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
‘Deeply concerned’
Southeast Asian leaders meeting in Indonesia yesterday called for an immediate end to violence in military-ruled Myanmar, in an effort to create a window for dialogue and the delivery of humanitarian aid as fighting intensifies.
Arrest hinders Imran’s path to second Pak innings
Since being ousted from office by a vote of no confidence last year, former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan has vowed he will captain the country a second time.
Myanmar military used ‘vacuum bomb’ in village strike: HRW
Myanmar's military used a "vacuum bomb" in an air strike on an opposition village that killed dozens of people in a likely war crime last month, Human Rights Watch said today.
Vietnam posts record high temperature of 44.1 degrees Celsius
Vietnam reported a record high temperature late Saturday with a north-central weather station measuring 44.1 degrees Celsius (111.38 degrees Fahrenheit), officials said, breaking a previous high set in 2019
Laos political activist survived shooting
A Laotian political activist who was reported to have died after being shot twice at close range in fact survived the attack, Human Rights Watch said yesterday. Anousa “Jack” Luangsuphom was shot in the face and side in a Vientiane cafe on Saturday and
Myanmar junta pardons over 2,000 prisoners jailed for dissent against military
Myanmar's junta on Wednesday announced it had pardoned more than 2,000 prisoners jailed under a law used widely in its crackdown on dissent since seizing power more than two years ago
Singapore hangs man over 1 kg of cannabis
Singapore hanged a prisoner yesterday after he was convicted of conspiracy to smuggle one kilogram of cannabis, despite rights groups decrying “many flaws” in the case.
Myanmar crisis: Neighbours, some Asean members hold secretive talks
Government and think-tank representatives from Myanmar and its neighbours, including India and China, held talks in New Delhi on Tuesday as part of a secretive effort to de-escalate a bloody crisis in the army-run Southeast Asian nation, two sources said
UN urges Singapore to halt execution over drug offence
The United Nations Human Rights Office pressed Singapore yesterday to “urgently reconsider” its scheduled execution of a man over one kilogram of cannabis.
Japan supports industrial use of AI: Kishida
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said yesterday the country supports the development of industrial uses of generative artificial intelligence technologies such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT.