Buenos Aires / AFP A Pacific-wide trade deal would be “meaningless” without the United States, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, as Donald Trump vowed to abandon the agreement on his first day in office. The future of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) has been thrown into serious doubt after the US president-elect repeated a pledge to make withdrawing from the ...

  MANILA / AFP Philippine-US military ties are still “robust” despite threats by President Rodrigo Duterte to sever defence relations between the two allies, Manila’s military spokesman said on Tuesday. Brigadier General Restituto Padilla gave the assurance following the latest meeting of the two countries’ senior military officials to discuss defence cooperation up to 2017. Duterte last month announced a “separation” ...

Phnom Penh / AFP Cambodia’s opposition MPs ended a six-month boycott of parliament Tuesday, following months of legal and political pressure from strongman Prime Minister Hun Sen. Lawmakers from the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) pulled out of parliamentary sessions in May after some MPs, including its deputy leader Kem Sokha, were slapped with legal cases by the government. With ...