A wave of deadly suicide bombings that have rocked Indonesia’s second biggest city Surabaya are linked to local extremist network Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS). Here are some questions and answers about JAD. What is JAD?
Formed in 2015, JAD gained notoriety in January 2016 for a gun and suicide attack in the capital Jakarta that left four attackers and four civilians dead.
It is made up of almost two dozen Indonesian extremist groups…
Pompeo: US will need to give North Korea security assurances
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday that the US will need to “provide security assurances” to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un if the adversaries are to reach a nuclear deal.
Pompeo met Kim last week in North Korea, helping set the stage for President Donald Trump’s summit with Kim in Singapore on June 12.
Trump’s goal is to have North Korea get rid of its nuclear weapons in a permanent and verifiable way. In return, the US is willing to help the impoverished…
AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes apologises for ‘foolish’ Malaysia election stunt
AirAsia boss Tony Fernandes on Sunday apologised for a controversial stunt endorsing scandal-tainted prime minister at the time Najib Razak before Malaysia’s general election, in which he suffered a stunning defeat.
Fernandes said he came under pressure from Najib’s government before the May 9 vote, causing him to issue a video enthusiastically crediting its policies for the success of the home-grown low-cost carrier.
But the Barisan Nasional coalition, which had ruled Malaysia for…
Pakistan bars US diplomat from escaping in military plane after fatal crash
Pakistani authorities have barred a US diplomat involved in a fatal traffic accident from leaving the country, forcing an American military aircraft flown in for his departure to leave without him, local media reported on Saturday.
The move came a day after Pakistan said it would restrict the movements of all American diplomats in the country in response to Washington’s similar restrictions on Pakistani embassy diplomats.
Pakistan will probe Peshawar school attack that killed more than…
Malaysian police raid flats linked to ex-PM Najib Razak to ensure ‘sensitive documents’ remain in country
Police have raided a deluxe Kuala Lumpur block of flats that houses relatives of ousted Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak in a search for sensitive documents that the new government fears may be taken out of the country, two senior police officers said.
The Saturday swoop came as the new prime minister, Mahathir Mohamad, said he had stopped his predecessor from leaving the country because of suspected wrongdoing in connection with a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1MDB.
Hong Kong…
Japan is trying to arrange talks between Shinzo Abe and Donald Trump before the US-North Korea summit in Singapore
The Japanese government is making arrangements for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to meet US President Donald Trump ahead of a landmark US-North Korea summit in Singapore on June 12, government sources said Friday.
As leaders from the Group of Seven industrialised nations are expected to gather in Canada on June 8 and 9, Abe hopes to hold talks with Trump on the fringes of the summit and coordinate efforts toward resolving issues related to Pyongyang, the sources said.
Good vibes for Trump, Xi, Moon…
Irish anti-corruption law reform moves one step closer
Legislation which will modernise and consolidate Irish anti-bribery laws, some of which date back to 1889, has received its second reading in the Seanad.
Trump Indonesia project is latest stop on China’s Belt and Road
A billion-dollar Indonesian property development with ties to Donald Trump has become the latest project in China’s globe-spanning Belt and Road infrastructure project – just as Washington and Beijing are tussling over trade.
A subsidiary of Chinese state-owned construction firm Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) signed a deal with Indonesia’s MNC Land to build a theme park outside Jakarta as part of the ambitious project, the company said on Thursday.
The deal is the…
Is new government guidance required to secure campus free speech?
ANALYSIS: On 3 May 2018, universities minister Sam Gimyah announced a “free speech summit” with representatives from the higher education sector, at which he would “demand” that the sector take further action to protect lawful free speech and work with ministers to publish new guidance that would provide clarity about the rules to both students and universities “for the first time”.
‘Over-the-air’ software updates for driverless cars envisaged by UK minister
The “overwhelming majority” of software updates for driverless cars will be implemented remotely, a UK government minister has said.