Two weeks after Typhoon Hagibis wreaked havoc across much of eastern Japan, the country is bracing itself for two more storms set to slam into Tokyo and the surrounding regions.The Japan Meteorological Agency has issued warnings for gale-force winds and heavy rain on Thursday evening in Tokyo and the surrounding regions, while Typhoon Bualoi is already battering the Ogasawara Islands, south of Tokyo, with strong winds, heavy rainfall and high waves.The death toll from Hagibis stands at 84, with…
Grab-a-crab? Anger at Singapore restaurant’s arcade-style claw machine
A restaurant in Singapore suspended a bizarre promotional stunt on Thursday where customers use an arcade-style machine with a mechanical claw to catch live crabs after it sparked uproar online.A video of the pink machine, containing the creatures and emblazoned with a picture of a smiling red crab under the phrase “come and catch me”, went viral after being posted this week.Similar to machines where people pick up soft toys, the game sees customers pay S$5 (US$3.67) to use a joystick to move…
A look at Asia’s biggest student-led protests from South Korea to Thailand to Hong Kong
As a college student, Lee Kyung-lan grew adept at assembling Molotov cocktails using paint thinner and soju bottles and learned that wearing a mask stuffed with toothpaste-laden tissue made tear gas more bearable, even if it wouldn’t help with blistering on her skin.Week after week, she took to the streets with classmates and chanted at the top of her lungs: for democracy, for direct elections, for constitutional reform. The students sketched out battle plans against riot police on pieces of…
Vietnam orders car importer to ditch navigation maps showing ‘nine-dash line’ in South China Sea
Vietnam has ordered a vehicle importer to remove navigation apps that show maps reflecting Chinese territorial claims that are rejected by Hanoi, adding to a wave of resistance against maps showing the “nine-dash line”.The country’s automobile registrar told the importer based in northern Vietnam to take the app out of Chinese-made cars it distributes in the country, said Nguyen To An, head of motor-vehicle quality in the registration office.The maps showed the nine-dash line reflecting China’s…
Chinese worker dead in Indonesian high-speed rail project in Jakarta
A fire broke out on a pipeline operated by Indonesian state oil and gas company Pertamina in West Java province on Tuesday, killing a Chinese construction worker, a local fire official said.Local media said the fire had broken after drilling work was carried out as part of the construction of a China-funded US$6 billion high-speed railway project linking Jakarta and Bandung, the capital of West Java.The railway is currently China’s only Belt and Road project in the country.Pertamina halted fuel…
Ex-CEO won’t be caned in Singapore for sexual assault on son’s 9-year-old friend at Halloween sleepover
Two months after losing an appeal against his conviction and sentence for sexually assaulting his son’s nine-year-old friend during a Halloween sleepover in 2015, a former chief executive of a multinational company has been certified unfit for caning in Singapore.The 49-year-old foreign national, who returned to the High Court in a wheelchair on Tuesday, was last year sentenced to 14 years’ jail and the maximum 24 strokes of the cane. He lost his appeal in August.However, prison doctors found…
Six days at sea aboard the Nggapulu, a ferry that’s Indonesia in microcosm
The Nggapulu – named after a glacier-covered peak in Papua’s Jayawijaya range – is a German-built ship that forms part of the fleet operated by Pelni, Indonesia’s national ferry company.For six days and five nights, the 146.5-metre-long craft, capable of carrying some 2,170 passengers, was also Team Ceritalah’s home as they travelled from Surabaya in East Java to Makassar, Bau Bau, Ambon, Banda Neira and Tual in the Kei Islands.The billion-dollar question: is the gig economy sustainable?It’s a…
Mahathir fears Malaysia will be target of sanctions amid US-China trade war
Malaysia’s reliance on exports means that it must prioritise peace and stability, Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said on Monday, especially in areas such as the South China Sea where his government has pushed for demilitarisation of the contested waters.“We have to maintain peace and stability. At this moment in the Strait of Malacca and the South China Sea, passage of ships are still free without any obstructions. But once people start sending warships into this area, there will be tension,”…
Indonesia’s Joko Widodo sworn in for second term, pledging job creation and development
Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo was on Sunday sworn in for his second and final term as the country’s leader amid tight security in the capital, 10 days after Muslim militants attempted to assassinate his top security minister.Widodo, who is commonly known as Jokowi, said he would make improving human resources his top priority to help lay the foundation for making the economy among the world’s top five by 2045.He said Indonesia had set itself a target of becoming a US$7 trillion economy,…
Superyacht at heart of Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal is for sale again … for a much bigger price tag
The luxury yacht once owned by Malaysia’s fugitive financier Low Taek Jho is back on the market.Just six months after the vessel was bought for US$126 million, yachting company Camper & Nicholsons is listing Tranquility for sale again, its website showed.It has an asking price of US$200 million, according to Business Insider, almost 60 per cent more than what casino company Genting Malaysia Bhd paid.The 91.5-metre boat, formerly known as Equanimity, was seized from Low last year as part of…