Jakarta, Indonesia (AFP) Two workers including a Chinese national were killed at a nickel smelting plant in Indonesia at the weekend after a riot broke out during a protest over labour conditions, officials said Monday. The clashes began Saturday evening at the facility on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island operated by PT Gunbuster Nickel Industry (GNI), a local unit of China’s Jiangsu Delong Nickel Industry. The island is a hub for the mineral-rich country’s production of the […]
Tag: aseaninfocus
Incitement, gold bars, walkie talkies: the charges against Myanmar’s Suu Kyi
Yangon, Myanmar (AFP) Myanmar’s junta has thrown the book at Aung San Suu Kyi since it ousted her government last year, charging the democracy figurehead with a clutch of offences from illegally possessing walkie talkies to corruption. She has been found guilty of every charge so far in proceedings that critics and rights groups have slammed as a sham designed to banish the military’s most famous opponent from the political scene. AFP takes a […]
Ousted Myanmar leader Suu Kyi jailed for total of 33 years
Ousted Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi was sentenced to another seven years in jail as her long series of trials ended on Friday, with the Nobel laureate now facing more than three decades behind bars. A prisoner of the military since a coup last year, Suu Kyi, 77, has been convicted on every charge levelled against her ranging from corruption to illegally possessing walkie-talkies and flouting Covid restrictions. On Friday she was […]
Malaysian behind Singapore penny-stocks scam jailed for 36 years
Singapore, Singapore (AFP) A Malaysian businessman convicted of masterminding a stock scam that wiped US$5.8 billion off Singapore’s exchange was sentenced on Wednesday to 36 years in jail by a court in the city-state. John Soh Chee Wen orchestrated the scheme, according to court documents, and his accomplice, Singaporean Quah Su-Ling, was also given a 20-year jail term. Both were convicted in May of using more than 180 trading accounts to inflate the share prices […]
Final verdicts in Suu Kyi junta trial set for Friday
Yangon, Myanmar (AFP) A Myanmar junta court will give its verdicts on five remaining charges in the 18-month trial of jailed civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday, a legal source told AFP. Suu Kyi has been a prisoner since the military toppled her government in February last year, ending the Southeast Asian nation’s brief period of democracy. The Nobel laureate, 77, has already been found guilty on 14 charges ranging from corruption to […]
Malaysia campsite landslide search ends with 31 dead
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AFP) Rescuers have called off the search for bodies after a massive, predawn landslide blanketed a campsite north of Malaysia’s capital killing 31 people, officials said on Saturday. According to police, 92 people, including dozens of children, were sleeping at the unlicensed campsite at an organic farm in Batang Kali, Selangor state on December 16 when tonnes of soil and mud thundered down a hill. All of those killed were Malaysian nationals, […]
Six dead as Thai navy continues search for missing sailors
Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand (AFP) by Montira Rungjirajittranon with Thanaporn Promyamyai in Bangkok Six bodies have been found and one survivor was rescued Tuesday, after the sinking of a naval vessel two days ago in the Gulf of Thailand, the Thai navy said. Seventy-six sailors from the HTMS Sukhothai have been hauled from the sea after the vessel went down late Sunday roughly 37 kilometres (22 miles) off the country’s southeastern coast. There were 23 […]
Four dead as Thai navy continues search for missing sailors
Prachuap Khiri Khan, Thailand (AFP) by Montira RUNGJIRAJITTRANON Four bodies were recovered in the Gulf of Thailand on Tuesday, the Thai navy chief said, following the sinking of a naval vessel two days ago. More than 70 survivors from the HTMS Sukhothai have been hauled from the sea since the vessel went down late Sunday roughly 37 kilometres (22 miles) off Thailand’s southeastern coast. Rescuers in helicopters, two planes, and four vessels — the […]
31 Thai sailors missing after vessel sinks: Navy
Bangkok, Thailand (AFP) At least 31 Thai Navy sailors were missing on Monday after their vessel sank off the southeastern coast of Thailand, a naval spokesperson said. The HTMS Sukhothai was patrolling the Gulf of Thailand, roughly 20 nautical miles from Bang Saphan pier in southern Prachuap Khiri Khan, when it ran into strong tides and took on water late Sunday night. A rescue mission was launched after the vessel’s electronic system was damaged, […]
AirAsia to launch new branch in Cambodia to spur growth
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AFP) AirAsia parent company Capital A plans to start a new branch of the low-cost airline in Cambodia, its chief executive said Friday, as the firm jump starts expansion plans thwarted by the pandemic. The latest move to reorganise the Malaysia-based firm’s network comes after setbacks in recent years that saw it exit Japan and India. “2022 was about restarting our airline to pre-Covid levels. That machine is in place and will […]
Thailand hits 10 million visitors in 2022 as tourism recovers
Bangkok, Thailand (AFP) Thailand celebrated the arrival of its 10 millionth international visitor of 2022 on Saturday, according to the tourism authority, as the kingdom consolidated the recovery of its Covid-battered travel sector. Thailand welcomed some 40 million people in 2019, but then the pandemic hit and travel was decimated as nations tightened border controls to contain the coronavirus. With those restrictions easing worldwide Thailand’s travel numbers have begun a slow recovery and the government […]
More people flee after eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Semeru
Lumajang, Indonesia (AFP) Rescuers evacuated more people Monday from nearby villages after the eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Semeru, with officials warning of danger from cooling lava despite less activity from the volcano. More than 2,400 villagers have now fled their homes and taken shelter in 11 evacuation centres after the highest mountain on the country’s main island of Java erupted early morning Sunday. “The military, police, local disaster and village officials keep evacuating people […]





