Sipadan resort kidnappings: Philippine court jails 17 Abu Sayyaf militants for life

MANILA: Seventeen members of an Islamic State-linked militant group have been sentenced to life in prison for kidnapping foreign and Filipino nationals in Malaysia nearly 25 years ago, the Philippine Justice Department said on Monday (Oct 21). In April 2000, members of the Abu Sayyaf group kidnapped at gunpoint 21 people from a holiday resort on...

New Indonesia leader strikes harsher tone as he takes power

JAKARTA: Indonesia’s new leader Prabowo Subianto endeared himself to voters as a kindly grandfather vowing to give free meals to schoolchildren. Now to get things rolling in South-east Asia’s largest economy, the president is signaLling a strongman approach. The former general used his maiden speech on Sunday (Oct 20) to rail against corruption and poverty, a...

Indonesian woman, 24, surprised to find she was at previous wedding of husband, 62, when she was nine

JAKARTA: In a strange twist of fate, an Indonesian woman has discovered that the man she married was a groom she had met at a wedding when she was a child. Renata Fadhea, 24, from Bangka Island, Indonesia, realised after marrying her husband, who is 38 years her senior, that she had met him 15 years...

Philippine police hunt Chinese suspect over Manila murder

MANILA (SCMP): Philippine police are hunting a Chinese suspect over a fatal shooting in Metro Manila that the country’s embassy has hinted may be linked to offshore gambling. According to The Philippine Star, the shooting occurred on Thursday in a hotpot restaurant in the Makati district. The victim – a 29-year-old Chinese man – was dining with...

Trudeau has wrecked Canada-India political relations, says expelled envoy

OTTAWA (Reuters) - India's envoy to Canada, who is being expelled over what Ottawa says are links to the murder of a Sikh leader, insisted in an interview he was innocent and said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had wrecked bilateral political ties. Both countries on Monday ordered out six diplomats in tit-for-tat moves over Ottawa's allegations...

In landmark ruling, South Korea court recognises misogyny as motive for hate crime

SEOUL: An appellate court ruled on Oct 15 that an assault on a female convenience store clerk by a man in Jinju, in South Gyeongsang province, who was allegedly motivated by her short haircut, constituted a misogynistic hate crime. The landmark ruling is the first time that a South Korean court has explicitly recognised misogyny as...

MMEA begin SAR for three fishermen reported missing in Kemaman waters

CHUKAI: Three fishermen are feared missing in Kemaman waters after going out fishing on Sunday. Kemaman Maritime Zone Director Ariffin Ghazali said the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) Kemaman Zone received a report on the incident at 2.15pm on Wednesday (Oct 16). Ariffin said a Search and Rescue Operation (Op Carilamat) by the Maritime Rescue Sub Center...

China aquarium’s ‘fake’ whale shark flops with angry visitors

BEIJING: Visitors to a new aquarium in China were left furious this week after discovering one of its top aquatic stars was a robot, despite it being marketed as such. Xiaomeisha Ocean World in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, opened on October 1 but was quickly slammed for its high prices, long queues, and poor conditions for its...

Singapore PM hosts lunch for Sultan Nazrin, discusses bilateral ties

SINGAPORE: Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong hosted Deputy Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Sultan Nazrin Shah of Perak, for lunch at the Istana here on Tuesday (Oct 15). Wong said they had a wide-ranging discussion on global developments, Asean's future, and Singapore-Malaysia ties. "It was good to catch up with him again since our last meeting in 2022. As...

German navy ships dock in Malaysia for first time in 22 years

PORT KLANG: Malaysia welcomes the arrival of the German Navy frigate FGS Baden-Württemberg and the combat support ship, FGS Frankfurt am Main, which docked at Port Klang Cruise Terminal (PKCT) here from Oct 15 to 18. The two German Navy ships are part of the Indo-Pacific Deployment 2024 (IPD24), a military initiative involving naval forces from...