“Back off,” Transport minister Khaw Boon Wan asserted in a stern message to Malaysia yesterday amidst tensions over Malaysian vessels trespassing into Singapore’s territorial waters for the past two weeks. “Leave our waters while we pursue sit-down dialogues to resolve it,” he said in a media briefing yesterday, expressing displeasure about the 14 intrusions Malaysian […]
Fleeing Rohingya Muslims sold ration books to help pay hundreds of dollars to traffickers in order to flee squalid Myanmar camps by boat, only to be stopped at sea and forced back destitute, the refugees told AFP on Friday. Images of hungry and thirsty refugees huddled on boats have stirred memories of a 2015 crisis, […]
Thousands of vulnerable women and girls from northern Myanmar are being trafficked to China and forced to marry, a study said Friday, offering a rare look at an issue that grips the conflict-hit borderlands. China has around 33 million fewer women than men due to the decades-long one-child policy. To plug the gap, tens of […]
But Umno-PAS rally to celebrate Icerd climbdown will proceed A mass gathering in Malaysia to celebrate human rights today has been postponed at the eleventh hour amid security concerns, as another rally takes place in Kuala Lumpur on the same day. Malaysia’s Human Rights Commission (Suhakam) said yesterday that the celebration, at which Malaysian prime […]
The Philippines will buy 16 Black Hawk helicopters from the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp for $240 million, shunning cheaper Russian equipment due to US sanctions on Russian military exports, the Philippine defence chief said on Friday. The Philippines had initially agreed to buy 16 Bell 412 helicopters from Canada but the deal was scrapped in February […]
Defence minister Ng Eng Hen has warned Malaysian government vessels to leave Singapore territorial waters, in his first public comments on the bilateral maritime spat. In a post on his Facebook page on Friday (7 December), Dr Ng said that the Republic of Singapore Navy and Police Coast Guard ships have patrolled Singapore territorial waters […]
The Singapore government does not agree with Malaysia’s proposal for both countries to cease and desist from sending assets into the disputed maritime area, the Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Friday night (7 December). The MFA was responding to the proposal by Malaysian Foreign Affairs minister Saifuddin Abdullah on Friday for the […]
The Malaysian government has proposed to Singapore for both countries to stop sending assets into the “disputed” maritime area amid the ongoing bilateral spat over territorial boundaries. In a statement on Friday (7 December), Malaysian Foreign Affairs minister Saifuddin Abdullah suggested, through the Singaporean High Commissioner in Kuala Lumpur, for the two countries to observe […]
Japan’s military looks to raise spending over the next five years in response to security challenges and to narrow Japan’s trade surplus with the United States by buying US equipment, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday. The Ministry of Defence looks to spend at least 27 trillion yen ($240 billion) between April 2019 and […]
Chinese telecom giant Huawei’s chief financial officer faces US fraud charges related to sanctions-breaking business dealings with Iran, a Canadian court heard Friday, a week after she was detained on an American extradition request. Meng Wanzhou, 46, was arrested in Canada’s Pacific coast city of Vancouver on December 1 while changing planes during a trip […]
North Korea’s foreign minister said his country remains committed to ending its nuclear weapons programme in talks Friday with his Chinese counterpart, according to China’s foreign ministry. The talks in Beijing between Ri Yong Ho and Wang Yi came amid a lack of progress in international efforts to persuade North Korea to reverse its drive […]
The Huawei controversy dominated a high-level meeting in Beijing between Australia and China, in the wake of the dramatic arrest of Huawei executive heiress Meng Wanzhou. Prime minister Scott Morrisonthe fifth prime minister in five yearsis yet to visit Beijing, but has said he wanted to emulate Howard’s approach of working with both China and […]
Vietnam has set up a telephone hotline for people to report accusations of police corruption, state media said on Tuesday, amid a crackdown on graft in the Southeast Asian country that has jailed dozens of officials. A court last Friday sentenced two senior police officials to up to 10 years in prison for running an […]
Nine drug smugglers were sentenced to death in Vietnam on Friday for selling methamphetamine and heroin in a country with some of the toughest drug laws in the world. Heroin has long been the drug of choice among users in Vietnam, mostly older men, but synthetic drugs use is on the rise especially among a […]
