New Zealand’s national carrier, Air New Zealand, has offended the country’s Maori people by attempting to trademark an image of the words kia ora; the greeting for hello.The airline applied in May to trademark the image showing the greeting, which is also the name of its in-flight magazine.The Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand, told TVNZ the airline was seeking to protect only the “particular stylised forms” of the greeting, rather than the greeting itself, but Indigenous groups said…
How Indonesia’s Lippo empire fought back from the brink after being crippled by debt
Late last year, when Indonesia’s biggest property developer was sinking under debt, it was crunch time for the Lippo Group’s Riady family.At a meeting to discuss rescue options, tycoon Mochtar Riady, 90, the founder of the group, turned to his young grandson for help. Reluctant at first, John Riady – a Wharton School graduate – said he eventually agreed to run the troubled flagship PT Lippo Karawaci. His salvage plan included a US$788 million rights issue in July, sale of assets and a debt…
Japan’s ‘economic sanctions’ against South Korea will backfire: Chinese ambassador to Seoul
Qiu Guohong, China’s ambassador to South Korea, on Wednesday said Japan’s “economic sanctions” against South Korea would backfire and would have to be retracted, “as other countries will have to do” – an apparent reference to the US-China trade war.Speaking at a forum in Incheon arranged by the Saeul Foundation of Culture, Qiu said Tokyo’s trade moves would founder amid a lack of international support as Seoul upped the ante by filing a complaint with the World Trade Organisation (WTO) about…
Cybersex trafficking spreads across Southeast Asia, fuelled by internet boom. And the law lags behind
US and Australian crime fighters are preparing Cambodia for a spike in online child sex abuse cases but local officials fear that predators are a step ahead of police due to narrow laws.The spread of cheap, high-speed internet and the rise in mobile phone ownership is fuelling cybersex trafficking across Southeast Asia – a form of modern-day slavery where children are abused and raped over live-streams for paying clients worldwide.Agents from the FBI and Australian Federal Police (AFP) have in…
Explained: what is dengue, and why is there a surge in cases in Asia this year?
Dubbed “breakbone fever”, dengue is one of the world’s leading mosquito-borne illnesses and infects as many as 100 million people annually.About half the planet’s population live in at-risk areas, mainly in Asia, Latin America and Africa.Explosive outbreaks have ravaged Southeast Asia this year, with around 670,000 infected and more than 1,800 people dead in the region, according national and World Health Organisation data.At least 622 have died in the Philippines so far this year, cases in…
Goldman Sachs hopes Aramco deal in Saudi Arabia can help it recover from 1MDB fallout
Goldman Sachs is tapping its upper echelons to navigate a notoriously complicated region where it has stumbled of late: the Middle East.After missing out on at least US$25 billion in deals in Abu Dhabi – the emirate that snubbed the US bank for its involvement in the 1MDB scandal – Goldman Sachs is making a push into Saudi Arabia.Chief executive officer David Solomon – the first chief of a Wall Street bank to visit the kingdom following the murder of government critic Jamal Khashoggi – has…
Manila must play its cards right with Chinese offshore gambling, given Beijing’s warnings
While China clamps down on cross-border gambling, countries in Southeast Asia are looking to corner more offshore gaming capital. Online gambling is illegal in mainland China and Beijing wants to crack down on cross-border gambling because it is morally corrupt, and a venue for capital flight and money laundering. But Chinese revenue has made cross-border gambling a lucrative industry for many of China’s neighbours, where gambling is mostly legal. This is particularly so for the Philippines,…
Indonesia’s election riots offer a lesson on the perils of fake news
Indonesia ’s riots in May serve as a warning to all democracies with polarised electorates, high social media penetration and institutions labouring under the strain of populist politics.The unrest was the first time in a democracy that social media-fuelled fake news and disinformation led to election riots.Supporters of opposition candidate Prabowo Subianto rejected the results of the presidential election, alleging incumbent Joko Widodo, popularly known as Jokowi, had stolen victory through…
Japan’s 84-year-old former empress Michiko has breast cancer surgery
Japan’s former empress Michiko “safely” underwent surgery on Sunday after the 84-year-old was diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer, the Imperial Household Agency said.Michiko’s husband Akihito formally stepped down as emperor in April, the first abdication for 200 years in the world’s oldest monarchy.Her operation began Sunday morning “as scheduled” at the University of Tokyo Hospital, the agency official said.“It ended safely and (she) went back to her room,” the official said, adding that…
Non-Muslim goods boycott a ‘ticking time bomb’ in Mahathir’s Malaysia
A movement calling for Malays to boycott non-Muslim products has emerged in Malaysia, where a campaign of fake news and political rhetoric continues to stoke racial and religious tensions, prompting a member of the Perak state’s royal family to describe the situation as a “ticking time bomb”.Messages urging the country’s Malay-Muslim majority to boycott goods produced by non-Muslims, even those that are halal, have been actively shared on Facebook and WhatsApp chat groups. Names of mini-markets…