Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte has signed into law a bill that raises the minimum age of sexual consent from 12 to 16, his office said on Monday, in a bid to protect minors from rape and sexual abuse.

North Korea fired at least one unidentified ballistic missile on Thursday, that Japan said flew over its main island, landing in the Pacific Ocean, and South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said landed in waters off the east of the peninsula.

Two US defense officials told CNN that there was an "unsafe" close encounter between a US Navy P-3 Orion aircraft and a Chinese surveillance aircraft Wednesday.

With the death of a dictator's half-brother, things were bound to get interesting.

As a young man, Fred Chin spent years imprisoned on a craggy island off Taiwan.