Exit polls indicate that Shinzo Abe has won a landslide victory in Sunday’s snap polls. The Japanese government coalition led by his Liberal Democratic Party swooped 312 seats, allowing it to retain a two thirds "super-majority" in the Japanese Diet. The main item on Abe’s agenda – now that he has a firm control of the parliament – is amending Article 9 of Japan’s pacifist constitution.
A five-month battle against Islamic State supporters in the southern Philippines that claimed more than 1,100 lives has ended following a final battle inside a mosque, defence chiefs said on Monday.The conclusion of the conflict ended immediate fears that IS would establish a Southeast Asian base in the southern city of Marawi.
The US has apologised after Indonesia’s military chief Gatot Nurmantyo was cleared to travel to the US after initially being prohibited from boarding a flight to Washington.Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi said Monday that the issue had been resolved after she earlier met with deputy US ambassador to Indonesia Erin McKee.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stormed to a landslide "super-majority" in snap Japanese elections, near complete projections showed Monday, with the hardline nationalist immediately pledging to "deal firmly" with North Korea.Abe's conservative coalition is on track to win at least 312 seats with only a handful left to call, according to public broadcaster NHK, giving him a coveted two-thirds majority in the lower house of parliament.That will allow him to pursue his cheris
At least one gunman has wounded three people near a huge Indonesian gold and copper mine owned by US firm Freeport-McMoRan, the company said Sunday.The attacks occurred near the vast Grasberg mine in Indonesia's rugged eastern province of Papua.Mysterious shooting ambushes on the roads surrounding the company's massive open-pit mine are not uncommon and have resulted in deaths in the past.The attacks on Saturday injured two policemen and a security contractor, according to Freeport
Gilded chariots, horses and columns of military men in bright costumes swept through Bangkok's old quarter on Saturday in a final dress rehearsal for late King Bhumibol Adulyadej's funeral – a meticulously-planned spectacle of devotion to a man known as the "soul of the nation".Steered by the Buddhist ritual, palace protocol and social hierarchy that underpin Thailand's powerful monarchy, the elaborate cremation ceremony will befit a king who commanded a cult-like fol
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has offered to shoot criminals himself, while warning he may bring police back to the frontlines of his deadly war on drugs.Duterte made the comments late Friday following his announcement on October 11 to withdraw the police from his anti-drug war after they were accused of rights abuses in killing thousands of people while following his orders to eradicate illegal drugs in society.He replaced them with the Philippine Drug Enforcement Agency (PDEA), which
East Timor's new government has suffered a major setback after opposition parties vetoed its policy programme, a blow that could see the impoverished young democracy return to the polls.The Fretilin party, which won the July election by a narrow margin, did not receive enough votes to govern alone and has formed a minority coalition government with the Democratic Party.With only 30 seats in the 65-seat house, the government relies on confidence and supply from other parties in parliament
At first glance, the endless rows of devastated buildings could be the aftermath of a great earthquake.
Myanmar's government has failed to meet its international obligations and protect Rohingya Muslims from the atrocities taking place in Rakhine state, two UN special advisers said Wednesday.The statement from the UN special adviser on the prevention of genocide, Adama Dieng, and the special adviser on the responsibility to protect, Ivan Simonovic, added the international response to the crisis was a failure."Despite warnings issued by us and by many other officials, the government of
President Xi Jinping warned of “severe” challenges while laying out a road map to turn China into a leading global power by 2050, as he kicked off a twice-a-decade party gathering expected to cement his influence into the next decade.In a speech that ran for more than three hours on Wednesday, Xi declared victory over “many difficult, long overdue problems” since he took power in 2012.
The United States government had intimate knowledge of the Indonesian army's bloody anti-communist purge in the 1960s, describing the mass killings as a "widespread slaughter", newly declassified documents have revealed.The 39 recently declassified US Embassy documents cover the period from 1964-1968, at the peak of the Cold War, and uncover new details about one of the most tumultuous periods in modern Indonesian history.Historians say up to 500,000 alleged Indonesian Communis
