Afghanistan’s Taliban regime is playing a pivotal role in backchannel talks between Pakistan’s government and Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan insurgents (TTP), top officials indicated, after Islamabad offered a conditional amnesty for surrendering militants. While the prospects of a peace deal remain remote, officials said Pakistan hopes the Taliban’s involvement will help it to contain the resurgent threat posed by the TTP’s estimated 5,000 fighters based in neighbouring Afghanistan. Since May,…
In India, calls for a caste census grow as more seek to benefit from affirmative action policies
Delhi-based journalist Meena Kotwal knows all about how the ancient prejudices surrounding caste continue to affect the lives of people in modern India.The 32-year-old, who runs a YouTube channel called The Mooknayak, or “leader of the voiceless”, belongs to the “untouchable” caste of Dalits.As a reporter with a leading international media agency in India’s capital, she found that editors were from the upper castes “while the marginalised castes, if they are represented at all, occupy the…
Employers’ work-related road risk obligations updated in bid to cut accidents
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE), in conjunction with the UK Department of Transport (DfT), has updated its guidance on work-related road safety to make it clear that employers are responsible for privately-owned vehicles used for work.
Singapore arrests 18 suspects for importing staff on fake work permits
Singapore’s Manpower Ministry on Tuesday said 18 people had been arrested over the past week on suspicion “of bringing foreigners” to the city state “on work passes obtained through false declarations”.The ministry last week mounted a 12-hour operation at 22 locations across the country after uncovering a “potential syndicate suspected of setting up several shell companies to apply for work passes”.“Such syndicates typically recruit Singapore citizens and Singapore permanent residents to…
Japan’s ‘Iron Lady’ Sanae Takaichi focuses on Taiwan, US in appeal to China hawks before LDP vote
Sanae Takaichi – the most hawkish candidate running to lead Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party in next week’s election, the winner of which will be the country’s next prime minister – has attempted to burnish her credentials with like-minded conservatives by speaking with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. During their 30-minute conversation on Monday afternoon, former internal affairs minister Takaichi, 60, emphasised that she hoped to enhance security ties between Taipei and Tokyo, and…
‘Utility scale’ solar backed in revised UK planning regime
Proposed changes to UK planning policy remove uncertainty about the priority given to the development of major solar power plants and will spur a greater number of ‘utility scale’ projects in the years ahead.
‘Not a defence alliance’: Australia looks to assuage Asean’s concerns over Aukus nuclear subs deal
Australia on Monday sought to assuage regional anxieties over its plans to acquire nuclear-powered submarines through a joint arrangement with Britain and the United States, with Canberra’s envoy to Asean saying the agreement was “not a defence alliance or pact”.In a statement, Will Nankervis said the arrangement would not change “Australia’s commitment to Asean nor our ongoing support for the Asean-led regional infrastructure”.Canberra was committed to continuing to foster a “peaceful, secure…
China’s space breakthroughs put a rocket under Japan
A new Japanese law permits private companies to claim ownership of resources from outer space, the latest development in an international space race fuelled as much by national pride as the growing need to harvest resources from beyond Earth’s atmosphere. The new legislation coincides with increased interest and investment in space ventures by both private companies and the government-funded Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), which in July completed the first test in space of a next…
Philippines presidential race: former boxer Manny Pacquiao enters the ring for 2022
Boxing star Manny Pacquiao on Sunday said he will run for president of the Philippines next year, after railing against corruption in government and what he calls President Rodrigo Duterte’s cosy relationship with China.Pacquiao accepted the nomination of his political allies during the national assembly of the faction he leads in the ruling PDP-Laban Party, days after a rival faction nominated Duterte’s long-time aide, Senator Christopher “Bong” Go, as its presidential candidate.That faction…
Hunger and debt: hit by Covid-19, farmers in the Philippines hope their children follow a different path
Nueva Vizcaya, a landlocked province in the Philippines with a population of about 460,900, is home to some of the biggest vegetable producers in the country.An agricultural region eight hours’ drive from the nation’s capital and known as “the salad bowl of the north”, it supplies most of its vegetables to Manila despite not having an airport of its own. Vegetables travel by trucks daily from the upland green plots to the tables of the capital’s residents.But when the coronavirus pandemic hit…