MANILA - THE Philippines' anti-corruption court has awarded to the government about US$35 million (S$52.6 million) in assets that had been stolen 30 years ago by the late strongman Ferdinand Marcos, officials said on Friday.

YANGON (Myanmar) - THE UNITED States donated 16,000 tonnes of rice to cyclone victims in Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta where a humanitarian crisis persists nearly a year after the disaster, the US Embassy in Yangon said Friday.

KUALA LUMPUR - A MALAYSIAN court has ordered a prominent online commentator to pay more than US$277,000 (S$340,000) to a senior ruling party politician, a court official said on Friday, the latest in a series of troubles for bloggers.

Raja Petra Raja Kamaruddin, editor of the popular Malaysia Today news website, was told on Thursday to pay RM1 million in libel damages to Abdul Azim Mohamad Zabidi, treasurer of the ruling United Malays National Organisation, said a court official who declined to be named because she was not authorised to speak to the media.