India is no longer weak and has become the most powerful country in the world, its Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Tuesday.
Speaking after unveiling a statue of Panna Dai, a 16th-century nursemaid, the minister said that the Russia-Ukraine war was stopped for a few hours at the behest of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and hence the government could bring back over 22,000 Indian students from the war-torn region.
“Such an incident will never be repeated in the future,” he said after unveiling the 9.6-feet tall statue.
Panna Dai is known for sacrificing her son to safeguard the future of the Mewar kingdom in the western state of Rajasthan. When Mewar scion Udai Singh was left in her care after Rani Karnavati immolated herself following a defeat in war in 1535, he was attacked by his uncle Banvir. Panna Dai sacrificed her own son’s life to save Udai Singh.
Speaking on the occasion, Rajnath Singh said, “I consider myself lucky to have unveiled this statue. The story of Panna Dai’s sacrifice is known to all. I was also touched by her bravery and valour.”
“India has not invaded any country till date, nor has it occupied any place. However, if someone looks at our country with an evil eye, we give a befitting reply,” he added.
Speaking about the country’s armed forces, the Defence Minister said, “We will soon stop buying arms and ammunition from other countries, as everything will be manufactured in India. Presently, we are selling weapons worth 130 billion (59 billion baht). Eight years ago, this figure was only 900 billion. By 2047, it will go up to 2.75 lakh crore [2.75 trillion rupees].”
Praising Rajasthan, he said the soil of the state tells the story of women with valour, as he remembered the sacrifices made by Panna Dai and Hadi Rani, among others.
Hadi Rani was a brave queen of Rajasthan, who sacrificed her life to motivate her husband to go to a battle.
Remembering Panna Dai, Singh said, “She did not worry about being called a ‘kumata’ [wicked], as she sacrificed her own son. She had only one goal — to safeguard the kingdom of Mewar.”
The event was originally scheduled to be held in June, but it had to be postponed due to protests against the Agnipath scheme for short-term recruitment into the armed forces.
As the world grapples with a food insecurity problem induced by rising geopolitical tension and Covid-19, Indonesia, which is expected to take over the Asean leadership next year, is proposing that countries within the grouping set up a kind of region-wide food bank.
Speaking at a public lecture in the Rajaratnam School of International Studies on Monday evening, Coordinating Economic Minister Airlangga Hartarto said that the regional grouping needs to have a funding mechanism that will allow the shipment of basic food staples like rice from one country to another in the event of a food scarcity problem in some parts of the region.
“How much can each country allocate stock for their Asean partners, for countries like Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam? Also, we need to set up a funding mechanism to move the stock to countries that need it the most,” the senior economic minister told the audience.
Airlangga also said that the same mechanism has been proposed by Indonesia in context with the Group of Twenties (G20).
“We also use this model for the G20 meeting for food security on commodities like wheat. We need to have multinational financing and funding that is available to source the food,” Airlangga said.
In July, during a meeting of finance ministers and central bank leaders, countries in the G20 failed to reach a consensus on the global food crisis exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is threatening to leave millions at risk of hunger.
“The majority of members agreed that there is an alarming increase of food and energy insecurity,” Indonesia said in a statement.
Data from the World Food Programme indicates that 323 million people around the world face severe food insecurity this year, twice the number before Covid-19 and the war in Ukraine.
Following the food price crisis in 2008, Asean has stepped up to cooperate among member states to ensure long-term food security in the region.
With rice being the main staple food in agricultural production, Asean came up with the so-called integrated food security framework and strategic plan of action on food security with the key objective of establishing an emergency rice reserve.
During his lecture, Airlangga also emphasized that the geopolitical tension in the Asia-Pacific region gave fresh relevance to the principle of Asean neutrality.
“The tension in the East China Sea makes it more relevant for Indonesia and Asean to keep this free and active policy,” Airlangga said.
Indonesia is expected to take over the Asean leadership from Cambodia next year, with the Myanmar crisis and the geopolitical tension in the region continuing to loom large.
Indonesia is expected to push for more structural changes to Asean, including the reexamination of fundamental Asean processes like the decision-making process by the consensus and changing it to a voting mechanism.
