Nearly 4 million people in India’s northeastern state of Assam and neighbouring Nepal and Bangladesh have been displaced by heavy flooding from monsoon rains, with dozens missing and about 200 dead, government officials said on Sunday.The overflowing Brahmaputra River, which flows through China’s Tibet, India and Bangladesh, has damaged crops and triggered mudslides, displacing millions of people, officials said.More than 2.75 million people in Assam have been displaced by three waves of floods…
Young Thai protesters inspired by Hong Kong demand change but fear blowback
United in their derision of a government they say is failing Thailand and inspired by the tactics, garb and wit of Hong Kong’s pro-democracy movement, thousands of young Thais took to the streets of Bangkok on Saturday to demand change.But in a country with a grim record of crushing student movements, such a political awakening could prove dangerous for those who followed calls over social media to descend on the capital’s Democracy Monument – a symbolic spot which commemorates the end of…
A deadly turn on China’s Belt and Road raises the stakes in Pakistan
The security risks – and costs – of Belt and Road Initiative projects in Pakistan are rising amid a resurgence of deadly attacks by separatists in southwest Balochistan province, home to the Chinese-operated port of Gwadar. In the third such attack since May, militant separatists opened fire on a patrolling paramilitary convoy in Panjgur district on Tuesday, killing three soldiers and wounding eight others, including an army colonel, the military said. Militant ethnic Baloch factions have…
US-China tensions: why is Malaysia so quiet about the South China Sea?
Malaysia’s South China Sea policy has come under the spotlight after a public rebuke of its foreign minister Hishammuddin Hussein by one of his predecessors Anifah Aman, and as Washington hardens its position against Beijing over the disputed waterway.Anifah, who was foreign minister for nine years until the downfall of ex-leader Najib Razak’s government in the May 2018 election, admonished Hishammuddin on Thursday for saying Chinese ships had not intruded into Malaysian waters for the past 100…
Political rising star Sachin Pilot’s Rajasthan sacking exposes India’s Congress party troubles
The shock sacking of the second most senior government official in India’s northwestern state of Rajasthan has caused political turmoil as the country crossed a grim milestone of 1 million coronavirus cases on Friday and authorities suggested people should learn to “live with the virus”. It was the refusal of Sachin Pilot, deputy chief minister of the country’s largest state by land area, to toe the party line that reportedly led to his dismissal – all the more surprising because he had been…
Thailand’s cabinet reshuffle leaves investors anxious amid economic gloom
The resignation of four economic ministers in Thailand on Thursday has left investors anxious about how Southeast Asia’s worst-performing economy will recover from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the future of Chinese and Japanese investments in the country. Deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak, known as the economic policy tsar, and finance minister Uttama Savanayana had overseen the roll-out of stimulus measures worth billions of dollars to boost the tourism-dependent economy,…
Asia should beware rise of racism fuelled by emerging technologies, UN report says
Asian countries should study how emerging technologies fuel racism, a UN-appointed rights expert said on Thursday, after presenting a report highlighting technology’s role in alleged racial discrimination in China, India, Indonesia and Myanmar.E. Tendayi Achiume, UN special rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, said considerable work still needed to be done to understand how new technologies could worsen racial inequality and…
US halts imports of Malaysia’s Top Glove over suspected forced labour
US Customs placed a detention order on imports of products made by subsidiaries of the world’s largest medical glove maker, Malaysia’s Top Glove Corporation on Wednesday, an action taken against firms suspected of using forced labour.The bar on Top Glove products comes at a time when demand for the medical gloves and protective gear has skyrocketed due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has hit the US harder than any other country.The US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) website showed Top…
Sri Lanka Covid-19 ‘super spreader’ speaks of ordeal after being blamed for infecting 1,300
For months he’s been anonymous, but now Prasad Dinesh, linked by Sri Lankan authorities to nearly half of the country’s more than 2,600 coronavirus cases, is trying to clear his name, and shed some of the stigma of a heroin addiction at the root of his ordeal.Under President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, a former army lieutenant colonel credited with helping end Sri Lanka’s long civil war in 2009 with a brutal military campaign against separatists, the Indian Ocean island nation has used the armed forces…
Xi’s call to Singapore: a subtle ‘reminder’ about the South China Sea?
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday said China would work with Singapore to “overcome distractions” to safeguard regional stability, in remarks some experts interpreted as a subtle “reminder” not to take sides as Washington and Beijing spar over the South China Sea and other issues ranging from trade to technology to human rights.The remarks, made to Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong in a phone call, came a day after Washington rejected Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China…