Gambia has apologised to Thailand after its foreign minister said the Asian country was a haven for sex tourists, sparking a strongly worded protest from Bangkok.
Hamat Bah said on state television in January that Gambia, a sunny beach destination favoured by Western tourists especially from Scandinavia, was losing out to the nearby archipelago nation of Cabo Verde after gaining a reputation as a sex haven.
“The fact is that this country’s image has been battered heavily … I…
EBA cloud paper: when financial institutions must notify regulators
ANALYSIS: Banks cannot make assumptions about the precise steps they need to take to notify regulators about their cloud arrangements. There are high regulatory and commercial costs for banks that do so and get it wrong.
Former South Korean leader Lee Myung-bak to be questioned over bribery claims
South Korean prosecutors on Tuesday summoned conservative former president Lee Myung-bak for questioning as a criminal suspect in a bribery scandal, the country’s latest former head of state to be investigated.
“We need to investigate former president Lee to find the truth in a transparent and effective manner,” Yonhap news agency quoted an unidentified Seoul prosecutor as saying.
Allegations of corruption involving the 76-year-old’s relatives and aides during his 2008-…
Australia, East Timor to sign treaty at UN that could unlock billions for impoverished nation
Australia and East Timor will on Tuesday sign a treaty at the United Nations to end a dispute over their maritime border and potentially unlock billions of dollars in revenue from offshore oil and gas.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will preside over the signing ceremony to be attended by Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and Deputy Prime Minister Agio Pereira of East Timor, Asia’s youngest nation which joined the United Nations in 2002.
The treaty could provide a major…
Planning overhaul designed to boost housebuilding in England
Planning rules in England will be updated to make it quicker and easier for developers to build new homes, the UK government has said.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to skip Asean summit in Australia amid backlash over human rights record
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is skipping a regional summit in Australia this month, his spokesman said Monday, as he faces international censure for Manila’s deadly drug war.
Duterte’s decision to snub the meeting comes after he said he would not cooperate with United Nations investigators looking into alleged extrajudicial killings during the narcotics crackdown, which has left thousands dead.
His spokesman Harry Roque confirmed that the outspoken leader would not join…
US aircraft carrier arrives in Vietnam for historic visit as China ties are put to the test
A US aircraft carrier arrived on Monday in Vietnam for the first time since the end of the Vietnam war, dramatically underscoring the growing strategic ties between the former foes at a time when China’s regional influence is rising.
The grey and imposing silhouette of the USS Carl Vinson could be seen on Monday morning from the cliff tops just outside the central Vietnamese city of Da Nang, where the 103,000-tonne carrier and two other US ships begin a five-day visit.
The arrival of the…
In historic first, a Hindu woman has been elected to the senate in Pakistan
A woman from Pakistan’s marginalised Hindu minority has been elected to the senate for the first time ever in an election over the weekend in which a Taliban-linked cleric was defeated.
Krishna Kumari, a member of the Pakistan People’s Party, hails from the so-called untouchables, the lowest rung of the caste system that still prevails in Pakistan and neighbouring India.
Lawmakers in national and four provincial assemblies on Saturday elected half of the 104-member Senate to six-…
This man cleaned up a ‘City of Pigs’. But for Indonesian voters, he needs to be pious, too
When Ridwan Kamil took over as mayor of Bandung in September 2013, bureaucrats like Tammi Lasmini, who would be responsible for executing plans to rebuild the city centre and spruce up its parks, admitted to having their doubts.
Just a month earlier Kamil’s predecessor, Dada Rosada, had been arrested on suspicion of bribing judges – charges that ultimately led to a 10-year prison sentence. A Dutch colonial hill top town and capital of Indonesia’s West Java province, Bandung…
Cambodia’s PM accuses US of lying about aid cut
Cambodia’s prime minister on Saturday accused the US government of being dishonest in its announced suspension of aid to the Southeast Asian nation, saying Cambodia had already stopped receiving aid from Washington in 2016.
The White House said on Tuesday it was suspending or curtailing several Treasury, USAID and military help programmes that support Cambodia’s military, taxation department and local authorities – all of which, it said, shared blame for recent political…