Sri Lanka is seeking a loan of nearly US$1 billion from China for energy and motorways as the island recovers from the devastating Easter Sunday bombings, the finance ministry said on Thursday.Talks are underway with China’s Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to raise the new loan in addition to the US$1.2 billion obtained from international agencies this year, the ministry said.“We have been discussing with the AIIB to obtain nearly an additional US$1,000 million for further…
Myanmar schoolchildren breathe new life into disused bicycles from oBike, Ofo and Mobike languishing in ‘graveyards’
Thae Su Wai is beaming. The 11-year-old Myanmar student, a proud owner of a new bicycle, will no longer need to trudge 10km for two hours to and from lessons.“I’ll have more time to study and play with friends,” she said, as she excitedly wheels away her new bicycle at Nhaw Kone Village school near Yangon.Thae Su Wai is among the first 200 students to receive bicycles, shipped from Singapore and Malaysia, donated to give them access to education in a nation where more than half live in poverty…
Drone sightings force Singapore’s Changi airport to temporarily close runway, causing dozens of flight delays
Singapore’s main airport temporarily closed a runway after drones were spotted in the area, causing dozens of flights to be delayed, authorities said Wednesday.Changi Airport, one of Asia’s busiest hubs, closed one of its two runways for short periods from late Tuesday into early Wednesday after the drone sightings, the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore said.About 37 flights were delayed and one arriving in Singapore was diverted to neighbouring Malaysia, the agency said. Authorities have…
Philippine drug war deaths pile up as Duterte admits losing control
Philippine police commanders on Wednesday revealed that 1,600 people had been killed in the past six months in the war on drugs, with the latest figures coming just days after President Rodrigo Duterte admitted having lost control of the crackdown. The latest figures from the Philippine National Police brings the official death count to more than 6,600. It immediately prompted campaigners to demand a full investigation into Duterte’s crackdown, which human rights groups claim may be…
Japan: a man’s world, with a record number of women running for election
Nearly one in three candidates contesting Japan’s upper house election next month is a woman, a record number in a country with one of the world’s worst rates of female political representation.Of the 273 candidates running in the July 21 election, where 124 seats across the country are being contested, 82 are women – accounting for 30 per cent of candidates and surpassing the previous record of 27.6 per cent seen in the 2001 upper house election.Japan has one of the widest gender gaps in the…
Filipinos burn Chinese flags in protest against Duterte’s ‘weak’ response to South China Sea sinking
Demonstrators in Manila on Tuesday burned Chinese flags in protest over what they said was a “weak” response by President Rodrigo Duterte to the sinking of a Philippine fishing boat in the South China Sea.Holding placards with messages such as “End China Aggression” and “China hands off Filipino fishermen” around 50 protesters joined the Justice for Philippines rally at Rizal Park, denouncing what they said was an effort by the president to belittle the incident, in which 22 Filipino fishermen…
China-Philippines ‘hit and run’: Duterte’s deafening silence is sign of his Beijing dilemma
“I am more afraid of an army of 100 sheep led by a lion than an army of 100 lions led by a sheep,” Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, the legendary Napoleonic-era diplomat, once admitted.A direct witness to Napoleon Bonaparte’s audacious military expeditions, which turned France from a besieged revolutionary state into an intercontinental empire, he potently realised the power of leadership in times of crisis.Today, many are wondering what kind of leadership the Philippines has amid…
Malaysian minister: China must treat Southeast Asian neighbours ‘exceedingly well’ to prove its rise is peaceful
If China wants to prove its rise can be peaceful, then treating its Southeast Asian neighbours “exceedingly well” will be a litmus test of its commitment, Malaysia’s deputy defence minister Liew Chin Tong said on Monday.“Much as China believes that it is the victim of bullying by the West, particularly the United States, China needs to do everything possible to prevent the perception of smaller states that China is a bully,” said Liew at a forum in conjunction with the 45th anniversary of…
Indian magician Jadugar Mandrake missing after Ganges escape stunt goes wrong
An Indian magician who entered the Ganges river on Sunday tied up with steel chains and rope is missing, police said.Chanchal Lahiri, known by his stage name “Jadugar Mandrake” (Wizard Mandrake), was lowered into the river by crane as family members, media and police watched from the banks.But the 40-year-old failed to emerge from the water, triggering a frantic search by authorities.“We are still searching,” a family member said.Lahiri earlier said he had successfully pulled off a similar…
Italy’s ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ arrested in Thailand for George Clooney fraud, fake Rolex scams
An Italian who allegedly posed as Hollywood superstar George Clooney to sell clothes online has been arrested with his wife in Thailand after years on the run, police said on Sunday.Francesco Galdelli, 58, and Vanja Goffi, 45, were arrested on Saturday at a house on the outskirts of Pattaya after an operation between Thai and Italian authorities, officials said.“During interrogation, Francesco confessed to claiming to be George Clooney and opening a clothes business to trick people into sending…