Month: November 2017

A Japanese police probe into the attempted murder of an elderly bedridden woman has reportedly led to an unlikely suspect: a stray cat. Mayuko Matsumoto’s daughter found her bleeding profusely from about 20 cuts to her face on Monday at her home in a mountainous region of southern Japan. Police launched an attempted murder investigation after seeing the wounds, some of them relatively severe, according to local broadcaster RKK. “When we found her, blood covered everything…

Hong Kong remains committed to international free trade despite its potential to cause social problems – that was the message the city’s leader, Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor, took to her debut appearance at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.
Like US President Donald Trump, Lam was among the fresh faces attending the Apec forum, busying herself on Friday with conversations and meetings with fellow leaders ranging from Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to Chilean President…

A legal challenge to plans to construct major new wind farms off the east coast of Scotland has been rejected by the UK’s highest court.

Financial firms could be made subject to a new duty of care, requiring them to exercise “reasonable skill and care” when providing services to consumers, the financial regulator has indicated.

Talks on pushing ahead the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal without the United States reached a critical point on Thursday as ministers from the 11 countries discussed a proposed agreement in principle.
Talks on the TPP, ditched by US President Donald Trump in one of his first acts in office, have been held on the sidelines of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) meetings in the Vietnamese resort of Da Nang.
Clear agreement on proceeding without the US would be a boost for the…

When US President Donald Trump lands in Danang, once a key US wartime airbase, he’ll receive a mixed welcome from American veterans who fought on Vietnamese soil but now call the coastal city home.
Trump fans among Danang’s community of war vets are keenly awaiting an “America First” clarion call by a man they are proud to have as president when he addresses the APEC summit of world leaders on Friday.
Others are strikingly less enthusiastic. Former marine David E. Clark…

India arrested a teenager on Wednesday for allegedly slitting the throat of a seven-year-old schoolmate in hopes the murder would lead to an exam being postponed, federal investigators said.
The 16-year-old is accused of killing his young schoolmate in September at a smart public school near Delhi in an attempt to delay an impending test and parent-teacher meeting.
Police had initially detained a bus conductor over the murder, claiming he killed the boy after the young pupil resisted a sex…

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said on Wednesday he would tell US President Donald Trump to “lay off” if he raises the issue of human rights when they meet. Trump will be in Manila on the last leg of his 12-day Asian trip, which includes visits to Japan, South Korea, China, and Vietnam. The US president will attend the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Danang, Vietnam, make a state visit to Hanoi and end his trip with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations…

Changes to the income tax and national insurance position on payments in lieu of notice (PILONs) will still take effect from April 2018, even though the government has announced that the National Insurance Contributions Bill has been delayed and will take effect from April 2019, rather than April 2018, an expert has said.

US President Donald Trump will offer a clearer picture on why he and other senior White House officials have begun referring to the Asia-Pacific as the “Indo-Pacific” by the end of his 12-day, five-nation tour of the region, Washington’s envoy in Tokyo said on Tuesday.
Trump had discussed the Indo-Pacific “concept” with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, ambassador William Hagerty said following the president’s two-day Japan visit, adding it was too early to draw…