left to local investors. He also said the incoming government may rewrite rules to limit enviro... More »
KUNMING, China/VIENTIANE For the southwestern city of Kunming, China’s plan to extend a high-speed rail link 3,000 km (1,875 miles) south to Singapore is already a boon: pristine expressways, a gleaming station and something of a real estate boom, as young buy... More »
ULAANBAATAR U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Sunday the United States would consider any Chinese establishment of an air defense zone over the South China Sea to be a “provocative and destabilizing act”. U.S. officials have expressed concern that an ... More »
SINGAPORE The United States stepped up pressure on China on Saturday to rein in its actions in the South China Sea, with top defense officials underlining Washington’s military superiority and vowing to remain the main guarantor of Asian security for decades t... More »
SINGAPORE The recent lifting of the U.S. arms embargo against Vietnam boosted trust between the former enemies, but significant weapons purchases are some way off, a senior Vietnamese military official said on Saturday. Deputy Defence Minister Nguyen Chi Vinh ... More »
DHAKA/NEW YORK Hours before the Federal Reserve Bank of New York approved four fraudulent requests to send $81 million from a Bangladesh Bank account to cyber thieves, the Fed branch blocked those same requests because they lacked information required to trans... More »
DAVAO, Philippines The Philippines’ president-elect, rough-talking city mayor Rodrigo Duterte, announced plans on Tuesday for an overhaul of the country’s system of government that would devolve power from “imperial Manila” to long-neglected provinces. Duterte... More »
SWIFT on Monday rejected allegations by officials in Bangladesh that technicians with the global messaging system made the nation’s central bank more vulnerable to hacking before an $81 million cyber heist in February. The comments were in response to a Reuter... More »
DHAKA/BOSTON Bangladesh’s central bank became more vulnerable to hackers when technicians from SWIFT, the global financial network, connected a new bank transaction system to SWIFT messaging three months before a $81 million cyber heist, Bangladeshi police and... More »
TOKYO Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, speaking ahead of a visit to Beijing, said on Monday China was making the world “worried” with its military buildup and maritime expansion in the East and South China Seas. Ties between China and Japan, the world’... More »
DHAKA Bangladesh’s central bank was vulnerable to hackers because it did not have a firewall and used second-hand, $10 switches to network computers connected to the SWIFT global payment network, an investigator into one of the world’s biggest cyber heists sai... More »
ITU ABA, South China Sea On Itu Aba, in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea, Taiwanese coast guard officials proudly haul a small wooden bucket of water from one of several simple concrete wells on the coral outcrop. The water, clear and sweet tasti... More »
MANILA The Philippines is to lease from Japan five aircraft to help patrol the disputed South China Sea, President Benigno Aquino announced on Wednesday, as China expands its military presence in the region. The Philippine military, for decades preoccupied wit... More »
SYDNEY/WASHINGTON The United States is in talks to base long-range bombers in Australia, U.S. defense officials said, within striking distance of the disputed South China Sea, a move that could inflame tensions with China. The deployments could include B-1 bom... More »
MANILA The Philippines on Monday urged China to respect a forthcoming ruling by an arbitration court in The Hague on a territorial dispute in the South China Sea after Beijing accused Manila of “political provocation”. China claims almost the entire South Chin... More »
Global health officials are racing to better understand the Zika virus behind a major outbreak that began in Brazil last year and has since spread to many countries in the Americas. The following are some questions and answers about the virus and current outbr... More »
LONDON Global markets have been in turmoil since the start of the year, with stocks and commodities prices reeling, eroding inflation and making central banks increasingly dovish – a trend that could continue with more weak economic data. China, a focus of muc... More »
TAIPEI Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s planned trip to the Taiwanese-held island of Itu Aba in the disputed South China Sea is “extremely unhelpful” and won’t do anything to resolve disputes over the waterway, a U.S. official said on Wednesday. Ma’s office ear... More »
