James Patterson

The good news is that the reported number of coronavirus (2019-nCoV)) cases in Indonesia and Thailand is low. The bad news is that people with undetected infections may be unknowingly spreading the virus that now has killed more than 600 and sickened over 31,000.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, communicating via his spokesperson Salvador Panelo, has ordered that the government’s notice to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) be sent to the United States government.

"While the Philippines has the prerogative to terminate the VFA anytime, the continuance of the agreement is deemed to be more beneficial to the Philippines compared to any predicates [conditions] were it to be terminated,” the official said.

The total count is now 618 dead and over 22,000 cases.

A bipartisan group of prominent U.S. lawmakers, led by Marco Rubio and James McGovern, has scripted a letter to the Nobel Peace Prize committee making the case that the pro-democracy Hong Kong protesters be awarded the prize.

There are millions of Filipinos of Chinese ancestry plus over three million Chinese workers in the country.

As of Tuesday morning, the global death count is 427 and the confirmed number of cases may soon pass the 21,000 mark.

"It’s escalating. The number of cases that increase from one day to another is clearly going up in a very steep slope,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Photos posted to Twitter on Saturday show passengers disembarking a Batik Air Indonesia flight where people clad in yellow hazmat suits and backpack like containers spray them down with a clear mist.

The coronavirus that originated in Wuhan has a confirmed death toll of 361 inside mainland China as of Sunday, surpassing the 349 deaths caused by the 2002-03 SARS epidemic.

Japanese based auto parts supplier F-Tech, Inc., a major supplier to Honda Motors, is moving its brake pedal production from Wuhan, China to the Philippines.

The Spratly Islands are located west of Palawan of the Philippine Islands. Aside from China and the Philippines, Vietnam, Brunei, and Taiwan all have conflicting claims on them.

Wuhan is “ground zero” to the virus believed to have originated from a fish market in the city that sold wild animals alive and as food

The president’s umbrage at the U.S. is also evident with his ever-warming relationship with China and its leader Xi Jinping.

The United States, on Monday, raised the travel advisory level from 2 to 3.

By comparison, the previous SARS virus that killed nearly 800 people in the 2002-2003 epidemic became contagious only after showing symptoms making it easier to contain.

Duterte defended his stance of nonaggression against China, which claims the entirety of the South China Sea, a claim that has led to many skirmishes with neighboring Asian countries with exclusive economic zones of their own that China has encroached upon.

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, known for using “salty” language to assail his adversaries, once again had harsh words against the leaders of Metro Manila's water distributors calling them “thieves” and opining that “crazy rich” people should be killed.

Jacobson is accused of violating his visa conditions due to his reporting activities in Palangkaraya. His lawyer, Aryo Nugroho, said his client could face up to five years in prison.

"[It failed] partly because of the nature of the matter and partly because of the very obsolete PR machinery of the [Hong Kong] government, especially facing a world-class propaganda that challenged us,” she said.

Homosexuality is not a crime in Indonesia except for the province of Aceh, which enforces strict Islamic law.

Malaysia is taking other steps to block the flow of waste to its ports.

The chair of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange said the Chinese government should and will let authorities in Hong Kong resolve the continued public protests that have beset the Asian financial center.

Powerful forces imposing their will on those with little power is a common theme throughout history. And an $800 million dollar hydropower dam project that will displace indigenous people in about 20 communities along the Pulangi River in the Philippines may be the latest example.

Chinese officials confirmed a third death and the Wuhan Municipal Health Commission said the number of patients with pneumonia has grown from 62 to 136.

The first of four water-bombing aircraft has arrived from the United States to help combat the bushfires that have scorched almost 11 million hectares.

Catholic leaders in the Philippines have been critical of Duterte over his war on drugs that has caused many deaths.

The toddler, named Matilda, was missing for almost 24 hours at a cattle station in Western Australia’s Pilbara region located about 750 miles northeast of Perth.

Jude Sabio, a Filipino lawyer, submitted a 77-page complaint to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in April of 2017 against President Rodrigo Duterte alleging “continuing mass murder” in the Philippines. Sabio now wants to withdraw the complaint, called a “communication” by the ICC, but has been told by the ICC Office of the Prosecutor that this cannot be done and that any supposed withdrawal "would have no impact" on the preliminary examination it is conducting.