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
Over 100,000 evacuated as cyclone threatens India, Pakistan
More than 100,000 people had been evacuated in India and Pakistan ahead of the expected landfall Thursday of a fierce cyclone which could devastate homes and tear down power lines
Singapore to end 180 years of horse racing
More than 180 years of horse racing in Singapore is set to come to an end, with the city-state's only racecourse closing and being redeveloped for housing
Radio broadcaster killed in the Philippines
A radio broadcaster was shot dead outside his home in the central Philippines on Wednesday, police said, the latest in a long list of journalists killed in the country
Imran Khan questioned on graft charges
Former Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan was questioned by an anti-graft agency on corruption charges, his lawyer said yesterday, less than a week after he rejected a summons to appear and denounced allegations against him.
4 children among 7 dead as roof collapses at school in Thailand
Seven people, including four children, were killed when a roof over a school sports field collapsed in a storm in Thailand, officials said Tuesday
Imran recalls Bangladesh liberation to slam Pak army
Former Pakistan prime minister and PTI chief Imran Khan while addressing the nation on Saturday night said people should understand atrocities committed in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh).
Thailand opposition crushes military parties in election rout
Thailand's opposition secured a stunning election win on Sunday after trouncing parties allied with the military, setting the stage for a flurry of deal-making over forming a government in a bid to end nearly a decade of conservative, army-backed rule
Thai opposition parties dominate early election count
Thai opposition parties dominated the early vote count in today's national elections, in what was shaping up as a huge rejection of nearly a decade of military-backed government..The election campaign played out as a clash between a young generation yearning for change and the conservative
Social media blackout fuels momentum
A state-imposed social media blackout to quell massive protests around the arrest of Pakistan’s former prime minister Imran Khan has instead fuelled momentum for him, analysts say.
Malaysian palm oil firms 'not hiring Bangladeshis over recruitment concerns'
Some of Malaysia's largest palm oil producers are not hiring workers from Bangladesh because of concerns over exploitative practices during recruitment, companies and labour consultants say..Planters in the world's second-largest palm oil producer have in recent years stepped up efforts to