News in Brief (2024-01-24)

Wife of Malaysia's former finance minister charged by anti-graft body in assets case
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 23: The wife of a former Malaysian finance minister who has close ties to a political rival of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim was charged Tuesday with failing to disclose her assets to anti-graft investigators. Na'imah Abdul Khalid, the 66-year-old wife of businessman Daim Zainuddin who served as finance minister twice between 1984 and 2001, pleaded not guilty at a court in the capital Kuala Lumpur. The offence of not disclosing her assets in response to an anti-graft agency request was allegedly committed last November, according to court documents. —AFP
Myanmar military plane overshoots runway
GUWAHATI, Jan 23:- Twelve people were injured Tuesday when a Myanmar military plane overshot a runway while landing in India to collect soldiers who had fled armed insurgents fighting their country's junta. The Chinese-made Shaanxi Y-8 turboprop skidded off the tarmac shortly before midday at Lengpui, the main airport of India's Mizoram state. An Airport Authority of India (AAI) official at Lengpui told AFP that the flight was collecting 92 soldiers who had crossed into India from neighbouring Myanmar last week. —AFP
Morrison to quit politics
SYDNEY, Jan 23: Australia's former Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced he will quit parliament to join the private sector. Mr Morrison, a conservative who was first elected in 2007, was the country's leader from 2018 to 2022. He oversaw Australia's pandemic response, the Aukus defence pact, and was embroiled in a historic scandal for secretly appointing himself to several ministerial positions while PM. "The time has come for me to return to private life," he said on Tuesday. In a statement Mr Morrison, 55, said he would now take on "strategic advisory roles" across Asia to focus on security matters in the Indo-Pacific. —BBC
Canada to cap int'l student permits
OTTAWA, Jan 23: Canada on Monday announced an immediate, two-year cap on international student permits and said it would also stop giving work permits to some postgraduate students as it seeks to rein in record numbers of newcomers seen aggravating a housing crisis. The cap is expected to result in approximately 360,000 approved study permits in 2024, a decrease of 35 percent from 2023, according to a statement from the immigration ministry. Immigration Minister Marc Miller said the federal government would work with the provinces, which oversee the educational system, to apply the cap. —Reuters
Japan's Princess gets Red Cross job
TOKYO, Jan 23: Princess Aiko, the only child of Japan's Emperor Naruhito, will begin work at the Japanese Red Cross Society in April after graduating from university. While details of her new role are unclear, she will continue official duties with the imperial family. The 22-year-old princess is not in line of succession as Japanese law allows only men to ascend to the throne. Japan has the oldest continuing hereditary monarchy in the world. In a statement, Princess Aiko said that she has "always had an interest" in the Red Cross, while her new employer added that it wants "to thoroughly make preparations so that the princess can work at ease". —BBC
Nikki Haley sweeps Dixville Notch's primary
DIXVILLE NOTCH, Jan 23: The six registered voters of tiny Dixville Notch in New Hampshire all cast their ballots for Nikki Haley at midnight on Tuesday, giving her a clean sweep over former President Donald Trump and all the other candidates. The resort town was the first place in the nation to vote in the 2024 primaries. The voters were outnumbered more than 10-to-1 by reporters from every corner of the globe - not to mention by a pile of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. Dixville Notch has a tradition of first-in-the-nation voting that dates back to 1960, with the results announced just a few minutes after midnight. —AP