Author: viking

The leaders of North and South Korea might stumble over barriers to economic cooperation when they meet for their historic summit in the border village of Panmunjom on Friday, diplomatic sources said. Although South Korea wanted to revive relations with a North Korea battered by United Nations and US sanctions, Seoul was not expected to present a detailed economic cooperation plan at the meeting, the sources said.  Korea summit: is Kim Jong-un sincere? Here’s how to tell A…

Germany put on trial on Tuesday the only suspect held over what it calls a brazen cold war-style kidnapping by Vietnamese secret agents that has badly bruised bilateral ties.
The accused – a Vietnamese-Czech man identified only as Long N.H., 47 – allegedly rented and delivered the van that was used in last July’s abduction of a fugitive Vietnamese state company official in a Berlin park.
The kidnapped man, Trinh Xuan Thanh, 52, who was seeking political asylum in Germany, was…

The majority of global companies admit that they do not have appropriate oversight of third parties and sub-contractors despite the imminent implementation of new data protection regulations.

Myanmar’s unofficial leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not attend this weekend’s Asean summit in Singapore, a government spokesman said on Monday, which would make it the first time for her to skip one since her party came to power in 2016.
Instead, President Win Myint, who was sworn-in last month, will represent Myanmar at Saturday’s summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, presidential spokesman Zaw Htay said.
He did not explain why Suu Kyi, who has dual roles of…

The population of Cambodia’s critically endangered river dolphin is growing for the first time in decades, conservationists said on Monday, hailing a major turnaround for the freshwater species.
The Irrawaddy dolphins, known for their bulging foreheads and short beaks, once swam through much of the Mekong river but in recent decades have been limited to a 190km (118 mile) stretch from central Cambodia to its northern border with Laos.
The population has been in steady decline since the…

South Korea’s preparations for its first summit with North Korea in more than a decade are in full swing this week, officials said on Sunday, a day after the North’s pledge to end its nuclear tests raised hopes but also scepticism.
Although the North’s announcement is quite dramatic, it’s natural for the world to be extra sensitive to every word spoken by Kim
Nam Sung-wook, Korea University
North Korea said on Saturday it was suspending nuclear and missile tests and…

What we know so far
On April 8 the South China Morning Post published a photo showing Cambridge Analytica’s suspended CEO Alexander Nix dining at the National Press Club Manila in May 2015 with four men. Two of the men later played key roles in Rodrigo Duterte’s 2016 presidential campaign: Jose Gabriel “Pompee” La Viña as social media director, and Peter Tiu Laviña as spokesman.
La Viña recently said both were ”guests” the day they…

The co-founder of the Fair Employment Agency believes that Hong Kong is on the right track to eradicate the exploitation of domestic workers by 2024, noting his organisation has placed more than 2,000 Filipino helpers at no cost to them. Studies have shown that indebtedness arising from excessive agency fees is a major reason why the workers remain vulnerable to abuse in a city that has no anti-human trafficking laws and where forced labour is technically not a crime. More employment…

A Palestinian man linked to Islamic group Hamas was shot dead in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday by two suspects believed to be connected to foreign intelligence services, authorities said.
Kuala Lumpur police chief Mazlan Lazim said two men on a motorcycle fired 10 shots at the 35-year-old victim, killing him on the spot.
“Preliminary investigations found four gunshot wounds on the victim’s body. Two bullet slugs were found at the scene of the incident,” Mazlan said in a statement….

Brand owners seeking to prevent their EU trade marks from being revoked may not need to provide evidence from every EU country that those marks have acquired distinctive character, an adviser to the EU’s highest court has said.