Japanese Trade minister Isshu Sugawara said on Friday that Tokyo would hold talks with Seoul over Japan’s move to tighten export controls to South Korea, agreeing to Seoul’s request for consultations as part of a dispute settlement through the World Trade Organisation. “We will make arrangements through diplomatic channels,” Sugawara told a news conference. Separately, […]
China has banned pig imports from South Korea after Seoul became the latest to report an outbreak of the African swine fever that has destroyed hog herds and pushed up prices globally. Beijing has been battling to bring an outbreak of the disease among its own pork supply chain under control after at least 1.1 […]
China’s environment ministry said on Friday that the anti-pollution campaign for this year’s autumn-winter heating season will set stricter emissions targets for cities that had higher concentrations of damaging particles last time around. Cities that actually met pollution targets last year will be exempt from targets this year, Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE) spokesman […]
South Korea said Friday that it is investigating more suspected cases of African swine fever from farms near its border with North Korea, as fears grow over the spread of the illness that has decimated pig herds across Asia. South Korea’s Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs and the Gyeonggi provincial government said officials […]
Like a scene from an epic film, thousands of workers swarm over the building sites of Samjiyon, a monumental construction project in the far reaches of North Korea ordered by leader Kim Jong Un. They clamber over wooden scaffolding and dangle from window frames, and whether they are carrying loads, sifting sand or mixing concrete, […]
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to strengthen ties with China, calling the alliance between the two countries a “strategic option”, Pyongyang’s state media reported on Friday. This comes as the North and the US are widely expected to resume stalled nuclear disarmament talks in a few weeks. Kim made the remarks in response […]
The man representing Hong Kong housing developers in the city’s legislature has blasted the government for pressing ahead with a vacancy tax, saying it was not allowing adequate oversight. Abraham Razack said he would write to the president of the Legislative Council demanding more time for scrutiny. Razack, of the pro-establishment Business and Professionals Alliance […]
Amnesty International accused Hong Kong police on Friday of torture and other abuses in their handling of more than three months of pro-democracy protests, but the police say they have shown restraint on the street in the face of increased violence. Anti-government protesters, many masked and wearing black, have thrown petrol bombs at police and […]
North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator welcomed on Friday US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that a “new method” be used in talks on Pyongyang’s weapons programmes. Kim Myong Gil praised Trump’s “wise political decision” to seek a new approach to the stalled talks without a “troublemaker” in the US administrationan apparent reference to John Bolton, Trump’s […]
Director general-level diplomats from South Korea and Japan held talks in Tokyo Friday over wartime forced labour and the bilateral trade feud, according to Seoul’s foreign ministry. Kim Jung-han, director-general for Asian and Pacific affairs at South Korea’s foreign ministry, met with his Japanese counterpart Shigeki Takisaki in Tokyo, exchanging opinion about issues of mutual […]
A lawmaker fighting to keep his seat in Hong Kong’s legislature has asked a top court to review a landmark ruling on the barring of election candidates. The bid from pro-democracy politician Au Nok-hin came as two legal sources said the government was not planning to appeal their defeat in that case, in which a […]
The Hong Kong government on Thursday set the rules for an open dialogue between leader Carrie Lam and the public next week, telling those taking part to be “orderly” and not bring along loudhailers, bunting or umbrellas. Next Thursday’s talks in the Chinese-ruled city, the scene of more than three months of sometimes violent anti-government […]
Dubbed “breakbone fever”, dengue is one of the world’s leading mosquito-borne illnesses and infects tens of millions across the globe annually. Around half of the planet’s population live in at-risk areas, mainly in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Outbreaks have ravaged Southeast Asia this year, infecting hundreds of thousands, killing hundreds, and crippling health care […]
New Unicef campaign aims to make violence against children a thing of the past A father begins to raise his voice at the back of a restaurant, complaining about his daughter’s bad grades. The conversation ends with the sound of slaps. The customers, who have heard the girl plead for her father to stop, look […]
