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
‘Bunkers saved our lives’
Pakistan’s unprovoked ceasefire violation in Jammu and Kashmir’s Arnia sector, which began Thursday evening and continued till 3:00 am yesterday, forced people to abandon homes in the border village of Bulleh Chak and run for their lives from mortar shells.
Pak ex-PM Nawaz Sharif gets bail
A Pakistan High Court yesterday granted bail to three-times former prime minister Nawaz Sharif in corruption cases until October 26, his lawyer said.
Imran Khan indicted in leaked documents case
Jailed former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan was on Monday charged with leaking classified documents, a prosecutor said, a charge that carries a prison term of up to 14 years
Ex-PM Nawaz Sharif lands in Pakistan after four years of exile
Three-time Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif landed in the capital Islamabad on Saturday ahead of national elections, local media reported, ending four years of self-imposed exile
Myanmar junta marks rebel ceasefire despite rebel clashes
Myanmar’s junta blocked roads and deployed heavy security in the military-built capital Naypyidaw yesterday to mark the anniversary of a 2015 rebel ceasefire that its critics say is now defunct.
Suicide bombing at Shia mosque kills 7 worshippers
At least seven people were killed and 15 more wounded when a suicide blast tore through a Shia mosque in northern Afghanistan yesterday, the Taliban government said.
26 Kurdish militants ‘neutralised’
Turkey’s military “neutralised” 26 Kurdish militants in northern Syria overnight in retaliation for a rocket attack on a Turkish base, the defence ministry said yesterday as conflict escalated nearly a week after a bomb attack in Ankara.
Pakistan orders all illegal immigrants to leave by Nov 1
Pakistan yesterday ordered all illegal immigrants to leave the country or face expulsion after revealing that 14 of 24 suicide bombings in the South Asian nation this year were carried out by Afghans.
Three killed in Bangkok mall shooting, attacker arrested
Thai police on Tuesday said they had arrested a 14-year-old suspected gunman after a shooting at a luxury mall in the capital Bangkok that emergency services said had killed three people and injured four others
Myanmar junta angry at China
Myanmar’s junta has lashed out at close ally China over a blockbuster film on human trafficking and scam compounds that has “tarnished” its reputation, state media reported yesterday.