Asia

For most residents of South Korea’s capital, the Han River is a place for evening strolls, picnics and a brief respite from city life. But for Kim Jun-young, chief of the Hangang Bridge CCTV Integrated Control Centre in Seoul’s Gwangjin district, it is where his team pulls people back from the edge every day. Established in 2021, the centre uses AI for comprehensive emergency response, monitoring 900 CCTV cameras across 17 of the 21 pedestrian-accessible Han River bridges. Beyond suicide...

Western social science has made three metaphysical mistakes. The first was to assume that its laws and lessons were, like the physical sciences, universally applicable to all societies. Harvard Professor Theodore Levitt captured the prevailing zeitgeist well when he wrote in 1983: “The world’s needs and desires have been irrevocably homogenised.” That may have been true 40 years ago. It is no longer. One indirect consequence of this assumption – that the whole world was converging towards a...

Restaurant operators in Japan have been forced to review their approach to hiring foreign workers since the government suspended the issuance of special visas needed to work in the sector, as the number of holders nears its preset quota. The sudden suspension by Japan’s immigration authorities has raised the spectre of fierce competition for foreign talent. Long known for its strict immigration policy, the country has been increasingly counting on foreign workers amid labour shortages. The...

Taxi driver Ravi Ranjan, who lives with his wife and child in New Delhi, said shipping disruptions caused by the Iran war had forced him to pay higher prices for cooking fuel at a time when India’s prime minister was also urging residents to reduce driving and travel. It was all hitting his bottom line, Ranjan said, as he was paying three times as much for liquid petroleum gas after facing delays on delivery of the cooking fuel. “I used to get a cylinder of LPG for 1,000 rupees (US$10), now I...

Vietnam’s To Lam is a man in a hurry. Since claiming the nation’s top job, its most powerful leader in decades has been in near-constant motion, pressing flesh and signing deals in Beijing, Washington, Pyongyang and Moscow. His itinerary, which also included stops in New Delhi, Helsinki, Paris, London and several Southeast Asian capitals, reads less like a diplomatic calendar than a world tour – and analysts say that is precisely the point. “Where previous leaders practised a restrained,...

US President Donald Trump’s landmark visit to China comes as the US-Iran war disrupts global energy supplies, fuels economic uncertainty and adds fresh strain to Washington-Beijing ties. In the latest instalment of a series examining how rivalry, interdependence and geopolitical crises are reshaping the relationship between the two powers, we explore the massive upswing in capital expenditures across Asia that is driving a broad shift in economic power. When US President Donald Trump made his...

What comes to mind when you think of China, Japan and South Korea? This was a question posed in a second-year sociology seminar during my time at Bristol, and it has stayed with me ever since. We were split into three groups and given 10 minutes to create posters capturing our immediate associations. Japan came first. Sketches of anime, sushi platters and temples appeared. My classmates spoke with enthusiasm, drawing on travel memories or aspirations to visit. A country that, less than a century...

Thirty-four European states plus Australia, Costa Rica and the EU said on Friday they would join a future special tribunal for Ukraine to prosecute Russia over its invasion of the country. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an accord with the Council of Europe last year to create a legal body to prosecute the “crime of aggression” in the invasion Russia launched in February 2022. The Council of Ministers, comprising foreign ministers from the organisation’s 46-member states, in a...

Rescue teams in the Indian Ocean archipelago of the Maldives searched for a second day Friday for the bodies of four missing Italians following the country’s deadliest diving accident, officials said. Italy’s foreign ministry said on Thursday night that five citizens had died while diving, with Maldivian authorities recovering one body. Maldives Minister of Tourism Mohamed Ameen said coastguard officers and security forces were scouring remote seas around where the divers were reported missing...

A widely touted economic hub in the Philippines will involve eight more countries, signalling greater international confidence in the long-term viability of the ambitious project to boost connectivity and trade in a key region. The Luzon Economic Corridor (LEC), a trilateral infrastructure initiative led by the US, Japan, and the Philippines, is set to receive additional support from Canada, Australia, Denmark, France, Italy, South Korea, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Initially envisioned as a...

A Chinese tourist has been barred from returning to Thailand for life after he allegedly kicked and damaged automated passport control gates at Bangkok’s main airport, in a case that comes amid a wider Thai crackdown on foreign visitors accused of disorderly behaviour. The 30-year-old man, identified by Thai media as Zheng Liwei, was accused of damaging two automatic gates at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Wednesday afternoon while trying to pass through passport control for a flight to China. The...

The Philippine Senate has witnessed political coups, scandals and the occasional shouting match. It had never, until this week, seen a sitting senator sprint down its corridors in a muddy olive shirt, knocking aside female investigators like bowling pins, to avoid an international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity. That was Monday. By Wednesday night, gunshots were ringing out in the building that houses the upper chamber of the country’s Congress. “I worked in the Senate for 15 years...

Most readers of foreign news pages this weekend will be assuming that US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing has been dominating everyone’s attention. But across Asia, Trump, with his massive business entourage, was not the only act in town this week. At least two other major sets of meetings should not be overlooked. First, in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hosting foreign ministers from the 10 Brics economies and a growing community...

A new giant dinosaur weighing about 27 tonnes has been unearthed by researchers in Thailand, making it the largest ever found in Southeast Asia. According to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports on Thursday, the 27 metre (88 foot) long plant-eating beast is believed to have meandered through what is now Thailand between 100 and 120 million years ago. It likely weighed at least 10 tonnes more than Dippy the Diplodocus Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, lead researcher “Our dinosaur is big...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling alliance will doubtless try to project a united front this weekend, but two former ministers from his own party are threatening to pull attention back to the fractures inside the reformist camp. Pakatan Harapan (PH), the reformist coalition led by Anwar, holds its first convention in four years in the southern state of Johor on Sunday. That same day, former economy minister Rafizi Ramli and former natural resources and environmental sustainability...