Singaporean diplomat Ong Keng Yong, who is a former secretary general of ASEAN, expects that Indonesian leadership of Asean next year will be a force of good in the region.
“This is a special moment for Indonesia as its chairmanship of G20 coincides with Asean’s renewed vigour, which will be a positive factor for regional development, lasting peace and continued prosperity,”
Ong said in a discussion following the public lecture. Ong also said that he expected Indonesia to come up with new initiatives to address some of the outstanding problems plaguing Asean.
“Indonesia is expected to come up with new initiatives to address many outstanding issues affecting our region as well as a wider scope beyond Southeast Asia, from the contestation of the world’s No. 1 and No. 2 to the current crisis in Myanmar as well as Covid-19,” he said referring to the geopolitical contestation between China and the United States.
Three Thai women were among 25 alleged sex workers arrested by Malaysian police following raids at a condominium and a hotel in Puchong in Selangor.
The operation codenamed “Ops Gegar” was conducted by 21 Immigration officers at about 5pm on August 26.
Immigration department director-general Khairul Dzaimee Daud said 20 of the foreign women were Indonesians and two were Vietnamese. The 25 suspects were aged between 18 and 47.
“We also detained two local men who were the caretakers of the premises,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Initial investigations revealed that the foreign women dressed like locals to attract customers, he said.
“One of the foreign women detained is suspected to be the “mummy”, or the one in charge of managing them.
“The 28-year-old woman was detained at the condominium,” he said.
Various items were seized including 9,325 ringgit (around 76,000 baht) in cash, condoms, lubricants and a log book recording workers’ attendance and the list of customers, Khairul Dzaimee said.
“Customers interested in getting the syndicate’s services would communicate via WhatsApp.
“They will then be given a code word to enter the premises,” he said.
Customers were charged 240 ringgit to book a woman for sex, Khairul Dzaimee Daud.
“The women would work from 11am until 4am at the hotel.
“Those who were sick would stay in the condominium under the care of the mummy. They were confined there until they recovered,” he said.
The condominium was also used as a transit point for women who arrived from Indonesia or Thailand before they were sent to the hotel to work as prostitutes, he said.
“We believe the syndicate has been operating for almost two years. The foreign women entered Malaysia using social visit passes,” he added.
The department will tighten security at the country’s borders and perform more stringent checks on travel documents of tourist arrivals, Khairul Dzaimee said.
“Those detained were brought to Putrajaya Immigration office for further investigation,” he said.
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Even at the end of an eighth Japan-led international conference on African development, Japan’s steady assistance to various African countries over many years has seemingly not left much of an impression, mainly due to China.
“The Chinese, they are very strategic,” said Prof Macharia Munene of the United States International University-Africa in Kenya, adding that China is better at public relations than Japan.
“Sometimes we have a joke in Nairobi,” he said. “Japanese build some good road networks and people think it is the Chinese who did it. Which basically means that the Japanese PR is not as good as it should be.”
China’s reputation has been rising as Beijing aids Africa’s development with huge infrastructure investments.
According to a public opinion survey of 34 African countries released in 2021 by Ghana-based research organisation Afrobarometer, 63 per cent of Africans gave positive assessments of “the economic and political influence of China in their country”.
The figure is the highest among all choices, with the United States at 60 per cent, United Nations at 57 per cent and even their former colonial power – with which they have strong historical ties but also intense opposition to colonial rule – at 46 per cent. Japan was not even on the list of choices for the question.
While wary of debt traps, Africans positively view China because of factors such as Beijing’s support for their independence struggles against European colonial rule across the continent and its strategic approach to placing importance on Africa since the Cold War.
China’s stance not to interfere in internal affairs is also welcome by African countries.
For example, Zimbabwe has been under sanctions imposed by the West due to human rights violations and the authoritarian administration’s oppression of the opposition. But the country built its new parliament building, completed in June, with China’s assistance.
According to a Kenyan newspaper, Zimbabwe’s information minister welcomed the construction of the building, saying it symbolises deep relations between the two countries.
