NEW DELHI – The US had no role to play in clinching a ceasefire between India and Pakistan and that the plea had come from Pakistan’s Director-General of Military Operations to his counterpart in Delhi, Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri told a parliamentary panel on Monday on cross-border security challenges post Operation Sindoor, sources said. The Foreign Secretary appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs, headed by Congress Lok Sabha member Shashi Tharoor, to provide a comprehensive briefing on the Operation Sindoor and recent tensions between India and Pakistan. He clarified that Pakistan had reached out to India for…
Author: Asia News Network
TOKYO – A government survey of internet use has found that among those who had encountered misinformation or disinformation online, nearly half had trusted such information and about a quarter had disseminated it further in some way. The survey was conducted online in March and April by the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry, targeting 2,820 men and women aged 15 and older. The survey presented 15 examples of misinformation or disinformation that had spread in Japan in the past and asked users who had heard or seen them whether they thought the information was true. A total of 47.7% of…
SEOUL – Rep. Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party of Korea’s presidential candidate, pledged Sunday to amend the Constitution to permit presidents to serve two terms, with the length of a single term cut from the current five years to four. Lee also proposed memorializing the 1980 pro-democracy movement in Gwangju in the Constitution, to “remember the people who gave their lives to fight dictatorship and defend democracy.” Lee said the Constitution needed to be rewritten to be a “sturdier bastion of democracy,” and that “the spirit of Gwangju must be written into (its) text.” Lee, who was in Gwangju on…
SEOUL – Last November, South Korea’s Suwon District Court sentenced three men to between five and 15 years in prison for spying in South Korea under the instructions of the North Korean intelligence agency. They were members of a spy network formed secretly in South Korea. The Yomiuri Shimbun obtained details of the investigation and viewed the directives that were admitted as evidence in the ruling. Revealed were glimpses of the information warfare raging between the two countries. In August 2019, a man was standing at a “meeting place” in Hanoi, carefully observing his surroundings. A month before, North Korea…
KUALA LUMPUR/JAKARTA/SINGAPORE – For months, 19-year-old Noah (not his real name) from Malaysia had been researching how to study marine biology in the United States: Looking into visa rules, work opportunities and internships. But in April, he gave up on his dream. “I had my heart set on Hawaii – some people call it the Disneyland for marine scientists,” he told The Straits Times. Countries such as Australia, Britain and the US have long been popular overseas destinations for many South-east Asians. But there appears to be a growing sense of wariness among potential students and other travellers from the…
The Suranaree Task Force engaged Cambodian troops over border patrol amid recent territorial concerns, Lt Gen Boonsin Padklang, Commander of the 2nd Army Region, said on Saturday. He clarified the situation following reports of Cambodian troops encroaching on Thai territory in Nam Yuen district, Ubon Ratchathani. Images had surfaced depicting Cambodian soldiers establishing fortifications, digging trenches, and reinforcing their position with nearly a hundred armed personnel, seemingly preparing for a potential confrontation with Thai forces. Boonsin stated that the Suranaree Task Force had been monitoring the situation for some time and had reported their findings. He further explained that discussions…
NEW DELHI – External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Thursday made it clear that all issues between India and Pakistan will be resolved bilaterally, virtually rejecting US President Donald Trump’s offer to mediate between the two countries on the Kashmir issue. Talking to media persons after the inauguration of the Embassy of Honduras here, Jaishankar said, “Our relations and dealings with Pakistan will be strictly bilateral. That is a national consensus for years, and there is absolutely no change in that. The prime minister (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) made it very clear that talks with Pakistan will be only on…
TOKYO – Nissan Motor Co., which is in the process of restructuring its operations, is planning to cut about 20,000 jobs worldwide, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Monday. This accounts for about 15% of the company’s consolidated workforce. While the company had announced a reduction of 9,000 employees last autumn, it now plans to cut more than 10,000 additional jobs. Suffering from a global sales slump, Nissan believes that its current restructuring measures are insufficient and is hurrying to formulate additional measures. Nissan is expected to present the plan on Tuesday when it announces its financial results for the fiscal year…
SHENZHEN – Even as China and the US roll back tariffs and other trade salvos amid a 90-day truce, there is one powerful source of leverage that Beijing appears to be retaining: the control of its exports of critical minerals, including rare earths. China’s Commerce Ministry said on May 12, the same day that details of the US-China agreement were announced, that strengthening export controls of strategic mineral resources was crucial to national security. A ministry spokesman said that smuggling activity had been detected after Beijing implemented export controls, and that China had launched a campaign to crack down on…
The initial report was alarming enough: Nine foreign nationals and two Filipinos had been apprehended at the Mactan-Cebu International Airport over the weekend for carrying an unexplained P441.92 million, $168,730, and 1,000 Hong Kong dollars in cold cash. The timing of the transport plus the involvement of six Chinese nationals, a Malaysian, Indonesian, and Kazakh immediately suggested, however, that the crime extends well beyond mere possession of a suspiciously large amount of cash in local and foreign currencies. Indeed, the Philippine National Police expressed “serious concerns” that the money contained in the seven trolley bags that the detained individuals were…