NEW DELHI — Indian political parties are increasingly targeting women voters with fiscally draining handouts of cash around the time of elections to counter wider worries about inflation and the lack of jobs, analysts say. A greater turnout of women voters in the past decade has reversed a trend of men easily outnumbering women. Political parties have competed to attract them, even as inflation hit a 14-month peak in October and unemployment stays high, at 8.9 per cent. Regional governments run by both Prime Minister Narendra Modi's party and the opposition are offering or planning such efforts to lure about a fifth of India's estimated 670 million women, the economic research division of Axis Bank says. "This is a substantial burden on the exchequer," its chief economist, Neelkanth Mishra, said in a report. "Where is the funding coming from? Some from higher deficits." Budgeted deficits for the current fiscal year for nearly all Indian states unveiling handouts for women were higher than five years ago, with many cutting capital expenditure to fund the populist measures.

COLOMBO — Chanu Nimesha is contesting Sri Lanka's parliamentary election on Thursday (Nov 14) as the first openly transgender candidate, hoping to forge a more inclusive and tolerant political culture on the South Asian island. Transgender people are estimated to make up about one per cent of Sri Lanka's 22 million people, according to Equal Ground, a local civil society group. They frequently face social rejection, lack legal protection and have almost no representation in political parties. Nimesha, who is contesting from Kegalle — about 80km east of Colombo — said she was the first transgender person to run for a seat in the 225-strong parliament and that her message of social justice had been well received. "I'm not concerned about winning or losing," she said, sitting in her one-bedroom flat. "But it is important for me to be present in this space, to be seen, to inspire others like me. I want to help everyone, not just my community."

DENPASAR, Indonesia — Several international airlines cancelled flights to and from Indonesia's resort island of Bali on Wednesday (Nov 13), after further eruptions of a volcano that has spewed ash clouds as high as 10km and forced thousands to evacuate. Jetstar and Qantas said they had stopped flights to Bali on Wednesday for safety reasons because of volcanic ash, while plane tracking website Flightradar24 showed flights to the island by AirAsia and Virgin were also cancelled. Bali is Indonesia's top tourist hotspot and is a popular destination for Australian visitors. The first eruption of the Mount Lewotobi Laki-laki on Nov 3 in the East Nusa Tenggara province, about 800 km from Bali, killed at least nine people. It has since erupted repeatedly, including multiple times on Tuesday. From Nov 4 to Nov 12, 80 flights in Bali were cancelled, including from Singapore, Hong Kong, and several Australian cities, said Ahmad Syaugi Shahab, general manager of Bali's Ngurah Rai airport. Indonesia has close to 130 active volcanoes and sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an area of high seismic activity atop various tectonic plates.

MANILA — Former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said the International Criminal Court (ICC) should 'hurry up' with its probe of his war on drugs, remaining firm in his defence of the brutal campaign as he said the investigation should start immediately."I'm asking the ICC to hurry up, and if possible, they can come here and start the investigation tomorrow," Duterte said in a congressional inquiry on his war on drugs. "If I am found guilty, I will go to prison." According to police data, more than 6,200 people died in anti-drug operations under Duterte's presidency, during which police typically said they had killed suspects in self-defence. Human rights groups believe the real toll to be far greater, with thousands more users and small-time peddlers killed in mysterious circumstances by unknown assailants. "I assume full responsibility for whatever happened in the actions taken by law enforcement agencies of this country to... stop the serious problem of drugs affecting our people," Duterte said. The ICC last year cleared the way for an investigation to into the thousands of deaths and other suspected rights abuses.

NEW DELHI — A toxic haze enveloped India's national capital on the morning of Nov 13 as temperatures dropped and pollution surged, reducing visibility in some parts and prompting a warning from airport authorities that flights may be affected. Delhi overtook Pakistan's Lahore as the world's most polluted city in Swiss group IQAir's live rankings, with an air quality index (AQI) score of more than 1,000, considered "hazardous", but India's pollution authority said the AQI was around 350. Officials were not immediately available to explain the variation. Vehicles drive on a highway on a polluted smoggy morning in New Delhi, India, Nov 7, 2024. PHOTO: Reuters file The India Meteorological Department (IMD) said the pollution had reduced visibility to 100 metres in some places by around 8am local time.

