LEMBATA: Indonesian navy ships packed with aid arrived Thursday in a cyclone-ravaged section of the archipelago, as the death toll from the disaster rose to nearly 180 people, including dozens killed in neighbouring East Timor.

MANILA: Presidential Communications Operations Office (PCOO) Secretary Martin Andanar has branded as “fake news” the report that President Rodrigo Duterte (pic) suffered a “mild heart attack”.

SINGAPORE: A prominent Singapore Minister stepped aside on Thursday as the successor to the premier, in a shock move that upended the tightly-controlled country’s carefully planned power transfer.

MANILA: Philippine police said Wednesday they are investigating the death of a coronavirus lockdown violator who was forced to do a hundred squat-like exercises as a penalty for breaking curfew.

LEMBATA: Indonesia’s navy readied hospital ships Wednesday to help treat injured survivors of a cyclone that has killed about 160 in the archipelago and neighbouring East Timor, as fears grow over coronavirus outbreaks in cramped evacuation shelters.

LEMBATA: Rescuers were searching for dozens of people still missing Tuesday after floods and landslides swept away villages in Indonesia and East Timor, killing at least 120 people and leaving thousands more homeless.

MANILA: The presence of Chinese vessels at a disputed reef off the Philippines could ignite “unwanted hostilities”, a top aide to President Rodrigo Duterte (pic) warned, intensifying a diplomatic spat over the ships.

MANILA: A lawmaker on Monday proposed “household lockdowns” to arrest the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

LEMBATA: Tropical cyclone Seroja pounded Indonesia and East Timor Monday after torrential rains triggered floods and landslides that have killed at least 91 people and left dozens missing.

SINGAPORE: Chinese tech giants are expanding in Singapore as they face a crackdown at home and growing pressure in other key markets – but they may struggle to find talent in the city-state.