Gastronomes of the world delight. Two new types of truffle have been unearthed in Thailand’s far north, scientists announced on Thursday in what they called a first for Southeast Asia.
Researchers at Chiang Mai university said they had identified two brand new species and confirmed that tuber magnatum – the same species as Italy’s much sought after white truffle – had been found in a national park surrounding Mount Suthep in northwestern Thailand.
“We confirmed…
North Korea celebrates nuclear test with fireworks and massive rally
North Korea held a mass celebration for the scientists involved in carrying out its largest nuclear blast to date, with fireworks and a mass rally in Pyongyang.
Citizens of the capital lined the streets Wednesday to wave pink and purple pom-poms and cheer a convoy of buses carrying the specialists into the city, and toss confetti over them as they walked into Kim Il-sung Square.
“We offer the greatest honour to Comrade Kim Jong-un, the Supreme Leader who brought us the greatest…
China bans initial coin offerings, HK tightens regulations
China’s central bank has banned all initial coin offerings (ICOs), Bloomberg has reported, while Hong Kong’s financial regulator has warned that the sales constitute ‘securities’ and need to be controlled as such.
Third Philippine teen killed, threatening to turn sentiment turns against President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war
A 14-year-old boy whose body was found with dozens of stab wounds is the latest atrocity in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war, critics said on Wednesday as outrage built over a trio of teen killings.
The National Bureau of Investigation announced it would probe the murder of the boy, who politicians and rights groups said appeared to be the third teenager murdered as part of Duterte’s drug war in the past month.
Filipinos have mostly backed Duterte’s drug war…
Philippine troops team up with old enemy to fight pro-Islamic State gunmen in Mindanao
The Philippine military said it has teamed up with old foes behind a long-running Muslim insurgency as it looks to eject a breakaway gang of radical militants pledging loyalty to Islamic State.
As artillery shells and rockets pounded targets nearby, soldiers were seen mingling freely with several hundred Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) fighters who have joined an assault on gunmen in the restive southern island Mindanao.
The joint operation is the latest tactic by the Philippine government…
Business that monitored employee’s personal communications breached his rights to privacy, rules ECHR
A business that monitored an employee’s personal communications during work time breached his rights to privacy, the Grand Chamber at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has ruled.
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte wants media to accompany police on anti-narcotics operations
Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday ordered the police to conduct anti-drug operations in the presence of media to prove law enforcers were not executing drug suspects.
Duterte took office in June last year after winning an election on a vow to get tough on drugs and crime. He soon launched a “war on drugs” in which thousands of people have been killed.
Duterte and his campaign remain popular but opposition to the bloodshed, including from within the influential Catholic…
How a new generation of Chinese art collectors are taking on the world
Lin Han and his wife Wanwan Lei have had a fruitful summer. The co-founders of Beijing’s M Woods Museum recently spent nearly a month on an art tour around Europe. Their travels took them from Antwerp in Brussels and Basel in Switzerland to Venice in Italy and Kassel in Germany, but the young collectors are keen to emphasise this was no shopping spree. Rather, it was an intense learning experience.
“When we planned for this trip, we wanted to focus on art. On the road we went to…
In faraway Chechnya, tens of thousands rally against ‘genocide’ of Rohingya in Myanmar
In an apparent bid to raise his profile as Russia’s most influential Muslim, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov brought tens of thousands of people to the streets of the capital Grozny on Monday to protest what he called the “genocide of Muslims” in Myanmar.
Violence over the past few days in Myanmar’s Rakhine state has killed nearly 400 people and prompted thousands of ethnic Rohingya refugees to flee into neighboring Bangladesh.
State television footage showed tens of…
Insurers should innovate in wake of Hurricane Harvey, says expert
The catastrophic flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey in Texas will not have a significant impact on the insurance and reinsurance markets, despite the damage caused to thousands of homes, an expert has said.