After their rental agreement with a sublessor fell through, a couple asked for their deposit to be returned. They waited three weeks to no avail and decided to visit the sublessor's home for discussions. But the negotiations turned physical, with the woman brandishing a knife at the couple after she was attacked. The incident occurred at about 7pm last Sunday (Nov 10) at a condominium in Yishun, reported Shin Min Daily News. Chen, 41, said he had seen an advertisement for the four-bedroom unit on Oct 13 and contacted the poster, who said she had rented the apartment from the original tenant. The woman told Chen she could sublet the unit to him and his wife if the homeowner was agreeable to it.  After viewing pictures and videos of the apartment, the man immediately made a PayNow transfer of $1,000 to the woman as deposit. The couple viewed the unit the next day, where both parties discussed the rental agreement in detail. A week later, however, the woman told them that she had not gotten the approval of the condo owner to sublet the apartment.

The body of a 52-year-old man was discovered in his Toa Payoh flat last Sunday (Nov 10), several days after his death. The police told AsiaOne they were alerted to the case at 11.15am on Sunday, where they pronounced the man dead at the scene. It is not known when he died.  The man, Bai Zongren (transliteration), had been living alone in his unit at Block 157 Toa Payoh Lorong 1 for several years after divorcing his wife, according to a neighbour who spoke to Shin Min Daily News. He also had a daughter, who moved out with his ex-wife after they split.  The neighbour, who did not want to be named, added that Bai would occasionally get visits from relatives. "His mother used to live on the fifth floor, but she died a few years ago."  The neighbour told Shin Min that she was unaware of Bai's death when she passed by his unit several days ago. As Bai's door was locked, she assumed the flat was empty.  When she passed by his unit again on Saturday, she detected a foul smell but thought that it was from wastewater. She said she only found out about his death when she saw the police at his door.

SHOALWATER BAY, Australia - The expansion of the Shoalwater Bay Training Area (SWBTA) in Queensland has been completed after eight years of development. With the expanded training area now five times the size of Singapore, this means that the scale and complexity of overseas exercises involving the Singapore Armed Forces (SAF) can be increased in the future, Senior Minister of State for Defence Heng Chee How said on Wednesday (Nov 13). Heng was speaking to reporters after witnessing Singaporean and Australian soldiers being put through their paces during a simulated beach landing as part of Exercise Trident. He also flew on a CH-47F chinook to view the new facilities within the expanded SWBTA and interacted with SAF and the Australian Defence Force (ADF) soldiers who participated in the bilateral exercise. Jointly developed by Australia and Singapore since 2016, the expansion of the overall training area was set out in a treaty between the two countries in 2020. State-of-the-art facilities such as the combined arms air-land ranges and urban operations live-firing facilities have been included in the expansion.

12 men and three women, aged between 19 and 63, were arrested for various offences during a multi-agency enforcement operation against errant public entertainment outlets on Friday (Nov 8) night. The offences include working without a valid work permit, suspected drink driving, driving without a valid license and insurance, suspected consumption and possession of controlled drugs, and the possession of scheduled weapons.  Members of the media, including AsiaOne, were invited to observe the enforcement operations, led by Bedok Police Division, in Joo Chiat on Friday night.  The enforcement operation is part of their ongoing efforts to clamp down on illicit activities and regulatory offences in the area, said the police in a statement on Wednesday. Upon arriving at the scene just after midnight on Saturday, members of the media were led to the second floor of the first KTV outlet. 

Netflix has expanded the cast of live-action series Avatar: The Last Airbender in its second season, with Singapore actor Chin Han one of the latest eight additions. He will play the role of Long Feng — leader of Dai Li, the secret police force of Ba Sing Se, or the capital of the Earth Kingdom. Another new joiner is Taiwanese-American actor Justin Chien, who starred with Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh in the Netflix series The Brothers Sun (2024) and will play King Kuei, ruler of the Earth Kingdom in Avatar: The Last Airbender. Meanwhile, Vietnamese-Australian actor Hoa Xuande, who starred with American actor Robert Downey Jr in the HBO miniseries The Sympathizer (2024), will play Professor Zei, head of the anthropology department at Ba Sing Se University.  Other actors in the cast are Amanda Zhou as Joo Dee, Crystal Yu as Lady Beifong, Kelemete Misipeka as The Boulder, Lourdes Faberes as General Sung and Rekha Sharma as Amita.

Wedding bells rang at Trinity Methodist Church yesterday afternoon (Nov 12) as couples renewed their vows — but it was all for a scene in local director Jack Neo's upcoming movie, I Want To Be Boss. Among them, however, was an actual couple who have been married for more than six decades — Jack's very own parents. "I want to leave a beautiful memory of them in the movie," the 64-year-old actor-director told local media on the set. His mum, 86, was dressed in a white wedding gown with tulle sleeves, while Jack's father, 91, looked sharp in a black suit with a matching bowtie. Jack added: "I especially requested that my mum put on a wedding dress today for this scene, because the first time they wore their wedding outfits, I only got to see them in photos. I can see them now."