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A new work pass – the Overseas Networks and Expertise Pass – will be open for applications from Jan 1 next year, to attract top talent across all sectors. Applicants will need to earn a fixed monthly salary of $30,000 and above, which is comparable to the top 5 per cent of Employment Pass (EP) holders.
This is among several initiatives to strengthen Singapore’s position as a global talent hub, said Manpower Minister Tan See Leng on Monday.
Other changes planned include updated job advertising requirements under the Fair Consideration Framework and adjustments to the existing EP scheme.
The changes are to allow businesses to respond quickly to their operational needs so that they can compete more effectively as Singapore and the world emerge from the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Tan said.
He said at a media briefing: “We are making targeted enhancements to our work pass framework, to better attract top talent and experienced tech professionals in areas of skills shortages.”
Dr Tan noted that as countries emerge from the pandemic, amid economic and geopolitical uncertainties, some are turning inwards while others are going out of their way to compete for global talent.
“In this climate, we need to be clear about where Singapore stands. We cannot leave any room for investors to doubt or have questions as to whether Singapore remains open,” he said.
To roll out the new plans that will cover four areas, MOM will work with the Ministry of Trade and Industry, and the Ministry of Communications and Information.
First, the new pass will grant pass holders the flexibility to concurrently start, operate and work for multiple companies in Singapore at any one time.
This is unlike the typical EP, which is tied to the specific job that the pass holder is doing.
The new pass is also a five-year work pass, which is longer than the typical EP that lasts two to three years.
Pass holders can also sponsor dependants, and their spouses will be allowed to work, after obtaining a Letter of Consent.
To apply for the new pass, applicants will need to earn $30,000 and above. Overseas candidates with no recent employment history in Singapore also need to show that they have worked or will be working for an established company, with a market cap of at least US$500 million (S$700 million) or annual revenue of US$200 million.
But individuals with “outstanding achievements” across arts and culture, sports, science and technology, and research and academia can also qualify even if they may not meet the salary criterion, Dr Tan said.
He added: “MOM will closely engage pass holders during their time in Singapore.
“The flexibilities offered by this pass are meant to allow pass holders to contribute meaningfully to Singapore. It is not meant to be abused as a visit or travel document.”
Apart from the new pass, there will be changes to the existing EP scheme from Sept 1 next year.
A new benchmark will be introduced and pegged to the top 10 per cent of pass holders, such that this group will be exempt from Fair Consideration Framework job advertising requirements or the upcoming Complementarity Assessment Framework (Compass).
Compass is a points-based framework that evaluates EP applicants based on a holistic set of individual and firm-related attributes. It will apply to new applicants from Sept 1 next year.
The salary benchmark will be adjusted from $20,000 to $22,500 a month, while the salary criterion for the personalised pass will be updated to $22,500.
The Personalised Employment Pass is for high-earning EP holders and overseas foreign professionals and offers greater flexibility than an EP as it is not tied to an employer, and pass holders do not need to reapply for a pass if they change jobs.
To help companies respond to business needs, from Sept 1 this year, the Fair Consideration Framework job advertising duration will be cut from 28 days to 14 days.
This means a job vacancy needs to be advertised for only 14 days before a company can hire an EP holder.
The duration was extended to 28 days in October 2020 amid a weak job market to give job seekers more time to respond to openings, Dr Tan said. He noted that the economy has recovered strongly since then.
The processing time for EP applicants will also be hastened, from about three weeks now for 85 per cent of online applications, to within 10 business days, with technological advances allowing a swifter and more decisive response.
The MOM will notify employers if it needs more time to deliberate on whether to issue the EP.
Finally, MOM will offer the option of a five-year EP to experienced professionals filling specific tech occupations on the Compass Shortage Occupation List – a list that is still being compiled based on input from the industry, trade associations and other partners.
These individuals will need to meet a salary criterion of at least $10,500.
They should also pass Compass, among other criteria.
Dr Tan said: “This enhancement will provide greater certainty to experienced tech professionals when making major decisions on relocating to Singapore, and allow us to anchor tech capabilities even as we develop our local pipeline.”
