Philippines

The Philippines' largest rebel group retired nearly 150 guerillas and handed over 75 arms to a decommissioning body headed by Turkish Ambassador Haydar Berk in order to encourage parliament to pass a proposed law giving minority Muslims self-rule. 

The Philippines' largest rebel group retired nearly 150 guerrillas and handed over 75 firearms for decommissioning June 16 to encourage parliament to pass a proposed law giving minority Muslims self-rule.

About half of live dolphins caught in the Japanese coastal town of Taiji were exported to China and other countries despite global criticism of the hunting technique used, a news report has said.

The so-called "drive hunt" method has been criticized overseas as cruel and Japanese zoos and aquariums were recently forced to vow not to buy animals caught with the controversial fishing.

On tiny specks in the disputed Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea, Vietnamese and Filipino children skip to school each day. Not far away, China is building lighthouses and weather stations on reclaimed land. Further north, a Chinese cruise ship takes "patriotic" tourists to a separate group of contested islands. 

Saudi Arabia on May 26 carried out its 88th execution so far this year, surpassing the total for all of 2014 despite activists' concerns that trials are not conducted fairly.

China hosted a groundbreaking ceremony for the building of two lighthouses in the disputed South China Sea, state media said on May 26, a move that is likely to escalate tensions in a region already jittery about Beijing's maritime ambitions. 

The Philippines said May 19 it was ready to help Rohingya and Bangladeshi boatpeople, as its Southeast Asian neighbours faced outrage for turning them away.

Greece has asked three firms to submit binding bids by September for a majority stake in the country's biggest port, Piraeus (OLPr.AT), a senior privatization official told Reuters on Thursday, unblocking a major asset sale.

The number of victims from yesterday’s industrial fire in the Philippines rose to 72, which several workers still missing.

The local mayor expressed his hope that some of the workers may have broken free. The Kentex Manufacturing Inc-owned industrial building made slippers and flip-flops.

At least 31 employees lost their lives in a flip-flop factory in the Philippines, after a fire broke out.

Dozens of people are missing, while authorities already presume them dead due to the severity of the heat and smoke.

Most of the 31 victims lost their lives to asphyxiation.