Tokyo, Jakarta to start defence talks
TOKYO • Japan and Indonesia agreed yesterday to begin talks on the transfer of defence technology to Jakarta and to help reduce tensions in the South China Sea, officials said. The agreement comes as tensions mount over competing maritime claims in the South China Sea involving China and some of Indonesia's Asean partners.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Journalist acquitted of defaming Park
SEOUL • A Japanese journalist was acquitted yesterday of defaming South Korean President Park Geun Hye over his report on her whereabouts at the time of the fatal Sewol ferry disaster.
Tatsuya Kato, former Seoul bureau chief for Japan's Sankei Shimbun daily, was put on trial last year on a charge of criminal libel for the report.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
1MDB 'sent $1.2b to Virgin Islands firm'
KUALA LUMPUR • 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), Malaysia's state fund, transferred some US$850 million (S$1.2 billion) to a firm whose name closely resembled that of an investment company owned by Abu Dhabi's sovereign fund, the Wall Street Journal said yesterday. Citing financial documents, it said the amount was sent last year to an Aabar Investments PJS registered in the British Virgin Islands.
1MDB has responded by saying the claims were "a regurgitation of old claims" by the newspaper.
