Taipei / AFP Hostages were forced to eat mice, scorpions and centipedes to survive during the nearly five years they were held by Somali pirates, according to a Taiwanese seafarer who arrived home on Wednesday. Shen Jui-chang, among 26 hostages freed from the crew of Naham 3 seized south of the Seychelles in March 2012, added he had constantly …

  Tokyo /AFP Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday he wants US troops out of his country in the next two years and is willing to scrap defence pacts with longtime ally Washington if necessary. The comments follow a series of anti-American tirades by the firebrand leader, who has repeatedly attacked the US while cosying up to Beijing, upending …

Oslo / AFP Russia criticised plans to deploy more than 300 American troops in Norway, saying it would do nothing to make northern Europe safer. Norway announced on Monday that 330 US Marines, to be stationed on rotation around 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the Russian border, will be engaged in training and manoeuvres from January 2017. The announcement comes …