Indonesia’s air force is holding its largest military exercise this week, near some of its islands in the South China Sea, in a show of sovereignty over the gas-rich area on the fringe of territory claimed by China, officials said on Tuesday. President Joko Widodo in June launched an unprecedented campaign to bolster fishing, oil exploration and defense facilities around… Read more »
Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong has been barred from entering Thailand and deported. Mr Wong, who became the face of the 2014 Hong Kong street protests, had been hoping to speak to Thai students. But the 19-year-old was detained on arrival at Suvarnabhumi airport and then flown back to Hong Kong. He said there had been “no explanation for… Read more »
MELBOURNE, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) — Australia could soon have its own 1,000-kilometer per hour train running from Melbourne to Sydney. The U.S. company which has developed a futuristic high-speed rail link has identified Australia and the route between its two largest cities as an ideal etc etc etc (think we need a bridging par between intro and Elon Musk ….)… Read more »
A 14-year old border conflict between Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, and Australia was revived by The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) on Monday. Around 3,000 nautical miles separate Australia and Timor-Leste, an island in the Indonesian archipelago. Between the two countries lie the Timor Sea, home to the Joint Petroleum Development Area (JPDA) that is rich in… Read more »
HONG KONG – Two years after the pro-democracy “Umbrella Revolution” began, Hong Kong is entering uncharted political territory as former protesters prepare to take office, advocating a possible split from China. The first major elections since the 2014 rallies saw rebel politicians win seats this month as fears grow that Beijing is tightening its grip on the city in a… Read more »
Japan and Mongolia have agreed on coordinated action to press North Korea to stop its nuclear and missile programs after the reclusive state held its fifth nuclear test earlier this month despite international condemnation. Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and his Mongolian counterpart, Tsend Munkh-Orgil, also confirmed during a meeting Tuesday their cooperation in addressing the long-stalled issue of Pyongyang’s abductions… Read more »
(CNN)Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte wants six more months to “put everything in order” regarding his country’s drug problems. Duterte said Saturday he did not realize the severity of the problem until he became president. He’s been accused of ordering or encouraging hundreds of killings of drug dealers and users since taking office in June. “But the problem is … I… Read more »
North Korea’s nuclear test this month was its fifth in only 10 years, but technological advances by the isolated communist state have former diplomats concerned that the latest blast is anything but more of the same. Only eight months passed between North Korea’s most recent test and its fourth, held in January, and that tight time frame indicates the country… Read more »
The country’s stagnating economy is hindered by a shrinking workforce — the result of a rapidly aging population and a slowing birth rate. Meanwhile, millions of highly educated women aren’t working. Getting more of them into jobs could lead to a dramatic change in economic fortune for Japan, experts say. But progress has been painfully slow since Prime Minister Shinzo… Read more »
TOKYO — Japan and the European Union reaffirmed Tuesday their commitment to reach a basic framework for an economic partnership agreement by the end of the year. The two sides hope to keep the momentum for free trade alive amid doubts over the ratification of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact and negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership pact. Japanese Economy Minister Hiroshige… Read more »