China can fish in our waters: Manila
MANILA • China can fish in parts of the South China Sea where the Philippines holds exclusive rights, President Rodrigo Duterte's spokesman has said, despite warnings from other officials that this would be unconstitutional.
Mr Duterte is giving China this "privilege" out of friendship, and because of funding and trade relations extended by Beijing to his government, presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in an interview with local radio dzMM yesterday. But he added that Mr Duterte will never yield his country's sovereignty.
BLOOMBERG
Indonesia plans to relocate convicts
JAKARTA • Indonesian prisons are overflowing with convicts, and the authorities worried about their negative influence on city dwellers are exploring shifting them to some of the uninhabited islands in the archipelago.
Overcrowded jails mean petty criminals like chicken thieves are lodged together with drug traffickers and terrorists, according to Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Politics, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto.
The inability to segregate inmates based on their crime poses risks of them "exchanging their expertise" with one another, he said.
Construction of new prisons in remote islands will also reduce the scope of inmates coming into contact with the public, the minister told a panel of lawmakers in Jakarta on Tuesday.
BLOOMBERG
MACC clears Azmin of wrongdoing
KUALA LUMPUR • The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has cleared Economic Affairs Minister Azmin Ali of any wrongdoing in allegations that he was behind questionable money transfers.
MACC deputy chief commissioner Azam Baki said investigations were conducted immediately after a report was lodged by Umno supreme council member Lokman Noor Adam earlier this month.
MACC investigations found that an alleged transfer of US$741,440 (S$1 million) from engineering giant UEM Group Berhad into a bank account bearing the same name as Datuk Seri Azmin did not exist, the Malay Mail reported yesterday.
THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