Most visitors to Vietnam’s famed Ha Long Bay opt for cruise views of the UNESCO heritage site but from Friday tourists can hop on a helicopter to see the area’s famous karst rock formations from the skies. Nervous flyers beware. A pair of five-seater helicopters soared up to 300 metres (1,000 feet) to offer passengers […]
Dubbed “breakbone fever”, dengue is one of the world’s leading mosquito-borne illnesses and infects tens of millions across the globe annually. Around half of the planet’s population live in at-risk areas, mainly in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Outbreaks have ravaged Southeast Asia this year, infecting hundreds of thousands, killing hundreds, and crippling health care […]
African swine fever has been detected on three farms in Vietnam, authorities said on Tuesday, the first confirmed cases of the highly contagious disease in the Southeast Asia country. All pigs on the farms located in Hung Yen and Thai Binh provinces, southeast of the capital Hanoi, were culled, the Animal Health Department said in […]
Representatives from 13 countries across Asia and the Pacific gathered in Bangkok, Thailand, from 29 to 31 October to develop road maps to implement and expand pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and HIV self-testing in the region. In discussions on building capacity for the rollout of PrEP and HIV testing innovations in Asia and the Pacific, policy-makers, […]
Wall Street closed out a volatile week with losses Friday as investors worried that upcoming trade talks aimed at resolving the costly trade war between Washington and Beijing could be in trouble. The selling, which erased modest early gains for the market, snapped a three-week win streak for the S&P 500. The benchmark index is […]
Aiming to Expand Availability of Eribulin to Patients in India with Two Brands Halaven and Teceris TOKYO, Sept 20, 2019 – (JCN Newswire) – Eisai Co., Ltd. has announced that Eisai’s subsidiary Eisai Pharmaceuticals India Pvt. Ltd. and Mylan N. V. subsidiary Mylan India have entered into a license agreement to promote and distribute the […]
- AI technology becomes a driving force in global customer service HONG KONG, Sept 20, 2019 – (ACN Newswire) – Shanghai Xiaoi Robot Technology Co. Ltd (Xiao-i), a leading developer of AI technologies and applications, was asked to represent the AI industry at the annual Contact Center APAC conference on September 9-10 in Jakarta. The […]
Thousands of students took to the streets of Australia and other Asia-Pacific countries on Friday to kick off a global strike demanding world leaders gathering for a UN Climate Action Summit adopt urgent measures to stop an environmental catastrophe. “We didn’t light it, but we’re trying to fight it,” read one sign carried by a […]
Children across Asia and the Pacific kicked off what are set to be the largest global climate protests in history Friday, demanding adults act now to stop environmental disaster. From Sydney to Seoul, Manila to Mumbai, children heeded the rallying cry of fellow teen activist Greta Thunberg and shut their textbooks in a collective call […]
Shops, hotels and restaurants in Panghsang, the unofficial capital of Myanmar’s northeastern area controlled by the United Wa State Army (UWSA), display signs in three languages: Wa, Chinese and Bamar. But while Wa, Chinese and other ethnic dialects are widely spoken in the city, very few residents can speak or read, Bamar. Other social and […]
FedEx says one of its pilots was detained in China after an item was found in his luggage before he boarded a commercial flight. The company said Thursday the pilot was later released, and it is working with Chinese authorities to understand what happened at the airport in Guangzhou, in southern China. The Wall Street […]
US vice President Mike Pence on Thursday struck an unyielding tone on America’s position in its trade war with China. “The era of economic surrender is over,” Pence told CNBC’s Joe Kernen at the CNBC Institutional Investor’s Delivering Alpha Conference. Pence said that not only does the US run “$500 billion trade deficits” with China, […]
An internet celebrity has agreed to pay compensation to a family in east China whose teenage daughter died from injuries suffered in an explosion while trying to make popcorn in a tin can, similar to the way in which the online star did it in a video. The accident happened on August 22 when the […]
The country’s richest 10 per cent controlled nearly half of total income share from 2002 to 2014 with ultra-wealthy Bumiputeras registering a remarkable 8.3 per cent growth in earnings, a recent study on inequality showed. The study, which aims to determine which ethnicity and class benefited the most from the post-Asian financial crisis period, found […]
Two of PKR president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s aides have not received any court summonses over a suit for assault and defamation by Muhammed Yusoff Rawther, who is the grandson of late prominent consumer advocate SM Mohammed Idris. Anwar’s political secretary Farhash Wafa Salvador and his press secretary Tunku Nashrul Tunku Abaidah said in a […]
