Indonesia's Prabowo strengthens lead in election polls - Reuters

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1. Indonesia's Prabowo strengthens lead in election polls  Reuters
2. Prabowo's Lead Holds Steady in Latest Indonesia Election Poll  The Diplomat
3. Commentary: Indonesia presidential frontrunner Prabowo falters in debate but could win election  CNA
4. Indonesia's Prabowo keeps strong lead in opinion poll but election run-off looms  The Straits Times
5. Indonesia's Prabowo Keeps Election Lead With Runoff Seen Likely  Bloomberg

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2024-01-20 11:10:00Z
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IN FOCUS: Falling fish catch in Malaysia spells trouble for industry, region; highlights need for sustainable practices - CNA

Meanwhile, Mr Adnan of the DOF said that his department has been building artificial reefs at different locations around the country, with about 1,800 installed at more than 100 locations since 2016.

"These reefs help conserve marine resources by creating new areas for the growth of corals. This helps provide breeding areas for fish and other marine life, helping create new habitats and protected areas," he said. 

Beyond that, Mr Adnan said that the authorities have limited the catch for certain types of fishes to a particular season, such as the case of anchovies that are caught off the coast of Langkawi. 

WWF-Malaysia told CNA that stakeholders in the fisheries and seafood industry need to work together to promote sustainable fisheries that emphasises the need for a science-based fisheries approach to sustain the marine resources. 

The organisation said that this can be done through stock recovery, establishing a commercially and ecologically viable fisheries industry, while also protecting the fishing communities’ livelihoods. 

“The seafood supply chain needs to reform; to adopt digitisation of catch data and traceability systems. Consumers need to rethink the consumption of seafood, to only choose sustainable options, and only choose seafood at a responsible consumption rate,” it said.

WWF-Malaysia warned that the increased fishing efforts over the past 50 years - as well as unsustainable practices in the industry - are pushing many fish stocks “to the point of collapse, with livelihoods dependent on fish adversely affected”.  

“Fishers need to put in more effort to catch fish; they need to go further out to sea and spend more time harvesting, and in return they are catching smaller and lesser fish,” it said.   

Mr Chia - the fisherman in the coastal town of Sungai Besar - told CNA that should the catch continue to be dismal and the situation persists, he may have “no choice” but to sell his 20-year-old fishing boat at a loss after the Chinese New Year celebrations in February.

He still has debts to pay while two of his children are still studying in university. But he will be in a twist on what he will do next. 

“This is the only thing I know and have done since I was young. I never went to school. What else can I do?,” said Mr Chia.

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2024-01-19 22:00:00Z
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Seoul police chief charged over deadly Halloween crush - CNA

SEOUL: Seoul's chief of police has been charged with professional negligence over the deadly 2022 Halloween crush that killed nearly 160 people, prosecutors in the South Korean capital said.

On Oct 29, 2022, tens of thousands of people - mostly in their 20s and 30s - had been out to enjoy post-pandemic holiday celebrations in Seoul's Itaewon nightlife district.

But the night turned deadly when people poured into a narrow, sloping alleyway between bars and clubs, the weight of their bodies and a lack of effective crowd control leaving more than 150 crushed to death.

Kim Kwang-ho, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, was charged with professional negligence resulting in injury or death, Seoul's Western District Prosecutors' Office said in a statement released Friday (Jan 19).

As the chief of the SMPA, he "did not take necessary measures, such as deploying sufficient police forces and ensuring proper command and supervision" on the day of the crush, the statement said, although he was able to "foresee potential dangers arising" from overcrowding in the nightlife area.

Kim, the highest-ranking police official to face trial over the tragedy, was charged without detention.

In January last year, Kim and 22 other officials from the police, rescue and district offices were forwarded to the prosecution by a special police investigation team for their alleged involvement in the government's mishandling of the crush.

Prosecutors subsequently charged the heads of the police station in Seoul's Yongsan district, which includes Itaewon, and the Yongsan Ward office, but had been undecided about charging Kim for over a year.

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2024-01-20 03:55:00Z
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'I eat until shiok': Singaporean lands herself in Bangkok hospital after trying bags of insects at night market - AsiaOne

One Singaporean woman took her taste buds on an 'adventure' in Thailand, and landed herself in hospital.

Taking to TikTok last Sunday (Jan 14), influencer Nicolette Wee said that she came across a stall selling freshly fried insects while walking around a night market in Bangkok.

The 30-second video showed Wee buying a bag of grasshoppers - to try. 

"So thick, fat and juicy," she quipped. "Oh my gosh, the crunch and the legs were dangling out. I eat until shiok, legit."

Wee said that she went back to the same stall for more creepy-crawly delights - this time a bag of silk worm larvae.

"Why my office pantry don't have these kinds of snacks?" she added.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@nicolettecalliewe/video/7323554842511789320?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc&web_id=7252157227077830162[/embed]

But it turns out that Wee's digestive system might have had a "culture shock'.

The Singaporean shared that she started having diarrhoea, and had to be admitted to a hospital. She later said that the hospital was in Singapore. 

