China, Thailand sign mutual visa waiver agreements - CNA

BANGKOK: Thailand and China agreed on Sunday (Jan 28) to waive visa requirements for each other's nationals to facilitate travel and tourism between the two countries, hurt by COVID-19. 

Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-nukara and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi signed the mutual visa exemption, which takes effect on Mar 1, at a ceremony after a meeting in Bangkok.

"This visa-free era will bring people-to-people exchanges to a new height," Wang told a joint press conference.

China was a top source for Thailand's tourism industry, a major driver of Southeast Asia's second-largest economy before COVID-19, but the return of Chinese tourists to Thailand has been slow.

"There will be a big increase in the number of Chinese tourists visiting Thailand," Wang said.

The number of Chinese tourists to Thailand plunged to 3.5 million last year from 11 million in 2019 before the pandemic.

Beijing and Bangkok also pledged to speed up the construction of the China-Thailand railway and work together in combating transnational crimes, Wang said.

He and US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan held talks in Bangkok on Friday and Saturday about issues including bilateral relations, Taiwan and Iran.

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2024-01-28 06:52:20Z
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UN agency in Gaza under fire after Oct 7 involvement claims - CNA

JERUSALEM: The UN agency for Palestinian refugees was under fire after staff members were accused of participating in the Oct 7 attacks, while fighting in Gaza sent more people fleeing south towards the Egyptian border.

Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz called for Philippe Lazzarini, the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, to quit over the deepening row and several countries suspended funding.

The agency said on Friday (Jan 26) it had fired several employees over Israel's unspecified accusations and promised a thorough investigation.

"Mr Lazzarini please resign," Katz said on social media platform X late on Saturday in response to a post by the UNRWA chief warning that the funding cuts meant the agency's operation in Gaza was close to collapse.

Katz said earlier that UNRWA "must be replaced with agencies dedicated to genuine peace and development" in the rebuilding of Gaza after the territory's bloodiest war.

Donors including Germany, Britain, Italy, Australia and Finland on Saturday followed the lead of the United States, which said it had suspended additional funding to the agency over the accusations.

Hamas slammed Israeli "threats" against UNRWA on Saturday, urging the United Nations and other international organisations not to "cave in to the threats and blackmail".

The group's Oct 7 attack resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages and Israel says around 132 of them remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead captives.

The Israeli military offensive, which began in late October, has killed at least 26,257 people, most of them women and children, according to Hamas-ruled Gaza's health ministry.

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2024-01-28 04:52:00Z
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Moderna co-founder Noubar Afeyan on how his immigrant roots have shaped his life - The Straits Times

Noubar Afeyan co-founded Moderna under his biotech incubator Flagship Pioneering. The Armenian billionaire tells executive editor Sumiko Tan that innovation is a form of “intellectual immigration”.

SPH Brightcove Video

Dr Noubar Afeyan, 61, is the founder and chief executive of Flagship Pioneering, a biotech incubator that invents, builds and capitalises companies in life sciences, health and sustainability.

From the time he was a baby till he was 20, Dr Noubar Afeyan shared a bedroom with his great-aunt Armenouhi, who was 70 years older. They were roommates in Lebanon where he was born, then in Canada, when the family migrated there.

Most children would not have been too pleased to be bunking with an elderly relative, but he did not mind.

• Lunch with Sumiko
• Vaccines
• Covid-19

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2024-01-27 21:00:00Z
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More countries pause funding for UN refugee agency in Gaza - CNA

LONDON: Britain, Italy and Finland on Saturday (Jan 27) became the latest countries to pause funding for the United Nations' refugee agency for Palestinians (UNRWA), following allegations its staff were involved in the Oct 7 Hamas attacks on Israel.

Set up to help refugees of the 1948 war at Israel's founding, UNRWA provides education, health and aid services to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon. It helps about two thirds of Gaza's 2.3 million population and has played a pivotal aid role during the current war.

The United States, Australia and Canada had already paused funding to the aid agency after Israel said 12 UNRWA employees were involved in the cross-border attack. The agency has opened an investigation into several employees and severed ties with them.

The Palestinian foreign ministry criticised what it described as an Israeli campaign against UNRWA, and the Hamas militant group condemned the termination of employee contracts "based on information derived from the Zionist enemy."

The UK Foreign Office said it was temporarily pausing funding for UNRWA while the accusations were reviewed and noted London had condemned the Oct 7 attacks as "heinous" terrorism.

"The Italian government has suspended financing of the UNRWA after the atrocious attack on Israel on October 7," Itay's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said on social media platform X.

