HONG KONG: Twelve Hong Kongers were jailed Saturday for up to seven years over the storming of the city’s legislature in 2019 at the height of pro-democracy protests that challenged the Beijing-backed government. It was the most violent episode in the initial stage of the huge protests that upended the
ZURICH: British telecoms giant Vodafone said Friday it has agreed to sell its Italian unit to Swisscom for eight billion euros ($8.7 billion) in a cash deal that was slammed by Switzerland’s main political party. Shares in the two companies jumped following the announcement but the hard-right Swiss People’s Party
LAGOS: The world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange Binance is halting operations in Nigeria’s naira currency as the government puts cryptobusinesses under increasing scrutiny. The decision came after authorities in Africa’s biggest economy imposed restrictions on cryptocurrency exchanges as part of attempts to halt the sliding value of the local currency. Nigeria’s
PORT-AU-PRINCE: Gunfire rang out on Thursday in Haiti’s capital and “bandits” set a police official’s house ablaze, ending three days of relative calm as politicians pressed on with talks to form an interim governing body. The country has been convulsed for two weeks by a gang uprising, with the well-armed
CHIANG MAI (Thailand): Thai tourist hotspot Chiang Mai was blanketed by hazy smog on Friday, as residents and visitors to the usually picturesque northern city were left wheezing in the toxic air. The city topped air monitoring website IQAir’s table of the world’s most polluted cities on early Friday. Levels
MANILA: Hundreds of people forced to work in an online scam centre in the Philippines were rescued in a raid on Thursday that also saw eight suspects arrested, according to police. Acting on a tip from a Vietnamese man who alleged to have escaped the sprawling compound north of capital
GAZA STRIP (Palestinian Territories): Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry said on Friday that Israeli fire killed 20 people and wounded 155 waiting to receive desperately needed aid in the besieged territory, but Israel said the reports were “erroneous”. With the United Nations warning of a looming famine in Gaza, besieged by
ABOUT 300,000 Taylor Swift fans from Singapore and around the region were expected to flock to the city-state this week for the megastar’s six sold-out concerts. As the only stop in Southeast Asia for Swift’s blockbuster Eras world tour, Swifties splashed out on flights and hotels to see their idol.
PORT-AU-PRINCE: Sporadic gunfire rang out in Port-au-Prince Friday night, an AFP correspondent there heard, as residents desperately sought shelter amid the recent explosion of gang violence in the Haitian capital. Humanitarian conditions continued to deteriorate, and aid groups and NGOs have warned of a shortage of medical resources and food
LISBON: Waving colourful flags, hundreds of campaigners took to Lisbon’s streets on Friday ahead of Portugal’s weekend snap election, with polls giving the opposition centre-right an edge after eight years of Socialist rule, and huge gains for the far-right. Support for the Democratic Alliance (AD) has inched up in the final
