Officials in several states have raised alarm over a recent outbreak of illness caused by brodifacoum, a lethal blood thinner used in rat poison, which was in the synthetic pot that victims consumed.

Patients have shown up to hospitals with severe internal bleeding and vomiting blood.

A fourth victim, a woman in her 30s, has died from the outbreak in Illinois, health officials announced Tuesday. The Midwestern state, where all of the deaths have occurred, is the hardest hit.

“We continue to see new cases of individuals experiencing severe bleeding after using synthetic cannabinoids,” Nirav Shah, the state’s health director, said in a statement.

Officials believe at least some of the tainted drug originated in the Chicago area, where a 20-year-old man died.

The number of people who have been sickened increased over the last two weeks to more than 150 in Illinois alone — with additional cases popping up in several nearby states.

Synthetic marijuana is dried plant material sprayed with various chemicals — aiming to mimic a similar reaction to the one pot delivers.

The illegal drug is sold in small foil packages with street names such as Spice and K2.It is also produced in liquid form.

The cure for the rat poison is high doses of Vitamin K.

Valeant Pharmaceuticals has donated 800,000 tablets of the supplement to treat patients without cost, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health.

Official news agency KUNA said the Philippine ambassador had been given a week to leave, amid a diplomatic row between the two nations sparked by the murder of a Filipina maid in the oil-rich state.

An official at Kuwait’s foreign ministry told AFP that Philippine ambassador Renato Pedro Ovila had been summoned to be informed of his expulsion.

On April 1, a Kuwaiti court sentenced to death in absentia a Lebanese man and his Syrian wife for the murder of maid Joanna Demafelis, whose body was found in a freezer in February.

Announcement of the diplomatic expulsion comes despite an apology to Kuwait on Tuesday by Philippine foreign secretary Alan Peter Cayetano, after videos emerged of embassy staff helping Filipinos flee from allegedly abusive employers.

“I apologise to my counterpart and we apologise to the Kuwaiti government, the Kuwaiti people and the leaders of Kuwait if they were offended by some actions taken by the Philippine embassy in Kuwait,” Cayetano told reporters in Manila.

One of the clips, released by the Philippine foreign ministry last week, shows a woman running from a home and jumping into a waiting vehicle, while another depicts a person sprinting from what appears to be a construction site to a black sport utility vehicle.

Cayetano said the Philippine embassy staff were responding to complaints of abuse from some of the 260,000 Filipinos working in Kuwait.

Three Filipinos who drove vans for the embassy in the operations were believed to be held by Kuwaiti authorities.

Kuwait was furious about the videos, saying the rescues amount to a violation of its sovereignty, further straining ties already hit by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte imposing a ban on Filipino workers moving to the Arab Gulf state. Duterte alleged that Arab employers routinely rape their Filipina workers, force them to work 21 hours a day and feed them scraps.

The two countries had since been trying to work out an agreement to protect the rights of Filipino workers in Kuwait, particularly some 170,000 maids.

Human Rights Watch and other groups have documented extensive mistreatment of expatriate maids and other foreign workers from the developing world in several Middle East states, drawing attention to abuses including sexual assault and confiscation of passports.

Some 10 million Filipinos work abroad and the money they remit back is a lifeline for the Philippine economy.

Indonesia’s state-owned electricity company PLN, in cooperation with PT Rezeki Perkasa Sejahtera Lestari, has inaugurated its first biomass power plant (PLTBm) in West Kalimantan with a capacity of 15 megawatts (MW).

“The operation of PLTBm Rezeki I Siantan aims to increase electricity supply in the Equator area electricity system and replace several power plants that use fossil fuels,” said PLN general manager for West Kalimantan, Richard Safkaur, on Tuesday as reported by tempo.co.

The plant, which uses agricultural waste as its fuel, is projected to supply 74 million kilowatt per hour (kWh) annually.

Richard said the development of power plants with renewable fuel resources had become PLN’s priority in Kalimantan. He said power plants that used renewable fuels served 66 percent of electricity demand in the province.

The plant is located in Wajok Hulu village, Siantan district, Mempawah regency, West Kalimantan. The fuel material includes palm oil waste; rice husks, corn and sugar cane waste, as well as timber sawmill waste. – The Jakarta Post

Go-Jek, ComfortDelGro in talks on tie-up

Indonesian ride-hailing app provider Go-Jek has been in talks with Singapore taxi giant ComfortDelGro to explore a tie-up.