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Chinese astronauts have successfully grown rice seedlings onboard the Tiangong space station and this experiment that may yield key insights into how astronauts can cultivate food to support long-term space missions, experts said on Monday.
While there have been other rice experiments in space, the one being conducted on Tiangong is the first of its kind that aims to produce the complete life cycle of the plant, which begins with a seed and ends with a mature plant producing new seeds.
China launched the Wentian space laboratory into orbit on July 24 to dock with the Chinese space station’s Tianhe core module. The space lab, which weighs 23 metric tons and is 17.9 meters tall, is the country’s largest and heaviest spacecraft to date. Onboard are eight experimental payloads, including the one for the rice experiment.
Zhao Liping, a researcher at the Technology and Engineering Center for Space Utilization of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the payloads are operating smoothly, and the three astronauts are conducting the experiments and testing them according to the plan.
Since the rice experiment began on July 29, the seedlings of the tall shoot rice variety have reached a height of about 30 centimetres, and the seedlings of the dwarf rice variety, dubbed Xiao Wei, grew to around 5 cm, said Zheng Huiqiong, a researcher at the Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
“The rice seedlings are growing very well,” Zheng said, adding that the experiment also contained seedlings of Arabidopsis thaliana, a small flowering plant of the mustard family often used by scientists to study mutations.
The astronauts will keep monitoring the plants, and if the experiment is successful, they will collect the newly produced seeds and bring them back to Earth for further studies, she added.
“We want to investigate how microgravity can affect the plant flowering time on the molecular level and whether it is possible to use the microgravity environment to control the related process,” she said. Flowering is a crucial stage for plant reproductive development.
Since the 1980s, China has been taking seeds of rice and other crops to space to help them mutate and produce higher yields once they were planted on Earth. But growing rice in orbit is a different challenge due to the harsh conditions of space such as microgravity, lack of air and high-energy cosmic rays.
Rice has been a staple food for astronauts since the early days of space exploration. US astronauts onboard the Apollo 11 mission, who were the first humans to land on the moon in July 1969, ate freeze-dried chicken and rice during their trip in space.
“But if we want to land on and explore Mars, bringing food from Earth is not enough to suffice for the astronauts’ long journey and mission in space. We have to find a sustainable food source for long-term space explorations,” Zheng said.
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Cambodians have filed nearly 6,000 reports of road damage – such as potholes – through the government’s Road Care Mobile App. Users simply take a picture of the damage, tag the location, and send it through the app, which is run by the Public Works and Transport Ministry.
From December 2018 – when the app launched – until July 2022, the ministry had received 5,922 reports through it, a ministry spokesman said on Sunday.
It had addressed most of the reports as quickly as possible, although some had been incorporated into long-term development plans and would have to wait, he said.
“Occasionally, some members of the public will complain that we have not addressed their issue promptly enough, but [the app] certainly helps us to prioritise our long-term development plans,” he added.
On Sunday, the ministry issued a social media call for people to report potholes immediately via the Road Care app.
Kim Pagna, country director of Asia Injury Prevention Foundation (AIP), said the creation of the app was a good thing. However, he thought the ministry should examine ways it could respond to people’s comments so that the public would see the importance of using the app.
He added that when they saw their contributions brought positive changes, they would place more value on using the app.
In addition to addressing potholes, Pagna said that the ministry should disseminate the results of reports from the app so the public could see how effective the ministry’s responses were.
“To encourage more participation, I think the public works ministry should focus on the youth by training those from the Red Cross, young scouts and the Union of Youth Federations of Cambodia so they will understand how to use the app to make their voices heard,” he added.
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Thousands of people in Oudomxay, Bokeo, Huaphan, Phongsaly and other provinces in the North of Laos were affected by flash floods after heavy rains in recent days inundated their communities.
Tropical storm Ma-on sparked extensive destruction, with roads being flooded and impassable, houses and other property destroyed or damaged, and electricity and water supplies being cut off.
However, no deaths or injuries have been reported and authorities are working to provide assistance to those in need.
