YANGON: State-run media say 44 suspects have been arrested for their alleged role in sectarian violence that wracked a town in western Myanmar this past week.
Five Muslims were killed and more than 100 homes set on fire when Buddhist mobs went on a rampage in Thandwe, a coastal town in Rakhine state, hours before a visit by the country’s president.
Few details were released about the arrests, but state media reports said members of both the Buddhist and Muslim communities were arrested.
Malaysia, China eye more trade
PUTRAJAYA: Malaysia and China have set an astounding bilateral trade target of $160bn by 2017.
Prime Minister Najib Razak and President Xi Jinping discussed this at a closed-door meeting at the Prime Minister’s office here on Friday.
The two leaders also discussed a five-year economic and trade programme and agreed to elevate the current cooperation between both countries into a comprehensive strategic partnership. Najib and Xi said this in a joint statement issued after the meeting.
Call for family care legislation
SINGAPORE: Speaker of Parliament Halimah Yacob has made a call for legislation on elder care or family care leave to help ease the strain on work-life balance.
Introducing a law on paid child care leave, paternity leave and longer maternity leave was a clear signal that the government meant business in tackling work-life balance, said Halimah at the Singapore Children’s Society Lecture yesterday.
She said clear legislation was needed to shape and influence behaviour at the workplace to support families. Likewise, elder care or family care leave could be next to be legislated.
Scribes decry harassment
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysiakini has called on Home Minister Ahmad Zahid Hamidi to halt his attempts to intimidate journalists from the independent news portal.
Journalists have a fundamental duty to ask questions of public interest, to which ministers have the responsibility to answer, said co-founders Premesh Chandran and Steven Gan in a joint statement yesterday
The duo described Zahid’s (right) behaviour at a press conference yesterday as “conduct unbecoming of a minister”.
The minister had launched into a tirade against Malaysiakini for allegedly “spinning” his words and confronted journalist Lawrence Yong after the press conference.
Ban on Lankan films at festival
Kathmandu: Nepal has banned the screening of three Sri Lankan films at the Film South Asia (FSA), a film festival focused on documentaries, upon a request of the Sri Lankan government, an official statement said.
The FSA had scheduled screening of Broken, The Story of One and No Fire Zone — all by Sri Lankan film-makers — at the festival that kicked off on Thursday, but was forced to pull all of them out after the Sri Lankan government urged it to stop the screenings, Xinhua reported citing an FSA statement.
Organisers received orders from Nepal’s ministry of information to stop the screening. No reasons were given for the move.
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