Asia Pacific

Fourteen people were killed in India on Friday when a truck ploughed into a group of farmers who had gathered outside a police station, in what police said was an accident involving a drunk driver. Source: Asia Pacific

If the Filipinos on the remote South China Sea island of Thitu had binoculars, they might just be envious of how their neighbours on the next island live. Source: Asia Pacific

South Korea said on Friday it was on heightened alert ahead of another important anniversary in North Korea, with a large concentration of military hardware amassed on both sides of the border amid concerns about a new nuclear test by Pyongyang. Source: Asia Pacific

China’s Defence Ministry on Friday denied reports that its bomber aircraft were on a heightened state of alert amid tensions over North Korea. Source: Asia Pacific

A Thai man was arrested and fined nearly US$6,000 on Thursday at a checkpoint on the border with Laos for suspected smuggling of semen, a customs officer said. Source: Asia Pacific

A polarising election for Jakarta governor saw Islamic identity politics come to the fore and exposed fractures in Indonesian president Joko Widodo’s fragile ruling coalition, an exit poll has revealed. Source: Asia Pacific

The mystery surrounding the disappearance and replacement of an 80-year-old bronze plaque embedded in the road of the Royal Plaza, in front of the Ananta Samakhom Throne Hall in Bangkok is at the centre of a new, and slightly bizarre political scandal brewing in Thailand. Source: Asia Pacific

China on Friday sought to discredit billionaire businessman Guo Wengui, painting him as a “criminal suspect” whose allegations of corruption within the highest levels of the Communist Party should not be believed. Source: Asia Pacific

China is enforcing its policy against North Korean coal imports seriously, and there have been no violations, the foreign ministry said on Friday after a report that North Korean ships had entered a Chinese port where coal imports are offloaded. Source: Asia Pacific

China must work more closely with journalists and non-government bodies to expose incidents of water pollution, an official said on Friday, after activists this week discovered two untreated cesspits filled with hazardous industrial waste. Source: Asia Pacific