JAKARTA - SEVENTY-SIX residents arrested in protests on Sumatra island in December in which two children were killed and hundreds of houses destroyed will not be released, an Indonesian district court said on Friday.
BANGKOK - THAI police said on Friday they have found another 1,500 web sites that allegedly insult the country's revered monarchy and have ordered them to be blocked amid an intensifying crackdown.
The announcement comes just days after the government said it had already prevented access to around 2,300 websites under strict lese majeste laws which protect King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his family.
KUALA TERENGGANU - A TOP Malaysian election official has quit after the opposition made allegations of government dirty tricks including vote-buying and coercion in a hotly contested by-election.
KUALA LUMPUR - PIRACY on the high seas rose to unprecedented levels in 2008, due to the hijacking crisis off Somalia where pirates are now better armed and more violent, a maritime watchdog said on Friday.
