Attack on Syria imminent, says Erdogan’s aide
(Reuters) - Turkish forces, together with the rebel Free Syrian Army, will cross the Syrian border “shortly”, President Tayyip Erdogan’s communications director said earlier today, as a surprise…
Trade War: Tough decision for Asia
(The Star) - Most countries in Asia would be very unhappy if they had to choose between America and China, and such a choice would be painful, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in an interview…
Fake news spark mass panic in Indonesia
(The Star) - Thousands of Indonesians are still in shelters nearly two weeks after a deadly earthquake sparked a stream of fake news and hoaxes warning that an even bigger disaster was looming,…
Chinese soldiers in Hong Kong warn protesters as emergency rules fail to quell unrest
(CNBC) - Chinese soldiers issued a warning to Hong Kong protesters on Sunday who shone lasers at their barracks in the city, in the first direct interaction with mainland military forces in four…
Vietnam is the choice for the next factory, not South Asia
(The Star) - Vietnam seems to be the consensus pick for winner of the US-China trade war, as Chinese and other manufacturers shift production to the cheaper South-East Asian nation.
If there’s…
UK: Extinction Rebellion spray ‘fake blood’ at the Treasury from fire engine
(The Telegraph) - Extinction Rebellion activists have sprayed the Treasury with gallons of fake blood in its latest climate change protest stunt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tHJ7Zn8Sa0E…
Joe Biden: Donald Trump “unhinged” and “corrupt”
(AP) - Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden responding to the ongoing impeachment investigation into President Donald Trump says President Donald Trump is "unhinged."…
Thailand’s surging baht is making life expensive for expats seeking an affordable retirement
(SCMP) - Brian Maxey moved to Thailand from the United Kingdom expecting his sterling pension to afford him an easy retirement. Instead, he is finding it harder to meet his visa’s financial…
Hong Kong government invokes emergency powers, bans face masks
(CNA) - Thousands of masked protesters marched through Hong Kong on Friday (Oct 4) as the government readied to use emergency powers to ban face coverings amid increasingly violent protests.…
Oil set for biggest weekly loss since July on demand pessimism
(Bloomberg) - Oil headed for its biggest weekly decline since the middle of July as a streak of disappointing economic data from the US and elsewhere added to fears a global recession is coming.…
An increase in Chinese prostitutes since President Duterte came to power
(AFP) - Police found dozens of Chinese prostitutes in a raid on a Manila brothel, authorities said Thursday, the latest in a string of operations targeting nationals from China.
Tourists and…
Mark the Khashoggi anniversary by freeing jailed activists
(Aljazeera) - A year ago today, I spoke on the phone to Hatice Cengiz, who introduced herself, with a trembling voice, as the fiancé of my friend Jamal Khashoggi. She was standing outside the…
Goldman says billions moved from Hong Kong to Singapore amid unrest
(The Star) - The potential benefit to Singapore from the turmoil in Hong Kong: $4 billion.
That’s the upper end of an estimate from Goldman Sachs Group Inc. of the money investors have moved to…
Military advances and Xi Jinping’s supreme status among the themes as Beijing celebrates National Day
(SCMP) - China staged a massive military parade in Beijing on Tuesday to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic, with much of the smog-shrouded capital city under a…
UK: Boris Johnson battles sex allegations
(The Star) - Boris Johnson hoped to use his Conservative Party’s annual convention to launch his campaign to win the next British general election. Instead, he is fighting for his credibility as…
Could China’s strict cyber controls gain international acceptance?
(SCMP) - When an open-ended working group met at the United Nations in New York in mid-September to discuss the future of cyberspace it did so with little fanfare.
Just seven member states had…
Green group accuses Nestle, Unilever of buying palm oil from ‘illegal’ Sumatra plantation
(FMT) - Palm oil from an illegal plantation inside an Indonesian rainforest home to endangered orangutans has found its way into the supply chains of major consumer brands including Unilever and…
Vietnam warns of escalation in the South China Sea in thinly veiled warning to China
(SCMP) - Unilateral actions risk escalating tensions in the South China Sea, Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh said at the United Nations General Assembly, comments aimed at China that…
Greta Thunberg: The 16-year-old who started a climate change movement
On September 20, an estimated 4 million people in 161 countries took to the streets in the largest climate change demonstration in history. At the helm of this Global Climate Strike was…
Saudi Arabia opens doors to foreign tourists with new visas
(NST) - Saudi Arabia has unveiled a new visa regime for foreign tourists – a move expected to help the kingdom make its mark on the world tourism map.
The regime was announced today at a gala…
Pakistan PM warns of ‘bloodbath’ in Kashmir, India’s Modi silent
(Aljazeera) - While Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi avoided any mention of Kashmir in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly, Pakistan's Imran Khan launched an extraordinary attack…
A computer server haunted Clinton in 2016. Now it may be Trump’s turn
(Reuters) - As a presidential candidate, Donald Trump repeatedly attacked his Democratic adversary Hillary Clinton in 2016 over her use of a private computer server for official emails when she…
China sells 10 billion yuan of bills in Hong Kong to protect currency ahead of National Day
(SCMP) - China’s central bank made its latest move to shore up the yuan exchange rate in Hong Kong on Thursday, which in turn projected a vote of confidence in the embattled city as an…
Regional haze eases for the moment as rain brings relief to Indonesia’s Sumatra, Kalimantan
(CNA) - The number of hotspots in Indonesia has dropped by more than 40 per cent after rain in parts of Sumatra and Kalimantan, as the overall haze situation eased throughout the region on…
UN urged to investigate organ harvesting of Falun Gong, Uighur minorities in China
(FMT) - A senior lawyer called on Tuesday for the top United Nations human rights body to investigate evidence that China is murdering members of the Falun Gong spiritual group and harvesting…
The future of Brexit and Britain just got more uncertain
(SCMP) - The verdict that the British PM’s suspension of Parliament was unlawful is just one hinge point in the coming weeks. Britain is facing risks of a no-deal Brexit, Scottish independence and…
Asian stocks rattled as move to impeach Trump raises new risks
(Reuters) - Asian stocks fell the most in three weeks on Wednesday after U.S. lawmakers called for an impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump, increasing the prospects of prolonged…
Amazon rainforest belongs to Brazil, says Jair Bolsonaro
(BBC) - President Jair Bolsonaro has insisted that the Brazilian areas of the Amazon rainforest are sovereign territory.
Conservationists blame Mr Bolsonaro and his government for turning a…
Donald Trump says he deserves a Nobel Prize for ‘a lot of things’
(SCMP) - US President Donald Trump claimed on Monday that he deserves a Nobel Prize for “a lot of things” but complained that the committee that hands out the awards does so unfairly.
The…
Indonesian police fire tear gas at sex law protesters
(CNA) - Police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters outside Indonesia's parliament Tuesday (Sep 24), TV reports showed, as thousands demonstrated nationwide over plans to outlaw…