ASEAN News

Malaysia – Rescuers in northern Myanmar claimed that the verified death toll from a landslide at an illegal jade mine had grown to six, but that the search effort had been called off since dozens of others were still missing and assumed dead. Thousands of people die each year while working in the lucrative but poorly controlled jade trade, in …

Hong Kong – Two Hong Kong universities removed statues commemorating Beijing’s 1989 crackdown on Tiananmen Square democracy protests on Friday, as authorities continue to clear the southern Chinese colony of any signs of the fatal incident. The removals follow the demolition of a monument commemorating the brutal crackdown by Hong Kong’s oldest university, which sparked outrage from activists and dissident …

Singapore – The national badminton team should use Singapore shuttler Loh Kean Yew’s incredible accomplishment last Sunday in winning the 2021 Badminton World Championship as incentive to continue achieving success in the future, former badminton great Datuk Lee Chong Wei said. Although Malaysian badminton fans and observers described the Penang-born player’s achievement as a major blow to the country’s badminton …

ASEAN – According to her office, Ingrida Simonyte, who is the Lithuanian Prime Minister had a meeting with the Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday in order to have a dicussion on the topic of the United States’ assistance for Lithuania in the face of Chinese economic pressure. The Chinese government has downgraded its diplomatic relations with Lithuania last month …

Thailand – As a result of growing worries about the spread of Omicron, Thailand is contemplating reinstituting strict quarantine for foreign visitors. The nation’s health ministry stated on Monday that the country has had its first incidence of local transmission of the coronavirus variant. According to Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, the public health ministry would propose eliminating a quarantine waiver for …

Philippines – A total number of 208 people have died in the Philippines’ strongest typhoon of the year, according to the country’s national police, making it one of the worst storms in recent years. Typhoon Rai destroyed the southern and central parts of the island, injuring at least 239 people with 52 individuals reportedly missing. As a super typhoon, Rai …

Thailand – Hundreds of people, many of them children, have escaped a flare-up in violence between the Myanmar army and an ethnic minority rebel group, according to Thai officials and an aid worker. Around 700 people escaped to the Thai town of Mae Sot after clashes between the Karen National Union (KNU) and Myanmar’s army, officials in western Thailand’s border …

Taiwan – Taiwan would develop economic relations with Lithuania in a “cycle of goodwill” despite pressure from Beijing, Taiwan’s de facto ambassador to the US said on Wednesday. Following Taiwan’s establishment of a representative office in Lithuania’s capital in November, Beijing severed relations with the Baltic state, and according to diplomatic sources, 19 Lithuanian embassy workers and their dependents had …

Malaysia – US Secretary of State Antony J Blinken and Malaysian Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah spoke candidly and productively as part of the senior US official’s first visit to Malaysia. “Our conversations covered a wide range of topics, and our bilateral connections have been robust,” Saifuddin said during a meeting with hearing-impaired singer Jeshurun Vincent, who has been to …

Indonesia – Antony Blinken, the Secretary of State of the United States, paid a visit in Indonesia, beginning off a tour to Southeast Asia aimed at boosting relations in a region that has emerged as a geopolitical battlefield between the United States and China. In his first trip to Southeast Asia since US President Joe Biden took office in January, Blinken will begin his …