Asia Archives - Page 70 of 100

Indian govt’s scheme helping youth in business, generating employment in J&K’s Pulwama

12Feb

By Joe RodriguezNo Comments

Asia

Indian govt’s scheme helping youth in business, generating employment in J&K’s Pulwama

The youth of Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir now have plenty of opportunities to create employment opportunities for the people of the Valley with the help of the Indian government’s Prime Minister's Employment Guarantee Program (PMEGP).A prime example of the benefit of the scheme is young entrepreneur Muhammad Asgar Bhat from Wahibugh from the district of South Kashmir who has started a unit of shoe, slippers or Chappal making under the Centre sponsored scheme."PMEGP gave me Rs 25 lakh loan to start my business and I have completed five to six months. Over 20 people work in this unit. I appeal to the people who are unemployed to take benefit of the scheme like me," said Bhat, the owner of the Shoe/Slipper manufacturing unit.Bhat further said that he was grateful to the Centre's sche...

Commentary: Implications of ‘long COVID’ mean faster vaccination programmes needed now

12Feb

By Desk TeamNo Comments

Asia, World

Commentary: Implications of ‘long COVID’ mean faster vaccination programmes needed now

We need to spend whatever it takes on wartime-style mobilisation to make, distribute and inject vaccines, says the Financial Times’ Simon Kuper. LONDON: When I listen to scientists talk about where we might be a year from now, two main scenarios emerge. The first one is good: COVID-19 keeps circulating but loses its sting. Most people in rich countries, and the most vulnerable in developing countries, get vaccinated in 2021. The vaccines prevent disease caused by all strains. COVID-19 weakens. Once it finds potential victims protected either by vaccination or past infection, it becomes at worst a nasty cold. “The most likely thing is that it will mutate into a more benevolent form. That may solve the problem,” says Anthony Costello, a former director at the World Health Organizatio...

Former PTI lawmaker confesses to accepting bribe ahead of Pak 2018 Senate polls

11Feb

By Joe RodriguezNo Comments

Asia

Former PTI lawmaker confesses to accepting bribe ahead of Pak 2018 Senate polls

Former Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) lawmaker Ubaid Ullah Mayar has confessed to taking bribe worth Rs 10 million before the Senate elections of 2018.This comes after a video went viral on social media on Tuesday that showed Imran Khan-led PTI lawmakers receiving bribes ahead of the 2018 senate elections. The video showed a couple of PTI Members of National Assembly (MNAs) taking money from Mohammad Ali Bacha, former MPA of the Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) before the Senate elections in 2018.In the video, stacks of currency are seen in the video atop a table in front of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa PTI Members of Provincial Assembly (MPAs).Speaking to the media, Mayar said that he took the money on the directives of then Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, adding that the PTI-led ...

South Korea needs more babies and immigrants

10Feb

By Desk TeamNo Comments

Asia, China, Market, Singapore, World

South Korea needs more babies and immigrants

South Korea greeted the new year by recording its first annual population decline. Unfortunately, the go-to solutions are meeting some practical challenges in the COVID-19 era. Headcount dwindled slightly to 51.8 million last year, the Ministry of Interior and Safety said Sunday. The retreat was the product of a 10.6% slide in births, coupled with a 3.1% increase in deaths. South Korea now joins neighboring Japan in suffering an actual fall in population, as opposed to the diminishing rates of growth that characterized past years. The ministry called for “fundamental changes,” national news agency Yonhap reported, without offering details. South Korea’s demographic challenges partly stem from family-planning measures imposed by military-backed administrations in the 1960s, which aimed to...

Escaping COVID-19 lockdowns, tourists flock to Dubai

10Feb

By Desk TeamNo Comments

Asia, World

Escaping COVID-19 lockdowns, tourists flock to Dubai

DUBAI: As much of the world tightens lockdowns to stem coronavirus, Dubai has flung its doors open, branding itself as a sunny, quarantine-free escape - despite a sharp rise in cases. While mask-wearing and social distancing are strictly enforced, life in the tourism-reliant emirate looks much like normal, with its restaurants, hotels and mega-malls open for business. Images of sports stars and television personalities enjoying life at beach clubs and cocktail bars have flooded social media - sometimes to disapproval back home. Emirates, which restored its network to about three-quarters of pre-pandemic levels, is again operating A380 super-jumbos - the world's largest commercial airliner - ferrying in visitors from Britain and Russia. Russian tourist, Dmitriy Melnikov, said he cam...

