Asia

The US-Iran peace deal is likely to bring immediate relief but not yet reassurance for Asia, as leaders across the region watch whether the Strait of Hormuz reopens, oil prices ease and the agreement can withstand the nuclear talks and geopolitical distrust still ahead, analysts say. The agreement, mediated by Pakistan and scheduled to be signed on Friday in Switzerland, is intended to end more than three months of war in the Gulf, halt the US blockade of Iran and reopen one of the world’s most...

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni agreed on Monday to deepen cooperation in advanced technologies such as semiconductors and strengthen supply chains for critical minerals to bolster economic security while advancing defence ties. The two leaders also welcomed a preliminary agreement between the United States and Iran intended to end their war that triggered global oil supply disruptions, before their planned participation in a Group of Seven...

The region is not merely a corridor to somewhere else. Nor is it a prize in someone else’s contest. It is a geopolitical space – with disparate yet largely collaborative actors – in its own right.

The general discontent in society is palpable; the opposition can see it. But the INDIA bloc has not yet been able to convert the discontent in society into votes.

The PLA’s military expansion is steadily chipping away at one of Australia’s principal defensive assets: geography. 

For six minerals critical to South Korea’s most strategically important industries, China’s 2025 share of Korean imports ranges from 14.8 percent to 94.2 percent 

Recent survey data suggest that many Taiwanese fear that Taiwan’s interests could be overlooked or sacrificed as Washington and Beijing seek to stabilize their relationship.

The merger is the latest step in the consolidation – or rebranding – of power under President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. The names change; the system stays the same. 

The defacement of the National Bureau of Investigation’s website over the weekend marked an escalation in a wave of attacks on Philippine government pages, with the country’s main investigative agency becoming the third major state body in less than a week to have its site compromised. The incident followed similar attacks on the Senate’s website on Wednesday and the House of Representatives’ page on Saturday, raising questions about the government’s ability to protect even its own law...

In Thaksin Shinawatra’s hometown outside Chiang Mai, neighbours say they hope the royal pardon gifted to the tycoon offers Thailand’s most loved – and quite possibly, most loathed – politician a chance to exit the kingdom’s bear-pit politics ahead of his 77th birthday. But after eight months in jail, a coup against his government, a battery of legal cases, threats to his family, assets – and even his life – those hitched to the Shinawatra bandwagon since Thaksin won his first election in 2001...

Japan is falling into a trap in defending its currency against the US dollar, like Thailand in 1996. Japan’s large forex reserves make the yen a juicy target, rather than deterring currency predators. Its fundamentals are weak and deteriorating, making the yen’s further decline inevitable. Japan can’t raise interest rates aggressively to defend its currency due to its high national debt. It could fall into an inflation-devaluation spiral, greatly profiting yen short-sellers. The yen is trading...

Drones are the centerpiece of the bilateral cooperation. The two countries are also discussing manufacture of military hardware in Bangladesh.

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr did not dwell on warships or water cannons when he rose to speak at the country’s Independence Day celebrations on Friday. Instead, he signalled a new strategy in broaching the topic of the South China Sea: recasting the waterway not as an arena of territorial disputes, but rather as a shared vulnerability. In doing so, analysts say he may have found a way to keep China’s behaviour in the regional conversation without triggering direct confrontation...

A stone’s throw from the barbed wire and minefields that separate the two Koreas, thousands gathered for a music festival this weekend to sing about peace in a place synonymous with conflict. The DMZ Peace Train Music Festival, named after the demilitarised zone that has separated the neighbours for seven decades, gathered artists and fans from around the world. It was the seventh instalment since the inaugural festival was held in 2018 under the slogan: “Let’s dance for a world without...

Since its neighbors rely on unregulated river flows, any unilateral Afghan attempt to develop water infrastructure is perceived as a threat, risking regional destabilization.

A Mexican man who led an engineering guild has apologised after losing his position over a video showing him making a racist gesture at a South Korean fan during a World Cup match in Guadalajara. Ulises Fernando Bernal Miramontes came under fire after he was seen pulling at the corners of his eyes – a gesture derogatory towards people of Asian descent – in a video posted by South Korean influencer Yoon Su-jin. Yoon, a YouTuber whose creator handle is InoCat, captured Bernal, who was wearing...

For much of Malaysia’s post-independence history, Malay voters largely faced a binary choice: Umno, the oldest Malay nationalist political party that governed the country for more than six decades until 2018, or the Islamist Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS). But with two state elections fast approaching, a bevy of breakaway parties flying variations of the same nationalist flag are all chasing those same 13 million or so Malay votes. The newest entrant arrived on Saturday, when former home...

