A retirement date is likely to be imposed on Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad if he does not commit to a timeline on handing power to Anwar Ibrahim by early next year, one of the drafters of the succession pact between the two former rivals has said.Rafizi Ramli, widely viewed as a key confidante of Anwar, told a conference in Singapore on Thursday that the ruling coalition’s top leaders would be forced to take such action as the Malaysian public would by then have lost patience with…
Going underground: the real-life Korean poverty behind Bong Joon-ho’s Golden Globe winner Parasite
The fictitious Seoul neighbourhood depicted in the hit South Korean film Parasite has plenty in common with the city’s real Changsin neighbourhood, where, just like in the movie, the narrow streets are lined with dilapidated commercial and residential buildings.Changsin is a world away from the ritz of Gangnam in the city’s south, and is one of the capital’s poorer areas.Parasite, which this week became the first South Korean movie to win a Golden Globe award for best foreign language film, is…
Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines among carriers avoiding Iran airspace after missile attack
Airlines across Asia are diverting flights away from Iranian airspace after the US Federal Aviation Administration responded to Tehran’s missile attack on US-led forces in Iraq by banning American airlines from operating in the region.The Asian airlines now avoiding the airspace over Iran include Singapore Airlines, Malaysia Airlines and Singaporean low-cost carrier Scoot. Cathay Pacific said it had not flown over Iran and Iraq for “over a year” and AirAsia said it did not fly over the two…
India sets execution date for four men convicted of 2012 gang-rape of student in bus
A death warrant was issued on Tuesday for the four men convicted in the 2012 gang-rape and murder of a young woman on a New Delhi bus that galvanised protests across India and brought global attention to the country’s sexual violence epidemic.A New Delhi court scheduled the hangings for January 22 at 7am, the Press Trust of India news agency reported.The warrant has been anticipated since India’s Supreme Court rejected one of the men’s final review pleas last month. India’s president can still…
Soleimani killing: what is Malaysia’s aim in call for Muslim unity?
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad may have come out strongly in support of Iran following Washington’s assassination of one of its top military commanders, but analysts believe he will still be keen to avoid incurring the wrath of Tehran’s arch rival Saudi Arabia.Mahathir on Tuesday blasted the Trump administration’s targeted killing of General Qassem Soleimani as “immoral” and warned it could lead to an escalation in “what is called terrorism”.“We are no longer safe now. If anybody…
Beijing seeks closer ties with Kiribati, site of Chinese space tracking station
China on Monday said it hoped to expand newly restored ties with the Pacific state of Kiribati, site of a strategic but mothballed Chinese space tracking station, in comments that may further stoke the United States’ anxiety about Beijing’s growing influence.A senior Chinese diplomat said Beijing was “open” to all sorts of projects in Kiribati, an ex-British colony made up mainly of atolls in the central Pacific, in waters dominated by the US and its allies since World War II.Speaking to…
‘A monster’: Indonesian PhD student, Britain’s worst rapist, jailed for life for sexually assaulting at least 48 men
A student from Indonesia was identified as Britain’s most prolific rapist on Monday after being convicted of more than 150 offences, including 136 rapes.In four separate trials, Reynhard Sinaga, 36, was found guilty of assaulting 48 men whom he drugged after taking them back to his apartment from outside bars and clubs in the city of Manchester.Many of the victims were lured by the offer of a place to sleep or more drink, and Sinaga filmed the assaults on his mobile phone, the Crown Prosecution…
The world’s oldest person, Japan’s Kane Tanaka, celebrates 117th birthday
Japan’s Kane Tanaka has extended her record as the world’s oldest person by celebrating her 117th birthday at a nursing home in Fukuoka in southern Japan.Tanaka marked her birthday with a party on Sunday along with staff and friends at the nursing home, television footage from local broadcaster TVQ Kyushu Broadcasting Co showed.Tanaka, whose birthday was on January 2, took a bite from a slice of her big birthday cake. “Tasty,” she said with a smile. “I want some more.”Tanaka was last year…
Jakarta floods: Indonesia sprays disinfectant to prevent disease, as death toll hits 60
Soldiers and health workers sprayed Indonesia’s capital with disinfectant on Sunday to fend off possible diseases spread by massive flooding that has killed 60 people and affected hundreds of thousands.Monsoon rains and rising rivers submerged a dozen districts in the greater Jakarta area starting on Wednesday after extreme torrential rains hit on New Year’s Eve, causing landslides in hilly areas on the outskirts of the capital that buried scores of people.It’s the worst flooding in the area…
Search for survivors as Cambodia building collapse toll rises to 7
Hundreds of soldiers and rescuers frantically picked through the rubble of a collapsed building in southern Cambodia on Saturday looking for bodies as the death toll from the disaster rose to seven.They used excavators, drills and power saws to clear concrete the morning after the seven-storey hotel under construction in seaside Kep province crumbled to the ground with an estimated 30 workers inside, prompting an all-night rescue.By Saturday morning, 18 people had been rescued, injured but…