Two Vietnamese tourists were killed Friday and 10 other travellers were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near their bus as it passed close to the Giza pyramids in Cairo, Egypt’s interior ministry said.
A statement said there were 14 tourists from Vietnam on the bus when the home-made device exploded at 6.15pm, and that the bus driver and the tour guide, both Egyptian, were also wounded in the explosion. Two tourists escaped injury. The improvised explosive device was placed near a…
The dead and displaced: Indonesia counts the cost of 2018’s wave of natural disasters
Some 40,000 people have now been displaced by last week’s deadly tsunami in Indonesia – nearly double the initial figure – while more than 7,000 were injured in the disaster, officials said on Friday.
Authorities made the announcement as they trimmed the official death toll to 426, from a previous tally of 430, with double-counting by different districts blamed for the change. Two dozen people remain missing almost a week after the disaster. In total, more than 4,600 people…
Australian trader Jiongsheng Zhao pleads guilty to manipulating Chicago futures market, boosting prices with trades he cancelled milliseconds later
An Australian commodities trader has pleaded guilty in a US federal court in Chicago to manipulating market prices by placing orders in the millions of dollars, then cancelling them within milliseconds so that he could sell smaller orders at a profit.
Jiongsheng “Jim” Zhao pleaded guilty on Wednesday to one count of spoofing in a deal with prosecutors, who say that from 2012 to 2016, the 31-year-old executed trades on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange online from Sydney. Spoofing…
Elon Musk claims US constitutional right to call Thai-cave hero Vernon Unsworth a ‘pedo’ and ‘child rapist’, even though he’s not
Tech entrepreneur Elon Musk has moved to have a defamation lawsuit against him dismissed, arguing that his insults aimed at a Thai-cave rescue volunteer whom he called a “pedo” and a “child rapist” were merely opinions and are protected by the US First Amendment.
“This motion boils down to a single question,” his lawyers wrote in a motion to dismiss filed Wednesday. “Would a reasonable reader believe that Musk’s statements were supported by…
Indonesia rescuers rush to evacuate residents from isolated tsunami-struck towns
Indonesian search-and-rescue teams on Wednesday plucked stranded residents from remote islands and pushed into isolated communities desperate for aid in the aftermath of a volcano-triggered tsunami that killed over 400.
But torrential rains hampered the effort and heaped more misery on the region, as officials warned another killer wave could hit the stricken area.
The disaster agency cautioned residents to stay clear of the coast, as fresh activity at the Anak Krakatoa volcano, which sits in…
Return to Cambodia and risk getting arrested, Hun Sen warns opposition politician Sam Rainsy
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen warned on Wednesday that a prominent opposition figure who lives in self-imposed exile abroad would risk being arrested if he dares to return to Cambodia as he recently promised.
The prime minister was referring to Sam Rainsy, a former leader of the main opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), which was dissolved by court order last year ahead of a general election in July.
“I’m prepared to handcuff and send to prison the person who is…
American Nissan executive Greg Kelly is released on bail in Japan, but boss Carlos Ghosn is still behind bars
Nissan Motor Company executive Greg Kelly was released from detention in Japan on Tuesday after being granted bail over the alleged under-reporting of his boss Carlos Ghosn’s pay.
The late-night release of Kelly, who is American, followed the Tokyo District Court’s approval earlier in the day of a bail request filed last week by his Japanese lawyer. Kelly was freed on 70 million yen (US$635,600) bail, ending his detention after 37 days.
Television footage captured the bespectacled…
Thailand legalises medical use of marijuana, in ‘new year’s gift’ to the people
Thailand approved marijuana for medical use and research on Tuesday, the first legalisation of the drug in a region with some of the world’s strictest drug laws.
The junta-appointed parliament in Thailand, a country which until the 1930s had a tradition of using marijuana to relieve pain and fatigue, voted to amend the Narcotic Act of 1979 in an extra parliamentary session handling a rush of bills before the new year’s holidays. “This is a new year’s gift from the…
Call to ban ‘buy now, pay later’ alcohol sales in Australia
The sale of alcohol using “buy now, pay later” services such as Afterpay and ZipPay should be banned because they encourage alcohol dependence and unmanageable debt, a health organisation has said.
In its submission to the Senate inquiry examining credit and financial services targeted at Australians at risk of financial hardship, the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (Fare) said the availability of alcohol at reduced upfront prices was concerning. “Buy now, pay…
Mao more than ever: Filipino communists mark a half century of armed struggle
As Christmas arrives in the Philippines, thousands of guerilla fighters are gearing up for a different kind of celebration the day afterward: Mao Zedong’s birthday, and the 50th anniversary of a home-grown resistance group that was inspired by his ideology.
The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) – infamous for its jungle raids, assassination squads and fearsome leaders like Kumander Dante – was founded in 1968 in Mao’s honour, and has been engaged in a peoples…