China will continue belt and road cooperation with other parties, according to Chinese president Xi Jinping, speaking at the Boao Forum for Asia conference.
Rescuers find floating debris thought to be from sunken Indonesian submarine
A missing Indonesian submarine carrying 53 people is believed to have sunk in the Bali Sea after search teams found debris floating around the vessel’s last location, a navy official said.“With the evidence we found believed to be from the submarine, we have now moved from the ‘sub missing’ phase to ‘sub sunk’,” Indonesian Navy Chief of Staff Yudo Margono told reporters, according to Indonesian media Tempo.The exact location of the 44-year-old submarine was unknown but its presence had been…
Asean leaders urge Myanmar military chief Min Aung Hlaing to end violence and release political prisoners
Myanmar’s coup leader Min Aung Hlaing on Saturday met leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Jakarta for crisis talks, where the junta chief was urged to immediately halt a bloody post-coup crackdown on protesters and to release detained civilian leaders. The special meeting – attended by the senior general and six leaders of the 10-nation bloc – ended after three hours. Thailand, Laos and the Philippines were represented by their foreign ministers. The delegations of…
China-Australia relations: consumers pockets on both sides will foot the bill for ‘trade battle’, expert says
Relations between China and Australia have become fraught over the past year after Canberra pushed for an international probe into the origin of the coronavirus without diplomatic consultations beforehand, and Beijing eventually responded with a number of trade blocks on wine, barley, cotton, copper, coal, sugar and lobsters. We look at the issues in this series.Everyday consumers and traders in China and Australia will ultimately pay the price of the political conflict between the two…
Indonesia sentences six terrorists to death for 2018 prison riot
An Indonesian court has sentenced six terrorists to death for their role in a 2018 prison riot in which five police officers were brutally killed and one inmate shot dead.The six defendants – Wawan Kurniawan, 45, Syawaludin Pakpahan, 46, Anang Rahman, 55, Handoko, 36, Suyanto, 44, and Suparman, 38 – were sentenced in an online session by the East Jakarta District Court on Wednesday evening. The men are all linked to pro-Islamic State (Isis) militant groups.“All six men have been sentenced to…
Tax avoidance not a main purpose of transaction, says UK tribunal
A tax tribunal has ruled that structuring a share-for-share exchange in a way that avoided tax was not a main purpose of a transaction when the arrangements were considered as a whole, meaning the exchange does not trigger a disposal of the shares for tax purposes.
SIAC data confirms international arbitration is booming in Singapore
Recent figures published by the Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) highlight the growing popularity of Singapore as a hub for international arbitration, an expert has said.
Scottish election 2021: business impact of party manifestos
The Scottish election on 6 May 2021 is arguably the most important to take place since the inception of the Scottish parliament in 1999, with questions of pandemic recovery and Scotland’s constitutional future at the front of voters’ minds.
As Indonesia races to find missing submarine, vessel’s age comes under scrutiny
As Indonesia races to locate a missing submarine, with its oxygen supply expected to expire on Saturday, experts have expressed concern over the fate of the crew and highlighted the risks of the country’s ageing military equipment.The KRI Nanggala 402 was taking part in a training exercise involving the shooting and launching of torpedoes on Wednesday when it lost contact about 95km (59 miles) north of Bali with 53 people on board.Indonesian navy chief Yudo Margono on Thursday said the oxygen…
Asean envoy must recognise us over junta, Myanmar’s parallel civilian government says
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) must ensure that any plan to appoint a special envoy to mediate in Myanmar’s post-coup crisis does not lead to recognition of the junta as a legitimate authority, an official from the country’s parallel civilian government and regional rights advocates said on Thursday. Speaking in a virtual press conference, Naw Susanna Hla Hla Soe of the newly formed National Unity Government (NUG) said it was important that the 10-nation bloc acted based on…