It’s almost as if there’s a playbook for forging multilateral trade deals that says prolonged procrastination is a key negotiation ritual.For the fifth straight year, officials from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the bloc’s six key trading partners – India, China, Australia, New Zealand, Japan and South Korea – are insisting that they are in the last-chance saloon to wrap up a deal to make the 16 countries the world’s biggest free-trade zone.Asean already has free…
New Delhi and Beijing cannot let differences turn into disputes: India’s ambassador to China
India and China must actively manage their differences so they do not get in the way of the Asian superpowers working together for global stability, India’s top diplomat in China said on Friday.To emphasise his point, Ambassador Vikram Misri listed eight long-standing and new bilateral issues that required attention, including India’s almost US$60 billion trade deficit with China, cooperation on counterterrorism and a peaceful resolution to their border dispute.“This trade imbalance is not…
South Korean actress Lee Yeol-eum charged in Thailand for catching endangered giant clams
A South Korean actress has been charged in Thailand with catching endangered giant clams while taking part in a reality TV show and could face up to four years in prison if found guilty, an official said on Friday.Actress Lee Yeol-eum cheered as she caught the three giant shellfish in a Thai national marine park in March on the survival TV show “The Law of the Jungle.” Participants in the show then ate the clams in an episode that aired on June 30.Narong Kongeiad, chief of Hat Chao Mai National…
Will Rahul Gandhi’s exit make Modi’s dream for a ‘Congress-free India’ come true?
This week, workers of India’s main opposition party, the Indian National Congress, gathered outside the party’s headquarters in New Delhi and went on a mass, indefinite sit-in.Their demand? That party chief Rahul Gandhi – who led the Congress to a humiliating defeat to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the recent general elections – continue in his post.But the orchestrated sit-in had the opposite effect. On Wednesday, Gandhi, ending all speculation, shared his…
Malaysia to charge former PM Najib Razak’s stepson, Riza Aziz, with money laundering
Riza Aziz, the Malaysian producer of the The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo DiCaprio, was arrested on Thursday on suspicion of money laundering as part of investigations into the 1MDB scandal, officials said.He was detained in Malaysia after questioning by corruption investigators and will appear in court on Friday to face charges, said Latheefa Koya, head of the anti-corruption agency.Riza is the stepson of Malaysia’s disgraced ex-leader Najib Razak, and the son of the country’s former…
South Korean general sacked for failing to detect boat carrying defectors from North
A South Korean general was sacked on Wednesday for a lapse in border security after a fishing boat from North Korea managed to cross the intensely monitored sea between the countries and dock undetected.The military failed to identify the small wooden boat – carrying four North Koreans – until a civilian alerted the police after it arrived at the port of Samcheok, roughly 260km east of Seoul on June 15.Two of the passengers defected to the South, while the other two chose to return to North…
Palm oil: Malaysia launches investigation into school for putting on ‘propaganda’ play about deforestation
An international school in Malaysia has become the latest target in the country’s crusade to promote its palm oil exports, with the government announcing it will launch an investigation after students there staged a play about deforestation and the negative environmental impact of palm oil cultivation.A video circulating online earlier in the week showed what appeared to be primary school pupils speaking on stage about the destruction caused by unsustainable palm oil cultivation, and linking…
In Pakistan, rich city dwellers flaunt their wealth by keeping lions and other ‘exotic’ species as pets, status symbols
Bilal Mansoor Khawaja beams as he runs his palms over the ivory coat of a white lion, one of thousands of exotic animals at his personal “zoo” in Karachi, where a thriving wildlife trade caters to Pakistan’s gilded elite.“These are … (some) of the rarest animals I own,” boasts the 29-year-old industrialist of his leashed lion.Pakistani laws make it easy to import exotic animals, but once inside the country regulation is almost non-existent.This has led to an untold number of such creatures –…
Did Duterte’s detente with Beijing sink with a Philippine fishing boat in the South China Sea?
The sinking of a Filipino fishing boat by a Chinese vessel has dealt a heavy blow to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s shift towards Beijing and highlighted the risks to the region from China’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea, according to analysts.Duterte has been criticised in the Philippines for his response to what he called a “little maritime incident” on June 9, when a Chinese vessel collided with the Filipino boat near Reed Bank in the disputed South China Sea.The 22…
Indonesia’s arrest of JI leader Para Wijayanto exposes militant group’s active recruitment in bid to establish caliphate
Indonesian police’s arrest of the leader of Jemaah Islamiah (JI), the Southeast Asian offshoot of the international terrorism network al-Qaeda, has exposed that JI is on the resurgence, actively recruiting members and cultivating palm oil plantations to fund its bid to establish a caliphate in the country. Para Wijayanto, 54, who has been at large since 2003, was arrested on Saturday at a hotel in Bekasi, West Java, together with his wife and one trusted aide. On Sunday, two other JI members…