Police shot and killed an Australian child in eastern Pakistan, authorities said, with Canberra calling on Monday for an investigation into the incident that also wounded two of the girl’s family members. Police in Pakistan’s most populous eastern province, Punjab, said that officers responding to a robbery exchanged fire with the suspects who were holding the passengers of a family’s car at gunpoint on Wednesday. “In the ensuing chaos, the officer involved mistakenly assessed that the suspects...

A new book examines the life of Douglas Latchford, a British antiquities trader who was responsible for the mass looting of Cambodia's Angkorian heritage.

Min Zin, the head of a prominent Myanmar-focused think-tank, has been accused of "endangering China’s national security."

Starbucks stores across South Korea will close for half a day next week for staff to attend a history lesson following a promotional campaign gone awry, the coffee giant said on Monday. Starbucks Korea, with more than 2,000 stores nationwide, found itself embroiled in public uproar last month when it ran a “Tank Day” promotion evoking a deadly military crackdown on a 1980 pro-democracy uprising. The day of the reusable cup promotion – May 18 – coincided with the 46th anniversary of the Gwangju...

Four people have been arrested in Malaysia’s southern state of Johor after videos circulating online appeared to show an Indonesian domestic worker being slapped, punched and verbally abused inside a private home. The footage has renewed concerns about the treatment of Indonesian helpers in Malaysia – where about 60,000 are registered to work in private homes – and prompted calls for Jakarta to intervene. Two sisters and their husbands, aged 30 to 34, were arrested at a house in Taman Johor,...

This article was published on June 13, 1991. Thousands evacuated after massive explosion in Philippines Volcano’s plume soars 25km by Michael Bociurkiw in San Narciso Theresita Santiago and her neighbours dealt with the volcanic eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines yesterday (June 12, 1991) the only way they could: they grabbed their children and a few belongings and walked 20 kilometres to sanctuary in Olongapo City. “I’m feeling very nervous right now,” Mrs Santiago said, as her...

Japan fans left the stands spotless after their World Cup opener against the Netherlands in Texas on Sunday, saying it was “Japanese culture” to tidy up after themselves. Spectators stayed behind after the 2-2 draw to make sure they left the stadium as they found it, meticulously picking up litter and stuffing it into blue plastic bags. It was a habit first learned at primary school, Japan fan Eita Tanaka said. “We have to think about everyone. Japanese people think that when we use a certain...

As Phnom Penh cracks down on cyber-fraud operations, Chinese criminal syndicates are hastily seeking out more accommodating jurisdictions.

Mariko was a teenager the day she found herself alone in a near-empty carriage with a man who sat across from her, exposed himself and began to masturbate. Terrified that fleeing or crying out might provoke something worse, she fixed her gaze elsewhere and waited for the next station. “There was nothing I could do,” said Mariko, now 33, who asked that her family name not be published. “I was terrified that he might attack me, so I kept quiet.” The memory has never entirely left her. It still...

Chinese President Xi Jinping’s recent Pyongyang visit may ultimately be remembered as a turning point in the international debate over North Korea’s nuclear weapons. While most headlines focused on the visit’s timing and the many pledges made by the two leaders aimed at expanding cooperation, the most significant development may have been what was left unsaid. Throughout the visit, neither side publicly referenced the denuclearisation issue. On the contrary, Xi called for expanded cooperation in...

China is capable of a direct missile strike on Australia and the threat is growing as Beijing amasses long-range and hypersonic weapons and builds islands in the South China Sea, an Australian think tank said on Sunday. A Lowy Institute report found the main threat to Australia was from Chinese missiles fired from ships, submarines and a new intermediate-range ballistic missile that could reach the island continent from China. China’s capacity to strike Australia would grow over the next decade...

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi hailed increasing defence cooperation with the UK during a meeting with her British counterpart Keir Starmer on Sunday, amid uncertainty about a new fighter jet programme. “The UK is a very important partner to Japan given the deepening of ties across a wide range of fields, including security and defence,” Takaichi said as she met with Starmer in London. “Given the GCAP project, I think we have reached a level that we can call a near-alliance,” she said,...

A powerful earthquake that killed at least 61 people in the Philippines this week raised the seabed by as much as two metres (6.6 feet), exposing coral and harming marine life, the environment department said on Sunday. The 7.8-magnitude tremor in southern Mindanao island on Monday has also left at least 40 people missing, according to updated tolls from the disaster agency. Local residents first reported the geological phenomenon known as “coastal uplift” two days after the quake, which...