‘Fight protectionism’
Philippines rescues 3 Malaysians
SINGAPORE, March 27, (Agencies): French President Francois Hollande said Monday that European countries can fight protectionism in trade and other forms by standing united and reaching out to Asia.
Speaking at a lecture in Singapore, where he is on a two-day state visit, Hollande singled out the government of President Donald Trump.
“The US again made a number of decisions and made some choices that will have an impact on its own economy and on the rest of the world,” Hollande said, addressing the audience in French.
“We must explain what the closing of borders is all about, what building a wall, what unfair and migratory policies mean. It cannot be the strengthening of a nation at the detriment of (others),” he said. “It is indeed a battle, to a large extent a political battle, but we have a lot of arguments to win.”
In March, the world’s top economic powers dropped a pledge to fully oppose trade protectionism at the Group of 20 meeting in Germany, amid pushback from the US government.
A statement issued by the group said that countries “are working to strengthen the contribution of trade” to their economies. By comparison, last year’s meeting called on them to resist “all forms” of protectionism.
Philippine troops have rescued three Malaysians held captive by Abu Sayyaf rebels, the military said on Monday, the second such operation in four days as security forces step up offensives against the notorious Islamist group.
The three men were kidnapped from a ship eight months ago, and their rescue means no other Malaysians are currently held hostage as two others were rescued at sea last week.
The military said the three Malaysians were rescued on Jolo island in the southern Philippines on Sunday but gave no details of the operation.
A Singapore court jailed a couple on Monday for starving their Filipino domestic helper, a case that highlighted what rights groups say is a common complaint in the wealthy city-state.
Thelma Oyasan Gawidan, 40, weighed just 29.4 kg (65 lb) in April 2014 after being given too little to eat for about 15 months, prosecutors said.
She was given two or three slices of plain white bread and one to two packets of instant noodles for breakfast, while for her second and last meal of the day she was given five or six slices of plain bread, prosecutors said.
Thousands of people began evacuating low-lying areas of Australia’s tropical northeast on Monday as a powerful cyclone bore down on the coast.
Cyclone Debbie was expected to cross the Queensland state coast along a sparsely populated 100-km (60-mile) stretch between the towns of Ayr and Bowen early Tuesday, Australian Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Michael Paech said.
The cyclone was churning over the Pacific Ocean as a Category 3 storm on Monday, with wind gusts up to 165 kms per hour (100 mph). It was expected to intensify to a Category 4 storm with wind gusts up to 260 kph per hour (160 mph) when it crosses on to land, Paech said.