Actor and director John Krasinski was named People magazine's 'sexiest man alive', for 2024 on Wednesday (Nov 13), taking over the mantle from Grey's Anatomy actor Patrick Dempsey. "Just immediate blackout, actually. Zero thoughts," Krasinski told People in reaction to the news. The actor is perhaps best known for his sardonic nice guy role in the television comedy The Office. "Other than maybe I'm being punked. That's not how I wake up, thinking, 'Is this the day that I'll be asked to be Sexiest Man Alive?' And yet it was the day you guys did it. You guys have really raised the bar for me," he added. Krasinski, 45, said that out of all of the opportunities he's had as an actor, being a real-life family man is most rewarding. He prefers being a husband and father who happily lives in Brooklyn with his wife of 14 years, actress Emily Blunt, 41, and their daughters Hazel, 10, and Violet, 8. The actor was especially excited to tell Blunt the news, saying "there was a lot of joy involved in me telling her." However, he noted that the new title will change things very little around the house.

Stay in the know with a recap of our top stories today. 1. Fugitive lawyer Charles Yeo in UK custody, awaiting extradition hearing Fugitive lawyer Charles Yeo, who is in custody in the UK, is currently awaiting an extradition hearing, reported CNA on Tuesday (Nov 12).  A court date for the extradition hearing has not been determined, but Yeo is set to attend a bail hearing on Friday, according to the report... » READ MORE 2. Vietnamese woman sells banh mi from her HDB flat, waiting time up to 1 hour during peak periods

MADRID — Flood-hit towns near the eastern city of Valencia were rushing on Tuesday (Nov 12) to clear the sewage system of mud and debris, pile sandbags and cancel school classes as they prepared for another approaching storm. Two weeks after the worst floods in Spain's modern history killed more than 200 people, national weather service AEMET issued an orange alert, the second-highest, for strong or torrential rains expected on Wednesday in the same area. AEMET forecasts as much as 120mm of rain in 12 hours. While the storm is not expected to be as powerful, it could be devastating for the towns that are still recovering. The impact of the rain could be severe because of the quantities of mud already on the ground and because of the condition of the sewage system, Rosa Tauris, a spokesperson for Valencia's emergency committee, told reporters. Thousands of workers are cleaning buildings while removing the mud that accumulated on roads and sidewalks and clogged the sewage pipes and drains in towns and suburbs around Valencia.

The fluffy chick’s chunky form is slimming down as he starts to fledge

The discovery could lead to a new treatment for millions of people with obesity and type 2 diabetes who do not respond well to current treatments.

A well-preserved section of the 2,000-year-old road, known as Watling Street, was unearthed under Old Kent Road in Southwark

Further excavations may reveal how ancient human populations likely interacted with each other, researchers say

Iraqis who grew up under the rule of Saddam Hussein were all familiar with the battle in minute detail

Study may lead to new treatment for sleep disorders like insomnia, researchers say

The National Bureau of Investigation will celebrate today its 88th founding anniversary with events planned to recognize the NBI’s nearly nine decades of service.

Over 50,000 senior citizens continue to benefit from Makati’s Blu Card program, which offers perks to enhance their quality of life, Mayor Abby Binay announced on Tuesday.

Two Soter RS full body scanners capable of detecting ingested or hidden contraband have been deployed at the New Bilibid Prison, according to the Bureau of Corrections (BuCor).

The drug war under the administration of President Marcos has netted P40.32 billion worth of illegal drugs, the Philippine National Police reported yesterday.

Malacañang has issued proclamations declaring local holidays in nine areas in the country.

The Sandiganbayan has acquitted former Food and Drug Administration chief Nela Charade Puno of graft, which stemmed from a raid and closure by the FDA of a pharmacy and wellness center in Tarlac.

La Union has been named as the most competitive province in Ilocos region and placed seventh in the nationwide 2024 Cities and Municipalities Competitiveness Index for two consecutive years.

Officials of Biñan City have been ordered to respond to a complaint filed by residents regarding a reclamation project in Laguna de Bay.

A municipal councilor in Arayat, Pampanga was killed while his companion was wounded in an attack by motorcycle-riding assailants in Barangay Telapayong on Tuesday.

After the viral slapping incident, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission figured in another controversy after a PAOCC employee reportedly stole the phone of a worker of the raided business process outsourcing firm in Bagac, Bataan.