Section: Asian Correspondent
Vietnam: Human rights blogger among five finalists for human rights award
VIETNAMESE blogger Pham Thanh Nghien has been named one of five finalists for the 2017 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, an award recognising activists who risk their lives to benefit their communities. Nghien was imprisoned in 2010 for four years as a result of her work publicising violations against and defending...
Asian governments increasingly repressive, curbing criticism online – watchdog
ONLY 13 percent of the world’s population enjoyed free press last year, according to democracy watchdog Freedom House in yet another international study proving press freedom is on the decline around the world. In its Freedom of the Press 2017 report entitled Press Freedom’s Dark Horizon, Freedom House identifies a growing trend in...
From colas to cigarettes, North Korea’s Air Koryo diversifies to stay airborne amid sanctions
EVEN after disembarking from North Korea’s Air Koryo plane at Pyongyang airport, it’s difficult to miss the airline’s brand. The Air Koryo conglomerate makes cigarettes and fizzy drinks, besides owning a taxi fleet and petrol stations – and all have the same flying crane logo as the carrier. The military-controlled airline...
Indonesia favours “pragmatic” Trump in doing business – minister
INDONESIA, the country with the world’s biggest Muslim population, can do business with a “pragmatic” U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, a senior minister close to President Joko Widodo said on Wednesday. Coordinating Minister for Maritime Affairs Luhut Pandjaitan said outgoing President Barack Obama’s “ideological” foreign policy had...
Move over Washington, Moscow is coming to the Philippines
THE election of President Rodrigo Duterte has brought a geopolitical shift to the Philippines. No longer is the United States influencing the region as it once did, leaving space for Russia and China to fill the void. The Philippines has endured a long relationship with the U.S., but Duterte changed the outlook of his country with a series of...
Nothing irrational about North Korea’s nuclear ambitions
DURING a New Year’s Day televised address, North Korean president Kim Jong-Un said the country had “reached the final stages” on preparations for an intercontinental ballistic missile, after first discussing the past year’s military achievements. In typical fashion, the United States responded with heavy criticism by labelling...
Trump calls out China on Twitter after breaking protocol with Taiwan call
AFTER irking China and sparking a media frenzy with his historic call with Taiwan last Friday, U.S. President-elect Donald Trump had yet another go at the rising Asian powerhouse two days later, this time critiquing the country’s economic and military policy on Twitter. In two back-to-back postings, Trump, who is just weeks away from...
Thai cops nab Russian drug fugitive after Interpol alert
THAI police have arrested a Russian national who had been hiding for over three years in the kingdom’s Bang Lamung district after receiving an Interpol notice that he was wanted on a drug charge in his homeland. Bangkok Post quoted deputy chief of Chon Buri immigration police Pol Lt Col Tawatchai Nongbua as saying that a manhunt for the...
After Russia, Duterte moots Philippines’ withdrawal from ‘useless’ international court
PHILIPPINE President Rodrigo Duterte has suggested walking in Russia’s footsteps by staging a pullout from the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying the tribunal has not done enough to help smaller nations like his that are wracked by injustices. The Filipino leader known for making controversial remarks against international groupings...
Pro-Russian rebels took down Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, prosecutors say
STRONG evidence shows that the ill-fated Malaysian airliner shot down by a Buk missile in Ukraine in 2014 was attacked by pro-Russian rebel forces, said Dutch-led criminal investigators. Wilbert Paulissen, head of the Central Crime Investigation department of the Dutch National Police, said communications intercepts showed that pro-Moscow rebels...
