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
Suu Kyi pardoned in 5 cases, still faces 14 others
Jailed Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been pardoned in five criminal cases, although she still faces 14 others, state media said Tuesday
Myanmar junta extends state of emergency, delaying polls
Myanmar's National Defence and Security Council agreed Monday to extend the country's state of emergency by six months, state media said, likely delaying elections the junta had pledged to hold by August
At least nine killed in Thai fireworks warehouse blast
A powerful explosion ripped through a fireworks warehouse Saturday in southern Thailand, killing nine people and injuring more than 100, a senior official said, as several nearby homes were levelled or damaged
Suu Kyi moved from prison: party official
Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted from power in a 2021 military coup, has been moved from prison to a government building, an official from her political party said Friday
Typhoon doksuri: 2 dead in Philippines
At least one person died as powerful typhoon Doksuri lashed the coastline of the northern Philippines with gale-force winds and torrential rain yesterday, bursting banks of rivers and leaving thousands without electricity.
Junta may move Suu Kyi to house arrest
Myanmar’s military government may move ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi from prison to house arrest in the capital, Naypyitaw, two media outlets reported yesterday.
Thai parliament vote on new PM postponed: house speaker
The speaker of Thailand's parliament on Tuesday postponed a vote to choose a new prime minister, prolonging the kingdom's political deadlock more than two months after opposition parties won an election
15 dead, 19 missing after Indonesia boat sinks
At least 15 people were killed and 19 more were missing on Monday after a wooden boat sank off the coast of Indonesia's Sulawesi island, search and rescue officials said
No retreat from party’s reform agenda
Thailand’s prime ministerial hopeful said yesterday he was willing to adjust the pace of his Move Forward party’s ambitious reform drive if he becomes premier, but vowed no retreat from a plan to change a law that forbids insulting the monarchy.
Pak army threatens response
Pakistan’s army said on Friday it was seriously concerned that militants had found safe havens in neighbouring Afghanistan and threatened to take an “effective response” two days after 12 of its soldiers died in two attacks.