Asia

    A priceless diamond that is part of Queen Elizabeth's crown was given to Britain and not stolen, the Center today told the Supreme Court, which is hearing a suit seeking its return. The 108-carat Kohinoor gem, which came into British hands during the colonial era, is the subject of a historic ownership dispute and has been claimed by at least four countries including India. But India's Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar said the 19th century Sikh king Ranjit Singh had given the stone to the British. It was given voluntarily by Ranjit Singh to the British as compensation for help in the Sikh Wars. The Koh-i-Noor is not a stolen object, he told the Supreme Court. The court was hearing a suit filed by the All India Human Rights & Social Justice Front, a non-governmental organ...

    Kensington Palace has announced that Prince William and Kate will visit Bhutan, a small kingdom in the Himalayas. As part of their Royal Tour to see the sights of India and the secretive kingdom of Bhutan this Spring, they will meet the country's King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and his wife, Queen Jetsun Pema. Hot on the heels of Prince Harry's trip to Nepal, this is sure to be another royal tour to be remember. Here's the low-down on Bhutan so that you can understand where William and Kate are visiting - or plan a trip there for yourself. Where is Bhutan? Bhutan - officially called the Kingdom of Bhutan - is situated in South Asia at the eastern end of the Himalayas. Bordering China to the north and India to the South, its capital city is Thimphu, with an estimated po...

    One North Korean who worked abroad says that as a waitress in China, she was forced to put up with male customers who groped her and tried to get her drunk. Two others recall the frozen bodies of their countrymen stored in Russian logging camps. Another says he toiled for up to 16 hours a day at a Kuwaiti construction site surrounded by wire fences. As difficult as those lives were, the four workers told The Associated Press, it beat staying in the North. The jobs actually conveyed status back home, and were so coveted that people used bribes and family connections to get them. "I beat the odds of 1 in 12 to become a waitress ... People's views of jobs in North Korea are totally different from here," said Lee Soung Hee, 42, who worked at a North Korean-run restaurant in th...

    Philippines-based Rizal Commercial Banking Corporation (RCBC) today said the bank could have held the stolen US$81 million if only the Bangladesh Bank sent "high priority messages." Macel Estavillo, the head of legal and regulatory affairs of RCBC, said that although Bangladesh Bank did send three requests for freeze on February 9, the messages were "vague" and "ambiguous", reports ABS-CBN News. Estavillo said RCBC could've reacted promptly if it received an MT192, the code for a request for cancellation or stop payment order. “In the case of the bank of Bangladesh, they did not send us any high priority message, they did not send us any stop payment order. They just sent us an unauthenticated free format message or a 999,” Estavillo told senators at the Senate Blue Ribbon...

    The Philippines must make sure casinos are covered by anti-money laundering legislation, the World Bank said today, joining calls for the government to better regulate its gambling industry after stolen millions from Bangladesh found their way to Manila. A Philippine panel is trying to fathom how US$81 million hacked in February from the New York Federal Reserve account of Bangladesh's central bank wound up with two casinos and a junket operator in the Philippines in one of the biggest cyber heists in history. The government has since recovered part of the stolen money. "Reforms should be made, for instance, in making sure that casinos are included (in the anti-money laundering law)," World Bank lead economist Rogier van den Brink told reporters in Manila. "...Loopholes mus...

    The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arrive at a Bollywood Charity Gala hosted by the British High Commission and the British Asian Trust at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel. The couple arrived in Mumbai, India, on April 10 as they began their seven-day tour of India and Bhutan. The royal couple’s itinerary includes several events in Mumbai and Delhi, followed by a trip to Kaziranga Wildlife Sanctuary in Assam, a two-day trip to Bhutan and finally, a visit to the Taj Mahal in Agra, India. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge were joined by some of India’s biggest film stars, sporting heroes and business people for a charity gala at the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Mumbai, which wrapped up the first day of their tour of India and Bhutan. Bollywood stars Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai and...

Mir Mostafizur Rahaman: Outlining Islamabad's position on its ties with Bangladesh, Pakistan's information and broadcasting minister, Pervaiz Rashid, said yesterday (Thursday) that his country is ready to do anything to promote Bangladesh's development. However, he also pointed out that Pakistan would not seek formal apology for its role during Bangladesh’s Liberation War as the matter was settled in 1974. The minister was exchanging views with a Bangladeshi Press delegation at his office in Islamabad. Several issues, including the future course of bilateral relations, South Asian regional cooperation, fighting terrorism and domestic politics of Pakistan, came up. Elaborating the Pakistan government’s thoughts on future development cooperation, he said: “You can use our land to export your...

    Chinese hackers were possibly behind one of the world's biggest cyber heists, the theft of $81 million from the Bangladesh central bank, a senator in the Philippines said on Tuesday, while a Manila bank manager involved in the case said she was a pawn of senior bankers and unnamed tycoons. Unidentified hackers stole the money from the Bangladesh Bank's account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in early February and funneled it through a Manila branch of the Rizal Commercial Banking Corp (RCBC) to casinos and gambling agents in the Philippines. "It would appear they are not Filipino hackers (but) possibly Chinese hackers," said Ralph Recto during a Senate inquiry in the capital Manila. "They saw the vulnerability in the (Philippines) banking system or one bank." Recto...

    Casino junket operator Kim Wong today (Tuesday) promised to return to the Senate another US$ 9.73m, which was believed to be part of the alleged $81million stolen funds from the Bangladesh’s central bank. Wong made this promise when he returned to the Senate blue ribbon subcommittee’s ongoing investigation into the controversy. “Within 15 to 30 days because I still have to borrow money from my friends, [and source funds] from my companies’ shares to settle this. I promise to submit this to your committee,” he said when committee chair, Senator Teofisto Guingona III , asked if the junket operator could commit to return the money. Wong said he would return the money in cash. In his testimony last March 29, Wong said the P450 million was the money owed him by Chinese business...

    Casino junket operator Kam Sin Kim Wong today delivered another $830,595.50 (P38.28 million) to the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) of Philippine for safekeeping in the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) headquarters in Manila. AMLC officials will eventually surrender the amount to the Bangladesh officials, reports The Manila Times. This is on top of the initially surrendered $4.63 million, part of the $81 million stolen by hackers from the Bangladesh Bank. Wong, represented by his legal counsel Victor Fernandez, turned over the money to AMLC member. Among those present during the turnover were BSP officer-in-charge Vicente Aquino, Bangladesh Embassy Manila Deputy Chief of Mission Shahnaz Gazi, Insurance Commissioner Emmanuel Dooc, AMLC Executive Director Julia Bacay-A...