PKR has cautioned the public today against dwelling on its president Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim’s planned succession from Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister. Its information chief Datuk Seri Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin said the party is aware that the issue of power transfer has often been raised by “some quarters with certain motives”. […]
Wherever you are in the world, there is a good chance the coffee you sip or chocolate you savor is made from Indonesia’s homegrown beans, as the country ranks fourth in cocoa production and coffee exports. In fact, the EU could soon open its doors for more Indonesian coffee, cocoa and other commodities traded under […]
Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Friday called for a delay in passing a new law that would outlaw gay and pre-marital sex after the controversial plan sparked a public outcry. The proposed criminal code overhaul should get a closer look given the backlash, Widodo said, as he asked that parliament scrap a planned vote on […]
Long before Indonesian President Joko Widodo announced that the country’s capital will move from Jakarta to East Kalimantan, Eko Supriadi knew that his sleepy hometown will one day play an important role in the country. The traditional youth leader of Penajam Paser Utara district said the elders in his community were not surprised at all […]
Singapore’s skies were clearer Friday and air quality improved as smog from Indonesian forest fires drifted away, easing fears that this weekend’s Formula One race may be affected. Raging blazes in Indonesia have been spewing toxic haze over neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia, with Jakarta deploying tens of thousands of personnel and water-bombing aircraft to tackle […]
The head of one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds wants to get one thing straightmarkets are becoming increasingly dire and investors face a very uncertain future. Lim Chow Kiat, the chief executive officer of Singapore’s GIC Pte, has again sounded the alarm about the state of the world’s economy, decrying populism, trade protectionism […]
Authorities say that haze levels are expected to remain between the high end of the Moderate range and the low end of the Unhealthy range over the weekend, when the Formula One races take place at Marina Bay. For the moderate range, the 24-hour Pollutants Standard Index (PSI) reading is from 51 to 100. If […]
Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit is the richest MP, with net worth of 5.6 billion baht. The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) disclosed the net worth of a group of 80 MPs on Friday morning. Of the total, 79 reported the information on the occasion of assuming duty and the other when he left office. […]
Some more lumpy economic news for Thialand as the focus is on the monthly customs clearances to provide a compass for the country’s economy. Customs-cleared exports dropped in August 4 percent compared to the same month a year earlier. Exports unexpectedly rose in July, according to the commerce ministry today. The decline in August has […]
From today, an amendment to the Land Transport Act means traffic police can no longer confiscate driving licences. Police can still record the details of a driver’s licence but must then return it. The new system will also remove the risk of licences being lost while in the care of the police, as has happened […]
The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) has called on local governments not to ban their products especially the holiday favourite ham. The group fears possible impact of the ban on the country’s processed meat industry and to the livelihood of about 150,000 employees. They assure the public and local authorities that their products […]
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte just keeps getting bugged during his public speeches. A noisy gecko was the latest wildlife contributor to an address by Duterte, interrupting the leader on Thursday evening just as he launched another tirade at human rights groups critical of his bloody war on drugs. The reptile’s persistence caused laugher in the […]
The Philippines has detected its first case of polio since 2001, officials said Thursday, putting some of the blame on mistrust stoked by a dengue fever vaccine scandal. Health authorities said a three-year-old girl in a southern province had contracted polio, while the virus was also detected in Manila’s sewage and in waterways of the […]
The top North Korean negotiator on normalising ties with Japan said there has been no communication between the two governments since Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe in May began calling for a summit, according to a Japanese delegation that returned from Pyongyang on Thursday. Abe has voiced eagerness to meet with North Korean leader Kim […]
