Author: viking

ANALYSIS: Changes to industrial relations law mean trade unions are facing a very different legal landscape from the ‘winter of discontent’ 40 years ago, despite recent threats of illegal strike action over public sector pay.

US President Donald Trump will host Thai junta chief Prayuth Chan-ocha at the White House next Tuesday, in a personal coup for a Thai autocrat who was shunned by Barack Obama’s administration for his regime’s poor rights record.
Ties between the long-time allies were strained by Prayuth’s 2014 coup, which ushered in Thailand’s most authoritarian government in a generation.
But Trump’s administration has started to reset relations with the junta government. Since he…

Myanmar’s UN ambassador insisted on Monday that there is no “ethnic cleansing” or genocide taking place against Muslims and objected “in the strongest terms” to countries that used those words to describe the situation in Rakhine State.
Hau Do Suan used his “right of reply” at the end of the six-day gathering of world leaders at the General Assembly to respond to what he called “irresponsible remarks” and “unsubstantiated allegations…

The Labour Party has promised to introduce a cap on credit card interest payments should it come back into power, saying it will apply the same rules for credit cards as for payday loans.

Half a century after sending a satellite into space aboard a rocket emblazoned with a spear-carrying kangaroo, Australia on Monday committed to creating a national space agency as it looks to cash in on the lucrative and fast-evolving astronautical sector.
The announcement came at a week-long Adelaide space conference attended by the world’s top scientists and experts including SpaceX chief Elon Musk.
It brings Canberra – which already has significant involvement in national and…

Hongkongers heading to the Indonesian holiday destination Bali will not be affected by volcanic activity on the island, tour organisers have said.
Nearly 35,000 people have been evacuated from the area as Indonesian officials say Mount Agung could erupt soon.
Authorities imposed a 12km exclusion zone around the crater, as increasing activity on Sunday sent strong tremors through areas in the eastern part of the island.
A spokeswoman for Hong Thai Travel Services, one of the city’s major…

Malaysians have a new favourite pastime these days – guessing when Prime Minister Najib Razak will call the next general election. The vote is due by next August but for months the premier, who has full power to decide when it will be held, has blown hot and cold about triggering a snap contest. When called, the vote will be one of the country’s fiercest ever political battles, pitting Najib against Mahathir Mohamad, the country’s 92-year-old former strongman prime minister…

Zany Mique needs little reminding of the dark time in Philippine history 45 years ago when dictator Ferdinand Marcos placed the nation under martial law. She was imprisoned twice during that nine-year period – an era marked by widespread human rights abuses including extrajudicial killings, torture and incarcerations.
But she is worried others might forget just how dark that period was – particularly given President Rodrigo Duterte’s announcement that he is considering…

New Zealand was voting on Saturday in a cliffhanger election pitting conservative Prime Minister Bill English against charismatic young rival Jacinda Ardern.
The campaign has been the most volatile in recent memory, with momentum swinging from English to Ardern and then back again.
“This election is going to be really close … it’s a drag race between the two big parties,” English said, conceding a large undecided vote could prove key.
No party has claimed a majority…

Seven members of the United Nations Security Council, including the United States and Britain, on Friday asked UN chief Antonio Guterres to publicly brief the 15-member body next week on the violence in Myanmar that he has described as ethnic cleansing. Sweden, the United States, Britain, France, Egypt, Senegal, and Kazakhstan want Ethiopia, president of the council for September, to arrange the briefing for next week, according to the request. More than 422,000 Rohingya Muslims have fled…