“Many people don’t realise it, but there are actually two Chinese ambassadors in Washington: me and the panda cub at the National Zoo,” wrote Chinese ambassador to the US, Cui Tiankai, in his opinion piece published by The Washington Post in 2013.
A military campaign to wipe out Rohingya insurgents has rained violence down on Myanmar's Rakhine state, sending nearly 390,000 Muslim Rohingya refugees fleeing for sanctuary in Bangladesh.Around 30,000 Rakhine Buddhists and Hindus have also been displaced, as ethnic and religious hatreds carve through the western state.Access to the epicentre of unrest – the northern wedge of Rakhine – has been blocked by the government as the crisis unfolds.But the weary and wounded Rohingya arriving i
Twenty-three people, mostly children, were killed Thursday by a blaze that tore through a Malaysian religious school, trapping them in a dormitory with metal grilles barring its windows.Pupils and teachers inside the Islamic study centre in downtown Kuala Lumpur screamed for help as neighbours looked on helplessly.Many of the bodies of the victims – who included 21 boys mostly in their teens – were found piled on top of one another, indicating there may have been a stampede as the students so
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Friday concerning North Korea's latest missile launch over Japan, the council presidency announced.The United States and Japan requested the meeting, which will be held at 3 pm (1900 GMT), according to the Ethopian council presidency.
Violence in Myanmar that’s pushed nearly 400,000 Muslim refugees into neighbouring Bangladesh is threatening to deepen sectarian tensions across the region.The exodus of Rohingya from Rakhine state has sparked concerns that politicians in countries such as Malaysia, Indonesia, Bangladesh and India could seek to capitalise on public anger over the treatment of a group that’s considered stateless in Buddhist-majority Myanmar.
North Korea fired its second missile over Japan in as many months, a fresh provocation that comes shortly after the United Nations approved harsher sanctions against Kim Jong-Un’s regime.Japan didn’t attempt to shoot down the missile, which was launched at 6:57 a.m. on Friday and flew over the northern island of Hokkaido before landing 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) away in the Pacific Ocean, according to Japanese broadcaster NHK.
One soldier died and 20 other people were wounded, including two civilians, as suspected rebels ambushed an army patrol in Thailand's violence-stricken deep south, officials said Thursday.The Muslim-majority region that borders Malaysia has been roiled by violence for over a decade as ethnic Malay insurgents battle the Buddhist-majority state for more autonomy.More than 6,800 people have died – the majority civilians – in a conflict that grinds on far from international headlines.The att
After launching his political career from a jail cell, Philippine Senator Antonio Trillanes believes it could end in a grave thanks to a relentless campaign against his "hitman" president.But the former Navy officer with a history of coup attempts appears to thrive on the pressures that have come with regularly accusing President Rodrigo Duterte of being a corrupt mass murderer."This man is a sociopath and he has the mindset of a hitman," Trillanes, 46, told AFP in an inte
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Wednesday urged Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi to end the violence which has seen nearly 380,000 Rohingya Muslims flee to neighbouring Bangladesh.During a phone call, Trudeau stressed Suu Kyi's role as a "moral and political leader" for the nation, as he voiced his "deep concerns over the situation in Rakhine state for Rohingya Muslims," his office said in a statement.According to human rights organisations, 379,000 Rohin
Philippine lawmakers have moved to cut the budget of the nation's human rights commission to 20 dollars and impeach the Supreme Court chief justice in what critics on Wednesday labelled part of a slide towards dictatorship under President Rodrigo Duterte.The twin votes in the House of Representatives added to a growing climate of fear that Duterte is determined to silence anyone critical of his war on drugs, which has claimed thousands of lives and led rights groups to warn of a crime ag
The UN Security Council on Wednesday broke its weeks-long silence on the crisis in Myanmar and called for an end to the violence as UN chief Antonio Guterres said the military campaign amounted to ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.Following a closed-door meeting, the 15-member council including China, a supporter of Myanmar's former ruling junta, expressed concern about excessive force during security operations in Rakhine state and called for "immediate steps" to end the vi
Speaking off the cuff to his audience during the taping of his late night political and social satire show, comedian, Trevor Noah provided an interesting analogy of the tense situation unfolding between the US (United States) and North Korea.“North Korea is like a hot potato. The skill is to keep the hot potato bouncing so that you don’t get burnt. Then you pass it on to the next person. That’s what every smart president does.
