ASIA| FOCUS

SINGAPORE

Singaporean prosecutors last Thursday filed 16 charges against the local branch manager of Switzerland-based Falcon Private Bank, as part of an ongoing investigation tied to the scandal-hit Malaysian state fund 1Malaysia Development Bhd (1MDB). The bank, which is also being investigated in its home country, was the second Swiss lender whose Singaporean unit was ordered to cease operations last year after BSI Bank. The investigations come as the city-state tries to rebuild its reputation as a clean financial centre after the 1MDB scandal dented its image. 1MDB, founded by Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, is currently the subject of money-laundering investigations in at least six countries, including Switzerland, Singapore and the United States. Najib has denied wrongdoing but has blocked attempts to conduct a credible investigation in Malaysia.

THE PHILIPPINES

More than 50 of the 158 inmates who escaped in the biggest jailbreak ever in the Philippines have been caught or killed, officials said on Friday, as the manhunt continued for the others. Of the prisoners who escaped after suspected heavily armed Islamist rebels stormed the jail in Kidapawan, 43 have been recaptured and eight were killed. Two others are being treated in hospital for injuries. The breakout took place before dawn last Wednesday when more than 100 gunmen attacked the facility 930km southeast of Manila, in a restive region where Muslim rebels have been active for generations. The Philippines and Russia are working on a formal defence cooperation pact following President Rodrigo Duterte’s adoption of an independent foreign policy that seeks to rely less on the United States. Russian Ambassador Igor Khovaev said that “necessary efforts” were under way to forge an agreement that may pave the way for, among other things, joint military exercises and transfer of technology for manufacturing weapons and firearms. He said such an agreement would not necessarily turn Manila and Moscow into military allies. The Philippines has a mutual defence treaty only with the US, and a number of military cooperation agreements with other nations.

S. KOREA

South Korea says US President-elect Donald Trump sent a “clear warning” to North Korea with a tweet dismissing Pyongyang’s ballistic missile claims. “North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the US,” Trump tweeted. “It won’t happen!” The tweet came a day after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un appeared to try to pressure the incoming president by announcing that his country was in the “final stages” of developing an intercontinental ballistic missile, a claim that could not be verified. Washington has repeatedly vowed that it would never accept North Korea as a nuclear-armed nation, but Trump has not previously clearly stated his policy.

MALAYSIA LAOS

The first local smartphone brand will be introduced to shops and agencies in Vientiane and provinces across the country this month, the state-run Vientiane Times reported last Wednesday. ALO Technology Sole Co Ltd conducted a market study last year in preparation for the introduction of its ALO brand. “Our main position is focusing on students and education,” company chairman and CEO Thanousone Phonamat was quoted as saying. He said the company had reached a cooperation agreement with Microsoft to regularly update the software and programs so that students will be able to download them to their devices. The company has five dealers in Vientiane and hopes to have one agency in each province. Floods in two northeastern Malaysian states forced almost 23,000 people from their homes and extra relief centres were opened last week to accommodate them. Seasonal flooding hits the east coast states every year and regularly results in mass evacuations. The latest storms forced authorities to evacuate 10,038 residents from Kelantan and 12,910 people from neighbouring Terengganu, officials said. Heavy rain also caused 101 schools to be closed. Many roads are impassable and train services to some destinations in Kelantan have been suspended. But no deaths have so far been reported. Evacuees are being housed in 139 relief centres that provide food, drinks and medical aid.

MYANMAR

Myanmar’s oil imports are surging to fuel a fast-growing economy, creating a small but profitable route for ships from the regional hub of Singapore. Servicing growth that could top 8% this year is a clutch of small tankers ferrying gasoil and diesel from Singapore. The country’s sole port, at Yangon, can only handle small vessels. Shipping data from Thomson Reuters Eikon shows that around 20 small tankers with a combined capacity of around 220,000 deadweight tonnes are currently shipping refined products into Myanmar, virtually all from Singapore. That’s about twice as many vessels as were on that route around a year ago, according to one shipper.

