The upper chamber of Congress struggled to overcome roadblocks to passing a government funding bill and budget plan when a conservative senator objected to a swift vote, and leadership opted to close up shop and then reopen at 12:01 am (0501 GMT) Friday.

The closure could ultimately be shortlived, as the Senate was expected to schedule a vote on the measure at 1am and, if it passes, send it to the House of Representatives and then on to President Donald Trump’s desk for his signature as early as Friday.

It is the first time Reuters has publicly confirmed what Myanmar nationals Wa Lone, 31, and Kyaw Soe Oo, 27, were working on when they were arrested on December 12 on the outskirts of Yangon.

Detained Myanmar journalist Kyaw Soe Oo (L) is escorted by police to a court in Yangon to face trial on February 6, 2018. // AFP PHOTO

The pair are now facing up to 14 years in prison on charges of possessing classified documents in violation of the colonial-era Official Secrets Act.

Their plight has sparked global alarm over withering press freedoms in Myanmar and government efforts to curb reporting in northern Rakhine state — a crisis-hit region where troops are accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against Rohingya Muslims.

Nearly 700,000 Rohingya have fled the area since last August, carrying stories of atrocities at the hands of troops and vigilante groups in the Buddhist-majority country.

Myanmar authorities deny the allegations but have virtually cut off northern Rakhine, barring independent media from accessing the conflict-hit areas.

On Thursday Reuters published a report describing how Myanmar troops and Buddhist villagers executed 10 Rohingya men in Rakhine’s Inn Dinn village on September 2, 2017 before dumping their bodies into a mass grave.

“The Reuters investigation of the Inn Din massacre was what prompted Myanmar police authorities to arrest two of the news agency’s reporters,” the report said.

The account was based on testimony from Buddhist villagers, security officers and relatives of the slain men.

It included graphic photographs of the victims, hands bound kneeling on the floor before the killing — and of their bodies in a pit after.

A month after the journalists’ arrests, Myanmar’s army issued a rare statement admitting that security forces took part in extrajudicial killings of 10 Rohingya “terrorists” in Inn Din village.

The Reuters report said witnesses denied there had been any major attack from Rohingya militants before the alleged massacre.

A Myanmar government spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

But Myanmar vehemently denies systematic abuses by its security officers, despite a mounting volume of evidence pointing to atrocities.

Judges have denied bail to the two reporters during a pre-trial hearing period, despite calls for their release from human rights groups and diplomats around the globe.

The next hearing is scheduled for February 14.

Young sex workers were hired by senior staff in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake which devastated the island and left up to 300,000 people dead, The Times said.

Groups of young prostitutes were invited to homes and guesthouses paid for by the charity for sex parties, according to one source who claimed to have seen footage of an orgy with sex workers wearing Oxfam t-shirts.

The charity launched an internal investigation in 2011 which found a “culture of impunity” among some staff and was unable to rule out that some of the prostitutes were underage, according to the newspaper.

The Times said Oxfam’s country editor, Roland van Hauwermeiren, resigned without disciplinary action despite allegedly admitting hiring prostitutes.

Two other men reportedly resigned and a further four were sacked, while the Haitian authorities were not informed and no legal action was taken.

Responding to the report, Oxfam denied it was behind a “cover-up” to protect its reputation.

“Oxfam treats any allegations of misconduct extremely seriously,” a spokeswoman told AFP.

Oxfam admitted that allegations of underage girls being involved had been made, but said these “were not proven”.

“A number of staff were dismissed as a result of the investigation and others left the organisation before it was completed.

“The country director took full responsibility for events that took place under his management and was permitted to resign on the basis that he fully cooperated with and supported the investigation,” the spokeswoman said.

“The ministry’s ad hoc committee has called for the repatriation of 23 artefacts that originated in Thailand from leading US museums,” said Minister of Culture Veera Rojpojchanarat at a press conference yesterday at Bangkok’s National Museum.

“After a one-year investigation, the ministry’s urgent task aims to bring back five stone architectural artefacts, including two prominent 11th-century stone lintels from Prasat Nong Hong in Buri Ram and Prasat Khao Lon in Sa Kaew, which are currently in the permanent collections of the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco,” Fine Art Department director Anan Chuchote said.

