Trump and Xi Jinping speak on the phone ahead of the inauguration, China’s foreign ministry says

BEIJING (Agencies): President Xi Jinping has spoken to US president-elect Donald Trump on the phone, Chinese state news agency Xinhua and international reports have said. The phone call comes with just three days to go for Trump’s inauguration. Beijing is sending Vice-President Han Zheng to attend the ceremony – the first time a senior Chinese official will...

Shocker in Vietnam – Doctor accused of murdering pregnant lover, dismembering body to hide affair

DONG NAI (Vietnam News/ANN): A doctor in Vietnam’s southern province of Dong Nai is facing charges of murder, robbery and illegal possession of military weapons after allegedly killing and dismembering his pregnant lover to conceal their extramarital affair. On Jan 14, the Dong Nai Provincial People’s Procuracy issued an indictment against 36-year-old Danh Son, a general...

Yoon claims martial law decree was ‘miswritten’, ex-defence minister denies it

SEOUL: The legal representative for former defence minister Kim Yong-hyun, who is on trial accused of taking part in an insurrection led by President Yoon Suk-yeol, denied the president’s claim that he made a mistake in copying down the orders for the emergency martial law declared on Dec 3. Kim’s lawyer Lee Ha-sang told reporters on...

Alliance Bank’s top shareholder Vertical Theme is said to consider sale to DBS

Investment management firm Vertical Theme Sdn. is planning to seek approval in the coming weeks to start talks about selling its stake in Alliance Bank Malaysia Bhd., according to people familiar with the development. Vertical Theme, a Malaysian holding company, is considering selling its roughly 29% stake in Alliance Bank to Singapore’s biggest lender, DBS Group Holdings...

Albania approves luxury resort project linked to Jared Kushner’s company

TIRANA (Reuters) - Albania's government has granted strategic investor status to a company linked to Donald Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner to build a luxury resort on an uninhabited Mediterranean island that was once a military outpost. The Balkan country's Strategic Investment Committee, headed by Prime Minister Edi Rama, on Dec. 30 accepted a proposal by Atlantic...

China shop becomes favourite for hundreds of students who flock there to watch TV for free

SHANGHAI: A snack shop in southern China has gone viral online because of the number of primary school students who flock to it after school as part of their daily routine. Feijuan Snack in Suixi county, Guangdong province, is always crowded with young customers dressed in school uniforms, the Xiaoxiang Morning Herald reported. Students go there because...

Hong Kong mogul Jimmy Lai grilled over US, Taiwan ties

HONG KONG: Jailed Hong Kong media tycoon Jimmy Lai testified on Thursday (Jan 160 that he brokered meetings between former Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and American establishment figures, with prosecutors alleging that he colluded with foreign forces. Lai is one of the most prominent figures to be prosecuted under Hong Kong's national security law, which Beijing...

Nintendo says Switch 2 will be released in 2025

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese gaming company Nintendo will launch the Switch 2 console, successor to its hit Switch device, this year, it said on Thursday. The Kyoto-based company did not release pricing for the new device and said it would provide more details at a Nintendo Direct event on April 2. The company has said that existing Switch...

Mysterious disease kills 14 in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri village, neurotoxins found in samples

NEW DELHI: Medical experts have so far failed to trace the cause of death of 14 people, including children and women, due to some mysterious disease in the Badhal village in the border district of Rajouri. Fourteen of the 38 affected persons have died since Dec 7, 2024. Mass burial of three children, Zahoor Ahmad (14), Mohammad...

Thai police hunt Cambodian over ex-politician’s murder

BANGKOK: Thai police said Wednesday (Jan 15) they are hunting a Cambodian national believed to be the mastermind behind the killing of a Cambodian opposition politician in downtown Bangkok last week. Lim Kimya, a former lawmaker for the dissolved Cambodia National Rescue Party (CNRP), was shot dead last week by a motorcyclist as he arrived in...