VIETNAM

Taiwan has protested to Vietnam after the latter deported four Taiwanese accused of fraud to China, alleging that this was done under pressure from Beijing. Scores of Taiwanese have been arrested around the world in the past year in connection with vast telecoms fraud scams targeting Chinese. Countries including Malaysia, Cambodia and Kenya have recently deported Taiwanese suspects to China, in deference to Beijing’s claim to sovereignty over the self-governing island. Taiwan has vigorously protested the deportations, saying it should be allowed to prosecute its own citizens. But it lacks diplomatic relations with many of the countries, which have close diplomatic and economic ties to Beijing. The Taiwanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs said last week that it “regretted” that the Vietnamese government violated the principle of governments exercising their jurisdiction over their overseas nationals.

INDIA

There is “credible” evidence that gangs of men sexually assaulted women at a New Year’s Eve celebration in Bengaluru, Indian police said last Wednesday, adding that they had filed a criminal case. Praveen Sood, the police commissioner of the southern city, said an inquiry had been set up into allegations that women attending the Saturday night celebrations were chased, groped, molested and robbed. The announcement followed a public outcry over comments by a local minister blaming the attacks in the city, an IT hub considered relatively safe for women, on “western dress”. India has been shamed in the past by shocking levels of sexual assault against women. Indians took to social media to condemn the latest incident, dubbed a “night of horror”.

JAPAN

Sushi-Zanmai, a Japanese sushi chain, bid a winning 74.2 million yen (US$632,000) last Thursday for a 212-kilogramme bluefin tuna in what may be the last auction at the current site of the famed Tsukiji market in downtown Tokyo. The winning bid was the second highest ever after a record 155.4 million yen bid in 2013 at the annual New Year auction. This year’s price was $2,981 per kg, compared with about $7,930 for the 2013 record-setter. Last year’s New Year auction was supposed to be the last at the current location. The shift to a new facility on Tokyo Bay was delayed due to soil contamination at the former gas plant site. Japanese are the biggest consumers of the torpedo-shaped bluefin tuna, and surging consumption of sushi has boosted demand, as experts warn the species could go extinct.

CAMBODIA

A consortium led by Sino Great Wall International has won a US$2.7-billion contract to build the 133-storey Twin Trade Center in Phnom Penh in Cambodia, which will be one of the world’s tallest buildings. Sino Great Wall, like many other Chinese companies, has been actively expanding overseas. Last month, it won construction contracts in Malaysia and Macau worth about 373 million yuan. It also signed contracts for projects in Indonesia, Myanmar and Congo last year. The Phnom Penh contract will come into effect once the consortium finalises the funding. The project is expected to take about 60 months.

CHINA

A man stabbed 12 children with a kitchen knife at a kindergarten in southern China last Wednesday, seriously injuring five of them. The attacker “sneaked into” the school in the afternoon and attacked children in his child’s class while the students were eating, police said. Two teachers fought back with plastic chairs, and police called to the school in the largely rural region of Guangxi managed to detain him. None of the children had life-threatening injuries. The man is in police custody and an investigation found that the suspect felt bullied in the village so he stabbed the children out of anger and revenge. A group of Chinese warships led by the country’s sole aircraft carrier tested weapons and equipment in exercises last week in the South China Sea, the foreign ministry said. Exercises by the ships, in particular the aircraft carrier Liaoning, since last month have unnerved China’s neighbours, especially at a time of heightened strain with Taiwan, and given long-running territorial disputes in the South China Sea. China says the Soviet-built Liaoning and the other ships conduct routine exercises that comply with international law. US warships have also been conducting patrols through the South China Sea over the past year as concern grows about Chinese construction of airstrips and other military facilities on disputed reefs and islands.

INDONESIA

Indonesia’s government said it terminated all business partnerships with JPMorgan Chase & Co after the biggest US bank downgraded its assessment of equities in Southeast Asia’s largest economy following Donald Trump’s election win. The finance ministry will stop using JPMorgan as a primary dealer and underwriter of sovereign bonds, a ministry representative told reporters. The ministry said a November research report issued by the bank was not “accurate or credible”. JPMorgan downgraded Indonesia’s equity market by two notches to underweight from overweight in a Nov 13 report as a “tactical response” to the Trump election win. JPMorgan’s business in Indonesia continues to operate as normal.