Duterte on confronting China over S. China Sea
MANILA • Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday he will confront Beijing with an international tribunal's ruling striking down its vast claims over the South China Sea if it starts siphoning resources from contested waters on its own.
But, in an interview with CNN Philippines, he also said he saw no urgency in doing it now.
RAUL DANCEL
Chinese general suspected of bribery
BEIJING • A Chinese general is being investigated for suspected bribery, the Defence Ministry said yesterday. He is connected to the jailed former domestic security chief and one of the most senior incumbent military officials to be targeted for graft.
Military prosecutors had already opened a case into General Wang Jianping, a deputy chief of the joint staff department under the powerful Central Military Commission, ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a monthly news briefing. He gave no other details.
It was not possible to reach Gen Wang for comment and unclear if he had been allowed to retain a lawyer.
Hong Kong's South China Morning Post said in August that Gen Wang had been taken into custody in Chengdu in south-western Sichuan province, with his wife and secretary also detained.
REUTERS
Jayalalithaa's aide named as party chief
NEW DELHI • The late Ms J. Jayalalithaa's All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam party in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu yesterday elected the former chief minister's close aide, Ms Sasikala Natarajan, as its new chief.
The 60-year-old Ms Sasikala will formally take over as the Tamil Nadu ruling party's general secretary on Jan 2, assuming the top post held by Ms Jayalalithaa till her death on Dec 5, following a prolonged illness.
XINHUA
Perak official's wife dies while helping a tortoise
IPOH • A woman has died after she slipped into a lake when she tried to help a tortoise nearby get back into the water.
Madam Chin Ah Looi, 57, was found dead with a bleeding wound on her body in the lake at a recreational park on Wednesday morning.
The housewife, who was married to Perak's assistant legal adviser Teoh Chin Chong, often visited the park near their home in Bandar Seri Botani.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
