Southeast Asia
Malaysia’s minimum wage to go up to 1,700 ringgit from Feb 1
The Malaysian government has agreed to increase the minimum wage rate from RM1,500 currently to RM1,700, with effect from February 1, 2025, said Anwar Ibrahim
Gunmen kill 7 in southwest Pakistan
Gunmen killed seven workers in Pakistan’s southwestern province of Balochistan late on Saturday, police said.
Vietnam jails journalist for seven years on 'propaganda' charge
A Vietnam court Tuesday sentenced a journalist who wrote about issues including corruption, land rights and the environment to seven years in jail, his sister said, the latest government critic to be put behind bars.
Malaysia charges ex-PM Muhyiddin with sedition over alleged remarks on royalty, lawyer says
Malaysia has charged opposition leader and former Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin with sedition for allegedly insulting the country's former king, his lawyer said on Tuesday
PRESIDENTIAL POLLS / Lanka’s Rajapaksa scion enters race
Sri Lanka’s ruling party nominated a scion of the controversial Rajapaksa family yesterday to challenge the incumbent president in next month’s polls, the first since the country’s unprecedented economic meltdown.
Oli takes oath as Nepal’s fifth PM in five years
Veteran communist politician K P Sharma Oli was sworn in as Nepal’s prime minister yesterday, the fifth in five years, hoping to ensure political stability in the impoverished Himalayan nation that badly needs to woo investors and create jobs.
KP Sharma Oli Nepal’s new PM
Nepal’s president appointed Khadga Prasad Sharma Oli as prime minister for a fourth time yesterday, after his communist party forged a coalition government with the centre-left Nepali Congress.
Eleven dead in Vietnam after landslide buries van
A landslide triggered by heavy rains buried and killed at least 11 people who were travelling in a van in northern Vietnam, the country's disaster management authority said on Saturday
7 killed in attack on Shia clerics
At least seven people were killed yesterday when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a rickshaw carrying two Shia clerics in western Afghanistan, an official and residents said.
3 Bangladeshis killed in Malaysia building collapse; 4 still missing
Rescuers are still searching for four missing workers believed to be pinned under the rubble where a building under construction had collapsed at about 9:45pm (local time)
Pakistan court sends Imran on judicial remand
An accountability court in Pakistan yesterday turned down the National Accountability Bureau’s (NAB) request for an extension of former prime minister Imran Khan’s physical remand, and instead sent him on judicial remand in a corruption case.
Myanmar armed group seizes China-Myanmar border crossing
An ethnic minority armed group in Myanmar has seized control from the country's ruling junta of a lucrative border crossing to China, local media and a security source said Sunday
New Maldives leader faces rift
Maldives ex-president Abdulla Yameen will form a new political party, his lawyer said, splitting from his successor’s ruling party and posing the new president a major setback ahead of parliamentary polls.
11 killed in Pakistan mall fire
At least 11 people were killed and 35 injured yesterday by a fire at a shopping mall in Pakistan’s commercial capital of Karachi, officials said.
Chinese, Myanmar militaries begin live-fire drills
The Chinese military has begun live-fire drills with Myanmar in a border security move as violence escalates between the Southeast Asian country’s ruling junta and armed rebel groups that are fighting for greater autonomy and return to democracy
Fire in Pakistan shopping mall kills 11
At least 11 people were killed and 35 injured Saturday by a fire at a shopping mall in Pakistan's commercial capital of Karachi, officials said
Why Maldives leader wants Indian troops out of nation?
Addressing the inauguration event on his elevation as the president of the Maldives, Mohamed Muizzu said he will ensure that the small Island nation “has no foreign military presence on its soil”.
Maldives formally asks India to withdraw troops
Maldives new President Mohamed Muizzu, who campaigned on altering the tiny Indian Ocean archipelago’s “India first” policy, has requested India to withdraw its military from the country.