Melaka hotels look abroad for Christmas decoration ideas

MELAKA: The competition to unveil the most interesting Christmas decorations among hotels here has begun. One hotelier even flew to London to get inspiration and order ornaments in a bid to create Yuletide fairyland vibes. Shah Beach Resort's general manager Dennis Samford said he made a trip overseas to look for hand-painted Christmas art, toy soldiers and...

39 Palestinians freed in first Hamas-Israel prisoner exchange deal

RAMALLAH (Bernama-Anadolu): The first batch of 39 Palestinian prisoners was released from the Israeli Ofer prison in the west of Ramallah, as part of the Hamas-Israel prisoner exchange deal. Anadolu Agency (AA) reported that Israel and Hamas on Friday (Nov 24) conducted the first prisoner exchange since the start of the conflict on Oct 7. Under the...

Collapsed Indian tunnel had no safety exit, was built through geological fault – panel member

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A tunnel which collapsed, trapping 41 workers in the Indian Himalayas this month, did not have an emergency exit and was built through a geological fault, a member of a panel of experts investigating the disaster said on Friday. Rescuers are still struggling to reach the construction workers 12 days after the...

US recession? Look at what rich Americans do on Black Friday

RICH Americans are curtailing their spending ahead of Black Friday, a worrisome sign for an economy that has so far depended on the US consumer to stave off a recession. In the three months ahead of the all-important holiday shopping season, a group of retailers that cater to the upper middle class – including Apple, Coach...

Trump congratulates Argentine libertarian Milei on election win

(Reuters) - Former U.S. President Donald Trump congratulated libertarian Javier Milei, an outsider with radical views to fix the economy, on being elected president in Argentina on Sunday. "The whole world was watching! I am very proud of you. You will turn your Country around and truly Make Argentina Great Again!" Trump wrote on his Truth...

China’s Xi calls for Asia-Pacific regional peace as he wraps up US trip

SAN FRANCISCO: Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated that his country will stick to a path of peaceful development as he wrapped his first visit to the US in six years, having eased tensions between the world’s top two economies. "The fundamental goal of China’s development is to improve the well-being of the Chinese people, not to...

26 dead, dozens hospitalised in China building fire: state media

BEIJING (AFP): Twenty-six people have died and dozens were sent to hospital after a fire tore through a building in northern China's Shanxi province on Thursday (Nov 16), state media reported. The fire started at a four-storey building belonging to the Yongju coal company in Shanxi province's Luliang city at around 6.50am local time, state media...

New Zealand prime minister-elect will not attend APEC, government says

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister-elect Christopher Luxon will not attend APEC in San Francisco and instead the country's caretaker trade minister will represent the country, the political parties confirmed on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the caretaker government said Damien O'Connor, who remains the country's trade minister until a new government is sworn in, will...

Indonesia to host K-pop award show Golden Disc Awards for the first time

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post): The 38th edition of Golden Disc Awards, one of South Korea’s oldest and famed music award shows, is set to be held in Jakarta for the first time, marking Indonesia’s increasing relevance as one of the largest K-pop consumer markets in the world. The show will be held on Jan 6, 2024,...