Avoid China-claimed shoal, Manila tells fishermen
The Philippines told its fishermen on Wednesday to steer clear of a fishing ground in the disputed South China Sea to avoid harassment from Chinese authorities.
The warning came despite a recent ruling by a UN-backed tribunal in favour of the Philippines, as it dismissed China’s territorial claims to large swathes of the waters.
Plane crash-lands at Dubai airport
BBC Online
An Emirates airline flight from India has crash-landed at Dubai International Airport with almost 300 people on board, officials say.
Images posted online show thick black smoke coming from the plane.
The Dubai government media office said on its Twitter account that all passengers were evacuated safely and no injuries have been reported so far.
22 feared dead as bridge collapses in India
AP, New Delhi
Two buses plunged into a flooded river after an old bridge collapsed in western India, leaving at least 22 people missing and feared dead, an official said Wednesday.
Rescuers had not found the buses or any survivors hours after the single-lane bridge on the Mumbai-Goa highway collapsed about midnight Tuesday, said Devendra Fadnavis, Maharashtra state’s chief minister.
Philippine police kill six men
Reuters, Manila
Philippine police commandos killed six bodyguards on Wednesday who worked for a town mayor who had turned himself in over links to the illegal drug trade, as President Rodrigo Duterte’s anti-drug war shifted from street peddlers to officials.
Close to 400 people have been killed in police operations against illegal drugs since Duterte was sworn in as president on June 30. Media and rights groups have put the figure almost twice as high at 770, including more than 200 killed by vigilante groups.
India parliament to pass tax reform
AFP, New Delhi
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said India was on the cusp of its biggest tax reform since independence ahead of a vote in parliament later Wednesday on a new national sales tax.
The Goods and Services Tax (GST) will replace a patchwork of central and state levies on goods and services and is one of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s biggest reforms since taking power in May 2014.
Zika suspected in 6 deaths in Honduras
AFP, Tegucigalpa
Six people have died and 10 babies have been born with defects in Honduras in cases feared to have been caused by Zika, the health minister said Tuesday.
Tests were being carried out to confirm whether the cases were the result of the virus, which is most commonly transmitted by mosquitos and, more rarely, through sexual contact.