Wee's video has since garnered over 290,000 views.

In the comments, several netizens say that her trip to the hospital was not worth it.

"Never eat their insects and seafood if you're travelling," a netizen said

"Some of these insects have parasites," another added.

AsiaOne has contacted Wee for more information.

Raw food gave woman food poisoning 

In August 2022, a Singaporean woman had food poisoning in Phuket after eating some 'dancing shrimp' - a street dish consisting of fresh live shrimp marinated in spicy sauce and herbs.

"The night after, we started vomiting continuously for six hours [and had] diarrhoea non-stop," she wrote in her TikTok video.

To minimise the risk of getting food poisoning while on holiday, some tips include choosing thoroughly cooked food, sticking to boiled water or bottled drinks, as well as avoiding unpasteurised dairy products such as milk and cheese.

Travellers can also consider packing anti-sickness medication, oral rehydration salts, anti-diarrhoea medication and antibiotics to self-medicate in the event of food poisoning.

ALSO READ: 'Don't end up sick overseas like we did': Singaporean waited 1.5 hours to get to Seoul hospital

chingshijie@asiaone.com

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2024-01-20 01:50:11Z
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US Treasury, Chinese finance officials agree to keep meeting after Beijing talks - CNA

Meetings between US Treasury and Chinese financial officials in Beijing this week concluded with both sides agreeing to continue to meet regularly, the Treasury Department said on Friday (Jan 19).

US officials also indicated that Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen looked forward to a return visit to China at an "appropriate time," the department said in a statement.

The meeting of the Financial Working Group included discussions on financial stability and capital markets issues, international financial institutions, sustainable finance, cross-border payments and data and efforts to fight money laundering and financing of terrorism.

"US officials also frankly raised areas of disagreement during the conversations," the Treasury said, without identifying these points of contention.

The two sides also reviewed previous exchanges on climate stress testing and frameworks for resolving global systemically important banks in each country.

The Financial Working Group and a parallel Economic Working Group were established in September 2023 after Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen visited Beijing to re-establish economic communications with her Chinese counterparts.

The groups last met in San Francisco in November ahead of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, where Yellen also met with her Chinese counterpart, Vice Premier He Lifeng and agreed to "intensify communication." He also invited her to return to China this year.

The members of the financial group, led on the US side by Assistant Secretary for international finance Brent Neiman and Undersecretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang, also met with He in Beijing, the Treasury said.

The China delegation was led by the People's Bank of China, with participants from other agencies.

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2024-01-19 15:32:45Z
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Russian volunteers join Ukraine's Siberian Battalion to fight against Putin's troops - CNA

FIGHTING AGAINST THEIR HOMELAND

These volunteers are part of the Siberian Battalion, a new unit formed last summer and is officially part of Ukraine's armed forces. Its members are mostly from ethnic minorities from Russia’s far east.

A former information technology worker from western Siberia, who goes by the military callsign Holod, said he left Russia when the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began. 

“I tried to fight it and I tried to convince myself that this is not my war. I don’t care either about Ukraine or Russia (and) I wanted to go away from Russia anyway, so I relocated. But it didn’t work out,” added the Siberian Battalion soldier. 

He said his conscience brought him to Kyiv, after he first moved to Georgia. It is a common route among these soldiers, who first travel to a third country before reaching Ukraine.

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2024-01-19 10:46:36Z
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Pakistan holds emergency security meeting after trading strikes with Iran - CNA

An Islamabad security official said the Chief of Army Staff and head of the intelligence services will attend the mid-afternoon meeting.

Pakistan's leader Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar cut short his visit to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland following the strikes.

His caretaker government is leading Pakistan into general elections just three weeks away and has been marred by allegations of pre-poll rigging.

Tehran and Islamabad have both said they hit their own domestic militants sheltering on foreign territory.

BORDER CLOSURE FEARS

A collective death toll of 11 - mostly women and children - was reported from both sides of the border that bisects an arid region where militant movements have simmered for decades.

In the remote, arid villages near the strike site in Panjgur district where mobile signal is rarely available, farmers pieced together the events from reports passed on from visiting security officials who set up checkpoints in the area.

"Helicopters were flying overhead and going in the direction of where the Iranian strike hit, but we didn't know what had happened," Maulana Mohammad Sadiq, 42, the prayer leader of a small seminary around five kilometres from where a missile hit, told AFP on Thursday.

Villagers feared that deteriorating relations between the two sides could lead to border closures and cut off residents from Iranian trade, which the area relies on for employment and food imports.

"If Iranians close the border, the people will starve and it will cause more militancy because youth will join the separatist organisations," said 55-year-old Haji Mohammad Islam.

Balochistan separatists have been waging a decades-long low-level insurgency against Pakistan authorities from the largely ungoverned, impoverished region fighting for a better share of mineral resources.

Rights groups say the military's crackdown on the insurgency has included widespread enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings.

Militancy has also risen sharply along Pakistan's border with Afghanistan further north, after the Taliban's return to power there in 2021.

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2024-01-19 08:29:00Z
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