Switzerland’s Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) has closed down the providers of cryptocurrency e-coin, calling the currency “fake”.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s critics channel The Hunger Games in defiance
Critics of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte have adopted the three-finger salute from the hit Hunger Games films as a sign of resistance against his rule and drug war killings.
The sign is in contrast to Duterte’s own iconic gesture, a clenched fist raised at or above eye level that is immensely popular with his support but which opponents have likened to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler’s hand salute.
Opposition lawmakers and other members of a new anti-Duterte coalition performed the…
Prodigal K-pop composer enlists in South Korea’s Marine Corps
By Ko Dong-hwan K-pop duo band Akdong Musician’s composer and singer Lee Chan-hyuk, often regarded as a musical prodigy has enlisted in the country’s Marine Corps. The star, 21, who plays with his younger sister Su-hyun, voluntarily entered a training centre in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province. He kept his enlistment quiet from the public as his Christian pastor parents, a few close friends and staff from his agency YG Entertainment saw him enter the military world for…
Rohingya crisis: Myanmar’s Suu Kyi addresses nation as communal conflict tears it apart
Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi condemned all human rights violations on Tuesday and said anyone responsible for abuses in troubled Rakhine State would face the law, and she felt deeply for the suffering of everyone caught up in conflict there.
Communal violence has torn through Rakhine state since August 25, leaving hundreds dead and driving more than 410,000 of the Rohingya minority from Myanmar into Bangladesh.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel laureate, has been decried for failing to speak up publicly for…
PwC reveals ethnic minority pay gap as Low Pay Commission focuses on gender
Consulting firm PwC has revealed the pay gap between its white and black and minority ethnic (BAME) employees for the first time.
Pakistan ex-PM’s wife wins his parliament seat from a hospital bed in London
The wife of Pakistan’s former prime minister Nawaz Sharif appeared to have won the parliamentary seat vacated by her husband following his disqualification by the Supreme Court from holding public office.
Victory by Kulsoom Sharif, who is currently receiving medical treatment in London, was declared by her daughter Sunday in front of supporters at the head office of Sharif’s Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party in Lahore.
“Nawaz Sharif has won” against the court…
Philippine troops rescue abducted Catholic priest in battle for Marawi
Philippine troops have rescued a Roman Catholic priest and another civilian who were among dozens of people abducted in May when hundreds of militants aligned with Islamic State laid siege on southern Marawi city, officials said on Sunday.
Presidential adviser Jesus Dureza and two senior security officials said without elaborating that troops retrieved the two late on Saturday after a battle to recapture a key mosque and another Islamic building used as a command centre by the gunmen in Marawi…
Top Myanmar general defends military’s ‘clearance operations’ as 400,000 Rohingya flee bloodshed
Myanmar’s army chief has urged the country to unite over the “issue” of the Rohingya, a Muslim group he says has no roots in the country, and which his troops are accused of systematically purging.
The military says its “clearance operations” in northern Rakhine state are aimed at taking out Rohingya militants who attacked police posts on August 25.
But the violence has engulfed the border region and triggered an exodus of more than 400,000 Rohingya to Bangladesh,…
Seven boys arrested after deadly Malaysia school fire could face murder charges
Malaysian police have arrested seven people aged 11 to 18 in connection with a recent fire at a religious school that killed 23 people.
The suspects were being investigated on suspicion of “mischief by fire” and murder over Thursday’s fire at the school, Pusat Tahfiz Darul Quran Ittifaqiyah, in Kampung Datuk Keramat on the outskirts of the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur police chief Amar Singh said.
He said the group planned to set fire to the school following conflict with…
Shinkansen: India and Japan’s silver bullet for a rising China
The inauguration this week of India’s first high-speed rail corridor between Mumbai and Ahmadabad, using Japanese technology and financing, has a geostrategic significance that transcends its economic worth. It amplifies the growing closeness between India and Japan at a time when both nations are struggling to find their footing in an Asia being re-fashioned by an ascendant China.
New Delhi and Tokyo have long-standing territorial disputes with China. Both are concerned about Beijing…