Month: September 2017

New funding worth £5 million will be made available to support oil and gas exploration in the North Sea, the UK government has announced.

Popular Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike on Wednesday vowed a break with old-school politics as she officially launched a new party she hopes will shake up the upcoming snap election in Japan.
Pledging to bring back “hope” to the Japanese people, Koike said the party aimed to “reset” the country, which is expected to go to the polls on October 22.
“Now is the time for us to carry out reforms that are un-tied to” vested interests, she told a nationally televised…

By Teoh Pei-ying A 27-year-old Malaysian woman died in Istanbul on Monday from suspected spider bite. This was confirmed by the management of IBC Tours Corporation Sdn Bhd, which was in charge of the victim’s trip to Turkey. The deceased Noor Azmeera Sahudin was on a holiday to Turkey with her family members from September 16 to Sept 24 when she was admitted to a hospital in Istanbul. IBC Tours Corporation Sdn Bhd director Mohammad Rizal Narusuddin said she was bitten on her…

ANALYSIS: Changes to industrial relations law mean trade unions are facing a very different legal landscape from the ‘winter of discontent’ 40 years ago, despite recent threats of illegal strike action over public sector pay.

US President Donald Trump will host Thai junta chief Prayuth Chan-ocha at the White House next Tuesday, in a personal coup for a Thai autocrat who was shunned by Barack Obama’s administration for his regime’s poor rights record.
Ties between the long-time allies were strained by Prayuth’s 2014 coup, which ushered in Thailand’s most authoritarian government in a generation.
But Trump’s administration has started to reset relations with the junta government. Since he…

Myanmar’s UN ambassador insisted on Monday that there is no “ethnic cleansing” or genocide taking place against Muslims and objected “in the strongest terms” to countries that used those words to describe the situation in Rakhine State.
Hau Do Suan used his “right of reply” at the end of the six-day gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly to respond to what he called “irresponsible remarks” and “unsubstantiated allegations…

The Labour Party has promised to introduce a cap on credit card interest payments should it come back into power, saying it will apply the same rules for credit cards as for payday loans.

Half a century after sending a satellite into space aboard a rocket emblazoned with a spear-carrying kangaroo, Australia on Monday committed to creating a national space agency as it looks to cash in on the lucrative and fast-evolving astronautical sector.
The announcement came at a week-long Adelaide space conference attended by the world’s top scientists and experts including SpaceX chief Elon Musk.
It brings Canberra – which already has significant involvement in national and…

Hongkongers heading to the Indonesian holiday destination Bali will not be affected by volcanic activity on the island, tour organisers have said.
Nearly 35,000 people have been evacuated from the area as Indonesian officials say Mount Agung could erupt soon.
Authorities imposed a 12km exclusion zone around the crater, as increasing activity on Sunday sent strong tremors through areas in the eastern part of the island.
A spokeswoman for Hong Thai Travel Services, one of the city’s major…

Malaysians have a new favourite pastime these days – guessing when Prime Minister Najib Razak will call the next general election. The vote is due by next August but for months the premier, who has full power to decide when it will be held, has blown hot and cold about triggering a snap contest. When called, the vote will be one of the country’s fiercest ever political battles, pitting Najib against Mahathir Mohamad, the country’s 92-year-old former strongman prime minister…