The UK’s Environment Agency (EA) has used powers introduced last year for the first time, blocking access to an illegal waste site after obtaining a restriction order against the company.
‘Traitors’: Malaysian minister blasts importers of illegal waste, vows to return 450 tonnes of rubbish to likes of US, Japan
Malaysia will send back 10 shipping containers of contaminated plastic waste illegally shipped from countries including the United States and Japan, according to environment minister Yeo Bee Yin, who labelled the local importers who allowed the rubbish in “traitors” to the nation’s sustainability.“Malaysia won’t continue to be a dumping ground for the developed nations and those responsible for destroying our ecosystem with these illegal activities are traitors,” Yeo on Tuesday told reporters. …
Ramadan violence in restive Thai south as market bombing leaves two dead
Two people, including a 14-year-old boy, were killed in a market place bombing in Thailand’s Muslim-majority south, a military spokesman said Tuesday – an apparent retaliatory attack for the killing of a wanted rebel leader.Thailand’s three southernmost provinces, Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat, have since 2004 been plagued with conflict between ethnic Malay-Muslim rebels and the Buddhist-majority Thai state, which annexed the region around a century ago.Around 7,000 people, mostly civilians,…
Moscow 8: the North Korean filmmakers who chose a life of exile after defying Pyongyang
As the Korean war raged in the 1950s, eight students – all members of the North’s new elite, destined for a life of privilege and power – left for Moscow to study at a prestigious Russian film school. They never returned.Scattered to the corners of the Soviet Union after they chose asylum and exile to denounce the personality cult around the North’s founder Kim Il-sung, the eight of them lived as authors and filmmakers – forever separated from friends and family.“We call the places we are born…
Indonesia riots: Jakarta traders pick up the pieces as life slowly returns to normal
Jakarta shopkeeper Ismail ran his kiosk selling instant noodles, eggs and instant coffee for 20 years, until last week when rioters protesting Indonesian President Joko Widodo’s re-election looted it and burned it down.The kiosk was located on Jalan Wahid Hasyim, next to the Sabang police post, and in one of six hotspots in central and west Jakarta where hundreds, mostly young men, clashed with security forces. They hurled rocks, Molotov cocktails and marbles, and set fires along the street…
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison keeps the faith as key ministers retain portfolios
Newly re-elected Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison indicated faith in the team that won a third term for his Liberal-National coalition, as he named his Cabinet a week after his surprise election victory.Morrison on Sunday left the bulk of his cabinet unchanged, with key ministers retaining portfolios.“I have high expectations of my ministry and clear goals for each of their roles,” he said in an emailed statement.Among those keeping their roles include Liberal Party deputy leader Josh…
Indonesia hopes ‘new Bali’ will drive tourism boom but the locals of Lombok are unconvinced
Following his re-election, Indonesian President Joko Widodo will proceed with an ambitious plan to develop 10 new tourist destinations, including Lombok in West Nusa Tenggara province, an island 30 minutes from Bali by plane.Widodo last week visited the special economic zone of Mandalika in southern Lombok, where more than 17 trillion rupiah (US$1.2 billion) has been invested since 2014. Widodo reaffirmed his commitment to upgrading the island into a “high-standard” destination, with one eye on…
Li Huanwu, grandson of Singapore founding father Lee Kuan Yew, marries boyfriend Heng Yirui – and Chinese social media users cheer them on
A grandson of Singapore’s late founding father Lee Kuan Yew revealed on Friday he had married his boyfriend in South Africa, prompting a flurry of mostly positive reactions in his country, where male homosexuality is banned, and around the region.Li Huanwu, the second son of Lee Hsien Yang, was featured in an Instagram post by his partner Heng Yirui on Friday who said: “Today I marry my soulmate. Looking forward to a lifetime of moments like this with [Huanwu].”The picture showed both in…
If Donald Trump kills off Chinese firm Huawei, do Asia’s 5G dreams die?
When it comes to the roll-out of next-generation 5G cellular technology, few regions in the world could be as excited as Southeast Asia, a region famed for intensive smartphone use.But this week’s dramatic escalation in the United States’ crackdown on Chinese telecoms giant Huawei has been a cold shower for those anticipating the mass-market arrival of a technology hyped as heralding a new dawn of driverless cars and artificial intelligence.Just weeks ago, Huawei had seemed assured of playing a…
Entrepreneurs’ Relief: preference shares were ‘ordinary share capital’, says Tribunal
Preference shares which carried the right to a fixed cumulative preferential dividend were ‘ordinary share capital’ for the purposes of calculating entrepreneurs’ relief, the First-tier Tribunal has decided.