The 8th-Century bronze preaching Buddha statue called Avalokitesvara from Prasat Hin Khao Bat II in Buri Ram. It is currently in a permanent collection at the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York. Photo courtesy of MET

There are also 18 Buddha statues and sculptures that are currently in permanent collections at leading museums, including New York’s Metropolitan Art Museum, the Asian Art Museum and Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California.

“One of masterpieces includes an eighth-century bronze preaching Buddha statue called Avalokitesvara from Prasat Hin Khao Bat II in Buri Ram. It is currently in a permanent collection at the Metropolitan Art Museum in New York,” archaeologist Tanongsak Hanwong, a member of the ad hoc committee, told The Nation.

There are also 14 artefacts currently in the possession of the Honolulu Museum of Art in Hawaii. These items include a prehistoric bell made of bronze and Buddha statues from the Dvaravati and Ayutthaya eras.

The US Department of Homeland Security has called for cooperation with Thailand to verify 69 other artefacts, all from the prehistoric age and believed to originate from Thailand, which are currently stored in museums in the United States.

There are also 13 prehistoric artefacts, including Baan Chiang pottery, owned by American collector Katherine Ayers-Mannix, who intends to return her collection to the Thai government.

Meanwhile, the Foreign Ministry is in the process of verifying 10 more artefacts currently in the possession of the Norton Simon Museum in California.

Thailand has successfully called for the repatriation of heritage from the US in past decades.

In 2014, the US government returned more than 500 artefacts looted from Ban Chiang, originating from the prehistoric period, which were in possession of the Bowers Museum in Santa Anna, California.

That was the most significant return of ancient treasures since the Art Institute of Chicago returned the Narai stone lintel in 1988.

Meanwhile, Thailand also returned cultural heritage to neighbouring counties. In 2015, Thailand repatriated 16 Cambodian artefacts recovered from smugglers in 1999. In 2009, Thailand repatriated seven other sculptures from the same 1999 seizure.

A Jaguar, a Lexus, a Corvette Stingray, and dozens of top-end German sedans and Japanese SUVs were crushed at a custom yard in the capital Manila. The vehicles were seized after they were smuggled in, authorities said.

A total of 30 vehicles worth a combined 61.6 million pesos ($1.2 million) were scrapped in Manila and two other cities on Duterte’s orders

The president has made fighting corruption and illegal drugs the cornerstones of his six-year term.

“Reduce them to scrap metal,” Duterte said in a speech to customs employees after the event.

Normally, seized smuggled vehicles are impounded and then auctioned with the government taking the proceeds.

“I will pay for them, no problem,” Duterte said.

The Bureau of Customs collects duties on imports and is one of the state’s key revenue-generating agencies. It consistently tops independent surveys as one of the country’s most corrupt government agencies.

Customs commissioner Isidro Lapena said in a speech at the ceremony that he has reassigned 691 of his some 7,000 employees since he took office in August last year.

Two other employees were dismissed and 16 others have been suspended over alleged illegal activity, he added.//AFP

He said the company forecast the market value of defence spending would reach US$180 billion (Bt5.7 trillion) in Asia-Pacific countries this year, up 5.2 per cent from $171 billion last year. Southeast Asia spent $30 billion, accounting for 16.67 per cent of the entire Asia-Pacific, excluding China and South Asia.

“Thailand is a potential market for our business, especially because the country has a policy to modernise its air force fleet. This is like other countries in Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Malaysia,” he said.

Thailand is currently ruled by a military junta after having experienced two coups in less than a decade and its defence budget has increased sharply since the 2006 coup from Bt86 billion in 2006 to Bt222 billion in 2018 fiscal year, or 7.7 per cent of the total national budget, according to government budget.

Hardware procurements were priority for governments over the past decade although country is relatively free from major conventional security threats, analysts said.

Submarines, missiles, tanks and jet fighters are favourite items for Thailand and the major suppliers include China, the United States, Ukraine and South Korea. The latest deal was a Bt8.8-billion purchase of eight T-50 Golden Eagle fighters from Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI).

The Royal Thai Air Force took delivery of the first two KAI T-50 Golden Eagles lead-in fighter trainers last month.

Honeywell Aerospace is a manufacturer of aircraft engines and avionics, with defence and space technology among its businesses.

According to an IHS Jane report, global defence spending will grow for the fifth consecutive year, reaching $1.67 trillion in 2018 and overtaking the previous post-Cold War record of $1.63 trillion seen in 2010.

