Amid sliding pound, financial jitters, UK's PM holds firm on radical policies British Prime Minister Liz Truss (left) and Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng visit Berkeley Modular, in Northfleet, Kent, Britain, Sept 23, 2022. (DYLAN MARTINEZ / POOL PHOTO VIA AP) British Prime Minister Liz Truss insisted her government has "done the right thing" […]
SEOUL – North Korea fired unspecified ballistic missiles towards the east coast on Saturday, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, marking Pyongyang’s fourth launch in a week as it ratchets up tension in the Korean peninsula. The launch comes after the United States and South Korea held the Ulchi Freedom Shield, the biggest joint […]
Dealing with extreme fall in yen’s value Editorial The Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan The government and the Bank of Japan have intervened in the currency market to buy yen and sell dollars for the first time in 24 years in order to put the brakes on the yen’s sharp decline. As a result of the intervention, […]
Ahead of party conclave, Xi’s grip on power is unshakable
BEIJING – China’s next batch of political elites will need to focus on revving up the country’s flagging economy to maintain the high level of public trust the ruling party currently enjoys. Boosting the country’s plummeting fertility rate is another daunting mission they must accomplish during their term to better ensure social stability, analysts said.
The 101-year-old Communist Party of China swept to power 73 years ago on Saturday, but is still one of the world’s most opaque political parties. As it gears up for its twice-a-decade congress in two weeks, where nearly 2,300 delegates will elect a new Central Committee made up of the nation’s top 370 or so […]
BEIJING – Last weekend, Twitter was abuzz with “news” that there had been a military coup in Beijing and President Xi Jinping was under house arrest. The grist to the rumour mill: Hundreds of flights had been cancelled across the country, Mr Xi had not been seen in public for a week, and a video […]
BEIJING – The most important conclave of the Communist Party of China (CPC) happens every five years, when more than 2,000 delegates – representing 96 million members – gather to choose their top leaders who will set the direction of the country. What happens at this party congress has ramifications not just for the 1.4 […]
RYNGKU, East Khasi Hills District, Meghalaya – Ms Bina Marak lugs a large plastic red bucket with help from her friend. The new 70-litre bucket glints fiercely under the harsh afternoon sun beating down with a vengeance after a downpour that drained the morning’s overcast sky.
BEIJING – Chinese President Xi Jinping will, by all indications, assume a third term in power when delegates gather in Beijing later in October for the Communist Party congress. In the 10 years since he became China’s paramount leader, the 69-year-old has consolidated his grip on power, eliminating political rivals through his anti-graft campaign, and […]
NEW YORK – When Ms Qu Tongzhou, a photography assistant in Shanghai, set out on a long-awaited trip to western China in June, she found the cities she visited to be unwelcoming. As an aftereffect of the country’s “zero-Covid” policies, locals were leery of travellers, and some hotels refused Ms Qu, fearing she could introduce […]
Thailand’s Constitutional Court ruled on Friday that Mr Prayut Chan-o-cha may stay on as prime minister after a five-week suspension, rejecting a legal challenge mounted by the opposition that argued he has reached his term limit in power. Here are some major events in Thai politics since a military coup in 2014 led by Mr […]
BANGKOK – Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will remain in his post after the country’s top court ruled on Friday that he has not exceeded the eight-year term limit. The Constitutional Court ruled that his term started in 2017, after the current Constitution replaced the post-coup provisional charter. The former junta chief had been suspended […]
KUALA LUMPUR – Umno leaders are meeting on Friday at the party headquarters to discuss the timing of Malaysia’s general election. The party’s top five leaders are meeting at its World Trade Centre Kuala Lumpur HQ, just before Umno’s monthly supreme council meeting at 8pm on Friday evening. Although Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob has […]
JAKARTA – The Indonesian navy has not requested or received money to release detained vessels or ship captains, a senior naval officer said, responding to a Reuters report quoting captains saying they were held by the navy in an extortion scheme. Dozens of ships have been seized by the Indonesian navy over the last year […]
HONG KONG – The Hong Kong government said on Friday it aims to ease some coronavirus curbs in an orderly way as pandemic trends in the Asia financial hub were continuing to stabilise. From Oct 6, some social distancing measures will be relaxed including raising the maximum number of persons per table in restaurants to […]
NEW DELHI – The Indian capital of New Delhi will enforce a 15-step action plan to curb pollution ahead of the arrival of winter, when a haze of toxic smog envelops the world’s most polluted city. High pollution is an annual sore point for Delhi, when several people are put to risk due to a […]
TAIPEI – The United States convened a preliminary meeting of a working group with East Asian countries to discuss semiconductor supply chain resilience and cooperation, a Taiwan official said on Friday. “We exchanged views at a first preliminary meeting, and hope everyone can discuss how to collaborate in the future on supply chain problems like […]
KABUL – A suicide attack at a tutoring centre in the Afghan capital Kabul killed at least 19 people and wounded dozens, police said on Friday, but there was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast. Many of those living in the western area where the blast occurred are Hazara, an ethnic mostly Shi’ite Muslim […]
KUALA LUMPUR – Malaysia on Friday said it will take legal action in the Netherlands to resist and set aside any attempt by the heirs of a former South-east Asian sultan who are looking to enforce a US$15 billion (S$21.5 billion) arbitration award against the Malaysian state. “Malaysia will spare no expense in defending its […]