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
S$1B money laundering case: 11 more properties in S’pore linked to suspects
Eleven more properties were issued with prohibition of disposal orders in the billion-dollar anti-money laundering case involving foreigners from Fujian
Singapore money laundering crackdown: Who are the 10 foreigners arrested?
Ten people were charged yesterday after police conducted simultaneous raids across Singapore as part of an investigation into money laundering and forgery offences
Rival party backs Pheu Thai in bid to form govt
Thailand’s Pheu Thai party yesterday received a boost in its efforts to form a government after a ninth party joined its alliance and a senior member of a rival, military-backed party pledged its support to try to end months of deadlock.
Jailed Imran Khan challenges graft conviction
Pakistan’s jailed former prime minister Imran Khan appealed against his conviction and three-year sentence on corruption charges yesterday, his lawyer said, a ruling which analysts say is likely to fuel political instability.
War crimes by military ‘more frequent, brazen’
War crimes committed by Myanmar’s military, including the bombing of civilians, have become “increasingly frequent and brazen”, a team of United Nations investigators said in a report published yesterday.
Imran held in small, dirty prison cell
Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan is being held in a small, dirty prison cell, one of his lawyer’s said yesterday after being given access to the former cricket star in jail as he prepares to appeal against his graft conviction.
Imran’s lawyers can’t reach him in Pakistan jail
Pakistani former prime minister Imran Khan’s lawyers could not reach him yesterday after he spent the night in a jail near the capital following his arrest the previous day on a corruption conviction, a spokesperson said.
Climbers break 14 peaks record
Record-breaking mountaineering duo Kristin Harila and Tenjin “Lama” Sherpa were greeted with a heroes’ welcome in Nepal yesterday after the pair successfully conquered the world’s highest peaks.
PM proposes its dissolution on Aug 9
Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has proposed that parliament be dissolved on August 9, three days before the end of its term, political sources said yesterday, paving way for a general election by November.
Myanmar junta cuts six years from Suu Kyi's 33-year jail term
Myanmar reduced ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi's 33-year prison sentence by six years in a partial pardon on Tuesday, as the junta struggles to quell bloody resistance to its rule