Major Japanese trading house Mitsubishi Corp said Friday it was carrying out an investigation after its Singapore-based subsidiary lost $320 million because of unauthorised trades by an employee. In a statement, the firm said the losses involved a local employee of Petro-Diamond Singapore who was hired “to handle its crude oil trade with China”. The […]
Apple Inc launched the iPhone 11 series Friday in Japan amid increased competition from other major handset manufacturers including those from China and South Korea. More than a hundred customers lined up in front of an Apple store in central Tokyo in the morning for the iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone Pro Max, two high-end […]
South Korea has advised the public to refrain from using liquid e-cigarettes, also known as vaping, due to vaping-related illnesses emerging in the United States, its health ministry said on Friday. “The US government is looking into the cause and effect of vaping and severe respiratory illness, and we advise the public to refrain the […]
Like a scene from an epic film, thousands of workers swarm over the building sites of Samjiyon, a monumental construction project in the far reaches of North Korea ordered by leader Kim Jong Un. They clamber over wooden scaffolding and dangle from window frames, and whether they are carrying loads, sifting sand or mixing concrete, […]
Japanese Trade minister Isshu Sugawara said on Friday that Tokyo would hold talks with Seoul over Japan’s move to tighten export controls to South Korea, agreeing to Seoul’s request for consultations as part of a dispute settlement through the World Trade Organisation. “We will make arrangements through diplomatic channels,” Sugawara told a news conference. Separately, […]
Pro-democracy protests that have roiled Hong Kong for more than three months are providing culinary inspiration for a restaurant that offers a themed menu with spicy wasabi-spiked “tear gas” eggs and a drink shaped like a bloodied eyeball. The drink, which refers to a gruesome injury suffered by a medic, is on offer along with […]
A former US Air Force pilot has been released on bail in the southern Chinese city of Guangzhou after “an item was found in his luggage before a commercial flight”, confirmed current employer FedEx in the latest incident involving the American courier service. According to The Wall Street Journal, former US Air Force colonel Todd […]
Amnesty International on Friday accused Hong Kong police of using excessive force against pro-democracy protesters, in some cases amounting to torture, criticising a “disturbing pattern of reckless and unlawful tactics”. In a report based on interviews with nearly two dozen activists, most of whom were hospitalised after their arrests, the global rights watchdog said the […]
Taiwan said on Friday it has cut official ties with the Pacific island nation of Kiribati, losing another ally amid Chinese pressure on nations with diplomatic relations with the self-ruled island. China claims Taiwan as its territory, and says the democratic island has no right to formal ties with any country. The Kiribati president’s office […]
China ‘appreciates’ the decision by the tiny Pacific island nation to resume diplomatic ties with Beijing. Taiwan and Kiribati severed ties on Friday after the tiny Pacific nation decided to switch diplomatic recognition to China, the second of the island’s allies to defect this week. “Kiribati today officially notified us that it was cutting diplomatic […]
Pacific nation changes allegiance to Beijing just days after Solomon Islands also cut ties with Taipei Taiwan has lost its second diplomatic ally in less than a week after the Pacific nation of Kiribati moved to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan and establish foreign relations with China. The decision comes after the Solomon Islands announced […]
The Ministry of Finance, bowing to strong opposition from steelmakers and industry experts, has abandoned a planned increase of the Most Favoured Nations import duty on hot-rolled coil (HRC) steel from 0 percent to 5 percent. The ministry included the duty increase in a draft government decree to prevent the potential influx of steel from […]
The State Bank of Vietnam (SBV)’s decision to reduce operating rates had true value with large balances reflected in banks’ financial statements, especially when entering the peak season. SBV just decided to reduce 0.25 percentage points of operating rates. Accordingly, the refinancing interest rate reduced from 6.25 percent per year to six percent per year. […]
Established in late 2018, the VIET works as an independent organisation studying activities related to the transition of the national energy system. Its main activity is hosting exchanges between scientists and policymakers in energy economy and climate protection to find appropriate policies for national energy development. Speaking at the launch ceremony, Chair of the VIET […]
