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Hong Konger 'kidnapped' by SE Asia scam ring pleads for help
Hong Konger 'kidnapped' by SE Asia scam ring pleads for help
World
by  AFP

Anti-trafficking campaigners in Hong Kong played a harrowing recording on Wednesday of a resident testifying that he has been kidnapped and forced to work for online scam syndicates in Myanmar. Online "boiler room" scams have long had a presence across Southeast Asia but in recent months more details have emerged of people being trafficked and forced to work for them.

Indian tycoon's bid for broadcaster stokes media freedom worries
Indian tycoon's bid for broadcaster stokes media freedom worries
World
by  AFP

An Indian billionaire close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi is trying to buy a broadcaster seen as the last major critical voice on television, stoking fears about media freedom in the world's largest democracy. This includes a majority stake in Network18, one of the biggest media conglomerates in the country, which owns several leading broadcasters.

Flood toll tops 800 in Pakistan's 'catastrophe of epic scale'
Flood toll tops 800 in Pakistan's 'catastrophe of epic scale'
World
by  AFP

Record monsoon rains were causing a "catastrophe of epic scale", Pakistan's climate change minister said Wednesday, announcing an international appeal for help in dealing with floods that have killed more than 800 people since June. "It is a climate catastrophe of epic scale," Rehman said, adding three million people had been affected.