Finland also said it suspended funding.

Hussein al-Sheikh, head of the Palestinians' umbrella political body the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), said cutting support brought major political and relief risks.

"We call on countries that announced the cessation of their support for UNRWA to immediately reverse their decision," he said on X.

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2024-01-27 17:40:19Z
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Third body recovered after landslide hits Cameron Highlands - CNA

CAMERON HIGHLANDS, Pahang: Rescue teams found another body of a landslide victim at Kampung Raja, Blue Valley, on Saturday (Jan 27), bringing the total number of bodies recovered so far to three.

A landslide struck a house in Malaysia's Cameron Highlands in the early hours of Friday, cutting off road access to the side in the Blue Vally area. 

Cameron Highlands district police chief DSP Azri Ramli said the body of a man was detected by the Fire and Rescue Department's tracker dog near Sector C, where the first body was found on Friday. The third body was found at 12.15am.

"The body is being removed from the landslide area and forensic officers from D10 Bukit Aman have arrived to identify the body,” he told a press conference at the Fire and Rescue Department’s Control Post at the site of the landslide on Friday.

Azri said the two bodies found yesterday were identified as Law Ha Phey, 36, and Ki Shing Om, 48.

The bodies had been sent to Sultanah Hajah Kalsom Hospital in the Cameron Highlands for further action, he added.

They were among five Myanmar nationals, including a woman, who were buried alive when their homes were involved in the landslide at about 2.40am on Friday.

The other three victims are identified as Shing Law Har, 56, Om Myu, 37, and a 25-year-old woman, Thang Moung.

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2024-01-27 08:39:16Z
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(UPDATED) Daim set for legal showdown over asset disclosure - New Straits Times

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1. (UPDATED) Daim set for legal showdown over asset disclosure  New Straits Times
2. Daim to be charged Monday, says looking forward to it  Malaysiakini
3. Analysis: Resurfaced Pandora and Panama papers cast doubt over Malaysia's probes into Daim and Mahathir's families  CNA
4. Only two lawyers no longer on team, Daim's counsel clarifies  The Star Online
5. Daim to be charged on Monday  Free Malaysia Today

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2024-01-27 01:42:40Z
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Donald Trump ordered to pay E Jean Carroll US$83.3 million in defamation case, will appeal verdict - CNA

TRUMP WON'T BE DETERRED, LAWYER SAYS

Alina Habba, the lawyer who led Trump's defence in Carroll's case, cast Friday's verdict in political terms, and predicted Trump's appeal will succeed.

"President Trump is leading in the polls, and now we see what you get in New York," Habba told reporters. "It will not deter us, we will keep fighting, and I assure you we didn't win today, but we will win."

Trump on Friday stalked out of the courtroom during the closing argument of Carroll's lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, but returned for Habba's closing argument.

He has used Carroll's case and his other legal travails to portray himself as the victim of politically motivated lies and a biased, out-of-control judicial system. Trump separately has pleaded not guilty to 91 felony counts in four criminal indictments, including two cases accusing him of trying to illegally overturn his 2020 election loss.

Trump is also awaiting a decision, perhaps this month, from a New York judge on how much he should be penalised in state Attorney General Letitia James' US$370 million civil fraud lawsuit against him and his namesake Trump Organization.

During the trial, Trump was heard muttering at the case was a "con job" and "witch hunt" and that he still did not know who Carroll was, prompting the judge to twice admonish him to keep quiet.

TRUMP SAW A "HOAX"

Kaplan, who is not related to the judge, had argued that Trump acted toward Carroll as though he were not bound by the law.

"This trial is about getting him to stop, once and for all," she added. "Now is the time to make him pay for it dearly."

Habba countered that it was the publication of excerpts from Carroll's memoir in New York magazine that triggered the attacks, not Trump's denials that began five hours later.

She also argued that Carroll enjoyed her newfound fame and was "happier than ever," citing her testimony that she had entered a "cocoon of love" from her supporters.

Trump was allowed to testify on Thursday, but spent only four minutes on the witness stand.

His brief appearance resulted from Judge Kaplan having forbidden him and his lawyers from revisiting issues that the first trial had settled.

Trump confirmed that he stood behind his October 2022 deposition testimony, which jurors had been shown, in which he called Carroll's claims a "hoax" and said she was "mentally sick".

Carroll wrote the "Ask E Jean" column for Elle from 1993 to 2019, and often appeared on such programs as NBC's "Today" and ABC's "Good Morning America." She said those appearances dried up because of Trump.

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2024-01-26 23:35:32Z
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