SEOUL (THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – South Korea signed a free trade agreement with Central America – Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama – on Wednesday (Feb 21), becoming the first Asian nation to do so, with hopes of increasing exports of cars, steels and cosmetics. “The agreement between South Korea and Central America will be an… Read more »
An opposition senator in the Philippines said the death toll in the government’s war on drugs has now surpassed 20,000 since President Rodrigo Dutertecame to office in 2016. In a speech before the Philippine Senate on Wednesday, Antonio Trillanes said the Duterte administration’s own report shows 3,967 “drug personalities” have been killed after allegedly resisting arrest during police operations between July 1, 2016 and… Read more »
The Indonesian authorities said a boat carrying a record 1.6 tonnes of crystal methamphetamine that it had intercepted near the Riau Islands on Tuesday was falsely flying the Singapore flag. It was the second drug-loaded vessel caught this month by Indonesia to be falsely flying a Singapore flag. Tuesday’s capture took place at 2am near Helen Mar Reef, in the… Read more »
DHAKA/BHASAN CHAR/COX’S BAZAR, BANGLADESH (REUTERS) – Bangladesh is racing to turn an uninhabited and muddy Bay of Bengal island into home for 100,000 Rohingya Muslims who have fled a military crackdown in Myanmar, amid conflicting signals from top Bangladeshi officials about whether the refugees would end up being stranded there. Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina said on Monday that putting… Read more »