Australia’s trade minister will visit China in an effort to shore up fuel supplies that have run short this year because of bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz during the US–Israeli war in Iran. Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell told a press conference that he would travel to China to meet Commerce Minister Wang Wentao after a stop in Japan on Monday. “Very much the topic of the day will be how do we continue to ensure reliable fuel supplies into this country,” Farrell said,...

South and Southeast Asian nations may emerge as unexpected clean energy beneficiaries after the Green Party of England and Wales made record-breaking gains in recent UK local council elections, according to analysts. The Greens expanded their footprint in the May 7 council elections, capitalising on widespread voter disillusionment with Britain’s two major parties, Labour and Conservative. It was the party’s best-ever performance in a local election. While Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist...

Malaysia will not support any pardon for fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, says Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who described the matter as a “non-issue” for Putrajaya. The prime minister said any decision on a possible pardon application rested entirely with US authorities and was not something Malaysia intended to pursue. “There is no issue. We are not going to consider that. No issue,” he told reporters in Negri Sembilan yesterday when asked about reports surrounding...

Japan’s quest for rare earth self-sufficiency and its drive to decouple from Chinese supply chains have prompted the government to consider building a dedicated deep-sea mining vessel to recover minerals from the Pacific Ocean floor. Local media reported that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s special committee on ocean development will soon present a draft proposal to the Takaichi administration, calling for unspecified project funding. While the initiative will face technological and...

Tensions were already high on Wednesday night in the Philippine Senate, days after lawmakers abruptly ousted its leader and an ex-police chief wanted by the International Criminal Court showed up after six months in hiding. But few could guess at how suddenly terrifying things were going to get. Hours after wanted Senator Ronald dela Rosa had serenaded a group of reporters with the alma mater song of the Philippine Military Academy and declared his right to sanctuary from arrest in the building,...

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is weighing a sharp rise in defence spending as pressure from US President Donald Trump and deteriorating regional security conditions force Tokyo to reassess how much it must do to protect itself. The party is expected to debate raising outlays to as much as 5 per cent of gross domestic product, a level that would bring Japan in line with many Nato member states and mark another major shift for a country that had long kept defence spending close to 1 per...

A doctor was sentenced to 18 months’ jail on Thursday for administering a substance to a woman as part of an aesthetic treatment that killed her. The ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) was administered too quickly and at too high a concentration, causing 31-year-old Lau Li Ting to develop EDTA toxicity, which led to cardiac arrest and death. Dr Chan Bingyi later concealed the fact that he had administered EDTA to the victim from her family, paramedics and doctors, in what the judge said was...

Canada’s proposed free-trade agreement with Asean could help the region expand sectors ranging from mining to manufacturing while advancing Ottawa’s push to reduce its dependence on the US, according to analysts, as both sides seek to accelerate economic diversification. Canadian International Trade Minister Maninder Sidhu confirmed to Bloomberg on Tuesday, during a visit to Manila, that Canada was keen to conclude separate pacts with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the...

In recent years, the Brics grouping has attracted attention as it adds members and positions itself as the voice of the Global South. At a Brics forum held in Beijing last month, officials discussed expanding trade within the grouping. Such initiatives reflect both an impulse to reduce exposure to external shocks linked to the US dollar and a long-term ambition to reshape global finance. These gatherings are as much about signalling intent as delivering substance. Brics wants to be seen as a...

Gautam Adani and his nephew Sagar agreed to pay a total of US$18 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission allegations they made false and misleading representations about Adani Green Energy. Gautam Adani would pay US$6 million and Sagar would pay US$12 million to end the SEC’s November 2024 lawsuit, under the proposed agreement filed in federal court on Thursday, which still needs a judge’s approval. Gautam Adani and Sagar agreed to the “payment of a civil penalty” totalling US$18...

A Philippine senator wanted by the International Criminal Court for an alleged crime against humanity has fled from the Senate, where he sought refuge to evade arrest, officials said on Thursday. Senator Ronald dela Rosa’s exit from the heavily guarded Senate came after volleys of gunshots were fired on Wednesday night by the building’s security personnel during an argument with a government agent, sparking chaos that apparently helped the senator to slip out. President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr made...

A proposed airport on a former US naval base in the Philippines near the entrance to Manila Bay is drawing fresh strategic attention after Washington agreed to fund a feasibility study, a move analysts say fits into US efforts to strengthen logistics, access and interoperability with the country in the South China Sea. Experts said the proposed Sangley Point International Airport in Cavite could become more than a commercial aviation project because of its access to the South China Sea and the...

Samsung Electronics’ biggest labour union is threatening to strike at the height of the global AI chip boom, turning a fight over bonuses into a test of how the industry’s windfall profits should be shared and sparking fears of an economic slowdown in South Korea. The union has warned it will stage an 18-day walkout from May 21 to June 7, raising concerns about production disruptions, customer defections and wider fallout across the global technology supply chain. The dispute comes as demand for...

Former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, known for his unyielding stance, has maintained that he was undaunted by public sentiment throughout his decades-long career, even if his pursuit of Malaysia’s welfare earned him the label of “dictator”. From his ascent to the country’s top political post to his tumultuous relationship with protege turned critic and now Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, Mahathir recounted his political odyssey in a Malaysian documentary chronicling his professional life and...

Fugitive financier Jho Low’s request for a pardon from US President Donald Trump has reopened a central question left by Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal: whether the man alleged to have helped orchestrate one of the world’s biggest financial frauds will ever face trial. Analysts say the request appears unlikely to succeed because Low has never appeared in a US court, stood trial or accepted responsibility – and a pardon cannot erase charges he faces in Malaysia and Singapore. But the attempt has still...