Tuesday, 23 Apr 2024

Asia

Asia News – Get latest breaking news & top stories today in Asia, South-East Asia, South Asia, East Asia, Australia/New Zealand at…

Former India navy officer refuses to appeal spying death sentence in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AFP) – A former Indian naval officer on death row in Pakistan for alleged spying has refused to lodge an appeal against his conviction, an official said on Wednesday (July 8), and will try for a military pardon instead. Kulbhushan Sudhir Jadhav was arrested in 2016 in Pakistan’s restive southwestern province of Balochistan – […]

IMF must 'tune up' its lending instruments for poorest countries: Georgieva

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The International Monetary Fund has provided emergency financing to 72 of the world’s poorest countries to help them deal with the coronavirus pandemic, but must further improve its lending instruments for low-income countries, IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said on Wednesday. Georgieva told an online debt conference that emerging markets with strong […]

Brussels approves Germany's coronavirus crisis fund: ministries

BERLIN (Reuters) – The European Commission has given its approval for Germany’s proposed Economic Stabilisation Fund, the economy and finance ministries in Berlin said on Wednesday. In a statement, they said that the European Commission had approved the key framework for the fund, meaning that recapitalisation measures of up to 250 million euros ($282 million) […]

Trump envoy says US is ready to resume talks with North Korea

Stephen Biegun plays down hopes for meetings with N Korean officials during Seoul visit, but says US is ready for talks. The United States is ready to resume stalled nuclear negotiations with North Korea, Washington’s envoy to Pyongyang said on Wednesday, rejecting reports he was seeking to meet North Korean officials during his ongoing visit […]

Many banking online during pandemic and will continue to do so after: Survey

SINGAPORE – Many have been banking online during the pandemic and will continue to do so after, according to a survey conducted by personal finance website SingSaver. The survey, which analysed 1,000 responses from Singaporeans and permanent residents aged 18 and above, set out to understand how Covid-19 will change financial habits and affect personal […]

China's June passenger car sales down 6.5% year-on-year: CPCA

BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s passenger car sales in June fell 6.5% year on year to 1.68 million units, the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) said on Wednesday. Retail sales were in line with expectations and signalled a continuing recovery in the passenger car market, the association said during an online briefing. Luxury automakers’ sales outpaced […]

China challenges US to cut nuclear arsenal to matching level

BEIJING (REUTERS) – China would “be happy to” participate in trilateral arms control negotiations with the United States and Russia, but only if the United States were willing to reduce its nuclear arsenal to China’s level, a senior Chinese diplomat said on Wednesday (July 8). Washington has repeatedly called for China to join in trilateral […]

Man jailed 19 months for molesting his daughter twice

SINGAPORE – A man has been jailed for molesting his own daughter twice, putting his head in between her legs on one occasion. He was sentenced to 19 months’ jail on Tuesday (July 7) after pleading guilty to two charges of outraging the girl’s modesty. One other similar charge was taken into consideration during sentencing […]

Groups take programmes for low-income families online during Covid-19: Desmond Lee

SINGAPORE – When the Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to face-to-face community programmes, groups working to help low-income families with children took their programmes online. For example, community partners in Kembangan-Chai Chee, such as Filos Community Services, non-profit organisation Engineering Good and United Overseas Bank, secured IT devices to help children in these families do […]

Coronavirus: Resurgence of cases threatens bids to kick-start Philippine economy

A resurgence in coronavirus cases is threatening to derail efforts by the Philippines to restart an economy that could be headed for its deepest contraction in more than three decades. The government has warned that tougher restrictions may be restored. But it has baulked at imposing the same sweeping, months-long lockdown it resorted to at […]