NEW DELHI (AFP) – An Indian politician who posted a picture of Prime Minister Narendra Modi with a begging bowl on Facebook has been arrested, police said on Monday (Jan 28), in the latest example of what critics say is a clampdown on free speech. It follows more than a dozen similar arrests last year […]
TOKYO (Reuters) – Nissan Motor Co Ltd said on Monday it was the target of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inquiry, widening a scandal involving the Japanese firm and its ousted Chairman Carlos Ghosn over his alleged financial misconduct. Ghosn, first arrested on Nov. 19 in Japan, has been charged with failing to […]
SINGAPORE – A teenage boy went online and pretended to be two different female sex workers, duping 16 men of $3,200 when they tried to engage the women’s services. Polytechnic student Lee Chao Hunt, 19, pleaded guilty in court on Monday (Jan 28) to five cheating charges. They involve five victims who had transferred more […]
NEW DELHI (REUTERS) – Desperate for five more years in power, India’s Hindu nationalist government will woo rural and urban middle-class voters with farm relief measures and tax cuts, said officials privy to plans for the final budget before a general election. Stung by opposition victories in three state polls last month, and needing to […]
BEIJING (AFP) – Chinese state-run media on Monday (Jan 28) decried the sacking of Canada’s ambassador to Beijing, who was fired after he suggested that it would be “great” for Ottawa to release a detained Huawei executive. The former envoy, John McCallum, had raised eyebrows over a series of remarks regarding the case of Huawei’s […]
SHAH ALAM (AFP) – The trial of two women accused of murdering the North Korean leader’s half-brother Kim Jong Nam was adjourned on Monday (Jan 28) until March, and the case will now drag on until at least mid-2019. Siti Aisyah from Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam have been on trial since October […]
JAKARTA (THE JAKARTA POST/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) – More than 100 people have died of dengue fever in Indonesia this month, the country’s Health Ministry said. The largest number of fatalities was recorded in East Java province, where it claimed 41 lives, while 13 people died of the disease in North Sulawesi and 12 in East […]
A memorial is being held for a New Zealander who spent most of his life as a loving partner, caring father and an icon of the LGBT community. Thomas the goose died 6 February at almost 40 years old and is being buried beside his partner on Saturday. “Thomas has been such an iconic and […]
BANGKOK (AFP) – A member of Thailand’s most popular all-girl band has apologised for wearing a shirt with a Nazi flag featuring a swastika, after her TV appearance on Friday (Jan 27) drew “shock and dismay” from the Israeli embassy. Images of Hitler, swastikas and other Nazi regalia are fairly commonplace on T-shirts and memorabilia […]
MANILA (AFP) – At least 17 people were killed as two bombs hit a church on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, the military said on Sunday (Jan 27), just days after a regional vote for a new Muslim autonomous region. The first blast occurred inside the Catholic church on war-torn […]