Region

DAVAO: 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’s win in Monday’s poll has not been confirmed, but an unofficial count of votes by an election commission-accredited watchdog showed he had […]

BEIJING/HONG KONG: China scrambled fighter jets on Tuesday as a U.S. navy ship sailed close to a disputed reef in the South China Sea, a patrol China denounced as an illegal threat to peace which only went to show its defense installations in the area were necessary. Guided missile destroyer the USS William P. Lawrence […]

WASHINGTON: In a moment seven decades in the making, President Barack Obama this month will become the first sitting American president to visit Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb during World War II, decimating a city and exploding the world into the Atomic Age. Obama will visit the site with Japanese Prime Minister […]

BANGKOK: Thailand released eight activists on bail on Tuesday who had been detained for posting Facebook comments critical of the ruling junta and a military-backed draft constitution. The military seized power in May 2014, throwing out an old constitution and clamping down on dissent. It has promised an election by mid-2017. But a draft constitution […]

BEIJING: China said Tuesday that it hopes to work with the Philippines’ new government to resolve territorial disputes in the South China Sea, but insisted the onus is on Manila to lower tensions. Beijing hopes the Philippines will “meet China halfway, taking concrete measures to properly deal with the disputes so as to put the […]

MANILA: Anti-establishment firebrand Rodrigo Duterte was heading Monday for a huge win in the Philippine presidential elections, according to a poll monitor, after an incendiary campaign dominated by his profanity-laced threats to kill criminals. Duterte, the longtime mayor of the southern city of Davao, had hypnotised millions with his vows of brutal but quick solutions […]

ANKARA: Membership of the European Union remains Turkey’s strategic goal and a deal to liberalise visas for Turks visiting the bloc should accelerate the accession process, President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday. His written statement appeared to be an attempt to clarify Ankara’s position days after Erdogan said Turkey would not make changes to its […]

TEL AVIV: An Israeli soldier went on trial for manslaughter before a military court on Monday after he was caught on video fatally shooting a wounded Palestinian attacker in the West Bank two months ago. The rare case of an active serviceman being charged has polarized Israel, with defense officials criticizing the soldier’s conduct and […]

PYONGYANG: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said his country will not use nuclear weapons unless its sovereignty is infringed by others with nuclear arms, and is willing to normalize ties with states that had been hostile toward it, state media said on Sunday. Isolated North Korea has made similar statements in the past, although […]