The Philippines has recalled its ambassador to Canada in an escalating row after Ottawa missed a deadline and failed to reclaim garbage shipped to Manila about six years ago, the country’s presidential spokesperson said. More than 100 containers filled with household waste believed to be recyclable plastic arrived in the Port of Manila between 2013-2014; […]
The US crackdown on Huawei has made the Chinese telecommunications giant the flashpoint in a monumental economic and technological showdown between the two superpowers that is testing allies of both. One day after the US moved to block Huawei from the US market and banned the export of US technology and materials to the company, […]
Iran’s Foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif is set to visit China on Friday for talks on “regional and international issues”, state news agency IRNA reported. Coming amid soaring tensions between Washington and Tehran, the visit would be an opportunity to discuss the 2015 nuclear deal from which the United States unilaterally withdrew a year ago, […]
Over the course of President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, the United Nations confirmed that Beijing has placed over 1 million Muslims in internment camps, The New York Times revealed that Chinese authorities are running the first artificial intelligence-powered effort to track minority citizens on the basis of race, and Chinese officials shifted from […]
White House says talks to focus on the North’s denuclearisation but Seoul’s statement refers to the Korean Peninsula. United States President Donald Trump will travel to South Korea next month for talks on the North Korean nuclear programme, the White House has said, in a visit that will take place months after a failed summit […]
A newly tested North Korean short-range ballistic missile appears to be a copy of an advanced Russian design that could greatly improve Pyongyang’s ability to evade US missile defense systems, according to US officials. President Donald Trump, who has sought unsuccessfully for the last year to persuade North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to give […]
Taiwan’s legislature is to vote on three same-sex marriage bills that could make the island the first place in Asia to allow legal partnerships between members of the same sex. The votes follow a ruling by the constitutional court that same-sex marriage must be legalised by Friday next week. One of the bills was drawn […]
Hong Kong democracy activist Joshua Wong, one of the student leaders of the 2014 Umbrella Movement, was sent back to prison Thursday after losing an appeal against a contempt of court conviction. Wong, 22, was sentenced to three months in prison in January 2018 for defying a court order to leave a demonstration site during […]
Air pollution in major regions of northern China increased during the first four months of 2019, the environment ministry said on Friday, raising fears that regions have eased curbs on industry to halt the smog amid concerns about a slowing economy. China is in the fifth year of a war on pollution aimed at allaying […]
The death toll in the collapse of a Shanghai commercial building that was undergoing renovation rose to 10 overnight after three more victims were added to the grim tally, the city government said Friday. About half of the low-rise building collapsed around midday on Thursday, crushing construction workers under piles of toppled concrete pillars and […]
A former South Korean vice justice minister has been arrested on allegations of bribery, including being provided with prostitutes by a construction contractor. Kim Hak-ui is a former prosecutor who briefly served as the number two at the justice ministry in 2013, during the administration of ousted former president Park Geun-hye. He is accused of […]
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday voiced concern over Hong Kong’s plans to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland as he met with the city’s pre-eminent pro-democracy leader. The top US diplomat discussed the controversial extradition bill during talks in Washington with a delegation headed by Martin Lee, a founder of Hong Kong’s […]
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 […]
Much of Vietnam’s illegal supply floods in from the lawless “Golden Triangle” zone that straddles Laos, Thailand and Myanmar Police in southern Vietnam have seized more than a tonne of methamphetamine after uncovering a smuggling operation involving at least two Taiwanese nationals and a Vietnamese man, the third massive bust in a week in the […]
Police in central Vietnam have seized more than half a tonne of methamphetamine in one of the largest drug busts in recent years in the communist country where synthetic drug use is on the rise. Four people were arrested after police stormed a house in central Nghe An province where they found 600 kilograms (1,300 […]
