South Africa has criticized an Australian government minister for suggesting that white South African farmers should get special visas so they can flee “horrific circumstances” in the country. Australia’s Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton, who oversees immigration and has drawn international criticism for heading a tough crackdown on asylum-seekers from Asia and the Middle East, said the South Africans deserve… Read more »
China’s rubber-stamp lawmakers on Sunday passed a historic constitutional amendment abolishing presidential term limits that will enable President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely. The amendment upends a system enacted by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1982 to prevent a return to the bloody excesses of a lifelong dictatorship typified by Mao Zedong’s chaotic 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution. “This marks the… Read more »
China’s parliament has scrapped presidential term limits, paving the way for President Xi Jinping to rule indefinitely over the world’s most populous country. Out of 2,963 delegates at the annual session of the National People’s Congress, 2,958 voted “yes” to changing the Constitution on Sunday.
At least 40 people died on Monday when a passenger plane carrying 70 people crashed as it prepared to land at Kathmandu airport, Nepal. The cause of the accident was not immediately clear. In addition, 23 people were injured when the Bangladeshi plane crashed and burst into flames near the capital’s airport, in the worst aviation disaster to hit Nepal… Read more »
Beyond the future of North Korea’s nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles, a number of other issues could be raised during upcoming talks between Pyongyang, South Korea and, potentially, the United States. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un plans to meet South Korean President Moon Jae-in in April and, according to South Korean officials, wants to meet U.S. President Donald Trump…. Read more »
Pressure mounted Tuesday on Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe over a ballooning cronyism and cover-up scandal, as a new poll showed his support at the lowest level since his re-election in October. Abe and his finance minister Taro Aso have been on the ropes in recent days following revelations that key documents relating to a controversial land sale were doctored… Read more »
Myanmar is currently building military bases on the “abandoned” ground where the Rohingya Muslims once lived before they fled to Bangladesh due to ethnic cleansing. The Myanmar government has started construction in many areas where Rohingya used to live, and have even destroyed institutions like places of worship in order to build their military bases. The Myanmar government has also… Read more »
MUARA GEMBONG, Indonesia (Reuters) – Nur Anisa Rahmadani has to wade through shin-deep seawater to get to her primary school in Pantai Bahagia village on the north coast of Indonesia’s Java island. Almost every day, the sea, which used to lap the shore a few kilometers away, floods her schoolyard and classrooms – clear evidence of the threat that Java’s… Read more »
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – A volley of insults hurled by ruling party officials in Malaysia at 94-year-old ethnic-Chinese tycoon, Robert Kuok, has exposed a racial and religious divide ahead of elections due by August. Leaders from UMNO targeted Hong Kong-based Malaysian billionaire Robert Kuok in the last two weeks, accusing him of funding a majority-Chinese opposition party to overthrow Najib’s government. The… Read more »
KUALA LUMPUR (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – Thousands of families on Vietnam’s typhoon-battered coast will receive free storm-proof houses, which can help pull them out of poverty, government and United Nations officials said. Vietnam is one of 10 countries most affected by climate change, according to the latest annual Climate Risk Index published by the research organization Germanwatch. Coastal residents are… Read more »