SINGAPORE – A confrontation between two men at a Geylang coffee shop escalated into a fight that ended with rag-and-bone man Toh Sia Guan running away from the scene and losing a slipper in his retreat. Toh, 64, then went straight to a nearby budget shop, bought a pair of slippers and a knife. About […]
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s central bank held rates at an all-time low of 1% on Tuesday as it weighed the impact of past easing, though markets are wagering the tide of policy stimulus sweeping the world will compel it to cut again before year-end. The Reserve Bank of Australia’s (RBA) quarter-point cuts in June and […]
ISLAMABAD (DAWN/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – It was Hari Singh, the erstwhile ruler of Kashmir, who originally granted the special status to Kashmiris in their homeland in 1927. He did so at the behest of Kashmiri Pandits, the Hindu elite at the time in the Muslim-majority state. Subsequently, with the arrival of adult franchise and progressive […]
BEIJING (AFP) – China’s ruling Communist Party signalled its firm support on Tuesday (Aug 6) for Hong Kong’s embattled leader as she struggles to contain increasingly violent anti-government unrest. The two-month crisis has become the biggest threat to Beijing’s rule of the semi-autonomous southern Chinese city since its handover from the British in 1997. One […]
TAMIL NADU, INDIA (REUTERS) – In this southern Indian village, these abandoned fishing nets are the catch of the day. Because this piece of trash usually harmful to marine life, can get a new life recycled into a surfboard. This is all part of a project by a company called DSM. “What we do is, […]
Indian-administered Kashmir remains in a state of lockdown a day after it was stripped of special status that gave it significant autonomy. Landlines, mobiles and internet, which were cut off on Sunday evening, are yet to be restored even as tens of thousands of troops patrol the streets. The revocation of special status was expected […]
TOKYO (Reuters) – The offshore yuan managed to come off an all-time low on Tuesday after Beijing appeared to take steps to prevent the currency from sliding further, following a sharp drop that prompted the U.S. government to label China a currency manipulator. The yen slumped against major currencies as China’s response in the trade […]
PETALING JAYA (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – Malaysia will call on Asean member countries to take proactive measures to avoid trans-boundary haze during a two-day meeting in Brunei beginning Tuesday (Aug 6). In a statement,the Energy,Science,Technology,Environment and Climate Change Ministry said Malaysia wanted concerted efforts taken in accordance with the Asean Agreement on Trans-boundary Haze […]
Malaysia’s move to introduce Arabic script in the Malay language syllabus for primary school has upset non-Malay groups and stirred fears of growing Islamisation in the racially diverse country. Tamil and Chinese educationist groups said yesterday they would meet Deputy Education Minister Teo Nie Ching on the plan to teach Malay-Arabic calligraphy – also known […]
While Pol Pot has gone down in history alongside Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin and Mao Zedong as one of the most murderous leaders of the 20th Century, his right-hand man is less known. But Nuon Chea, the mysterious “Brother Number Two” of the Khmer Rouge ultra-communists, was just as vital a cog within the regime’s […]