BEIJING (AFP) – A Chinese hotel built around a central polar bear enclosure for the non-stop viewing pleasure of its guests opened on Friday (March 12) to immediate condemnation from conservationists. At “Harbin Polar Land” in northeastern China, the hotel bedrooms’ windows face onto the bears’ pen, with visitors told the animals are their “neighbours […]

Hi all,  In today’s bulletin: Quad summit, high diplomacy signal US’s Asia priorities; China’s plans for HK electoral reform pilloried; Kerala a victim of its own success in pandemic fight; Jokowi’s ‘hate foreign products’ remarks confuse investors; How ready is Japan for the next ‘big one’ after Fukushima disaster; and more.  Reading this on the web […]

SINGAPORE – Teachers and trainers providing education for the elderly have been given a set of guidelines to help seniors learn better. They are based on the theory of geragogy, which says older adult learners require a different approach to pick up skills and knowledge effectively. Launched on Friday (March 12), the guidelines were developed […]

SINGAPORE – Working for a man involved in an illicit money-changing trade, a courier who helped to physically bring cash totalling $418,000 into Singapore decided to stage a robbery and keep the money for himself. Another man, whom the courier engaged to pose as a robber, pleaded guilty in a district court on Friday (March […]

BEIJING (BLOOMBERG) – China blasted US President Joe Biden’s administration for imposing new restrictions on national tech champion Huawei Technologies, saying the US “isn’t a reliable country that is to be trusted”. The US informed some Huawei suppliers of tighter conditions on previously approved export licences, prohibiting items for use in or with 5G devices, […]

KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysian police chief Abdul Hamid Bador on Friday (March 12) warned against organising street protests following a court decision on the “Allah” issue. He said this after Umno supreme council member Razlan Rafii remarked that Muslims were ready to go to the streets if the government does not file an appeal against Wednesday’s […]

SEOUL (REUTERS) – South Korea will suspend defence exchanges with Myanmar and ban arms exports to the country after a military coup and violent suppression of pro-democracy protests, the foreign ministry said on Friday (March 12). The ministry also said Seoul would limit exports of other strategic items, reconsider development aid and grant humanitarian exemptions […]

BANGKOK (REUTERS) – If the bets of Thailand’s farmed cannabis promoters pay off, Thais could soon be chowing down on hempburgers, washed down with cannabis-derived drinks, before freshening up with shower gel and toothpaste infused with a compound from the plant. Far from a pipe dream, a wide range of Thai firms are investing in […]

TOKYO (AFP) – Japan said Friday (March 12) Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga will meet President Joe Biden in the United States next month, becoming the first foreign leader to hold face-to-face talks with him. “If various circumstances allow, Prime Minister Suga will visit the US as early as the first half of April,” top government […]

SEOUL (THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) -Watching the worsening turmoil in Myanmar, where the death toll from the brutal police control rises day by day, South Koreans see flashbacks of their own streets four decades ago. Pro-democracy demonstrators were killed by the hundreds in the rebellious city of Gwangju and in the capital, Seoul, until […]