BANGKOK (Thailand): Crowds of Thais eager to witness history filled roads around the grand palace yesterday waiting under a scorching sun for newly-crowned King Rama X to emerge on a golden palanquin for a procession through Bangkok’s historic heart. Wearing yellow shirts – the royal colour – and carrying hats
BANDA ACEH (Indonesia): From cleaning up relatives’ graves and sharing food with the poor to holding colourful torch-lit street parades, millions of Indonesians are getting ready to welcome the holy month of Ramadan in the world’s populous Muslim-majority country. Ramadan begins today, with devotees fasting from dawn to dusk until
GAZA CITY (Palestinian Territories): Gaza militants fired new barrages of rockets at Israel yesterday in a deadly escalation that has seen Israel respond with waves of strikes as a fragile truce again faltered, sparking fears of further violence. Gazan authorities reported six Palestinians killed in Israeli strikes in the latest
MARSEILLE (France): Investigators in south-east France have seized a white tiger cub at the home of a suspected exotic animal trafficker, while pythons and endangered marsupials were found at his mother’s house, a police source said Saturday. Members of the public health agency OCLAESP were recently informed of the illegal
SRINAGAR (India): Suspected militants shot dead a local leader of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party in disputed Kashmir ahead of the latest round of polling, highlighting bloodshed that has marred India’s mega-election. The killing in Anantnag district of India’s only Muslim-majority state is the latest in a string of
NEGOMBO (Sri Lanka): Father Suranga Warnakulasuriya said prayers alone in his church yesterday, as Catholic services were suspended across Sri Lanka for the second straight week since the Easter suicide attacks. With the army staging raids across the country and authorities maintaining high levels of security, the country’s 1.25 million
BANGKOK (Thailand): Kneeling in front of her King, Suthida Vajiralongkorn na Ayudhya was invested as Queen on Saturday in Bangkok’s Grand Palace, taking up a prominent role in a country where the monarchy is deeply revered, a fairytale ascent for the former flight attendant. Wearing a pink traditional dress, Suthida
TOKYO (Japan): Emperor Naruhito urged Japan to work together for world peace as he made his first public appearance Saturday in front of a cheering, flag-waving crowd of tens of thousands. “I sincerely wish that our country, hand-in-hand with foreign countries, seeks world peace and further development,” said the 59-year-old
SINGAPORE: Singapore has attracted high-tech manufacturers with incentives and a well-educated workforce but growing demands for highly skilled labour and government moves to curb numbers of foreign workers may mean a tougher path ahead. The city-state is a major producer of products ranging from aircraft engines to medical equipment and
OMAHA: Billionaire investor Warren Buffett said Saturday that women ought to have a higher profile in investing. On the sidelines of the annual shareholders meeting of his Berkshire Hathaway empire in Omaha, Buffett made a surprise appearance at a gathering called Variant Perspectives, organised by a group of women financial