Commentary: How Tencent, that other Chinese Big Tech giant, is beating a path to a trillion dollars

10Feb

By Desk TeamNo Comments

Asia, China, Market, Singapore, World

Commentary: How Tencent, that other Chinese Big Tech giant, is beating a path to a trillion dollars

Tencent looks set to grow to a US$1 trillion market capitalisation given its diversified revenue sources, its strong growth strategy premised on e-sports and live-streaming, says IMD Business School’s Mark Greeven. SINGAPORE: Tencent is poised to join the trillion dollar club. After a whopping 11 per cent rally in stock price and an equally whopping tumble of about 5 per cent last week, the question is whether we are seeing the global tech bubble expanding to Asia. Certainly, the Hong Kong market generally was in a positive mood on the day of the 115 per cent jump. And over this past year, Tencent’s stock price has risen by 85 per cent in value. Nevertheless, a trillion dollars is a lot of money. Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are all well into their first trillion-dollar market cap...

Indian govt asks Twitter to remove 1,178 Pak-Khalistani handles over provocative content on farmers’ protest

9Feb

By Joe RodriguezNo Comments

Asia

Indian govt asks Twitter to remove 1,178 Pak-Khalistani handles over provocative content on farmers’ protest

Amid the ongoing farmers' protest in India, the Central government has directed Twitter to remove 1,178 Pakistani-Khalistani accounts spreading misinformation and provocative content on farmers agitation, according to sources.External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday had said that there was a reason why the MEA reacted to the remarks of some celebrities in relation to protest by farmer unions and noted that they spoke "on matters on which they obviously didn't know very much".Jaishankar said that the 'toolkit' case, which is being probed by police, has revealed a lot."I think it has revealed a lot. We have to wait and see what comes out. You can see there was a reason why the foreign ministry reacted to the statements which some celebrities gave out on matters on which they obviou...

Peace in Kashmir possible if Pak’s terrorist activities are curtailed: Experts

9Feb

By Joe RodriguezNo Comments

Asia

Peace in Kashmir possible if Pak’s terrorist activities are curtailed: Experts

In a webinar held on the 37th anniversary of diplomat Ravindra Mhatre’s killing and India’s fight against international terrorism, a panel of experts unanimously said that peace in Kashmir was a possibility only if Pakistan's actions were curtailed and if the international community played a proactive role in the process.Participating in the webinar, senior journalist Akhlaq Ahmed Usmani remarked that Pakistan sponsored-terrorism had hampered the peace situation in Kashmir Valley.Usmani asserted that such actions were strictly un-Islamic and had to be discussed by the international community to fix accountability on the sponsors.Shujaat Ali Qadri, President, Muslim Students Organisation (MSO), equated the killing of the diplomat as an "act of war against India" and highlighted the restrain...

Myanmar police file charges against Aung San Suu Kyi after coup

9Feb

By Desk TeamNo Comments

Asia, USA, World

Myanmar police file charges against Aung San Suu Kyi after coup

Myanmar State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi attends the Leaders Plenary Session of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations -Australia Special Summit in Sydney on March 18, 2018. Mark Metcalfe | AFP | Getty Images Myanmar police have filed charges against ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi for illegally importing communications equipment and she will be detained until Feb. 15 for investigations, according to a police document. The move followed a military coup on Monday and the detention of Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi and other civilian politicians. The takeover cut short Myanmar's long transition to democracy and drew condemnation from the United States and other Western countries. A police request to a court detailing the accusations against Suu Kyi, 75, said six walkie-talkie radios had b...

Asia shares pare losses as China GDP pips forecasts

9Feb

By Desk TeamNo Comments

Asia, China, Market, World

Asia shares pare losses as China GDP pips forecasts

Asian share markets retreated from highs on Monday as disappointing news on U.S. consumer spending tempered risk sentiment ahead of a closely-watched reading on the health of the Chinese economy. SYDNEY: Asian share markets pared early losses on Monday as data confirmed China's economy had bounced back last quarter as factory output jumped, helping offset recent disappointing news on U.S. consumer spending. Chinese blue chips edged up 0.4per cent after the economy was reported to have grown 6.5per cent in the fourth quarter, on a year earlier, topping forecasts of 6.1per cent. Industrial production for December also beat estimates, though retail sales missed the mark. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan trimmed losses and were off 0.2per cent, having hit a st...