The Philippines has told the United States (US) it is suspending its bid to break off a key military pact, the two allies said Tuesday in a sharp turnaround of President Rodrigo Duterte's foreign policy. Duterte in February gave notice to Washington he was axing the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) after accusing the US of interference in his internationally condemned narcotics crackdown. That began a 180-day countdown to ending the deal central to hundreds of joint military exercises with the US per year and a major component of their nearly 70-year-old alliance. Philippine Foreign

Just yesterday, Malaysian media reported that a Rohingya man escaped from a quarantine centre at the Ministry of Health Malaysia’s Training Institute in Tanjung Rambutan, a small town in the west coast state of Perak. Local police are now on the hunt for the migrant. It was reported that the 27-year-old man, Rohim Mohd Zokoria was initially placed at the quarantine centre on Saturday after being detained. “However, a screening done at the Slim River Hospital found that the suspect was negative for COVID-19, and he was sent back to the quarantine centre to be quarantined for 14 days,” said

Cambodia's prime minister invited foreign powers Monday to conduct military drills in the country as he called for overseas funding to build a pier and relocate an army training centre. But the strongman premier insisted that the country would not allow a foreign "military base on its territory". The Wall Street Journal reported last year on a draft deal allowing China to dock warships and store weapons at the Ream naval base near the coastal city of Sihanoukville. Hun Sen - a staunch ally to Beijing - has previously denied the claims, pointing to Cambodia's constitution which forbids any