NEW DELHI: The Indian government has asked online retail giant Amazon to stop selling devices designed to disable car seatbelt alarms, transport minister Nitin Gadkari told Reuters, citing potential safety risks. Though the sale of the metal clips is not illegal, such devices and broader road safety issues have comeContinue Reading
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s central bank governor Perry Warjiyo said on Wednesday (Sep 7) that the benchmark interest rate was set to rise further, but not to expect policy tightening to be as aggressive as the US Federal Reserve. “If I say BI (Bank Indonesia) rate won’t rise, I’ll be lying. ButContinue Reading
Woodside and industry experts have long said that it would cost billions more to develop Sunrise via Timor-Leste instead of Darwin. Ramos-Horta said that it made no sense to him to send the gas to Darwin, which would require a 500km pipeline, rather than to Timor-Leste with a 200km pipeline,Continue Reading
Malaysia on Wednesday (Sep 7) scrapped its mask mandate for indoor settings, with business owners allowed to decide whether to impose their own face mask requirements. “Face masks indoors will be optional effective immediately,” said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, adding that masks remain mandatory for COVID-19 cases, and in publicContinue Reading
KUALA LUMPUR: Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak used his personal bank account to issue RM8.4 million (US$1.87 million) in cheques to individuals, political entities and companies between 2011 and 2012, the High Court heard on Wednesday (Sep 7). Among the individual recipients of the cheques were former land and cooperative developmentContinue Reading
SINGAPORE: The Philippines’ Department of Migrant Workers and Singapore’s Ministry of Manpower (MOM) on Wednesday (Sep 7) announced that a banker’s guarantee and performance bond would no longer be required when hiring Filipino domestic workers in Singapore. Singaporean employment agencies and employers are required to purchase a $5,000 security bondContinue Reading
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed “positive” ties with Myanmar on Wednesday (Sep 7) as he met with the country’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing in Russia’s far eastern city of Vladivostok. “Myanmar is our long-standing and reliable partner in Southeast Asia … Our relations are developing in a positiveContinue Reading
TOKYO: Japan further relaxed its infection border controls on Wednesday (Sep 7), but its insistence on visitor visas means the yen’s plunge will not translate to a tourism boom any time soon. The government raised the daily ceiling of inbound travellers to 50,000 from 20,000 and scrapped a requirement forContinue Reading
HANOI: A fire tore through a karaoke bar in southern Vietnam killing 12 people and leaving 11 injured, a local official said on Wednesday (Sep 7). The blaze engulfed the second and third floors of the building on Tuesday night, trapping customers and staff members as dense smoke filled theContinue Reading
SEOUL: The death toll from Typhoon Hinnamnor rose to 10 in South Korea, authorities said on Wednesday (Sep 7), after the storm battered the southern coast with huge waves and heavy rain this week. The typhoon, one of the most powerful to hit the country in decades, flooded streets andContinue Reading