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, […]
The health ministry said today it will focus on eliminating mother-to-child transmission of Hepatitis B, after Malaysia became the first country in the Western Pacific to eradicate such transmissions in HIV and syphilis. Health minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said a few states will begin pilot programmes of targeted screening for Hepatitis B among pregnant mothers, after […]
Medical innovations lead to booming sector in Hong Kong HONG KONG, May 17, 2019 – (ACN Newswire) – Hong Kong is known around the world for its financial might, iconic skyline and international outlook. But it might not be long before the city is known for something totally outside its traditional realm: cutting-edge healthcare solutions. […]
TOKYO, May 17, 2019 – (JCN Newswire) – NTT DOCOMO, INC. announced that it has developed a blimp-style drone that is propelled safely through the air with ultrasonic vibrations, offering promising applications in homes, concert halls and other indoor spaces. Unlike conventional drones that require propellers and sometimes wings, DOCOMO’s propellerless and wingless drone blimp […]
TOKYO, May 17, 2019 – (JCN Newswire) – Eisai Co., Ltd. announced today that Eisai has received approval from “Science Based Targets (SBT) Initiative” for Eisai’s mid and long-term targets for greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction. “SBT Initiative” is an international joint initiative by CDP which is an international NGO operating information disclosure program related to […]
The Cambodian teenager who became an internet star in November for hawking souvenirs in several languages has enrolled in a private middle school in east China’s Zhejiang province and wants to go to a top university in Beijing. Thuch Salik, 14, was greeted with song and dance by students from Zhejiang Hailiang Foreign Language School […]
Southeast Asia is in the grip of a fresh surge of paedophile activity with predators orchestrating and watching abuse on live-streaming sites and via webcams, and paying for it with near-untraceable cryptocurrency, victims and children’s charities warn. With widespread poverty, lax laws, and creaking judicial systems, Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, and the Philippines have long […]
Bangladeshi police shot dead two suspected Rohingya human traffickers, officials said Wednesday, after rescuing 103 refugees in two days about to make the perilous sea voyage to Malaysia. The two Rohingya men were killed outside a refugee camp in the southeast on Tuesday evening, said Prodip Kumar Das, police chief of Teknaf which borders Myanmar. […]
Over the course of President Donald Trump’s trade war with China, the United Nations confirmed that Beijing has placed over 1 million Muslims in internment camps, The New York Times revealed that Chinese authorities are running the first artificial intelligence-powered effort to track minority citizens on the basis of race, and Chinese officials shifted from […]
The US crackdown on Huawei has made the Chinese telecommunications giant the flashpoint in a monumental economic and technological showdown between the two superpowers that is testing allies of both. One day after the US moved to block Huawei from the US market and banned the export of US technology and materials to the company, […]
Financial markets have recoiled at the recent deterioration of US-China trade negotiations. Of course, protectionism itself is hardly a new thing; it has been a central economic theme over the past year and was a key element of President Trump’s campaign platform before that. Some of the American motivation to rewrite trade deals is based […]
Malaysia is ranked the third highest-ranking Muslim-majority country in this year’s global Islamicity Index which measures a society’s adherence to Quranic teachings and Prophet Muhammad’s practices. The country’s performance however slid to 47th out of 153 nations worldwide in 2018 compared to 43rd place in the year before. Malaysia ranked just below the United Arab […]
Three militants inspired by the Islamic State group have been arrested in Malaysia, accused of planning attacks on non-Muslim places of worship in the country and neighbouring Indonesia, police said Thursday. The suspects are thought to have links to a wider IS-inspired cell, some of whose members were detained last week in Malaysia. Malaysia and […]
Finance minister’s political secretary Tony Pua today rubbished Datuk Seri Najib Razak’s claims that the government’s RM4 billion bond issuance directly increases the national debt. In a statement today, the Damansara MP said that the bond issuance is part of the government’s normal and transparent operations to manage the fiscal deficit stemming from government expenditures. […]
