Latest news with #SouthEastAsia
Daily Mail
12 hours ago
- General
- Daily Mail
Melbourne man unleashes over comment from McDonald's worker: 'Australians - do better'
A Melbourne man has highlighted the 'reality of casual everyday racism' after he was stereotyped while trying to order food at a McDonald's. Praveen Param said a staff member at the restaurant assumed he was an Uber Eats driver when he approached the counter to order. 'The gentleman behind the counter looks at me, looks at the screen, looks back at me and I already knew what was going to come out of his mouth,' he said. 'He says: "Uber?" I said, "No, I would like to order please".' After receiving his meal, Mr Param questioned the employee's assumption. 'I said to him, "just because a lot of people from my ethnic background may do Uber, it doesn't mean everyone does Uber - assuming that only makes you look like an a**hole",' Mr Param said. The McDonald's worker then decided to push back. 'This white man then obviously decides to double down on his racism and says, "oh nah I didn't mean it like that, it's just that the people who come into this Maccas who are Indian oftentimes end up being uber drivers".' @ casual everyday racism in Australia ♬ original sound - Praveen Param Mr Param said this response perfectly illustrated his point about casual racism in Australia. 'This is the reality of being a South East Asian person living in Australia. 'No matter what your achievements are, how you treat people, how you dress, [or] how you conduct yourself you will always be reduced to some stereotype by some white person out there,' he said. 'Australians - do better.' 'People here think that they're open minded, when the reality is they are not.' He said that this wasn't an isolated incident, but part of the everyday experience for many non-white Australians simply trying to live their lives. Mr Param urged Australians to reflect on their own casual racism - but many dismissed his concerns, accusing him of overreacting. One said: 'I'm half Sri Lankan. I've been stereotyped like that before. Instead of playing the victim I had a laugh with the worker and told them not to worry about it. It's not that deep. They're not doing it out of malice.' A second said: 'Nothing wrong with the assumption. The UBER guy is just doing a job just like you have a job. Nothing bad at all to be assumed you do UBER. Sorry mate. It should not bother you if you respected others doing UBER.' A third said: 'I'm a South Asian and I don't find that assumption offensive if it was made in good faith. Not everyone is racist.' But others were disappointed by the backlash and defended Mr Param's message. 'What is wrong with these comments? His point is that an assumption was made about him based on his race and that is inherently RACIST,' one said. 'I am a white woman and no one would ever assume I was doing Uber. These comments telling him to leave Australia are disgusting. Shame on all of you.' A second said: 'The comment section just proved his point. You all need to change your mindset.'
Sky News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sky News
Brigitte Macron: Schoolteacher to France's first lady
👉 Listen to Sky News Daily on your podcast app 👈 Emmanuel Macron has played down a video of him being pushed in the face by his wife Brigitte, as the couple prepared to leave their plane to begin their tour of South East Asia. The French president said he was just joking with the first lady and the incident was "nothing". But the footage has put the pair and their relationship in the global spotlight. In today's episode, Niall Paterson talks to France 24's international affairs editor, Philip Turle, about who Brigitte Macron is, how the couple are viewed in France and the online rumours that have dogged them.
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Swiss private bank Julius Baer names new South East Asia market heads
May 30 (Reuters) - Switzerland-based private bank Julius Baer (BAER.S), opens new tab said on Friday it has appointed Shui Wei Ho and Vi Sun Yang as market heads for South East Asia, effective July 1. Shui Wei and Yang will replace Chin Lit Yee, who is retiring after nearly a decade at the bank. Yang took on the role as Group Head South East Asia in July 2022, while Shui Wei joined in the same role a month later. Both Shui Wei and Yang will remain based in Singapore and report directly to Jimmy Lee, the region head Asia and member of the global wealth management committee, the bank said.
