A “fierce firefight” on Saturday killed five soldiers and three militants from the notorious Islamist group suspected of this week’s deadly cathedral bombing in the south of the Philippines, said the military. The soldiers battled the Abu Sayyaf militants on the southern island of Jolo, which is the group’s stronghold as well as the site of dual bomb attack on a Catholic church January 27 that killed at least 21 people and wounded more than 100 others at Sunday mass…
China’s Dilmurat to Japan’s Rola, why do Asians fetishise mixed race celebrities?
With her large, double-lidded eyes, small sharp nose, narrow face and tall figure, popular Chinese actress Dilraba Dilmurat is, in many ways, the epitome of beauty in Asia today.
The 25-year-old sprang to prominence two years ago when she starred in Pretty Li Huizhen, a Chinese television show and remake of the South Korean drama She Was Pretty. As of last year, she had 40 million followers on the popular social media website Weibo, making her the second-most-followed celebrity after Chinese…
Goldman Sachs says 1MDB scandal could hit pay for top executives Lloyd Blankfein and David Solomon
The board of Goldman Sachs said on Friday it is withholding a bonus worth at least US$7 million from former chief executive Lloyd Blankfein until investigations into the bank’s involvement in the 1MDB scandal are resolved.
The bank also introduced a new forfeiture provision in its annual compensation plans for both its most senior executives, current Chief Executive David Solomon and former head Blankfein, relating to the ongoing 1MDB proceedings. The move underscores the perils the 1MDB…
Watchdog wants public sector contractors subject to FOI laws
Freedom of information (FOI) laws should be updated to account for the risks to transparency and accountability in the performance of public services where they are outsourced to businesses, the UK’s information commissioner has said.
EU and UK regulators agree no-deal Brexit info sharing
EU and UK financial regulators have agreed processes for sharing financial and market information if there is a no-deal Brexit. The agreements will help fund managers to continue to outsource some services.
Global ransomware attack could leave $166bn ‘insurance gap’
Businesses around the world could be exposed to losses totalling $166 billion in the event of a major ransomware attack, and the cost to insurers of paying out on claims covered by cyber insurance policies could exceed what the total value of the premiums they collect from those policyholders, according to a new report.
US again demands North Korea offer full disclosure on nukes, risking angering Pyongyang even as Trump hails ‘progress’
The US special envoy for North Korea laid out an extensive list of demands for North Korean denuclearisation on Thursday that is likely to anger Pyongyang, even as President Donald Trump said the date and place for a second summit was set and hailed “tremendous progress” in his dealings with the country.
In a speech at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, envoy Stephen Biegun called for North Korea to declare all its nuclear and missile programmes and warned that Washington…
Chinese students at a US university were told to speak English. Simple racism, or something more?
The now notorious incident in which Duke University biostatistics graduate students from China were told by their programme director that they should speak English “100 per cent of the time” while on departmental premises deservedly attracted condemnation in the United States higher-education community, and among Chinese in the US and China. As a professor of ethnic Chinese origin myself (I am Singaporean) with 35 years’ experience teaching at the University of Michigan…
Details of ‘data trust’ pilots revealed
Ways of using innovative legal structures to enable data to be put to use to solve some of society’s problems are to be explored in three new projects that have been backed by the UK government.
Nine killed, 20 injured after militants attack Pakistan police station with grenades and guns in Balochistan, the country’s poorest region
A shoot-out between police and armed gunmen killed nine people and injured 20 others in southwestern Pakistan on Tuesday, said police.
The firefight occurred after three gunmen entered police offices in the province of Balochistan, Loralai district, and threw hand grenades.
“Senior police officials were busy selecting candidates for different categories of civilian jobs when these terrorists entered the compound and hurled hand grenades,” said Balochistan police chief Mohsin Butt….