Asia

A suicide bomber dressed in a traditional Muslim woman’s gown died after detonating a bomb outside a military camp in the restive southern Philippines, but no other casualties were reported, authorities said. Suicide attacks were once very rare in the Philippines, but since July 2018 there have been four, including the latest explosion on Jolo […]

by Jerome TAYLOR / Yan ZHAO Pro-democracy activists jammed Hong Kong streets in a march to the United States consulate on Sunday in a bid to ramp up international pressure on Beijing, but hardcore protesters later clashed with riot police across the city’s core. Millions have demonstrated over the last 14 weeks in the biggest challenge […]

Muslim rebels in the mainly Catholic Philippines began handing over their guns to independent foreign monitors Saturday, as part of a peace treaty aimed at ending a decades-long separatist insurgency that has left about 150,000 people dead. Just over a thousand guerrillas are turning in 940 weapons in a single day, in a graduated decommissioning […]

The co-writer of the Crazy Rich Asians screenplay, Malaysian writer Adele Lim has quit the planned sequels due to a dispute over disparity in pay. Her representative confirmed her departure from the Warner Bros projects. The representative declined to comment further and Warner Bros did not respond to a request for comment. The movie was […]

Mimi Kung Tse-Yan, a Hong Kong actress has recently split with her husband and is one of the latest celebrities to have ended their relationship. She is splitting up with her husband actor Wei Lin. According to Sin Chew Daily, Kung’s manager said that the couple had been staying apart for some time and was […]

by Poornima WEERASEKARA From penalising irresponsible dog owners to blacklisting dissenters, critics warn China’s social credit system enables authorities to define “desirable and undesirable behaviour” and could allow unprecedented control of citizen’s lives. The fledgling initiative has sparked fears the authoritarian state is tightening its grip on an already heavily monitored public, ensuring that only […]

The relocation of the capital of Indonesia to Borneo Island is a hot topic in the country with many attacking the President and his government for the move. But the latter is also getting support from various groups saying it is perfectly legal to move the capital city, as long as the Parliament in Indonesia […]

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday accused Beijing of using “arbitrary detentions” as a tool in pursuit of political goals — the latest broadside in a diplomatic and trade row with China. Western allies, he said, have expressed concerns about the tactic that observers described as “hostage diplomacy.” Canada’s relations with China soured after […]

South Korean actress Ku Hye Sun shared two photos on Instagram on Sept 3, around 8pm, KST. She added the caption “Become a human” later on and then changed it to, “All I really want is an apology.” The first photo showed two pieces of paper, one titled “Things that Ahn Jae Hyun should be […]

by Jerome TAYLOR / Yan ZHAO Hong Kong’s leader on Thursday urged pro-democracy protesters to end their demonstrations after her surprise decision to bow to one of their key demands was condemned as too little, too late. Carrie Lam, the city’s pro-Beijing chief executive, surprised many on Wednesday when after three months of rallies she […]

Indonesian police on Wednesday said a human rights lawyer spread information on Twitter that incited violent protests in the restive Papua region. The country’s police also said foreign entities – but did not name any – were meddling in the violent protests in Papua. According to Japan Times, East Java police chief Luki Hermawan said Veronica Koman, […]

The Indonesian government has been pushing to develop new tourist zones with the ‘halal tourism’ concept to attract foreign visitors to islands besides Bali. The idea to push for “halal tourism” is to attract Muslim tourists from abroad, but, in some areas of the country, those plans have led to clashes and demonstrations. There are fears halal tourism […]

Hundreds of Chinese accounts suspended by Twitter were part of a disinformation operation for years targeting critics of China’s ruling Communist Party, Australian researchers have found. After combing through 3.6 million tweets from 940 suspended Twitter accounts, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute said the accounts had conducted “blunt-force influence” campaigns for “at least two years”. […]

China reasserted its backing for North Korea on Tuesday as its foreign minister visited Pyongyang, vowing to maintain “close communication” with its longstanding ally in the face of deadlocked nuclear talks with Washington. Beijing has long been North Korea’s key diplomatic backer and main provider of trade and aid, and while ties deteriorated over Pyongyang’s […]

by Jacques CLEMENT Denise Ho has been pulled from concerts, her records are banned in China and she has been smeared as “poison”, but the Cantopop star says standing with the Hong Kong pro-democracy movement outshines all the damage to her career. The short-haired 42-year-old is a rare and instantly recognisable face among the masked […]