Can't always get what you want? Don't worry

The first time I went on a silent meditation retreat, a few years back, I was terrified that the experience might prove impossible to endure.

Bookseller Lam Wing-kee is lying, colleagues claim in ‘exclusive’ newspaper interview

Booksellers Lui Por and Cheung Chi-ping, both associated with the Causeway Bay Books store, have accused their recently returned colleague Lam Wing-kee of lying and being manipulated.

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In Manila, police welcome arrival of president Duterte

That was welcome news to police in the Philippine capital who say they are so under-funded that they often have to buy their own bullets and get lifts to murder scenes in funeral service cars because they have no vehicles of their own.

China's plan for college spots for poor ignites class conflict

Cheng Nan has spent years trying to ensure that her 16-year-old daughter gets into a college near their home in Nanjing, an affluent city in eastern China. She wakes her at 5.30am to study maths and Chinese poetry and packs her schedule so tightly that she has only 20 days of summer vacation.

As China acts to cool property frenzy, volatility spurs new risk

China's use of administrative measures to control property prices can have painful repercussions for its swelling ranks of homeowners. Just ask Shanghai resident Yi Miaowen.

Half of Afghans captured and deliberately ‘terrorised’ by Canadian troops were innocent, say military police

Nearly half of the Afghans captured by Canadian troops in 2010 and 2011 had no links to the Taliban and were illegally held far longer than Ottawa has publicly acknowledged, military police said Wednesday.

Singapore targeting private firms linked to Indonesian fires, not national sovereignty

Singapore's move to go after companies linked to fires in Indonesia that led to last year's haze is not an issue of sovereignty or national dignity, said a Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR) spokesman yesterday.

CIA documents offer glimpse inside secret ‘black site’ prisons, where detainees faced brutal treatment

The CIA has released dozens of previously classified documents that expose disturbing new details of the agency’s treatment of terrorism suspects after the September 11, 2001, attacks, including one who died in Afghanistan in 2002 after being doused with water and chained to a concrete floor as temperatures plunged below freezing.

Released documents shed light on US CIA's torture programme

United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) lawyers sought guarantees the US spy agency would never be prosecuted for torturing suspects after the Sept 11, 2001 attacks, while other staff warned the programme was an impending "train wreck", documents showed on Tuesday (June 15).

How to register for VEP

•Create an account at Malaysia's Road Transport Department (RTD) website.

•You can download your Vehicle Registration Card PDF file from the website of Singapore's Land Transport Authority and upload it to the RTD website. Once successful, a PDF confirmation slip will be sent to you via e-mail.

•Those registering at the Johor Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Complex will need to have their vehicle registration card, latest insurance cover note and passport with them.

•To collect the VEP tag, users must have the registered vehicle, passport, confirmation slip and RM10 (S$3.30) for an administration fee.

•The VEP tag is valid for five years and must be renewed three months before the expiry date.

 •For more details, visit the RTD website at https://vep.jpj.gov.my

Singapore has picked the wrong target in its balance of powers strategy: Global Times commentary

Mr Chen Jiulin (founder of Beijing Joseph Investment Co and former CEO of China Aviation Oil) wrote an opinion piece, "Singapore should support China's South China Sea stand too", in the Global Times recently, hoping that Singapore "will stop using US' power consistently to contain China". Mr Chen has good intentions, but I think it is quite difficult for Singapore to change its stand. A rough recap will provide some understanding on how Singapore's views on security came about.

How Donald Trump Bankrupted His Atlantic City Casinos, but Still Earned Millions

“People underestimated Donald Trump’s ability to pillage the company,” said Sebastian Pignatello, a private investor who at one time held stock in the Trump casinos worth more than $500,000. “He drove these companies into bankruptcy by his mismanagement, the debt and his pillaging.”

Why I renewed my COE for five years

Last month, the 10-year COE for my Category B car expired. I was faced with four options: buy a new car; renew the COE for 10 years; renew for five years or do without a car.

Singapore aims to prosecute Indonesian polluters under haze law

Singapore is prepared to prosecute any Indonesian companies found responsible for the fires that produced hazardous ash clouds afflicting the city state last year, a minister said, standing his ground even as recent efforts to take firms to account drew ire from the country's largest Southeast Asian neighbour.

Serve court papers – via Facebook

Court okays use of electronic means beyond e-mail if defendant cannot be reached in person

The BSI story: How a 143-year-old Swiss bank took a quick road to ruin in Asia

Even in Asia's cutthroat world of wealth management, the news of a mass defection at RBS Coutts, venerable bankers to the British royals, came as a shock.

Bruce Lee quote on water

You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.

Legality of China's claims in South China Sea 'not weak': George Yeo

Citing Beijing's assertions that its claims in the contested waters date back to the Qing dynasty, Mr Yeo said that countries did not earlier object to China when it drew the controversial nine-dash line. Beijing uses the nine-dash line to mark a large swathe of the areas in the South China Sea that it claims.

South China Sea islands part of Taiwan's territory

The statement that the occupation of Itu Aba Island (Taiping Island) by Taiwan in 1956 violates Article 2(4) of the United Nations Charter and, therefore, does not confer lawful title, is not based on facts or history ("Will China decide to reduce tension in the South China Sea?"; May 31).

Forget Pearl Harbour, Abe should go to Nanjing

If the two largest economies of Asia are at daggers drawn, the consequences cannot be conducive to peace and prosperity. Japan has to take steps to assuage the wounds of the past with China.