Escalation key fragments

BRUSSELS: EU chiefs on Friday (Mar 19) pressed Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for a "sustained de-escalation", as the neighbours seek to mend ties after a spike in tensions over the eastern Mediterranean. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and European Council head Charles Michel held a video conference with the Turkish leader to try to build on recent conciliatory moves from Ankara. The bloc has been encouraged by Turkey resuming talks with Greece over their disputed maritime border and by plans to restart UN peace efforts for divided EU member state Cyprus. "The EU side underlined the importance of sustained de-escalation and further strengthening confidence building to allow for a more positive EU-Turkey agenda," an EU statement said. "The presidents also exchanged views on the situation of Syrian refugees hosted in Turkey, as well as the wider regional situation including Libya and Syria." The statement said the EU chiefs discussed a "possible ... » Learn More about EU chiefs push Turkey for ‘sustained de-escalation’

SINGAPORE - Even as the United States and China compete strategically, the two major powers must find a way to manage tensions and develop a framework for cooperation, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat. Speaking at the Credit Suisse Asian Investment Conference on the topic "Will Asia emerge stronger in a post-Covid-19 world?" on Monday (March 22), Mr Heng said a stable US-China relationship is important to the global commons. While the Biden administration will bring a more predictable approach to the world's most critical bilateral relationship, the US and China will continue to be strategic competitors, he said. "I am glad that both sides have acknowledged that there are areas that they could work together on, despite the competitive tenor of their relationship." He called the first high-level, face-to-face meeting between both countries under the Biden presidency last week "a step in the right direction". At the start of what Washington called "tough and direct" ... » Learn More about Asean should focus on own interests if US-China tensions escalate: DPM Heng

MANILA, Philippines — The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) is expected to hold key interest rates steady when its policy-making Monetary Board meets on Thursday (March 25) as the burden of reviving the pandemic-battered economy would outweigh concerns on elevated inflation at a time when COVID-19 cases surged. “We expect the Philippines’ central bank to keep its key overnight borrowing rate unchanged at 2 percent. The near-term prospects remain worrisome for the Philippines as it copes with an intensifying virus outbreak that shows no signs of abating,” Moody’s Analytics said in a report Monday. “Although the country’s fiscal spending has been more conservative relative to its Southeast Asian counterparts, the scope to deliver through a more expansionary monetary stance is relatively limited at this stage. We expect that the central bank will opt to preserve ammunition for now and stall a rate cut until the next quarter if the domestic situation deteriorates,” Moody’s Analytics ... » Learn More about BSP expected to keep key rates steady

Archaeologists say recently uncovered sites at the Sanxingdui Ruins in southwest China date back 3,000 to 3,200 years, according to state media reports on Tuesday (March 23). Much is still unknown about the ancient civilisation at Sanxingdui, located in what is now Sichuan province on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. But historians and archaeologists believe discoveries at the site could shed new light on the mainstream understanding that ancient Chinese civilisation was mostly centred along the Yellow River basin in the north of the country. The latest finding was made by a joint team from the Sichuan Provincial Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute and Peking University. They used carbon dating to assess 14 of 73 samples excavated from six newly discovered sacrificial pits at the Sanxingdui site. Pit No 4, where most of the analysed samples were found, was dated to between 1199BC and 1017BC – coinciding with the late Shang dynasty in northern China. ... » Learn More about Sanxingdui: Researchers say newly found sites in China date back as far as 3,200 years

MAE HONG SON, Thailand - Tracing his fingers over a “Love and Peace” tattoo inked on his forearm in a misty valley on the Thai-Myanmar border, 49-year-old former soldier Isaac said he was contemplating a return to war. An ex-fighter with the Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP) he said he had spent years battling government forces in the eastern jungles before settling in northern Thailand. For decades, soldiers like him have fought for greater autonomy for minorities from a central government and army dominated by majority Bamar Buddhists. Now, with the country in turmoil since the army overthrew elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi in a Feb 1 coup, those ethnic armed groups are being drawn back into conflict with the military junta as they side with opponents of the coup, according to Reuters interviews with representatives of three such groups and the ousted civilian government. “If all the ethnic armed groups unite, they can win,” said Isaac. More than 500 people have ... » Learn More about As ethnic armies unite against coup, war returns to Myanmar’s borderlands

