Mongolian businessman and martial arts expert Khaltmaa Battulga was sworn in as president Monday, vowing to revive the flagging economy and pursue relations with countries outside its giant neighbours Russia and China. Battulga inherits a $5.5 billion International Monetary Fund-led bailout intended to stabilise the economy of the debt-laden country and lessen its dependence on … Read more
Sri Lanka’s hardline monks on Monday broadened a growing campaign by the Buddhist clergy against the government, threatening street protests if the island’s Tamil minority is granted greater autonomy. Radical monk Maagalkande Sudaththa said hardline Buddhists were mobilising Sri Lankans from the majority Sinhalese ethnic group to resist a new power-sharing arrangement being drafted by … Read more
For years as fighting raged in Syria’s Aleppo, property agent Saer Daqaq had fleeing residents knocking at the door of his beachside offices, seeking refuge in his flats in coastal Latakia. A popular seaside resort largely untouched by the country’s six-year civil war, Latakia became a haven for those escaping Syria’s second city, so much … Read more
India began holding naval exercises with the United States and Japan off its south coast on Monday, seeking to forge closer military ties to counter growing Chinese influence in the region. The exercises come as Indian and Chinese troops face off in a remote and strategically sensitive part of the Himalayas where India, China and … Read more
Cambodian ruling party MPs on Monday voted to effectively sever ties between the beleaguered opposition and its figurehead, as Prime Minister Hun Sen presses home his authority ahead of key polls next year. In a legal amendment, lawmakers agreed to ban political parties from “using the voice, images or written documents… of convicts prosecuted in … Read more
Iran has congratulated Iraq on its declared victory over the Islamic State jihadist group in Mosul and offered its help to rebuild the devastated country. “Congratulations to brave people and Government of Iraq upon liberation of Mosul,” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif wrote late Sunday in a tweet. “When Iraqis join hands, no limits to … Read more
With only meagre belongings stuffed into backpacks and duffel bags, tens of thousands of Myanmar migrants have streamed home across the Thai border over the past two weeks. But it is not a joyous homecoming for the truckloads of men and women, who fled Thailand in fear of a new law that hardens penalties on … Read more
Syria’s government and opposition meet Monday for a seventh round of UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva with little expectation of a breakthrough to end the six-year conflict. The Geneva process has been increasingly overshadowed by a separate track organised by regime allies Russia and Iran, and rebel backer Turkey. And on Sunday, a ceasefire brokered … Read more
A ceasefire brokered by the United States, Russia and Jordan brought quiet Sunday to frontlines in southern Syria ahead of fresh UN-sponsored peace talks on the country’s six-year conflict. A monitor said clashes and shelling had halted in the three southern provinces covered by the truce, Daraa, Quneitra, and Sweida, as it went into effect … Read more
Pakistan on Sunday released 78 Indian fishermen held for trespassing into its territorial waters, officials said. “The fishermen were released from Karachi’s Landhi jail,” an official of the provincial home department of Sindh, Naseem Siddiqui told AFP. The freed fishermen are expected to cross over into India on Monday. Siddiqui said “298 Indian fishermen are … Read more
Qatar on Sunday announced it was establishing a committee to pursue compensation claims potentially worth billions of dollars over the country’s “blockade” by Gulf states. Attorney General Ali bin Fetais al-Marri said the Compensation Claims Committee would deal with cases including major companies, such as Qatar Airways, and individual Qatari students who have been expelled … Read more
A ceasefire in southern Syria brokered by the United States, Russia and Jordan began at noon local time on Sunday, with a monitor reporting quiet in three southern provinces. The ceasefire was announced on Friday by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and covers Daraa, Quneitra and Sweida provinces. “The main fronts in the three provinces … Read more
Vietnamese authorities have seized nearly three tonnes of ivory hidden among boxes of fruit, officials said Sunday, the latest haul to spotlight the country’s key role in the global wildlife smuggling trade. Police in the central province of Thanh Hoa found 2.7 tonnes of tusks inside cartons on the back of a truck that was … Read more
Thousands gathered on Sunday at the grave of a prominent Cambodian critic who was gunned down a year ago in a murder that sparked widespread anger and scepticism over the alleged killer’s motives. Kem Ley, a popular and charismatic political analyst, was shot twice in the head as he sipped coffee in Phnom Penh — … Read more
More than a month since the start of the diplomatic crisis gripping the Gulf, hopes of a swift resolution seem as remote as a summer downpour in the desert. Both sides — the group of Saudi-led allies against Qatar — seem as entrenched in their positions as ever and as unlikely to find a face-saving … Read more
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said Turkey would never allow a Kurdish state in Syria near its border, and warned that if threatened, Ankara would not hesitate to use its right to self-defence. “We will never remain silent or unresponsive to the backing and arming of terrorist groups, and the formation of terror islets … Read more
A brash businessman with martial arts skills clinched Mongolia’s first-ever presidential runoff election Saturday after his opponent conceded defeat in the scandal-plagued race to take the helm of the resource-rich but debt-laden country. Khaltmaa Battulga of the opposition Democratic Party (DP), a 54-year-old former world champion in the Soviet martial art Sambo, had 50.6 percent … Read more
British Foreign Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday urged Arab states to end their Qatar boycott, downplaying the odds of a military escalation in the worst crisis to grip the Gulf in years. Johnson met with his Kuwaiti counterpart Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Sabah on Saturday and was scheduled to visit Qatar later in the day. “What … Read more
That Ghana is inviting the Chinese to mine bauxite at Atiwa and some other ore centres has made remarkable headlines this week. Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia says his government sought to leverage less than five percent of our bauxite deposits to unlock close to $20billion. According to him, Ghana has about 460million tonnes of bauxite … Read more
The decaying bodies of foreign jihadists are piling up among the ruins of Mosul where the last few dozen Islamic State group fighters are mounting a desperate last stand. More than three quarters of the remaining jihadists in Mosul are foreigners, according to Iraqi commanders who have reported a spike in suicide attacks as anti-IS … Read more