Regional news from Southeast Asia in English — ASEAN politics, economy and diplomacy, covered by Thai PBS World.
MANILA (Reuters) – A man was shot and about 30 people taken hostage on Monday by a gunman at a mall in the Philippine capital Manila, where armed police and negotiators were trying to end the standoff peacefully. The gunman, a former security guard at the V-Mall in Manila’s San Juan City, shot a man
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s Muhyiddin Yassin was sworn in as prime minister on Sunday by the king, after a week of political chaos sparked by the resignation of veteran leader Mahathir Mohamad. The 72-year-old Muhyiddin, interior minister in the government that collapsed last Monday, becomes the Southeast Asian nation’s eighth premier. Muhyiddin’s swearing in
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s 94-year-old Mahathir Mohamad lost out in a battle to become prime minister on Saturday as the king named former interior minister Muhyiddin Yassin after a week of political turmoil sparked by Mahathir’s resignation. But Mahathir made clear he would not bow out quietly, saying he would inform the king he
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysia’s would-be leader Anwar Ibrahim on Sunday accused 94-year-old Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad’s party and “traitors” in his own camp of plotting a wholesale change in the ruling coalition that could ultimately deny him the premiership. After being promised that he would one day become prime minister, Anwar allied with former
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has submitted a letter of resignation to Malaysia’s king, his office said on Monday, amid talk of forming a new governing coalition. The fate of Malaysia’s ruling coalition had been in doubt after surprise weekend talks between it and opposition groups on forming a new government
KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohammad has been given the mandate by the ruling coalition to stay on as the country’s leader until after the APEC summit in November to decide when to step down. “I am proud that everyone has left it up to me to decide when I want to relinquish
Indonesia’s military shot dead four students in the country’s restive Papua region during 2014 protests and carried out “gross human rights violations”, a commission investigating the uprising concluded Monday. Komnas HAM issued its findings five years after the high-school students were gunned down in Paniai, a central area of insurgency-wracked Papua province, which shares
The current COVID-19 outbreak in China will be discussed at the 6th Lancang-Mekong Cooperation meeting in Vientiane, the capital of the Lao Republic, on February 20th, Thailand’s Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said today. The LMC consists of six Mekong riparian countries namely, China, Cambodia, Laos Republic, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand. Don said that the foreign ministers
SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (AP) — A cruise ship turned away by other Asian and Pacific governments due to virus fears anchored Thursday off Cambodia, which is checking the health of its 2,200 passengers and crew. The Westerdam was unwelcome elsewhere even though operator Holland America Line said no cases of the COVID-19 viral illness have been
The Thai Public Health Ministry is coordinating with relevant agencies to prepare for the arrival in Thailand of passengers and crew members from the MS Westerdam cruise ship, connecting with flights back to their home countries. The Holland-American’s cruise ship, with more than 2,400 passengers and crew members on board, docked at Sihanoukville seaport this
Eight people were arrested Thursday night for hiring children to smuggle sacks of un-milled rice from Cambodia into Thailand in the eastern border province of Sa Kaew. Acting on a tipoff from Cambodia, a combined force of military, border patrol police, local administration officials and customs officers had been patrolling the border in Ban
Indonesia on Wednesday night went ahead with its plan to impose a travel ban to and from China as an effort to prevent a deadly coronavirus from spreading into the country, even after a Chinese envoy expressed his disagreement over the plan. Jakarta Post quoted Transportation Minister Budi Karya Sumadi as confirming that Indonesia
