Asian Insider February, 20: Kim's ready to roll

Vietnam is preparing for North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to arrive by train for his summit in Hanoi next week with United States President Donald Trump, sources told Reuters. It could take Mr Kim at least 2½ days to travel the thousands of kilometres through China by train, from the North Korean capital of Pyongyang to Vietnam, meaning he would have to set off later this week in time for his planned Feb 25 arrival. Mr Kim's train will stop at the Vietnamese border station of Dong Dang, where he will disembark and drive 170km to Hanoi by car, the sources said.

Earlier, the Wall Street Journal reported that Mr Kim had purged, executed or detained unspecified number of people suspected of not backing his peace overture to Mr Trump.

The suicide bombing attack on Indian forces in Kashmir last week that killed 44 paramilitary troopers not only reignited tensions with Pakistan, but could also put India's ties with China under new strain because of Beijing's repeated blocking of Indian attempts to get Pakistan-based Masood Azhar, whose Jaish e Mohamed group has claimed responsibility for the bombing, listed as a terrorist. India Bureau Chief Nirmala Ganapathy says this would reverse recent gains the two Asian rivals have made in reducing distrust and turn Indian public opinion against China. Already, the backlash has sparked calls to boycott Chinese goods and firms by at least two Indian trade bodies.

In Japan, bullying in schools -- called ijime-- is a major social issue. Elementary, junior and senior high schools in Japan reported more than 410,000 cases in fiscal 2017, leading to the deaths of ten of the 250 students who committed suicide in the period. Now, a court has ordered two former classmates of a boy who committed suicide in 2011 to pay damages of about 37 million yen (S$450,000), acknowledging that their bullying led to his death, local media reported. The focus of the trial at the Otsu District Court in Shiga Prefecture was whether the two classmates had bullied the 13-year-old boy, and if there was a causal link between the bullying and his death in 2011, Japan Today reported.

The United States has been on a mission to prevent its allies from using 5G mobile systems supplied by Huawei Technologies for fear that China could use its equipment for espionage.

But Senior Tech Correspondent Irene Tham says pushback is expected from telcos around the world. This is because Huawei not only sells equipment which is said to be about 10 per cent cheaper than its rivals', but also has widespread "lock-in" to its technology for a cheap and quick migration to 5G.

Mikhy Ferrera Brochez, the American blamed for the leak of Singapore's HIV database has pleaded not guilty -- to a charge of criminal trespassing on his mom's property in Winchester, Kentucky. In a scheduled appearance before District Court Judge Charles W. Hardin at a court hearing, Brochez, who drove a white car to the courthouse, said it was his understanding that his mother did not want to pursue the charge. Judge Hardin told Brochez, 34, that once charges were filed, it became the Commonwealth of Kentucky's case - and no longer his mother's - to prosecute, says US Correspondent Charissa Yong, who travelled to Kentucky.

1. A 27-year-old jobless Singaporean who forced his wife to prostitute herself to pay for their baby son's diapers and milk powder was sentenced to 25½ years' jail and 24 strokes of the cane.

2. Sirul Azhar Umar, a former bodyguard of Malaysia's ex-prime minister Najib Razak, faces eventual deportation from Australia after a Sydney court this week rejected his appeal for political asylum. Sirul was one of two bodyguards sentenced to death in Malaysia in 2015 over the murder of Mongolian national Altantuya Shaariibuu.

3. Sanofi's controversial dengue fever vaccine was dealt another blow as the Philippines permanently banned the treatment that created a health scare in the country. The country's Food and Drug Administration said the French drugmaker failed to submit post-approval documents required by the country's regulator, according to a statement on Tuesday.

And that's it for today, folks!

Ravi Velloor

'Bullying is a horrible thing. It sticks with you forever. It poisons you. But only if you let it.' - Heather Brewer