Oudomxay province was the hardest hit by flooding since Friday, with 97 villages in Xay district affected.
Some 40 out of 97 affected villages along the Nam Ko river have been hardest hit. Valy Cheunoryeng, governor of Xay district, said it was too early to evaluate the cost of the damage as authorities are assessing the extent of the flooding and collecting information about the number of people affected.
Due to the floods, people are now in urgent need of clothing, food and drinking water.
Many people struggled to cope as their houses were submerged and dramatic videos of their predicament circulated on social media.
Overflowing rivers have caused havoc in the provincial capital, Xay district, as well as in La district and other areas.
The number of people left homeless has not yet been assessed because local authorities are busy evacuating people and providing emergency relief, according to local media reports. Many people are also in need of shelter, and some need boats to move around.
Local authorities, meanwhile, say they are having to use boats to evacuate people because the floods have cut off roads.
Villagers have been evacuated to places on higher ground, such as schools and other public facilities, while others are staying with relatives in unaffected areas.
Meanwhile, 97 families in four villages in Phongsaly province’s Khua district have been affected by downpours, with the cost of the damage estimated at more than 5.6 billion kip.
Roads No 2E and 1B were flooded, hindering the transport of goods and people.
The province of Bokeo has also suffered extensive flooding. Local authorities say they will provide details as more information becomes available, while news reports showed how people were struggling to move their belongings and vehicles.
Hinheup district in Vientiane province has also been affected after a river broke its banks.
Elsewhere, authorities in Huaphan province are preparing safe places where people whose homes have been flooded can take shelter.
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Malaysia is keen on establishing defence cooperation with Thailand, including in producing defence products to advance the country’s defence industry, said Defence Ministry Secretary-General Muez Abd Aziz.
In line with the National Defence and Security Industry Policy (DIPKN), which is expected to be launched this October, the Defence Ministry Secretary-General said Malaysia is ready to learn from Thailand, which has experience and expertise in the defence industry.
Giving an example, he said Malaysia can learn from the Defence Technology Institute (DTI), a special wing under the Thai Ministry of Defence that is involved in developing defence products.
“We can learn from the DTI which collaborates with the private sector to develop defence products that can be used by security agencies in the country and in addition they can be exported to Asean and other countries.
“Besides, Malaysian and Thai companies can cooperate in several fields in the defence industry including aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) services, the drone industry and armaments,” he told Bernama.
Muez, who is currently on a working visit to Bangkok, Thailand paid a courtesy call on the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defence of Thailand Gen Worakiat Rattananont as well as the Chairman of the DTI Board of Directors Gen Porpol Maneerin and also DTI director-general Gen Choochart Buakhao.
Muez also visited the factory of Chaiseri Defence Co Ltd, a private defence company regulated by the Thai Ministry of Defence that produces military vehicles exported to at least 44 countries so far.
He said Malaysia could establish cooperation with a private defence company that has more than 50 years of experience in the field of defence.
Muez also held discussions with Worakiat regarding the Malacca Straits Patrol (MSP) involving four countries, namely Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore and Thailand.
“I have sent a letter to Worakiat that we will prepare the terms of reference for MSP.
“In addition, a date will be finalised for the defence ministers of the four countries to meet,” he said.
Bogota broke on Sunday a world record for the biggest concert ever performed to celebrate the country’s armed conflict truth.
Around 16,000 musicians, singers and children’s choirs grouped together by the Bogota’s Philharmonic Orchestra performed among others Beethoven’s 9th Symphony and ‘Latinoamerica’, originally from the Puerto Rican group “Calle 13”, famous throughout Latin America for its lyrics criticising social and political issues.
The event to break the record of the world’s biggest concert in Bogota’s Simon Bolivar Metropolitan Park was set to honour Colombia’s truth commission’s final report which was released in June.
Established as part of a 2016 peace deal between the government and the now-demobilized Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) rebels, the truth commission was set to expose the truth behind human rights abuses committed during Colombia’s almost 60-year internal conflict.
From 1985 to 2018, 450,664 people were killed in the conflict, according to the final report, and until 2019, over 7.7 million people were displaced.
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