Dozens of people, including two former top cops, were convicted in Vietnam Friday in connection with a $420 million online gambling ring run by the official in charge of policing internet betting. The gambling racket is the largest online ring ever busted in communist Vietnam, where most gambling is banned for locals though black market […]
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 […]
China has confirmed the first human case of H7N4 bird flu, prompting Hong Kong to issue a health warning for those travelling to the mainland during the busy Lunar New Year holiday. The strain was identified in a 68-year-old woman from the eastern province of Jiangsu who was admitted to hospital after falling ill on […]
Presenting JUST AROUND THE CORNER TOKYO, Dec 7, 2018 – (JCN Newswire) – Light Work Artist MASARU OZAKI’s latest work JUST AROUND THE CORNER will be presented at Art Miami 2018 in December, at a booth represented by Yufuku Gallery. MASARU OZAKI is an artist who captures energy, emotion, and the beauty which is present […]
Newly developed predictive simulation technology discovers the causes of congestion throughout an airport in a matter of minutes, providing effective suggestions for alleviation TOKYO, Dec 7, 2018 – (JCN Newswire) – Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd. and Professor Shingo Takahashi of the Department of Industrial and Management Systems Engineering at Waseda University today announced the development of […]
TOKYO, Dec 7, 2018 – (JCN Newswire) – In conjunction with the capital-related measures affecting its Group company Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation (Mitsubishi Aircraft) described in the Press Information of October 31, 2018 (“MHI Increases Capital in Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation”), Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) has canceled 50 billion yen of the total debt owed to […]
Fleeing Rohingya Muslims sold ration books to help pay hundreds of dollars to traffickers in order to flee squalid Myanmar camps by boat, only to be stopped at sea and forced back destitute, the refugees told AFP on Friday. Images of hungry and thirsty refugees huddled on boats have stirred memories of a 2015 crisis, […]
“Back off,” Transport minister Khaw Boon Wan asserted in a stern message to Malaysia yesterday amidst tensions over Malaysian vessels trespassing into Singapore’s territorial waters for the past two weeks. “Leave our waters while we pursue sit-down dialogues to resolve it,” he said in a media briefing yesterday, expressing displeasure about the 14 intrusions Malaysian […]
Thousands of vulnerable women and girls from northern Myanmar are being trafficked to China and forced to marry, a study said Friday, offering a rare look at an issue that grips the conflict-hit borderlands. China has around 33 million fewer women than men due to the decades-long one-child policy. To plug the gap, tens of […]
Chinese brothers bought drugs from cancer patients to sell on the street Ten people have been arrested in east China on suspicion of buying drugs prescribed by hospital doctors to cancer patients and selling them on the street, according to a local newspaper report. The gang, which was based in Jiangsu province, was headed by […]
China launched a rover early Saturday destined to land on the far side of the moon, a global first that would boost Beijing’s ambitions to become a space superpower, state media said. The Chang’e-4 lunar probe missionnamed after the moon goddess in Chinese mythologylaunched on a Long March 3B rocket from the southwestern Xichang launch […]
The Huawei controversy dominated a high-level meeting in Beijing between Australia and China, in the wake of the dramatic arrest of Huawei executive heiress Meng Wanzhou. Prime minister Scott Morrisonthe fifth prime minister in five yearsis yet to visit Beijing, but has said he wanted to emulate Howard’s approach of working with both China and […]
As a youngster growing up on a dairy farm in Perry County, Thomas Gabel’s world didn’t extend beyond the borders of Pennsylvania. “It was hard for me to imagine making a road trip a couple states over, let alone boarding a plane and travelling to another country,” said Gabel, now a freshman majoring in agricultural […]
For long-time PAS man Mohd Fazil Abdullah, missing a huge rally in Kuala Lumpur is a big no-no. The Islamist party’s Indera Mahkota information chief has been attending every major rally in the city since the first Bersih one and makes it a point to be part of his party’s support for such movements and […]
Malaysians in France have been advised to register with the Malaysian embassy following renewed rioting by “Gilets Jaunes” (yellow vest) protesters in the capital and other cities. The Malaysian Embassy in Paris released a Demonstration Alert on Facebook early Saturday (December 8) in response to demonstrations planned for the day. “Malaysians are advised to constantly […]
