Manila / AFP Philippine leader Benigno Aquino called on his countrymen on Sunday to fight attempts to take away their freedoms as he prepared to hand over power to president-elect Rodrigo Duterte, who has vowed to kill tens of thousands of criminals. Duterte won last month’s elections in a landslide largely on a pledge to suppress what he said ...

  Guatemala City / AFP Two former top Guatemalan cabinet ministers were arrested on corruption charges stemming from their tenure in the government of jailed ex-president Otto Perez, the Central American country’s attorney general said. They are alleged to have used their positions to illegally raise money that then was spent on lavish birthday gifts for Perez. The gifts allegedly ...

  Tokyo / Tribune News Service Japan’s Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism Ministry has decided on a plan to relax the floor area ratio of buildings by 1.5 times, or up to an additional 300 percent, depending on respective conditions. The move is so that hotels can be rebuilt as bigger hotels on the same land area, The Yomiuri Shimbun ...