“We cannot says why the defence budget spending in Asia-Pacific, especially Southeast Asia, is rising this year compared with last year, but we are seeing strong growth demand with the development and production of ground combat and support vehicles,” Van Luven said.

Thailand needs equipment to modernise F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft, C-130 Hercules Transport Aircraft and the T-50 Combat Trainer/FA-50 Lighting Attack Aircraft, while Singapore needs to focus on F-16s and F-15 Eagles and Indonesia has C-130s and F-16s.

The two governments announced the deal less than three months after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau clashed with host President Rodrigo Duterte over Philippine drug war killings, on the sidelines of a Manila summit.

The Philippine defence department signed the 12- billion-peso (US$234.8 million) Bell 412EPI deal with the state-run Canadian Commercial Corp, with deliveries set to start in nine months, ministry spokesman Arsenio Andolong told AFP.

“These are multi-purpose aircraft for anti-terrorism as well as HADR,” he said, using military lingo that refers to disaster response and humanitarian missions.

Philippine troops and police, beset by Islamist and communist insurgencies, fought a five-month battle last year against Islamic State group supporters in the southern city of Marawi.

It is also faced with rising tensions over rival territorial claims in the South China Sea and has been upgrading its navy and air force in recent years. The country is also regularly battered by typhoons.

“These (helicopters) are a real benefit to Filipinos,” Canadian ambassador John Holmes said on the mission’s Facebook page, adding it would boost Manila’s “search and rescue and disaster relief capabilities”.

The Philippine defence department acquired eight of the same Bell aircraft model in 2015, which it said went mostly to an air force unit assigned with providing air transport for the Philippine president.

The Filipino military also uses derivations of the Bell-UH-1H helicopter, which first saw service for the US military in the Vietnam War in the early 1960s.

The two governments announced the deal less than three months after Duterte and Trudeau clashed.

Trudeau said during the November summit that he called out Duterte over “human rights, the rule of law, and specifically extrajudicial killings”.

Duterte, who has overseen a crackdown that has left nearly 4,000 drug suspects dead at the hands of the police, later described Trudeau’s comments as “a personal and official insult”, adding he would only answer to his Filipino electorate.

The Philippine government says police only shot the suspects in self-defence and rejects human rights monitors’ description of the crackdown as a crime against humanity.//AFP

At least nine people were killed and 25 others remained missing after a 6.4-magnitude quake hit the popular eastern tourist city of Hualien on Tuesday, according to a revised toll from the national fire agency.

The powerful tremor left a handful of buildings badly damaged — some of them leaning at precarious angles — as well as roads torn up and hundreds forced to shelter in local schools and a stadium.

The major focus for emergency responders remained the Yun Tsui apartment block where six of the deaths occurred and dozens are still missing.

The lower floors of the 12-storey tower — which also housed a hotel — pancaked, leaving the structure leaning at a fifty-degree angle and sparking fears of an imminent collapse.

Despite those risks rescuers kept going into the building in a desperate search for survivors, but on Thuraday recovered only two bodies — a Chinese mainland tourist and a hotel worker.

Strong aftershocks continued to strike, sending the teams scurrying from the building, only for them to return a little later and resume their grim task.

An emergency responder surnamed Lin said it took 14 hours to free the body of the hotel worker, who was partially trapped between the hotel’s ceiling and floor.

“We saw his hair and were digging for some time,” he told AFP.

All the while they could hear the victim’s mobile phone ringing, he added. The man was later brought out in a white body bag.

A Red Cross worker at the scene estimated that the building had tilted another five percent overnight, adding he had little hope of survivors being found on its lowest floors.

“Floors one to three are all compressed so it’s hard to tell whether there are people,” he told AFP, requesting anonymity.

He said that there was no risk of a gas explosion in the building but the aftershocks and further slippage remained a persistent danger.

– Popular tourist spot –

The national fire agency said three of those killed were Chinese nationals from the mainland. All were believed to be staying at the Beauty Stay Hotel, which was located on the second floor of the apartment block.

Authorities published a steep drop in the number of missing Thursday afternoon — 58 to 25 — after unaccounted people got in touch with loved ones or officials.