According to online publisher Techcrunch, which cited an unnamed source, the two have been discussing ways for a “potential partnership”.

Both companies have refused to comment on the news, saying they do not comment on rumours or speculation.

ComfortDelGro had previously entered into an agreement with US apps provider Uber to acquire a majority stake in Lion City Rentals – a private-hire car fleet here owned by Uber.

The agreement included ComfortDelGro having exclusive rights to use the Uber app for its drivers.

That deal is now in limbo because Uber has since pulled out of the South-east Asian region after selling its regional businesses to rival Grab.

Go-Jek has set up an office in Singapore to hire data scientists. But observers are certain that it will start a ride-hailing business here within the next few months. – The Straits Times

EU, US unlikely to revoke Cambodia’s trade status

A global research company says the US and EU are unlikely to revoke the preferential trade agreements that underpin Cambodia’s garment sector, a prediction supported by nearly every analyst The Phnom Penh Post interviewed in recent months.

Fitch BMI said in a report that the EU and the US “appear reluctant to remove preferential trade access for Cambodia’s crucial garment exports.”

The report comes amid a crackdown on independent media and political opposition in Cambodia, including the widely criticised dissolution of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), the only viable opposition party, in November.

The US and EU have been urged by rights groups to reconsider Cambodia’s preferential trade access to their markets, but analysts have previously said that targeted sanctions are more likely than a complete reworking of trade agreements.

More than 60 per cent of Cambodia’s garments are exported to the US and EU markets under favourable trade agreements, and the sector employs more than 800,000 people. – The Phnom Penh Post

Little impact seen from ban on Kuwait

The Philippine government’s ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait will unlikely dent the robust remittance flows to the Philippines, the World Bank said.

In its April 2018 Migration and Development Brief, the Washington-based multilateral lender noted that the Philippines was the third biggest recipient of remittances last year, reaching $33 billion. Only India, with $69 billion, and China ($64 billion) exceeded the Philippines’ remittance inflows in 2017.

The 5.3-per cent growth in remittances last year was faster than the 4.5 per cent in 2016.

For the World Bank, “the impact on remittance inflows of a recent ban on deploying Filipino workers to Kuwait is likely to be muted, given the country’s relatively small exposure to the Gulf Cooperation Council country.”

To recall, the Philippine government in February issued a total ban on the deployment of Filipino workers to Kuwait upon the instruction of President Rodrigo Duterte. – Philippine Daily Inquirer

The companies operating construction, survey and engineering services were found involved in fake projects and works, and unapproved state investment projects, a senior official of the provincial People’s Court told Vientiane Times yesterday.

The companies offered a 30/70 private/state investment scheme to carry out construction and remedial works for state projects damaged by flooding. This meant the private investors offered to subsidise 30 per cent of the total investment cost, while the remaining 70 per cent fell under the responsibility of the government.

Most of the offered projects were concerning infrastructure, with intended works to repair damage caused by severe flooding that hit the Northern provinces in 2013, the official with knowledge of the case said.

But many projects did not actually exist, despite allocation and dispersal of money.Several projects were also initially unapproved, which violates the State Investment Law.

There was no action to implement works, despite financial backing and dispersal of money, the Security Newspaper published by the Ministry of Public Security, reported on Monday.

Thirteen directors of the 12 companies were charged with embezzling state assets, attempted bribery, and the production and use of fraudulent documents regarding the projects.

One businessman involved in the illegal scheme was able to escape, according to information from the provincial Public Security Headquarter.

In its ruling on April 11, the court ordered prison for the 13 executives, varying from three-months and 18 days, up to three-years and nine-months

The business executives were also judged to repay lo.sses of state assets, amounting to multibillions in kip, back to the state with a combined fine of hundreds of millions of kip.

Earlier this year, 28 state officials involved in the scheme were prosecuted for corruption and bribery charges.

In that ruling, the court imprisoned the involved officials for durations between two to eight years, according to the provincial Public Security Headquarters.

The case has gained great public attention as it appeared to be one of the high profile cases in which numerous private businessmen and state officials were involved.

