BEIJING: China’s exports to North Korea rose at a slower pace in September, but shipments of masks and other COVID-related items surged as the isolated country stepped up its battle against possible COVID-19 flare-ups, Chinese customs data showed on Monday (Oct 24). Pyongyang declared victory over COVID-19 in August, whileContinue Reading
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s food and drugs agency on Monday (Oct 24) said it may pursue criminal action against two pharmaceutical firms that made products linked to acute kidney injury (AKI), amid a spike in cases and deaths among children this year. Indonesian authorities have temporarily banned sales of some syrup-based medicationsContinue Reading
The son of a poet revered by former communist leaders, 65-year-old Ai is perhaps China’s best-known modern artist and helped design the famous Bird’s Nest stadium for Beijing’s 2008 Olympics. But he fell out of favour after criticising the Chinese government and was imprisoned for 81 days in 2011. HeContinue Reading
ZERO COVID Xi will also need to decide the future of China’s strict zero-Covid policy – and whether the country is now ready to open up to the outside world after two years of closed borders and strict quarantines. The policy is dragging on the economy, with officials this weekContinue Reading
NEW DELHI: Many Indians are delighted at the prospect of Rishi Sunak becoming the first person of Indian origin to become British prime minister on Monday (Oct 24), just as Hindus across the world celebrate Deepavali. Boris Johnson pulled out of the prime ministerial race late on Sunday, boosting Sunak’sContinue Reading
“NO WORK LEFT” Many of the flood-displaced in southern Sindh province have sought shelter in urban centres, including tens of thousands recorded at relief camps and many more in the homes of relatives or rental properties. With homes and livelihoods washed away, some are expected to abandon their rural lives,Continue Reading
BEIJING: China named Guo Tingting as vice commerce minister, according to a statement by the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security on Monday (Oct 24). Ling Ji, an official at the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and a former official at the commerce ministry, was appointed as the viceContinue Reading
TOKYO: Japanese authorities are relying heavily on psychological tactics to fight yen bears, which means keeping markets guessing about their foreign exchange intervention rather than overt attempts to arrest the currency’s decline to multi-decade lows. The battered yen has whipsawed in recent weeks, which analysts and traders attribute to governmentContinue Reading
MANILA: A Korean Air plane slid off the runway while landing at Cebu international airport in the Philippines, causing slight injuries and shutting down the country’s second busiest airport, authorities said Monday (Oct 24). All 173 passengers and crew of Korean Air flight KE631 from Incheon were evacuated safely afterContinue Reading
LOCAL INITIATIVES VITAL While the impact of hate speech online has already been documented in several Asian countries in recent years, analysts say that tech firms have not ramped up resources to improve content moderation, particularly in local languages. United Nations rights investigators said in 2018 that the use ofContinue Reading