The lack of humanitarian access granted by Myanmar’s government to Rakhine state, where over half a million Rohingya Muslims have fled violence, was “unacceptable”, the UN said on Friday.
“The access we have in northern Rakhine state is unacceptable,” Mark Lowcock, head of the UN humanitarian office, told reporters in Geneva.
A small UN team visited the crisis-wracked region in majority Buddhist Myanmar in recent days and described witnessing “unimaginable…
Cambodian government files lawsuit to dissolve main opposition party
Cambodian government lawyers filed a lawsuit on Friday to demand the dissolution of Cambodia’s main opposition party after its leader was charged with treason last month.
Interior Ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak said the ministry filed the lawsuit with the Supreme Court asking for the Cambodia National Rescue Party to be dissolved.
He said the ministry had found that the opposition party violated the law with its alleged involvement with plotting to topple the government.
The government…
EU: platforms will not lose defence to liability for illegal content they host by proactively detecting and removing that material
Online platforms would not expose themselves to becoming liable for illegal content uploaded by their users by proactively detecting and removing such material from their sites, the European Commission has said.
Marcos son ‘Bongbong’ confident of being declared Duterte’s vice-president after Philippines vote recount
The son and namesake of late Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos declared Thursday he was confident of ousting the current vice-president in a legal challenge, which would place him a heartbeat away from leading his country. Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jnr also confirmed his family was in talks with President Rodrigo Duterte, a political ally, to end the government’s three-decade hunt for billions of dollars worth of national assets allegedly stolen by his father and…
Former medal winning New Zealand Olympian targeted in alleged cheque fraud
By Sam Hurley A New Zealand Olympic great and politician was the target of an alleged bank fraud scheme. Dick Quax has been named in court documents alongside his wife Roxanne Bakke as the complainants in a criminal case currently before the Manukau District Court. The silver medal-winning Olympic runner confirmed to the Herald he has been in contact with investigating police after an electrician was charged with using bank cheques in Quax and Bakke’s names. James Alexander…
Poison VX found on clothes of women accused of Kim Jong-nam murder
Traces of a nerve agent used to murder the half-brother of North Korea’s leader were found on the clothes of two women on trial for assassinating him, a chemist testified Thursday. His testimony is the first evidence directly linking the women to the poison VX which was used to kill Kim Jong-nam as he waited at a crowded airport in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur. Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong are accused of smearing VX on Kim’s face in February in a…
Amazon state aid decision ‘likely to worry’ other US multinationals, says expert
The European Commission has decided that tax rulings given by Luxembourg granted “undue tax benefits” to online retailer Amazon of around €250 million which breach EU state aid rules.
Prominent Cambodian opposition lawmaker flees country after arrest threat
A prominent Cambodian opposition lawmaker has fled the country after being warned by government officials that she faced arrest for links with the party president’s alleged plot to overthrow the government.
Mu Sochua, who also served as deputy president of the Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), left Cambodia on Tuesday, a day after Prime Minister Hun Sen warned of strong action against any others who may have been involved in the alleged plot. She had received an arrest warning from a…
Lives on hold: Balinese grandmother awaits Mount Agung eruption
The last time Bali’s Mount Agung erupted in 1963, more than 1,700 people died. Pyroclastic flows, a fast-moving mixture of gas and volcanic matter, devastated the Indonesian villages around the sacred mountain. The only place spared was the Mother Temple of Besakih, which the lava missed by metres.
Since September 21, fears of a similar catastrophe have gripped the island, causing panicked villagers to flee. Nearly 150,000 evacuees are scattered across 471 relief centres.
On October 1,…
Students, universities to benefit from new intellectual property resources
The Intellectual Property Office has published a suite of new material for universities and colleges, aimed at helping students to better understand the relevance of intellectual property (IP).