Former Goldman Sachs banker Roger Ng asked for the foreign bribery case against him to be dismissed, saying he “warned” the bank not to do business with Malaysian financier Jho Low.Ng, who says he told Goldman that Low was “not to be trusted”, is facing trial next year on charges of bribery and money-laundering conspiracy. He is accused of helping Malaysia’s former prime minister Najib Razak and others embezzle at least US$2.7 billion from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad fund, known as 1MDB…

Chinese demolition labourer Chen Nianxi started writing poetry some three decades ago because he felt his life was “tough and monotonous” and he needed an outlet to express himself.Chen, now 50, later progressed to non-fiction stories and prose as they more accurately depicted the complex experiences that millions of working-class people like him face in and around China’s bustling cities.Earlier this year, the coronavirus pandemic sweeping across mainland China and beyond quickly became the…

Malaysia will close some of Top Glove’s factories in stages to screen its employees for Covid-19 after a major increase in coronavirus infections, a senior minister said on Monday.A total of 28 factories will be closed in stages after 1,889 Top Glove workers tested positive for the virus, Senior Minister of Security Ismail Sabri Yaakob.Top Glove is the world’s largest latex-glove maker and has seen record high profits this year as demand for medical gloves and protective gear skyrocketed due to…

The outgoing US National Security Advisor Robert O’Brien on Monday said that senior officials he had met in a three-nation Asia tour had expressed no concerns over a potentially messy transition of power from President Donald Trump to his putative successor Joe Biden, and suggested – like other Trump allies – that the election was not a done deal.The Trump appointee, speaking in a telephone briefing with regional journalists from the Philippines after earlier stops in Vietnam and Japan, did not…

A row over a Thai woman who held up a placard alleging sexual abuse in schools has put a spotlight on harassment in the education system even as she draws threats of legal action for misrepresentation and attacks for tarnishing Thailand’s image.The issue is the latest on which discussion has become more vocal as an anti-government protest movement seeking reform of the monarchy also emboldens people in a society where conservatism has often constrained criticism of the powerful.“I hope my case…