Domestic worker Adelina Sau’s case highlights the injustices suffered by migrant workers, activists say. Malaysia’s attorney general office has assured Indonesia’s government that it will appeal a recent court decision to acquit a Malaysian employer after her Indonesian domestic worker died after being physically abused in February 2018. Ambika MA Shan, 61, was cleared of […]
A small Islamic school in Indonesia is providing a safe haven for the marginalised transgender community to pray during the holy month of Ramadan, its founder said on Thursday, calling for wider acceptance of LGBT+ people. Muslims around the world are observing the month-long Ramadanwhich began in early Maywith fasting from dawn to dusk and […]
Prabowo firm on rejecting election results as current tally has him losing to Jokowi again Presidential hopeful Prabowo Subianto’s vehement insistence on rejecting the upcoming election resultson grounds of alleged vote-riggingcould thrust Indonesia into a tense political stand-off, which some fear may lead to civil unrest in the world’s third-largest democracy. Prabowo, who ran against […]
Singapore urged the US to allow China to have a greater say in shaping global rules to avoid a prolonged clash that could force smaller countries to choose between the world’s biggest economies. Speaking to an audience in Washington on Wednesday, Foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan said it won’t work to view China as an adversary […]
Singapore Airlines Ltd on Thursday (May 16) reported its highest-ever annual revenue on a jump in passengers, though higher fuel costs nearly halved its profit. Revenue rose 3.3 per cent to S$16.32 billion for the year ended March 31, as the number of passengers it carried jumped 7.2 per cent. Passenger load factor for the […]
Details of more than 4,200 individuals who registered their interest in making blood donations on the Singapore Red Cross (SRC) website were accessed without authorisation on 8 May, the SRC said in a media statement on Thursday (16 May). SRC said that the compromised information of the 4,297 affected individuals includes their names, contact numbers, […]
This story is part of Forbes’ coverage of Thailand’s Richest 2019. See the full coverage here. Petch Osathanugrah is a walking, talking advertisement for M-150, the energy drink his family’s company Osotspa sells and that is No. 1 in Thailand by sales. At 64, there seems little Petch hasn’t already done: A once chart-topping rocker, […]
Critics have urged Thailand’s military government to reconsider the award of a $7.1 billion high-speed rail contract to a consortium led by the kingdom’s richest family, just days before a new parliament is set to convene. The military regime, which has ruled since a 2014 coup, has faced criticism for a lack of transparency in […]
Thailand’s four new LGBT+ members of parliament have prompted the house to relax its gender-based dress code, in a small victory for the ground-breaking politicians who have vowed to push for greater LGBT+ rights in the country. On their first day in parliament on Monday after elections in March, the four newly elected MPs of […]
The recent midterm election in the Philippines drastically enhanced the president’s power. Although President Rodrigo Duterte’s name was not on the ballot in the May 13 midterm elections in the Philippines, the vote served as a referendum on his disruptive and unorthodox leadership. Over the past three years, the controversial Filipino leader has defied practically […]
The Philippines has recalled its ambassador to Canada in an escalating row after Ottawa missed a deadline and failed to reclaim garbage shipped to Manila about six years ago, the country’s presidential spokesperson said. More than 100 containers filled with household waste believed to be recyclable plastic arrived in the Port of Manila between 2013-2014; […]
The Philippine government said Wednesday that Canada had not met a deadline set by Manila for taking back tonnes of garbage that Ottawa exported to the Southeast Asian country, but it expected the trash to be shipped out within three weeks. President Rodrigo Duterte had earlier berated the Canadians about the trash, giving them until […]
Nissan is launching a more advanced driver-assistance feature in Japan that will allow drivers to take their hands off the wheel during certain highway-driving situations, the company announced Thursday. Nissan ProPilot 2.0 will be introduced on the Japanese-market Skyline this fall. It’s described as for “on-ramp to off-ramp” highway driving. The technology is much more […]