In 2013, Oudomxay was severely hit by storms killing 17 people washing away houses, crops, livestock and infrastructure, bringing estimated loss to more than 297 billion kip. Some 9,600 people over four districts were reported affected by the disaster – the worst in decades.

Two villages were badly damaged and 160 people injured by flashflooding, and the population was resettled to a new area.

Considering these events, a number of projects were introduced to address the community losses and damages.

Seeing opportunities, corrupt officials and nefarious businesses conspired to conduct the illegal scheme for personal gain.

Brough added that with over 83 per cent of the company’s senior creditors supporting its restructuring agreement, it would be difficult to see how Goldilocks might be able to gain the support of other stakeholders for any proposal it may make.

In a press statement yesterday, Brough also said that Goldilocks’ notice to appoint directors to the board was “deficient””, and that the company was obliged to reject the notice in accordance to the firm’s by-laws and the laws of Bermuda.Goldilocks had nominated five individuals for election as independent non-executive directors of the company on April 23.

Brough said: “The board would be at risk of breaching its statutory and fiduciary responsibilities and, should the company do so, other shareholders and creditors may have a cause of action.”In addition, he noted that the current board is the “right board to deliver the restructuring”.

“The inference that I have been working to further the interests of the ad hoc group (of the company’s senior creditors) is baseless… I hold no interest in the company and will not participate in the management incentive plan for New Noble.”

Lastly, Brough urged shareholders to vote in favour of resolutions proposed by the company at its upcoming annual general meeting (AGM) to ensure that restructuring of the firm may be completed without further risk or delay. Noble will be holding its AGM on April 30.

Citing an earlier estimate of the state planning agency National Economic and Development Authority, Socioeconomic Planning Secretary and Neda director general Ernesto Pernia told a press briefing that the temporary closure of the popular tourist destination, which will be rehabilitated from environmental degradation, would shed only 0.1 per cent from the country’s gross domestic product this year.

Noting that the economy was currently worth about 14 trillion pesos and was expected to grow by at least 7 per cent this year, about 980 million pesos a quarter would be lost, especially in the affected local government units. The closure of the island is estimated to cost about 1.96 billion pesos,

“Boracay [island], Malay [town], Aklan [province] and Region 6 will suffer – their growth rates will be trimmed,” Pernia said.

For Western Visayas, its gross regional domestic product growth would be cut by 5.7 percentage points, Pernia added.

The Neda chief nonetheless said that “on the other hand, there will be other areas in the Visayas earning some increase in growth rates; also, Luzon and Mindanao will have some increase” as tourists are instead expected to flock to other destinations in the country.

“We are only assuming that 50 per cent of the volume of tourists going to Boracay will be going to the other [local] destinations,” Pernia said.

“I would assume that closer to 70-75 per cent of those who used to go to Boracay will go to the other tourist destinations, especially domestic tourists.

“It’s going to be a temporary shortfall in terms of tourism income and tourist arrivals.

“Regarding the possible shortfall in tourist arrivals due to the Boracay closure, the Department of Tourism will have to step up its efforts at advertising and marketing our several other tourist destinations, so the same volume of tourists, if not more, will be diverted to these other beautiful locations.”

Private stakeholders in the tourism industry earlier projected that economic losses from the six-month closure of the world-renowned island could exceed 50 billion pesos in tourism |revenues while 35,000 jobs would be lost.

Most affected are the resorts and airlines, which have already cut back on their flights to and from the island.

The figure is 17.6 per cent higher than on April 9, which was recorded at 850 billion rupiah, representing 122 per cent growth compared to December 2017 at 450 billion rupiah.

Bareksa co-founder Karaniya Dharmasaputra said the growth of the funds managed by the financial marketplace was supported by the increase in the number of investors.

As of April 24, the number of Bareksa’s clients had reached 110,000, a 10 percent increase than the 100,000 recorded on April 9, also representing a 73 percent increase than in December 2017.

“The increasing number of investors in Bareksa is in line with the growing interest in investment products,” said Karaniya in a statement on Tuesday, adding that Bareksa had innovated in response to the people’s needs.

He said Bareksa launched its collaboration with Tokopedia marketplace in March to allow people to purchase mutual funds through online transactions. It has also collaborated with Bukalapak and DOKU.