BBC News
4 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Shangri-La Dialogue starts as US and China struggle for dominance
China does not want to go to war with anyone, especially the Beijing does have aspirations to be the number one economic power in the that means flexing its muscles to rid the seas around East and South East Asia of their US military presence, so it can dominate the shipping lanes so vital for global building up its nuclear and conventional arsenals, China aims to show the US that times have changed and that it's too dangerous a power to US has long had the upper hand in the Asia-Pacific - with tens of thousands of troops based in Japan and South Korea, alongside several military administration has clearly focused its energy on countering China - by initiating a trade war and seeking to strengthen alliances with Asian Shangri-La Dialogue has historically been the setting for top-level encounters between the US and China – an arena for the superpowers to set out their vision for security in the it's opening again in Singapore on Friday. Here's what we can expect from the three-day event: Struggle for dominance The growing struggle for dominance between the US and China is undoubtedly the biggest issue in Asia-Pacific are the days when China's People's Liberation Army (PLA) was characterised by outdated weaponry and rigid Maoist doctrine. Today it is a formidable force deploying state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles and fifth-generation warplanes like the navy has the largest number of warships in the world, outstripping the United China lags far behind the US and Russia in its number of nuclear warheads, it is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal, with missiles that can travel up to 15,000km, putting the continental US easily within US Navy's formidable 7th Fleet, based in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo, can no longer claim to have guaranteed naval supremacy in the array of Dong Feng missiles and swarms of explosive drones would make any approach to its shores extremely hazardous for US Beijing is believed to be working to "push" the US military out of the western Pacific. Taiwan and the South China Sea Taiwan is a liberal, self-governing, pro-Western island democracy that China's President Xi Jinping has vowed to "take back" by force if has an economic importance well beyond its geographic small size. It manufactures more than 90% of the world's high-end microchips, the all-important semi-conductors that power so much of our opinion polls have made clear that a majority of Taiwanese people do not want to be ruled by Beijing, but Xi has made this a key policy US has done much to help Taiwan bolster its defences but the key question of whether Washington would go to war with China over Taiwan has always been shrouded in something called "strategic ambiguity", i.e. keeping Beijing more than one occasion President Biden indicated the US would respond militarily in the event of a Chinese attack on Taiwan. But the return of Donald Trump to the Oval Office has brought back a degree of uncertainty. There are also major concerns in the region over China's attempts to turn the entire South China Sea into what some have called a "Chinese lake".The PLA Navy has established military bases on reefs, many artificially dredged, across the strategically important South China Sea, an area through which an estimated $3 trillion's worth of maritime trade passes China deploys a vast, industrial fishing fleet across the South China Sea, backed by its fleet of coastguard ships and warships. These vessels clash frequently with Filipino fishermen, fishing close to their own country's frequently challenges planes and ships transiting the South China Sea, warning them they are entering Chinese territory without permission, when the rest of the world considers this to be international waters. North Korea's nuclear ambitions Donald Trump, when asked during his first presidency if North Korea could ever develop nuclear missiles that could reach the continental United States, vowed "it's never going to happen". But it what amounts to a serious CIA intelligence failure, Pyongyang has demonstrated that it now possesses both the nuclear know-how and the means to deliver those warheads across the Pacific US presidencies have failed to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions and this isolated, economically backward yet militarily powerful nation is thought to have at least 20 nuclear also has an enormous, well-armed army, some of which its autocratic leader Kim Jong Un has sent to help Russia fight Ukraine. Stopping another India-Pakistan clash Defence analysts are still dissecting the recent, brief but alarming conflict between these two nuclear-armed neighbours. India's military far outnumbers Pakistan's and yet the latter was allegedly able to land an embarrassing blow against India's air force, when Pakistan's Chinese-made J10-C jets went up against India's advanced, French-made reportedly shot down at least one of the Indian warplanes, using Chinese-made PL-15 air-to-air missiles. The reports were denied in India's assistance to Pakistan in the conflict has reportedly been critical to Islamabad, including repositioning its satellites to provide it with real-time India and Pakistan are expected to make high-level addresses at the Shangri-La Dialogue this weekend while the US and others will be looking for ways to prevent a repeat of their clash over Kashmir. Is the US still a reliable ally? All of this is happening in a dramatically changed US Trump's