World

Pelosi Taiwan visit set to dominate Asean meet Cambodian dancers perform during the opening ceremony of the 55th Association of Southeast Asean Nations Foreign Ministers Meeting in Phnom Penh. PHNOM PENH: Southeast Asian foreign ministers will seek ways to help calm rising tensions over Taiwan at regional talks Wednesday, after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived on the island, enraging Beijing. Pelosi's dramatic late-night arrival in Taipei, defying threats of reprisals by China, looks set to dominate the meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Phnom Penh, which had been due to focus on the bloody crisis in Myanmar. Attention will focus instead on Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his American counterpart Antony Blinken -- both flying into the Cambodian c...

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Thousands of people arguing the abortion issue surrounded the Indiana Statehouse and filled its corridors Monday as state lawmakers began consideration of a Republican proposal to ban nearly all abortions in the state and Vice President Kamala Harris denounced the effort during a meeting with Democratic legislators. Harris said during a trip to Indianapolis that the abortion ban proposal reflects a health care crisis in the country. Despite the bill’s abortion ban language, anti-abortion activists lined up before a legislative committee to argue that the bill wasn’t strict enough and lacked enforcement teeth. Indiana is one of the first Republican-run state legislatures to debate tighter abortion laws following the U.S. Supreme Court decision last month overturning Ro

China growth slumps on virus lockdowns, real estate woes: poll The growth data will be closely watched as the Communist Party gears up for its 20th Congress when Xi Jinping is expected to be given another five-year term as China's president. BEIJING: China's economic expansion slumped in the second quarter to levels not seen since early 2020, an AFP poll of analysts found, owing to painful Covid lockdowns and lingering weakness in the real estate sector. Leaders of the world's second-biggest economy remain firmly wedded to a zero-Covid approach of stamping out clusters as they emerge, but the fallout has sapped growth and is pushing policymakers' annual target of around 5.5% out of reach. The slowdown comes after the country's biggest city Shanghai was sealed off for two months over a ...

Poll: Asian FX bear market firms, short bets rise on Thai baht Image: Reuters Bearish bets on nearly all Asian currencies firmed to new multi-year highs, as fears of an impending recession from rapidly rising interest rates to rein in sky-high inflation dampened sentiment, a Reuters poll showed on Thursday. Short positions on the Thai baht, the Philippine peso and the Singapore dollar were at their highest since 2018, when data was first available, according to a fortnightly poll of 13 respondents. Analysts on average have not held net long positions on any Asian currency since late April. Bearish bets on the baht firmed the most, with a worsening Covid-19 situation in China, which pursues a 'zero-COVID' strategy, stoking fears of a delay in return of Chinese tourists to Thailand. Pes...

Rights group seeks arrest of former Sri Lanka president Rajapaksa in Singapore FILE PHOTO: More than eight months before an economic crisis and mass protests prompted him to flee Sri Lanka, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa presented his national statement during the World Leaders' Summit at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow, Scotland, Britain on Nov 1, 2021. (Reuters) COLOMBO: A rights group documenting alleged abuses in Sri Lanka has filed a criminal complaint with Singapore's attorney general, seeking the arrest of former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa for his role in the South Asian nation's decades-long civil war. The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) said Rajapaksa committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the civil war in 2009 when he was c...

Casino legalisation is back on the government's agenda after years of debate, and opinion is once again divided over its merits and drawbacks, write Post reporters A recent photo shows Kings Romans Casino by the Mekong River on the Thai-Lao border. Whether you support it or not, betting and gambling dens have been commonplace in much of Thailand for a long time, despite authorities' attempts to stamp it out. Thai people love playing cards and betting on sports, particularly football and cockfighting, although gambling is currently illegal here. Casinos in the border town of Poipet, Cambodia, are often staffed by Thai nationals and are always full of Thai patrons. The Thai government has been toying with the idea of making gambling legal in the country for the past two decades. The pla...

WASHINGTON (AP) — In a recent closed-door meeting with leaders of the agency’s counterterrorism center, the CIA’s No. 2 official made clear that fighting al-Qaida and other extremist groups would remain a priority — but that the agency’s money and resources would be increasingly shifted to focusing on China. One year after ending the war in Afghanistan, President Joe Biden and top national security officials speak less about counterterrorism and more about the political, economic and military threats posed by China as well as Russia. There’s been a quiet pivot within intelligence agencies, which are moving hundreds of officers to China-focused positions, including some who were previously working on terrorism. Intelligence officials stress that the counterterrorism fight is hardly being

BoT says growth might exceed 3% in second quarter Bank of Thailand Governor Sethaput Suthiwartnarueput speaks during his first briefing on the economy and monetary policy after taking office on Oct 20, 2020. (Reuters photo) The Bank of Thailand believes Thai economic growth might increase past 3% in the second quarter, mainly thanks to a rebound in domestic consumption under the central bank's commitment to maintain flexible inflation targeting. Economic indicators signal the recovery is intact, supported by private consumption, said the central bank. The private consumption index in the first quarter this year expanded 2.9% year-on-year. The central bank forecasts the figure could surge to 9.9% year-on-year in the second quarter of 2022, said Bank of Thailand governor Sethaput Suthiw...

BEIJING (AP) — Beijing grumbled but swallowed its irritation in 1997 when then-Speaker Newt Gingrich of the U.S. House of Representatives visited Taiwan, the island democracy claimed by the mainland’s ruling Communist Party as its own territory. China had other priorities. President Jiang Zemin’s government was preparing to celebrate Hong Kong’s return and wanted to lock in Beijing’s emergence from diplomatic isolation after its 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in Tiananmen Square. Gingrich, a booster of closer U.S.-Chinese ties, had just helped that campaign by meeting Jiang in Beijing. China avoided a disruptive clash with Washington. A quarter-century later, conditions have changed drastically. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government is richer, more heavily armed and l

NEW DELHI (AP) — A woman who hails from a minority ethnic community was chosen Thursday as India’s new president, a largely ceremonial position. Droupadi Murmu, a leader from India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, was elected by the Indian Parliament and state legislatures in voting held Monday, making her the first president from one of the country’s tribes and the second-ever woman to hold the position. She will be formally sworn in as the president on Monday. Murmu, 64, who hails from the eastern state of Odisha and was governor of Jharkhand state from 2015-2021, is a member of the Santal ethnic minority, one of India’s largest tribal groups. She started out as a school teacher before entering politics and has been a two-time lawmaker from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s party. Murmu