UBUD, Bali — His taxi was parked nearby, but Wayan Yanjun was sitting on the sidewalk along the main street in Ubud on the resort island of Bali. It might be some time before anyone needed a ride: He’d had only three passengers in the past week, he said, ever since the eruption of Mount Agung, in Bali’s northeast. The volcano… Read more »
The persecution of Rohingya by Myanmar’s security forces may amount to genocide, the UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein has said. Addressing the Human Rights Council on Tuesday, Zeid said UN investigators have received “concordant reports of acts of appalling barbarity committed against the Rohingya” during a military crackdown in Rakhine state in August. These included allegations of security forces “deliberately burning people to… Read more »
“The stakes for New Caledonia are considerable,” French Prime Minister Édouard Philippe said on Saturday at his first press briefing in the Caledonian capital Nouméa. Residents must decide by next November whether the archipelago will opt for full sovereignty, the result of an almost 30-year-long process. Both Britain and France laid claim to parts of New Caledonia during the first half of… Read more »
Same-sex marriage has been officially signed into law in Australia, a day after MPs overwhelmingly approved a historic bill. Australia’s Governor-General Peter Cosgrove signed off on the law on Friday – a formality required to enact the legislation. The vote on Thursday set off rarely matched celebrations in parliament, including cheers, hugs and a song. Supporters celebrated across Australia, many… Read more »
SEOUL – Singapore has suspended all trade with North Korea, becoming the latest South-east Asian nation to cut economic ties with the nuclear-armed state in line with toughened sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council. The Singapore Customs posted a circular on its website last week informing traders that “all commercially traded goods that are imported, exported, transhipped or… Read more »
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korean troops fired on a fellow soldier who was defecting to South Korea on Monday across the heavily armed border dividing the countries, South Korean officials said, amid heightened tensions over the North’s nuclear weapons program. The soldier was shot but succeeded in reaching the South, its military said in a statement. The North Korean… Read more »
SEOUL, South Korea – A 5.4 magnitude earthquake that was South Korea’s second-strongest in decades damaged infrastructure, injured dozens of people and left about 1,500 homeless, officials said Thursday. No deaths have been reported since the quake rattled the southeastern coastal region around the port city of Pohang on Wednesday afternoon. As of Thursday morning, 1,536 people had been forced… Read more »
The Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP) is accused of plotting to topple the government – charges it denies, and describes as politically motivated. More than 100 party members are now banned from politics for five years. Cambodia’s Prime Minister, Hun Sen, has ruled for 32 years. The one-time commander in Pol Pot’s Khmer Rouge has long been accused of using… Read more »
Japan’s Shinzo Abe was re-elected prime minister on Wednesday after his ruling bloc’s big election win last month and days ahead of a visit by US President Donald Trump that is expected to be dominated by concerns over a volatile North Korea. Abe, 63, took office in December 2012, promising to reboot the stale economy and bolster defence. His Liberal… Read more »
As many as 200 North Korean labourers have been killed after a mine shaft being dug at the regime’s nuclear test site collapsed, according to Japan’s Asahi TV. Sources in North Korea told the news channel that a tunnel being excavated by around 100 workers at the Punggye-ri test site collapsed earlier this month. An additional 100 labourers sent to… Read more »