Indonesia’s government as well its palm oil producers have expressed concern that Norway may have set a precedent by becoming the first country in the world to exclude biofuels derived from deforestation. The move by the Norwegian Parliament on Tuesday (December 4) will have a negligible impact on exports from Indonesia, which is the world’s […]
Indonesian security forces stepped up the grim search for victims of a massacre by suspected separatist rebels in restive Papua province, having retrieved 16 corpses so far, the military said. The fatalities, believed to be of construction workers, mark the deadliest bout of violence in years to hit a region wracked by a low-level independence […]
Three propositions identifying three different cities as potential new capitals, all in the Indonesian state of Kalimantan, now sit on the president’s desk. Indonesia wants to move its capital, wholesale, to a city on the island of Borneo. That was the surprise confirmation made by a senior Jakarta official during a panel session I attended […]
The Singapore government does not agree with Malaysia’s proposal for both countries to cease and desist from sending assets into the disputed maritime area, the Republic’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) said on Friday night (7 December). The MFA was responding to the proposal by Malaysian Foreign Affairs minister Saifuddin Abdullah on Friday for the […]
Defence minister Ng Eng Hen has warned Malaysian government vessels to leave Singapore territorial waters, in his first public comments on the bilateral maritime spat. In a post on his Facebook page on Friday (7 December), Dr Ng said that the Republic of Singapore Navy and Police Coast Guard ships have patrolled Singapore territorial waters […]
Singapore has rejected Malaysia’s call for both countries to stop sending assets into an area of the Republic’s waters off Tuas which Kuala Lumpur recently laid claim to. Malaysian government vessels that have encroached into Singapore’s territorial waters must leave the area immediately, the Republic added. “Singapore remains ready to discuss this issue with Malaysia […]
Millions of people worldwide were transfixed by the real-world Mission: Impossible playing out in the north of Thailand for two fraught weeks in June and July this year. Just outside the town of Mae Sai, in the northern Chiang Rai province, 12 boys from the Wild Boars junior soccer team had been taken by their […]
A Cambodian labour activist faces deportation from Thailand back to Cambodia over his role in making a documentary about sex trafficking that angered the Cambodian government, which dismissed it as fake, his wife said on Friday. The ruling party of Cambodia’s prime minister, Hun Sen, has waged a crackdown against what it says are critics […]
A Thai court will rule next week on a request by Bahrain to extradite a former national team footballer, an immigration official said Friday, as FIFA urged his release back to Australia where he has refugee status. Hakeem Alaraibi was stopped by Thai immigration on November 27 after arriving in Bangkok from Australia for a […]
The Philippines will buy 16 Black Hawk helicopters from the Sikorsky Aircraft Corp for $240 million, shunning cheaper Russian equipment due to US sanctions on Russian military exports, the Philippine defence chief said on Friday. The Philippines had initially agreed to buy 16 Bell 412 helicopters from Canada but the deal was scrapped in February […]
A Philippines crackdown on suspected illegal recruiters has netted three people who promised scores of domestic workers jobs in Hong Kong, leaving victims waiting for refunds worth thousands of pesos. A pre-trial hearing of the case involving Arlene Tabunot, Aaron Coronado and Robert Coronado was held on Tuesday. The suspects were caught by the main […]
The Philippine central bank is widely expected to keep interest rates steady on Thursday with inflation seen easing further after it slowed to a four-month low in November, a Reuters poll showed. Eleven out of 13 analysts polled expect the central bank to leave the overnight reverse repurchase rate PHCBIR=ECI at 4.75 percent, after hikes […]
Japan’s military looks to raise spending over the next five years in response to security challenges and to narrow Japan’s trade surplus with the United States by buying US equipment, the Nikkei business daily reported on Saturday. The Ministry of Defence looks to spend at least 27 trillion yen ($240 billion) between April 2019 and […]