In the apartment block, 10 people remained missing from flats alongside seven hotel guests. More than 260 people were injured in the tremor, the strongest to hit Hualien in decades.

Hualien is one of Taiwan’s most popular tourist destinations as it lies on the picturesque east coast rail line and near the popular Taroko Gorge.

But the mountains that rise up behind the city — and bestow Taiwan’s east coast with such majestic beauty — are a testament to the deadly tectonic faultlines that run through the island.

The government said 17 foreigners sought medical treatment for minor injuries.

Local broadcaster SET TV ran an interview with a man who said he was the husband of one of the Chinese mainland victims.

The woman, named as 39-year-old Yu Fei, was travelling with the couple’s young son on the island. The son survived the quake with light injuries. She was pulled from the wrecked building and later died in hospital.

“They were travelling on their own as I was busy and couldn’t accompany them,” the man, who had rushed from the Chinese city of Xiamen, said. “I got in touch with my son, he cried.”

President Tsai Ing-wen, who on Wednesday visited survivors and the Yun Tsui apartment block, praised emergency responders.

“Rescuers on the scene and hospital staffers continue to dedicate themselves fully to the rescue works,” she wrote on Facebook. “Stay hopeful and never give up.”

The Hualien quake came exactly two years to the day after a similar sized tremor struck the western city of Tainan, killing 117 people.

Most of those who perished died in a single apartment block which collapsed.

Five people were later found guilty over the disaster, including the developer and two architects, for building an inadequate structure.

The island’s worst tremor in recent decades was a 7.6-magnitude quake in September 1999 that killed around 2,400 people.

That quake ushered in stricter building codes but many of Taiwan’s older buildings remain perilously vulnerable to even moderate strength quakes.//AFP

A 6.4-magnitude quake hit the popular eastern tourist city of Hualien late Tuesday, leaving a handful of buildings badly damaged — some of them leaning at terrifying angles — as well as roads torn up and hundreds sheltering in local schools and a stadium.

The major focus for emergency responders remained the Yun Tsui apartment block where the majority of the deaths occurred and dozens are still missing.

The lower floors of the 12-storey tower — which also housed a hotel — pancaked, leaving the structure leaning at a fifty-degree angle and sparking fears of an imminent collapse.

Despite those risks rescuers kept going into the building throughout Wednesday night and Thursday morning in a desperate search for survivors.

Strong aftershocks coursed through the ground sending rescue teams running from the building, only for them to return a little while later and resume their grim task.

One aftershock shortly before midnight on Thursday measured 5.7-magnitude.

Chu Che-min, the Hualien fire department’s rescue team leader at the scene, told AFP they located two more bodies overnight.

“We discovered the body of a Chinese woman at the hotel in Yun Tsui (building) earlier this morning and located another person who’s a hotel staffer,” he said.

Popular tourist spot

In a updated toll, the national fire agency said nine people had now been confirmed killed in the quake including three Chinese mainland nationals.

The three mainland victims were all believed to be staying at the Beauty Stay Hotel, which was located on the second floor of the apartment block.

At least 62 people remain unaccounted for across the city. In the apartment block, 37 people are missing from flats alongside 10 hotel guests. More than 250 people were injured in the tremor, the strongest to hit Hualien in decades.

Hualien is one of Taiwan’s most popular tourist hubs as it lies on the picturesque east coast rail line and near the popular Taroko Gorge.

But the mountains that rise up behind the city — and bestow Taiwan’s east coast with such majestic beauty — are a testament to the deadly tectonic faultlines that run through the island.

The government said 17 foreigners sought medical treatment for minor injuries.

Local broadcaster SET TV ran an interview with a man who said he was the husband of one of the Chinese mainland victims.

The woman, named as 39-year-old Yu Fei, was travelling with the couple’s young son on the island. The son survived the quake with light injuries. She was pulled from the wrecked building and later died in hospital.

“They were travelling on their own as I was busy and couldn’t accompany them,” the man, who had rushed from the mainland Chinese city of Xiamen, said. “I got in touch with my son, he cried. I haven’t seen him in person.”

President Tsai Ing-wen, who visited survivors on Wednesday and the Yun Tsui apartment block, praised emergency responders.

“Rescuers on the scene and hospital staffers continue to dedicate themselves fully to the rescue works,” she wrote on Facebook. “Stay hopeful and never give up.”