BANGKOK - Mr Sombath Somphone, a Magsaysay Award winner for public service, was last spotted by the cold and unblinking eye of a CCTV camera on the evening of Dec 15 last year, getting into an unknown SUV on a street in Vientiane and being driven away.
TOKYO - An acceptable score in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL), which measures proficiency in the language, is required for entry into many universities in the English-speaking world.
THE skytrain seems unusually frigid as I settle down on a rare empty seat between two Thai journalists.
“To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose both looks like carelessness.” So spoke caustic Lady Bracknell in Oscar Wilde’s The Importance Of Being Earnest. To paraphrase the great Wilde, “To lose one iPhone may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose two looks like carelessness.” I am guilty [...]
I once did a dangerous thing: I ran outdoors in Beijing. Actually not once but several times a week.
With barely a sound, the glossy black leaflet slid through the letter-box of my home in Aberdeen, North-east Scotland.
Shopping for lucky bags used to mean making a leisurely trip to one’s favourite store, picking out a bag from among many, and going home to find out what’s in it. These days, many stores advertise the contents of their lucky bags well in advance – a surefire way of not only drawing shoppers to their stores, but also tempting shoppers to grab as many lucky bags as they can afford.
The ruling Chinese Communist Party has repeatedly issued edicts to media outlets – keep it simple, keep it short and keep the useless jargon out – since a new leadership helmed by general secretary Xi Jinping emerged last month.
Traffic jam in Bangkok is as formidable as it gets: One resident I spoke to recently spent a butt-numbing half an hour trying to get to the street level from a shopping centre’s third floor carpark.
The friendly, gum-chewing elderly gentleman sitting across from me was easy to talk to, so much so I nearly forgot I was interviewing a Nobel Peace Laureate.
KUALA LUMPUR: Ms Loke Poh Lin was greeted like an old friend by news vendor Naina Mohd as she passed his hole-in-the-wall shop in the old quarter of Kuala Lumpur, or more popularly known as Chinatown.
PALEMBANG, South Sumatra - Sending tents and medical supplies to flooded areas. Check.