Instead, the 26-year-old union organizer has been protesting in the streets - and trying to bring international pressure to bear on the newly installed junta. Her union, the Federation of Garment Workers in Myanmar, and others have been staging general strikes to protest the coup and are urging major international brands like H&M and Mango, which source some of their products in Myanmar, to denounce the takeover and put more pressure on factories to protect workers from being fired or harassed - or worse arrested and killed for participating in the protests. "If we go back to work and if we work for the system, our future is in the darkness, and we will lose our labor rights and even our human rights,” said Tin Tin Wei, who has been a clothing factory worker since age 13. The response from companies so far has been mixed. Only a few have said they would curtail their business in Myanmar. Most others have put out statements that stop short of taking action, saying that ... » Learn More about Myanmar garment workers urge global brands to denounce coup

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia on Thursday (Friday in Manila) intercepted a ballistic missile and two drones fired by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, a Riyadh-led coalition said, as Western powers denounced a strike on an airport a day earlier. The Iran-backed Houthis have escalated attacks on the kingdom and Saudi-backed Yemeni forces days after the United States moved to delist the rebels as terrorists and stepped up efforts to de-escalate the six-year conflict. A rebel drone early Thursday targeted the southern garrison town of Khamis Mushait that hosts a key airbase, but was destroyed before reaching its target, the official SPA news agency cited the coalition as saying. Hours later, the coalition said it intercepted a rebel ballistic missile launched towards Khamis Mushait and another explosives-laden drone that targeted the kingdom’s southern region. The coalition did not report any casualties or damage. The strikes come after the rebels mounted a drone attack on Abha international airport ... » Learn More about Saudi intercepts Yemen missiles

E-commerce sites Shopee and Lazada have removed dozens of listings selling unauthorised Microsoft software on their platform for as low as $10. The listings, which were removed by yesterday, offered so-called "lifetime subscriptions" with product keys at prices lower than those of official retailers. The Straits Times understands that the product keys peddled by these online sellers were copies for the education sector and other corporate subscriptions. On its official website, Microsoft offers a personal subscription for its Microsoft 365 software pack for $108 a year. This includes popular programs like Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel. A Microsoft spokesman told ST last Thursday that it neither sells "lifetime" subscriptions nor product keys by themselves. "Microsoft does not authorise any platform to sell counterfeit or infringing Microsoft software. We work closely with the platforms to try to protect customers from unwittingly acquiring counterfeit or unlicensed ... » Learn More about Shopee and Lazada remove listings of unauthorised Microsoft software

JOHANNESBURG (AFP) - Militant attacks in northern Mozambique have created a "worsening humanitarian crisis", the United Nations said on Wednesday (Jan 20), estimating that more than half a million people have now fled their homes. A shadowy extremist group known as Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jama has wreaked havoc in gas-rich Cabo Delgado province since 2017, ransacking villages in a campaign to establish a caliphate. After pledging allegiance to the Islamic State group in 2019, the extremists escalated attacks, sometimes carrying out beheadings and abducting women and children. At least 2,500 people have died, over half of them civilians, according to the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data (ACLED) group. Thousands have fled their homes, mainly seeking refuge with friends and relatives in the regional capital Pemba. "The United Nations is deeply concerned by the worsening humanitarian crisis and escalating violence forcing thousands to flee in Cabo Delgado province," the UN's southern ... » Learn More about Extremist attacks in Mozambique fuelling aid crisis, says UN

More than 535 people have died in daily demonstrations YANGON - Myanmar's ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi faced a court hearing Thursday, after a UN envoy warned of the risk of civil war and an imminent "bloodbath" as the junta represses pro-democracy protests. More than 535 people have died in daily demonstrations since the military overthrew Suu Kyi on February 1, halting Myanmar's decade-old experiment in democracy. The UN Security Council held an urgent closed-door session on the escalating crisis on Wednesday, and special envoy Christine Schraner Burgener urged them to act. "I appeal to this Council to consider all available tools to take collective action and do what is right, what the people of Myanmar deserve and prevent a multi-dimensional catastrophe," she said, in remarks obtained by AFP. She said she remained open for dialogue with the junta but added: "If we wait only for when they are ready to talk, the ground situation will only worsen. A bloodbath is ... » Learn More about Suu Kyi faces court as UN envoy warns of Myanmar civil war