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…
‘Fat Leonard’ scandal widens, with indictment of three more retired US Navy officials
The worst corruption scandal in navy history escalated on Friday as federal prosecutors announced bribery and fraud charges against three retired sailors, including an officer who allegedly took part in a wild two-day party with prostitutes in Tokyo that cost US$75,000.
A grand jury in San Diego indicted retired Captain David Haas, 50, of Kailua, Hawaii, on charges that he took US$145,000 in bribes from Leonard Glenn Francis, a Singapore-based defence contractor known as “Fat Leonard…
Tech talk tops agenda as Malaysia’s Mahathir meets Jack Ma at Alibaba’s Hangzhou HQ
Artificial intelligence driven traffic controls, blockchain-based financial technology and the Internet of Things were at the top of the agenda on Saturday as Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad kicked off his closely watched five-day visit to China with a tour of Alibaba Group’s Hangzhou headquarters.
The tech-savvy 93-year-old leader – elected in May on a platform promising widespread reform – told the Chinese conglomerate’s co-founder Jack Ma that his country…