SEOUL -- A military drone and a helicopter crashed at an army airfield in South Korea Monday, without any casualty, according to local broadcaster YTN and Yonhap news agency.

It was reported at around 1:00 p.m. local time (0400 GMT) that the drone crashed into the helicopter, which landed at the airfield in Yangju, about 30 km north of the capital Seoul. (South Korea-Drone Crash)

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NEW DELHI -- India and New Zealand have agreed to restart free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations with the first round scheduled for next month, the Indian Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said on Monday.

The announcement was made after a meeting between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his visiting New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon.

(India-New Zealand-FTA)

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JAKARTA -- Indonesia's export value increased 14.05 percent year-on-year to 21.98 billion U.S. dollars in February 2025, the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced on Monday.

BPS head Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti said that non-oil and gas exports were the main driver of this growth, particularly in animal or vegetable fats and oils, precious metals and jewelry or gems, and iron and steel.

(Indonesia-Exports)

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MANILA -- Philippine senator Imee Marcos, the elder sister of President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos, on Monday called for an urgent investigation into the arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte, saying the issue has "deeply divided" the Southeast Asian country.

"It is imperative to establish whether due process was followed and to ensure that his legal rights were not upheld but protected, especially given the involvement of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) and the International Criminal Court (ICC)," said Imee Marcos, chair of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations. (Philippines-Imee Marcos-Duterte-Probe)

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TOKYO -- The average prices of rice at supermarkets across Japan reached 4,077 yen per 5 kg (about 27.5 U.S. dollars) in the week ending March 9, nearly doubling from the same period last year amid the government's move to release reserve rice, official data showed Monday.

The latest average price marked a 125-yen increase from the previous week, extending the price hike streak to 10 consecutive weeks, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, which compiles weekly rice price data from approximately 1,000 supermarkets nationwide. (Japan-Rice-Price)

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TOKYO -- The approval rating of Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba's cabinet has plummeted to 26 percent after the gift scandal, down significantly from 40 percent in the previous February poll, local media reported.

According to a nationwide telephone survey conducted by Asahi Shimbun over the weekend, the cabinet's disapproval rating rose to 59 percent from 44 percent. (Japan-PM-Approval Rating) Enditem

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