sudden imposition of trade tariffs, while eventually modified, has caused many in the region to rethink their reliance on Washington. Would an ally that is prepared to inflict so much economic pain on its friends really come to their aid if they were attacked?China has been quick to capitalise on the confusion. It reached out to neighbours such as Vietnam - a country it went to war with in 1979 - to point out the People's Republic represented stability and continuity in an unstable the previous US administration, Washington signed up to a multi-billion dollar trilateral partnership between the US, UK and Australia under the acronym of aims to not only build Canberra's next generation of submarines but to guarantee freedom of navigation across the South China Sea using intelligence and naval force deployed by the three Trump, when asked in February about his commitment to the AUKUS pact, appeared not to recognise the term, asking in reply: "What does that mean?"But early this Saturday morning the US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth will be addressing the Shangri-La Dialogue, potentially offering some clarity on AUKUS as well as how the US plans to work with, and quite possibly against, China's interests across the Asia-Pacific region.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Shockingly little sunbed use that led to 23-year-old's skin cancer that spread to her lungs and neck
A woman with late stage skin cancer has warned of the catastrophic dangers of pursuing a 'base tan' before a summer holiday—after just a handful of sunbed sessions left her with incurable disease. Lily Murphy, 30, from Watford, used sunbeds for the first time in her early twenties, to 'prepare' her skin for an upcoming trip to South East Asia. She used the tanning devices—known to increase cancer risk by up to 75 per cent— for just 'a couple of minutes here and there', totalling less than an hour over the course of several weeks. While on holiday, she recalled using sun cream to protect herself from the sun's harmful UV rays, aware that she is 'very fair-skinned and always get burnt'. Upon her return to the UK, the NHS administrator visited her GP to enquire about a mole that was worrying her. 'The doctor said this doesn't look right, I'm going to refer you on the two-week cancer pathway,' she said. She had the mole removed and was called back for an appointment two weeks later. 'There were two Macmillan Cancer nurses in there too… that's when they said to me it's come back as melanoma, stage 1B.' Stage 1B melanoma is one of the earliest stages of the deadliest type of skin cancer. This stage means it has not yet spread to nearby lymph nodes or other parts of the body, and it is generally highly curable. Ms Murphy recalled being the youngest person in her cancer support group, aged 23 at the time. 'Everyone else was in their 40s, 50s, 60s,' she said. 'It was an experience.' Doctors performed surgery to cut out the cancer in 2019. 'It felt like such a relief to hear that the cancer hadn't spread,' she said. 'I said to myself, "I've beaten it",' said Lily. But four years later, in January 2023, she began to feel unwell during a family trip to Gloucestershire. She was 'constantly tired' and suffering agonising back pain, which eventually migrated to her chest. 'I couldn't breathe. I said to my mum it feels like something's not right,' she said. Despite repeated trips to A&E, her concerns were dismissed as anxiety, linked to her mental health history. Eventually, she was booked for scans and blood tests in a different department, which revealed the devastating truth: her cancer was back and had spread to her lungs and neck. With new treatments, some people are living with stage four melanoma for a long time according to Cancer Research UK. However, studies suggest that, on average, only half of those with this stage of disease live beyond six years. Ms Murphy began immunotherapy treatment in April 2023, but struggled to tolerate the doses required. She then tried two oral chemotherapy treatments but developed a severe allergic reaction within 10 days, including a rash that spread down her throat. She later developed sepsis, caused by a weakened immune system, and was rushed to hospital. In February 2025, she began a new treatment that has already shown signs of shrinking her cancer, despite only managing four of the recommended 12 tablets per day. 'I'm taking a break from treatment at the moment, because it's just too much on my body,' Ms Murphy said. She has now launched a petition, Ban Sun Beds to Protect Against Skin Cancer, which has already gained more than 700 signatures. 'It was just a spur of the moment thing,' she said. 'Sunbeds are a known cancer risk. 'Banning them would save lives—and save the NHS money.' She has called for a stop to the 'glamourisation' of tanning by social media and influencers. 'Your tan is semi-permanent, but your life should be permanent,' she said. Last year, rates of deadly melanoma reached a record high in the UK, with new diagnoses increasing by almost a third in just a decade, according to Cancer Research UK. Now, experts are warning that cases are on the rise again— set to surge faster in men than women. Michelle Mitchell, CEO at Cancer Research, said: 'The growing number of people diagnosed with melanoma is concerning, especially when we can see that rates are rising faster in men. 'If you notice anything different on your skin, like a new mole, a mole that's changed in size, shape, or colour, or any patch of skin that looks out of the ordinary—don't ignore it, speak to your GP', she added.
