A British court has ruled a man suspected of carrying out a rare bank robbery in Singapore can be extradited after the city state promised he will not be caned, officials said on Thursday.
The government in London will now make the final decision on whether David Roach, a Canadian citizen, will be sent to the city state to face justice, Singapore’s attorney general’s office and interior ministry said.
In a Singapore full of crazy rich foreigners, inequality is becoming ingrained…
Myanmar dam breach drives more than 63,000 people from homes in 85 villages
As many as 85 villages were flooded in Myanmar after a dam failed, unleashing waters that blocked a major highway and forced more than 63,000 people from their homes, a state-run newspaper said on Thursday.
The disaster spotlights safety concerns about dams in Southeast Asia after last month’s collapse of a hydroelectric dam in neighbouring Laos that displaced thousands of people and killed at least 27.
Laos dam collapse: survivors tell devastating tales as blame shifts to government…
Hasanah Abdul Hamid, Malaysia’s ex-spy chief and Najib ally, arrested for theft of election cash
A controversial Malaysian former spy chief was remanded in custody on Wednesday over the alleged theft of funds intended to be used for May’s general election in May.
Hasanah Abdul Hamid, the former head of Malaysia’s External Intelligence Organisation, was an ally of former leader Najib Razak, who was unexpectedly ejected from office at the polls amid allegations he and his cronies stole huge sums of public money.
What Malaysia’s Mahathir really plans for China-backed…
Philippines hunts for two suspects in deadly street festival bombing
Philippine authorities on Wednesday were hunting two men believed to have planted a bomb that killed two people, including a young girl, at a street festival in the nation’s south.
The blast late on Tuesday in the town of Isulan, which wounded 35 others, is the second bombing in less than in a month in the region where Islamist militants have waged a decades-long insurgency.
Chinese cash, American muscle, and Marawi’s discontents
A man left the improvised bomb in a bag near a…
UK unveils raft of new measures to help distressed companies
The UK government has published new tools designed to improve rescue opportunities for companies in financial distress and put more emphasis on directors’ duties.
Plight of Honey the lonely dolphin, captured in ‘The Cove’, sparks protests in Japan
The plight of a lonely dolphin and dozens of penguins that have been abandoned in a derelict aquarium in Japan since the start of the year sparked protests this week, with activists and ordinary Japanese alike calling for the animals to be saved.
The female bottlenose dolphin, nicknamed Honey, was captured in 2005 near Taiji, a western port town notorious for its annual dolphin hunt that was featured in the Oscar-winning 2009 documentary The Cove, media reports say.
12 dolphins dead in ‘…
Sharia court in Malaysia delays caning of women for lesbian sex for ‘technical reasons’
A Malaysian religious court on Tuesday postponed a caning sentence on two women convicted for having sex, media reports said, amid an outcry from human rights activists.
The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is routinely persecuted in Muslim-majority Malaysia, where sodomy is a crime and is seen as a threat to conservative values.
The women had pleaded guilty to charges under Islamic laws forbidding lesbian sex. They were sentenced to a fine and six strokes of the cane,…
GDPR prompts UK data protection complaints to double
The number of data protection complaints received by the UK’s data protection watchdog has doubled since the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) took effect.
Insurance brokers call for post-Brexit equivalence regime
UK insurance brokers are questioning the application of ‘enhanced equivalence’ proposals in the UK government’s Brexit documents for financial services and are seeking the introduction of a new ‘equivalence’ regime, similar to that available to investment managers, to allow them continued access to the EU market after Brexit.
US firms linked to Indian billionaire Nirav Modi ‘directly involved’ in international fraud
Three bankrupt US companies with links to Indian billionaire Nirav Modi were “directly involved” in transactions related to the alleged multibillion-dollar international fraud for which Modi has been charged by Indian authorities, according to an investigation by the court-appointed examiner.
The examiner, John J. Carney, found “substantial evidence” that senior officers and directors at Firestar Diamond Inc, A. Jaffe Inc and Fantasy Inc had knowledge of and involvement…