World

The World Trade Organisation has thrown out the final legal challenge to Australia's tobacco plain packaging laws. Now more countries across the world can implement this game-changing public health policy, says a University of Sydney researcher. SYDNEY: The decision, handed down on Jun 9 by the World Trade Organization’s appeals body, that Australia’s plain packaging tobacco control policy doesn’t flout WTO laws marks the end of almost a decade of legal wrangling over this landmark public health policy. More importantly, it paves the way for other nations around the world to follow Australia’s lead. In 2012, Australia became the first country in the world to implement tobacco plain packaging laws, having recognised that the tobacco industry uses packaging both to market cigarettes a...

I was sent scrambling for my dictionary on June 4 when Finance Minister Taro Aso declared that the different “mindo” between Japan and other countries was the reason behind Japan’s low COVID-19 death rate. A quintessentially nebulous Japanese word, mindo denotes the standard of living and cultural level of a people, and can variously be used to refer to a population’s degree of maturity in terms of intellectual, educational, and cultural levels, or behaviors. The word “mindo” was created during the Meiji Ea (1868-1912), a time when Japan became interested in comparing itself with other countries. Inherent in it is a sense of judgement about which populations’ “level” or “standards” are higher or lower. Scholar Michael Kim notes that during the colonization of Korea, “The Japanese deploye...

Significant reductions in prize money will be the new reality for tennis players when the ATP and WTA Tours resume, according to Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez. LONDON: Significant reductions in prize money will be the new reality for tennis players when the ATP and WTA Tours resume, according to Spanish veteran Feliciano Lopez. "We have to understand that tennis is not going to be the same, at least for one, two, three years. I don't know how long," Lopez, who should have been preparing to defend his Queen's Club title next week, said on Sunday. No professional tournaments have been held since March because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the shutdown will continue until August. Wimbledon was cancelled altogether while the French Open has been moved to September. A decision over whe...

Musk has long displayed a hatred of being told what to do, says the Financial Times’ Patrick McGee. SAN FRANCISCO: Of course it was going to be Elon Musk. This week, the Tesla chief executive thrust himself to the forefront of America’s anti-lockdown movement by threatening to “immediately” relocate the electric car group’s California headquarters to Texas or Nevada; filing a lawsuit; and then restarting production at the company’s Fremont plant in defiance of authorities. Mr Musk may be one of the world’s loudest clean energy advocates, having almost single-handedly jump-started the market for electric cars. But he has long displayed the same hatred of being told what to do that fuels the gun-toting protesters who stormed Michigan’s state house to protest anti-coronavirus measures...

AMSTERDAM: Lawyers bringing a case before the World Court accusing Myanmar of genocide against its Rohingya Muslim minority have asked a United States district court to order Facebook to release posts and communications of Myanmar military and police. The International Court of Justice based in The Hague has agreed to hear a case accusing Myanmar of genocide against Rohingya in violation of a 1948 convention. The United Nations court, commonly known as the World Court, accepts cases between states, and the case against Myanmar was brought by Gambia with the backing of a group of Muslim countries. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims have fled a crackdown in mainly Buddhist Myanmar, which considers members of its Rohingya minority to be foreigners. Rights groups have documented killings ...

related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. 2 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. SINGAPORE: Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports (NODX) fell 4.5 per cent year-on-year in May after seeing unexpected growth in the previous month, mainly due to declines in the petrochemicals sector. This reversed three straight months of expansion, with total trade contracting 25 per cent in May, according to official data released on Wednesday (Jun 17). On a month-on-month seasonally adjusted basis, NODX decreased by 4.5 per cent, continuing a second month of decline after the previous month’s 5.1 per cent contraction. The 8.8 per cent decrease in May’s non-electronic domestic exports outweighed the 12.5 per cent growth seen by...

MANILA: Security issues in the disputed South China Sea helped convince the Philippines to delay quitting a key military pact with the United States, the nation's envoy to Washington said Wednesday (Jun 3). The government of Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte announced Tuesday it had suspended plans to cancel the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), a deal that is important to Washington's moves to counter Beijing's rising regional power. Duterte has cosied up to China in search of trade and investment, sparking US concern that its long-time ally and former colony would change sides in a strategic boost to Beijing. "Because of security issues ... in that part of the world (South China Sea), both our governments have seen it would be prudent for us to simply suspend any implementation ...

related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. 2 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. SINGAPORE: The economic challenges Singapore faces underscore the need for the country to strengthen its social compact and make sure no one is left behind, said Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Wednesday (Jun 17). While the COVID-19 pandemic has hit economies hard around the world, it also has “the makings of a profound social crisis”, Mr Tharman said in a televised speech. “The economic dangers we now face compel us to fortify our society, and reinforce the strengths that we have developed over many years,” he said. “Singapore cannot defy the global economic downturn. But we must absolutely defy the loss of social cohe...

BEIJING: Four people were killed and another 23 injured when an earthquake shook southwestern China's Yunnan province, local authorities said on Tuesday (May 19). The shallow quake in Qiaojia county struck late on Monday evening, the Yunnan government said in a statement on its social media account. Advertisement Advertisement Video clips on China's Twitter-like platform Weibo showed shoppers taking cover in a store as boxes flew off the shelves, while students in a classroom elsewhere scrambled to hide under their desks before covering their heads with textbooks. The quake hit near the city of Zhaotong, with a population of over six million, and registered 5.0-magnitude, according to China's government seismology authority. Around 600 rescue workers have been sent to the disaster ...

related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. 3 related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery. In the eastern Chinese city of Yuyao, a group of five face-masked workers at a Geely auto plant, stood almost shoulder to shoulder behind an SUV as they conducted paint and other quality checks. YUYAO, China/SHANGHAI: In the eastern Chinese city of Yuyao, a group of five face-masked workers at a Geely auto plant, stood almost shoulder to shoulder behind an SUV as they conducted paint and other quality checks. That scene would not have been possible a month ago. Advertisement Advertisement But Reuters visits to six factories including those operated by Daimler AG's China venture and Japanese chipmaker Renesas Electronics showed manu...