Increased data bandwidth might be the best-known advantage of 5G cellular technology, but new 5G networks will also support billions of newly connected devices, ranging from cars to internet of things sensors each with their own telephone number. With its 5G rollout just around the corner, Japan is preparing for a surge in demand for […]
To the rest of the world, Lexus is Toyota’s luxury brand. But in its home country, Toyota’s top model is known by another nameCentury. Ever since 1967, Japan’s only chauffeur-driven automobile has displayed the highest level of craftsmanship, comfort, and luxury seen in a Toyota car. The third generation of the Century has been unveiled […]
White House says talks to focus on the North’s denuclearisation but Seoul’s statement refers to the Korean Peninsula. United States President Donald Trump will travel to South Korea next month for talks on the North Korean nuclear programme, the White House has said, in a visit that will take place months after a failed summit […]
Impoverished North Korea is suffering its worst drought in decades and food supplies are reportedly running low, but South Korea’s push to provide aid is bogged down in the growing tension marked by missile tests and sanctions crackdowns.South Korea is seeking to send food directly to the North while scaling up donations to international agencies […]
Trump is wrong about the value of the Washington-Seoul alliance. At a political rally in Florida on May 8, President Donald Trump went on a riff about an unnamed countryclearly South Koreathat he believes does not adequately share in the costs of its military alliance with the United States. The quote: “[We] lose $4.5 billion […]
A doctor accused of mistakenly removing a patient’s spleen has claimed he acted correctly to save the woman’s life. The urologist, whose surname is Teoh, denied the operation was a medical blunder despite the Department of Health describing the organ as wrongly extracted. He told the Post it was incorrectly listed as a mistake because […]
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday voiced concern over Hong Kong’s plans to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland as he met with the city’s pre-eminent pro-democracy leader. The top US diplomat discussed the controversial extradition bill during talks in Washington with a delegation headed by Martin Lee, a founder of Hong Kong’s […]
A major road linking Hong Kong’s new border crossing to Shenzhen will open to traffic this month, with the HK$33.7 billion Liantang-Heung Yuen Wai control point also expected to open by the end of the year. The Heung Yuen Wai Highway, which connects the new border control point with the Fanling Highway, is expected to […]
Taiwanese in Brussels, Rome and several other European cities, as well as Sydney in Australia took to the streets Thursday to protest Taiwan’s exclusion from the upcoming annual World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva. Dubbed “Walk with Taiwan” and organised by Taiwan’s representative offices overseas, the events brought together overseas Taiwanese to show support for […]
Taiwan’s parliament legalised same-sex marriage on Friday in a landmark first for Asia as the government survived a last-minute attempt by conservatives to pass watered-down legislation. Lawmakers comfortably passed a bill allowing same-sex couples to form “exclusive permanent unions” and another clause that would let them apply for a “marriage registration” with government agencies. The […]
Taiwan became the first place in Asia to legalise same-sex marriage on Friday, as thousands of demonstrators outside parliament cheered and waved rainbow flags, despite deep divisions over marriage equality. Lawmakers from the majority Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) backed the bill, which passed 66 to 27, though the measure could complicate President Tsai Ing-wen’s bid […]
Many Vietnamese enterprises are keeping a close eye on the escalating US-China trade war and have expressed concern about its possible adverse impact on their business. The US recently raised tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese products to 25 per cent from 10 per cent and has started the process of slapping tariffs on […]
On May 15, the State Bank of Vietnam (SBV) published a report summarising the results of the national risk assessment on money laundering and terrorist financing in Vietnam in the period of 20122017. According to the report, after considering the current trend and techniques of money laundering, money and property created by criminals and the […]
French supermarket chain Auchan Retail plans to withdraw from Vietnam after nearly five years of operation in the local market, the local media reported. From June 2, Auchan Retail will begin shutting down most of its supermarkets in the country. Auchan has terminated its employment contracts with most of its workers in Vietnam, who received […]
