Asia Briefs: Thousands at Sarawak Chief Minister's funeral

Thousands at Sarawak Chief Minister's funeral

KUCHING • Thousands of people converged in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak, yesterday to pay their respects to the late Chief Minister Adenan Satem, who died on Wednesday.

Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, Sultan of Brunei Hassanal Bolkiah and Sarawak Governor Abdul Taib Mahmud were among the dignitaries who turned up.

Mr Adenan died of heart complications just two weeks shy of his 73rd birthday.

THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK


Kim Jong Un's sister on US sanctions list

SEOUL • The United States has imposed sanctions on Ms Kim Yo Jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, for her links to human rights violations.

Ms Kim, 27, was among seven individuals and two agencies who were added to the US State Department's blacklist on Wednesday.

She is the vice-director of the Workers' Party of Korea Propaganda and Agitation Department.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE


India rips into Amazon over flag doormats

NEW DELHI • India's Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj has lashed out at online retail giant Amazon.com for selling doormats bearing an image of the Indian flag.

In a post on Twitter on Wednesday, Ms Swaraj threatened to withhold visas for Amazon employees and rescind those already granted if the company did not remove the doormats from its website.

A spokesman for India's Foreign Ministry said yesterday that Amazon has removed the item.

BLOOMBERG


Goose farm in Hunan hit by bird flu

BEIJING • China's Ministry of Agriculture said a bird flu outbreak, the country's fifth since last October, hit a goose farm in its southern Hunan province, killing 1,054 birds.

The outbreak in Yuanjiang, a city of more than 700,000 people, was confirmed as a case of the H5N6 strain of the virus, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

Local government culled a further 2,067 birds after the outbreak, which the Ministry of Agriculture said had been brought under control.

REUTERS


India's Tata Sons appoints new chairman

MUMBAI • India's salt-to-steel conglomerate Tata Sons has appointed Mr Natarajan Chandrasekaran, chief of its IT services unit, as the new chairman of its board.

Mr Chandrasekaran, who currently heads software giant Tata Consultancy Services, will take charge from Feb 21, replacing former chairman Cyrus Mistry, who was ousted by the company last October.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on January 13, 2017, with the headline Asia Briefs: Thousands at Sarawak Chief Minister's funeral. Subscribe