Britain and Japan cancelled a plan for a simulated amphibious beach assault near Mount Fuji this week that would have been the first joint drill between their troops in Japan, officials said on Wednesday, as a typhoon approached the Japanese mainland.
Typhoon Cimaron, which is heading north from the western Pacific, is expected to bring strong winds and rain to Japan over the next few days.
Typhoons Soulik and Cimaron approach western Japan bringing high waves, strong winds
Britain and Japan…
A sombre Eid for nearly 1 million Rohingya driven out of Myanmar
Nearly one million Rohingya Muslims marked Eid ul-Adha on Wednesday in the world’s largest refugee camp, almost a year to the day since a brutal military crackdown drove the persecuted minority from Myanmar in huge numbers.
Prayers were offered in makeshift mosques across southern Bangladesh to celebrate the Islamic festival of sacrifice as cows were slaughtered in muddy fields across the sprawling camps.
Rohingya crisis: terrorism may spread beyond Myanmar, Suu Kyi warns
In Kutupalong, a…
UK looks to data science to help grow exports
The UK government wants to use data science to identify companies with potential to provide their services overseas as part of a new plan to grow the UK’s export market.
Critically ill refugee child on hunger strike flown from Nauru to Australia with family
A 12-year-old refugee on Nauru who has refused all food and medical treatment for more than 20 days was moved to Australia on Tuesday with his whole family.
M was taken from Nauru by air ambulance with his mother, stepfather and sister. The Australian Border Force initially refused to move M with his family, insisting they be separated, with his stepfather to stay on the island.
However, after M refused to leave without his family, and after several failed attempts to move him, first on…
Laos dam collapse: Mekong River projects move forward despite promise to halt and review
Work on two of the biggest dams on the Mekong River in Laos is going ahead, despite a promise by the government to halt and review all new projects after a deadly dam disaster in July.
The fatal collapse of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy hydroelectric dam saw 5 billion cubic litres of water flood the Attapeu region, washing away entire villages, displacing more than 6,000 people and killing at least 35 people. Hundreds are still missing.
In response, Laos Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith ordered a…
Government IT suppliers should face interoperability duty, says think tank
The UK government should require prospective IT suppliers to ensure their systems are interoperable, according to a new report by the think tank Reform.
New Zealand politicians plan pay freeze as workers strike for more money
New Zealand’s lawmakers are planning to take a pay freeze at a time that teachers, nurses and other public workers have been going on strike for more money.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced Monday that politicians would turn down a planned 3 per cent pay rise this year and would freeze their pay for 12 months while they worked out a fairer formula for future raises.
Ardern said there is an increasing gap between what low- and middle-income New Zealanders earn and what highly paid…
Thailand’s 86-year-old Queen Sirikit admitted to hospital
Thailand’s 86-year-old Queen Sirikit is being treated for influenza at a Bangkok hospital, the Royal Household Bureau said in a statement on Monday in a rare statement on her health.
Sirikit, who was queen consort to the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in 2016 after seven decades on the throne, is mother to the current King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 66.
The queen has seldom been seen in public in recent years but last week the palace released photographs of Sirikit to mark her 86th…
In Thai election, any government you like – as long as it’s the junta
Since Thaksin Shinawatra became prime minister in Thailand in 2001, every party aligned with the ousted leader has won every election held in the country.
However, in its determination to dominate next year’s general election, the junta-ruled government may be now luring high-profile members of the tycoon’s Pheu Thai party to its side while banning meetings of its political rivals. The defection of Pheu Thai MPs has the party facing some of its most difficult days yet.
The move is…
Why rain and Rohingya refugees are good business for this phone charging shop
Captain Min Min, a Buddhist from Myanmar, looks on as a stream of Muslim Rohingya labourers zigzag up narrow gangplanks hauling sacks of ginger from his boat onto Bangladeshi soil – one of many seizing the economic opportunities presented by a refugee crisis.
“I don’t worry about conflict … everything is just business,” the ethnic Rakhine skipper said, offering whiskey, cigarettes and big betel nut-stained smiles as he waits for his nine-tonne cargo to be unloaded…