Straits Times Interactive - SE ASIA

India seeks stronger Myanmar ties as PM visits

Sun, 27 May 2012 02:31:00 GMT

SITTWE, Myanmar, May 27 (Reuters) - In northwest Myanmar, where the Kaladan River flows out into the Bay of Bengal, the two giant arms of a half-built wharf enfold the estuarine mud with steel and concrete.

Philippines appoints ambassador to China amid row

Sat, 26 May 2012 22:00:00 GMT

MANILA (AP) - The Philippines has appointed a new ambassador to China amid a two-month-long standoff with Beijing over a contested shoal in the South China Sea.

Landslide in mountainous part of Indonesia's main island kills 8

Sat, 26 May 2012 03:19:00 GMT

JAKARTA (AFP) - A landslide in Indonesia killed eight people, an official said on Saturday, after days of heavy rain hit a mountainous part of the country's main island.

Thai king makes 1st trip outside Bangkok in years

Fri, 25 May 2012 22:00:00 GMT

BANGKOK (AP) - Thousands of Thais lined the roads from Bangkok to the historic capital Ayutthaya to catch a glimpse of the country's 84-year-old monarch as he makes his first trip outside the city since being hospitalised in 2009.

Philippines arrests suspect in 2001 US kidnaps

Fri, 25 May 2012 11:51:00 GMT

AMBOANGA, Philippines (AFP) - Philippine police have arrested an alleged Islamist militant suspected of involvement in a 2001 kidnapping that left two Americans dead, an official said on Friday.

Cambodian forest campaigners fight rampant logging

Fri, 25 May 2012 03:53:00 GMT

KOH KONG, Cambodia (AFP) - Frustrated by government inaction, Cambodian citizen patrollers are risking their lives to take on the country's illegal loggers in a bid to save their shrinking forests.

Suu Kyi: Reforms bearing 'buds,' not fruit

Thu, 24 May 2012 23:38:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday voiced caution about changes in Myanmar, saying that a year of reforms have started to 'bear buds' but not yet yield fruit.

Child addicts at heart of Indonesia anti-smoking suit

Thu, 24 May 2012 22:00:00 GMT

KARAWANG GIRANG, Indonesia (REUTERS) - Anti-tobacco advocates in Indonesia plan to file a class action lawsuit this month using cases of child addicts in the hope of forcing tougher regulations on a society where one in three people smokes.

Myanmar police break up power protest: Suu Kyi's party

Thu, 24 May 2012 22:00:00 GMT

YANGON (REUTERS) - Myanmar police broke up a protest against power cuts by several hundred people on Thursday and five members of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party were taken in for questioning, a senior party official said.

Myanmar police accused of beating protesters

Thu, 24 May 2012 12:35:00 GMT

YANGON (AFP) - Police in Myanmar were accused of beating and detaining protesters on Thursday as they broke up the country's first major demonstrations in years.

Cambodian prince merges party to boost royalists

Thu, 24 May 2012 11:35:00 GMT

PHNOM PENH (AFP) - Cambodian Prince Norodom Ranariddh and his rivals agreed on Thursday to merge their political parties in a bid to reinvigorate the royalist movement ahead of next year's general elections.

Malaysia sues organisers of mass street protest

Thu, 24 May 2012 10:53:00 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysia's government is suing several organisers of a mass protest which called for fair elections, an activist said on Thursday, in what rights groups described as an attempt to gag critics.

Philippine farmer who shot and ate rare eagle fined

Thu, 24 May 2012 08:33:00 GMT

MANILA (AFP) - Conservationists on Thursday slammed the 'pathetic' fine handed to a Philippine farmer who shot and ate one of the world's rarest eagles, saying it could embolden other hunters.

Thai king to leave Bangkok for first time since 2009

Thu, 24 May 2012 05:59:00 GMT

BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand's ailing king will travel outside of the capital Bangkok on Friday for the first time in more than two years to visit the ancient capital Ayutthaya, officials said.

Myanmar's Suu Kyi to speak at forum in Bangkok

Thu, 24 May 2012 01:45:00 GMT

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - A party official says Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will speak at an economic conference next week in Thailand's capital, in her first trip abroad in 24 years.

As Myanmar opens, protesters test boundaries

Wed, 23 May 2012 22:00:00 GMT

YANGON (REUTERS) - As long-isolated Myanmar opens up, its people are flexing their newly democratic muscles and testing the boundaries of freedom in a series of protests over chronic power outages.

Philippines says China sending more ships to shoal

Wed, 23 May 2012 07:59:00 GMT

MANILA (AFP) - China has deployed more government ships and fishing boats to a disputed shoal in the South China Sea amid a tense stand-off with Manila, the Philippine foreign department said on Wednesday.

Extra services at Johor Baru massage parlours

Wed, 23 May 2012 04:46:00 GMT

(THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - More than 70 massage parlours in Johor Baru are providing extra services, including sex, China Press reported.

Top Philippine judge in hospital after court drama

Wed, 23 May 2012 04:22:00 GMT

MANILA (AFP) - The Philippines' top judge, who walked out of an appearance at his own impeachment trial, was later rushed to hospital after suffering an apparent heart attack, his spokesman said on Wednesday.

US urges Malaysia to ensure 'due process' in new Anwar case

Tue, 22 May 2012 22:20:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States on Tuesday urged Malaysia to ensure 'due process' after Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was hit with criminal charges for his part in an election reform rally.

Malaysia's Anwar charged, alleges new persecution

Tue, 22 May 2012 22:00:00 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) - Malaysian opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was charged on Tuesday for his part in a rally for fair elections last month, in a case he denounced as another government attempt to remove him from politics.

Indonesia cuts trafficker Corby's jail term by 5 years

Tue, 22 May 2012 11:23:00 GMT

DENPASAR, Indonesia (AFP) - Indonesia has agreed to a clemency plea by convicted Australian drug trafficker Schapelle Corby, slashing five years off her 20-year jail sentence, a court official said on Tuesday.

Levi's, Gap garment workers in Cambodia strike

Tue, 22 May 2012 09:40:00 GMT

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) - Workers at a large Cambodian garment factory that makes clothes for Levi's, Gap and other well-known international brands are striking for more pay and better working conditions.

Autopsies on foetuses will determine charges: Thai police

Tue, 22 May 2012 08:52:00 GMT

(THE NATION/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Criminal charges in a notorious case of a Taiwanese man suspected of illegal possession of six foetuses will be depend on autopsy results.

4 men charged with kidnapping Dutch boy Nayati

Tue, 22 May 2012 07:47:00 GMT

KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Three friends, Chong Tat Siong, 23, Foong Khar Fai, 19, and Lee Phak Seng, 23, and another man, still at large, were charged on Tuesday with the kidnapping of Nayati Shamelin Moodliar who was abducted while walking to school on April 27.