CLARK FIELD, Philippines Philippine President Benigno Aquino vowed on Monday to leave behind a stronger and a more capable armed forces to face maritime challenges in the South China Sea when he leaves office next year. Aquino, ineligible to run for re-electio... More »
The host of the Miss Universe pageant mistakenly announced the wrong winner on Sunday, who then had to give up the crown and hand it over to a 26-year-old actress and model from the Philippines. It was the first edition of the annual beauty show since it was t... More »
SINGAPORE Stan Wawrinka showed his class in both singles and doubles to lead the Singapore Slammers to victory in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) final in front of a delighted home crowd at the Indoor Stadium on Sunday. Matches in the Asia-based... More »
SYDNEY Australia will not bow to Chinese pressure to halt surveillance flights over disputed islands in the South China Sea at the center of rival claims between China and some of its neighbors, Defense Minister Marise Payne said on Thursday. The Australian De... More »
SINGAPORE When “Bathing in the Shower” by the late Indonesian artist Hendra Gunawan went under the hammer at Sotheby’s autumn auction in Hong Kong in October this year, the oil painting of three female bathers was sold for HK$9.7 million ($1.3 million). That p... More »
KUALA LUMPUR From Turkey to the Philippines to Malaysia, it’s been an overseas trip for U.S. President Barack Obama that often veered off-script. By now, Obama was supposed to have showcased the long-promised benefits of his strategic shift toward Asia as he n... More »
SEOUL Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told South Korea’s president on Monday he wanted cooperation between the two countries and the United States in maintaining an open and peaceful South China Sea, a Japanese government spokesman said. Abe has in the past... More »
STA. ROSA, Philippines A typhoon swept across the northern Philippines killing at least nine people as trees, power lines and walls were toppled and flood waters spread far from riverbeds, but tens of thousands of people were evacuated in time. Officials fear ... More »
MANILA American chemist and Nobel laureate Richard Heck died in Manila on Saturday after years of illnesses that left him almost penniless, relatives of his Filipina wife said on Saturday. Heck, 84, along with Japanese Ei-ichi Negishi and Akira Suzuki, won the... More »
MANILA An influential Christian group in the Philippines ended a protest on Monday over the prosecution of its leaders, calling off a blockade by 20,000 members of a main road in the capital after talks with the government. The Iglesia ni Cristo (Church of Chr... More »
HONG KONG When the U.S. navy sent a littoral combat ship on its first patrol of the disputed Spratly islands in the South China Sea during the past week, it was watching the skies as well. The USS Fort Worth, one of the most modern ships in the U.S. navy, disp... More »
BEIJING China and India proposed measures on Friday to resolve a long-festering border dispute, as Beijing sought to clear obstacles to a relationship that it said could change the international political order. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang met Indian Prime Mini... More »
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The fallout from the “Fight of the Century” became murkier on Monday with possible lawsuits in the works and Manny Pacquiao likely to face disciplinary action for failing to disclose a pre-bout shoulder injury. Filipino Pacquiao lost on... More »
REUTERS – Manny Pacquiao will undergo surgery this week for a torn rotator cuff, with the recovery time expected to put the Filipino out of action for 9-12 months, ESPN.com said on Monday. Pacquiao claimed a shoulder injury hampered his bid to hand Floyd Maywe... More »
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) – With security beefed up at the MGM Grand Garden Arena, the rich and famous settled into their expensive seats shortly before the welterweight showdown between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao began on Saturday. Tickets for a hotly ... More »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – ASEAN host Malaysia is set to give in to pressure from some neighbors and address the sensitive issue of land reclamations in the South China Sea with a draft summit statement saying such action may undermine peace, security and stabil... More »
JAKARTA (Reuters) – An Indonesian court rejected on Monday a last-ditch challenge by Australian drug convict Andrew Chan, who is facing execution by firing squad, a verdict the attorney general’s office said left him with no further legal avenues to avoid the ... More »