Jobs in Japan After centuries of actively trying to keep foreigners out, Japan is being forced into accepting hundreds of thousands more workers from abroad. The Diet, the country’s parliament, is set to pass new legislation that will drastically increase the number of low-skill, low-wage workers allowed into the country, bowing to the inescapable pressure […]
Japan, in a major policy shift, enacted on Saturday a law to let in more foreign, blue-collar workers to ease a labour shortage, despite criticism it was too hastily crafted and risked exposing the workers to exploitation. Immigration has long been taboo in a country where many prize ethnic homogeneity, but the shrinking, ageing population […]
A KTX bullet train en route to Seoul derailed shortly after departing from Gangneung with 198 passengers aboard on Saturday (December 8), South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported the operator as saying. No casualities were reported and 14 passengers suffering from minor injuries were transferred to nearby hospitals. An official from Korea Railroad Corp (Korail) […]
North Korea’s foreign minister said his country remains committed to ending its nuclear weapons programme in talks Friday with his Chinese counterpart, according to China’s foreign ministry. The talks in Beijing between Ri Yong Ho and Wang Yi came amid a lack of progress in international efforts to persuade North Korea to reverse its drive […]
Lined up in vividly-coloured costumes, make-up and bright smiles, the children of the Sinuiju City Kindergarten belted out the finale of their hour-long show, “We Cannot Live Without You, Father”an ode to Kim Jong Un. The five- and six-year-olds’ previous number, “The Voice of My Heart”, lauded the Workers’ Party of Korea, which has ruled […]
Experts and domestic workers are calling for Hong Kong authorities to investigate the local partners of three suspected illegal recruiters who were arrested in the Philippines last week. Arlene Tabunot, Aaron Coronado and Robert Coronado were detained in their home country after eight victims filed formal complaints with Philippine authorities. A pre-trial hearing took place […]
Canadian authorities said Friday that the US government believes a senior executive of a Chinese telecom giant lied about her ties to a Hong Kong company that tried to circumvent trade sanctions against Iran. The revelation came during a bail hearing for Meng Wanzhou, chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, who was arrested in the […]
A Philippines crackdown on suspected illegal recruiters has netted three people who promised scores of domestic workers jobs in Hong Kong, leaving victims waiting for refunds worth thousands of pesos. A pre-trial hearing of the case involving Arlene Tabunot, Aaron Coronado and Robert Coronado was held on Tuesday. The suspects were caught by the main […]
Acclaimed Taiwanese director Doze Niu has been accused of sexually assaulting a female crew member working on his latest film, “Pao Ma”. The alleged assault happened following a meeting at Niu’s home in Taipei when other guests had left, according to Taiwan’s United Daily News. A friend accompanied the woman to a hospital after the […]
Uruguay has decided to suspend its visa-free treatment for Taiwan passport holders due to technical issues, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said Thursday. The suspension was decided less than two months after Uruguay included Taiwan in its visa-waiver programme, with the South American country saying that it had halted the preferential treatment to Taiwan […]
Taiwan’s government on Thursday strongly protested Cambodia’s decision to deport 46 Republic of China (Taiwan) citizens, arrested last month for their alleged involvement in telecommunications fraud, to China earlier that day. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spokesman Andrew Lee said the 46 Taiwanese were among 235 suspects arrested in Cambodia on November 26. After […]
* Bui Xuan Huy, general director of No Va Investment Group Corporation (NVL), has registered to buy 36.1 million NVL shares, including two million shares in an employee stock ownership plan and 34.1 million shares via matching or put-through deals from December 7 to December 31. If successful, Huy’s stake in the property company would […]
Vietnam-Mexico two-way trade reached nearly $5 billion in 2017 and hit $3 billion USD in the first eight months of 2018, Vietnamese Ambassador to Mexico Nguyen Hoai Duong has stated. The diplomat was speaking at a seminar on the Vietnam-Mexico relations, held on December 5 by the Vietnamese Embassy in Mexico and the International Studies […]
Vietcombank (VCB) has recently announced it sold a large number of Military Bank (MBB) and Eximbank (EIB) shares on the stock markets to reduce its ownership ratios at the banks to 5 per cent in each as regulated by the central bank. Accordingly, VCB sold 23.7 million MBB shares from November 16 to 30, reducing […]
