Month: May 2020

Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Oli has blamed India for the spread of coronavirus in his country and accused New Delhi of building a road that encroaches on the Himalayan nation’s territory, marking a new low in bilateral relations between the traditional allies.Nepal has approved a new political map demarcating the Lipulekh mountain pass, Kalapani and Limpiyadhura – places it says India has claimed by building a road despite repeated objections, Press Trust of India reported citing Foreign…

All those entering the country will have to bear the cost of mandatory quarantine and are to sign a letter agreeing to pay before they can make the trip to Malaysia, Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said.Ismail Sabri said with the latest policy, Malaysians would pay half the cost of quarantine services while non-citizens, including spouses and family members of Malaysian citizens, had to bear the full cost.“This will take effect from June 1 as Malaysia will continue to impose compulsory…

A man has been sentenced to death in Singapore via a Zoom video call for his role in a drug deal, the city state’s first case where capital punishment has been delivered remotely.Punithan Genasan, a 37-year-old Malaysian, received the sentence for his role in a 2011 heroin transaction on Friday, court documents showed, with the country under lockdown to try and curb one of the highest coronavirus rates in Asia.“For the safety of all involved in the proceedings, the hearing for Public Prosecutor…

For many Singaporeans, the directives to stay home, wash their hands regularly and wear a mask when outside have been hard enough to abide by. For the homeless, these rules are almost impossible.Take Jason (not his real name). All the 37-year-old can think of these days is his limited access to toilets, the six cents left in his bank account and whatever is left of the hand sanitiser placed in the lift at the void deck where he sleeps rough.Wearing a mask would make his nights even more…

In Thailand, you cannot have food or water in flight and must wear a mask. In Malaysia and Indonesia, the plane needs to be half-empty. And Australia’s Qantas Airways is giving passengers cleaning wipes but will not leave the middle seats empty.Measures to stem the spread of coronavirus have changed how people travel, with travellers, airlines and airports across Asia grappling with a hodgepodge of rules put in place during the pandemic that will make flying different in almost every country…

Indonesian gravedigger Junaidi Hakim has to work hard to summon his weary colleagues in a never-ending race to bury victims of the coronavirus pandemic at a cemetery in Jakarta.The team switches quickly from digging fresh graves to burying the bodies – aiming to get the task done in under 10 minutes to lessen the chance of getting infected themselves.Indonesia braces for Covid-19 spike as thousands of workers return home“The most worrying part is when we’re unloading a coffin because we have to…

Malaysia’s former attorney general said on Monday that when prosecutors dropped money-laundering charges against The Wolf of Wall Street producer and stepson of ex-Prime Minister Najib Razak they gave him a “sweetheart deal” that is “terrible for Malaysia.”Former attorney general Tommy Thomas disputed statements by his successor and the country’s anti-corruption agency that he had agreed to the settlement with Riza Aziz before he quit as the country’s top prosecutor following an abrupt change…

Malaysia’s one-day parliament session began and ended on Monday with the nation’s king delivering a speech in which he urged lawmakers not to reignite political instability two months after a crisis that saw the previous government toppled after just 21 months of rule.“Show maturity in politics … We believe that it is only through the unity of the people and the government that we can create a stable, peaceful and prosperous Malaysia,” said Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah, calling on…

It is 40 years since Choi Jung-ja saw her husband, who has been missing since South Korea’s military dictatorship killed hundreds of people when they crushed the pro-democracy Gwangju Uprising, a scar that burns in the country’s political psyche to this day.On May 18, 1980 demonstrators protesting against dictator Chun Doo-hwan’s declaration of martial law confronted his troops and 10 days of violence ensued.But conservatives in the South still condemn the uprising as a Communist-inspired…

Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has repeatedly and openly vowed to “destroy” wealthy and politically influential businessmen in the country. So when he unexpectedly issued an apology to three wealthy tycoons last week after they contributed to the country’s coronavirus response, eyebrows were raised and observers questioned whether his crusade against the oligarchs was over, or if it was just a charade. Despite having expressed his distaste for them in the past, Duterte mended fences…