Asia

Two men died and more than a dozen others were injured Saturday when floats overturned during annual festivals in Osaka Prefecture. In Izumisano, a 51-year-old man became trapped beneath a float that overturned while he was riding it with other participants, police said. He was later pronounced dead at a hospital, while seven others were injured. A float at a different event in Izumiotsu also toppled, killing a 48-year-old man who was among those trapped underneath, according to the prefectural...

Chinese investors could face significant disruption if Indonesia imposes a moratorium on new nickel smelters to curb global overproduction and protect local industries across its vast minerals sector, analysts said. Indonesia was weighing a halt to the construction of smelters that produce semi-finished nickel products amid a global supply glut that had driven down commodity prices, state news agency Antara reported, citing energy and mineral resources minister Bahlil Lahadalia. Semi-finished...

As dawn breaks on Mataking Island off Sabah’s east coast, a tiny green turtle crawls across the sand, driven by instinct towards the surf before disappearing into the ocean on a journey that could cover thousands of kilometres. Where it goes is impossible to know, but with a huge dose of luck on its epic travels, it may return to the same Malaysian beach decades later to lay eggs of its own. The hatchling is one of tens of thousands that emerge from Sabah’s beaches each year, as the species...

Thirty-eight people suffered minor injuries on Saturday when part of a ceiling collapsed at a building in South Korea’s southeastern city of Daegu, fire authorities said. According to local authorities and fire officials, the incident occurred at around 10.16am on the second floor of a four-storey building in Gwaneum-dong. At the time, a vendor was selling kitchenware and other goods to elderly customers when a section of the ceiling’s finishing material fell down. All 66 people inside evacuated...

Dressed in his trademark white shirt and traditional Sundanese headcloth, West Java Governor Dedi Mulyadi stood near the barren slopes of Mount Wayang. Announcing a new initiative to pay hundreds of local farmers to replant its forests and shield the region from flooding, he delivered a line perfectly pitched for the cameras tracking his every step. “I am a leader who does not want obedience caused by poverty,” he declared on September 26. “I want obedience caused by prosperity.” It is this...

Australia has no need to buy fuel from Russia and said that purchases from there would remain barred so that the country did not benefit from the invasion of Ukraine. “We don’t need or want Russian fuel in Australia,” Chris Bowen, Australia’s minister for climate change and energy, said on Saturday at a press conference in western Sydney. “We do not want Vladimir Putin to benefit from this war in the Middle East. What the United States does is a matter for them, but we won’t be changing our...

Growing up in a Malay family in Singapore, Hafeez Hassan feared dogs. He never expected to mourn one like a sibling. “Maybe that is what I have been grieving all along … The experience of loving something that I was taught I was not supposed to love,” he said. Even as an adult, walking his former partner’s husky Pieces in public made Hafeez anxious that a relative might see him, or that he might be judged for being close to an animal whose saliva and waste are regarded as ritually impure by many...

Malaysia is facing renewed pressure to clamp down on its companies over their alleged links to forest fires abroad, as recurring haze from Indonesia continues to disrupt schools and daily life despite years of regional efforts to tackle the problem. On Thursday, Malaysia ordered schools to close across several states, including Johor, Malacca, Negeri Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and the Rompin district in Pahang, while sporting events scheduled for the weekend were cancelled. The latest...

A craft beer producer in central Japan is hoping that its U-shaped “wobbly” glass will encourage people to drink water along with their beer, in a bid to prevent excessive alcohol consumption and dehydration. The “Wobbly Beer Glass by Yona Yona Ale”, produced by Yoho Brewing based in Nagano prefecture, has been on sale since August amid growing awareness of the need for responsible drinking. The idea is that the glass, divided into two sections, will tilt if a balance between beer and water is...

Police detained more than 2,000 protesters and the founder of the “cockroach” youth movement in Delhi on Saturday as security forces locked down parts of the capital to thwart a demonstration demanding the resignation of India’s election chief. Thousands of police and paramilitary personnel were deployed across the city, mobile internet services were suspended in the central business district, and dozens of metro stations and markets were shut as authorities moved to stop a rally organised by...

Kurt Campbell is a veteran US diplomat and strategist who has played a leading role in shaping Washington’s approach to China and the Indo-Pacific for more than a decade. He served as the White House coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs from 2021 to 2024 and as US deputy secretary of state from 2024 to 2025. Previously, he served as assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2009 to 2013 and was a key architect of the Obama administration’s “pivot to Asia”. Often...

Indonesia officially barred under-16s from using “high-risk” social media earlier this year. But that hasn’t stopped the son of one Jakarta-based writer from using it. Aged 14, he already had accounts on Instagram and TikTok – among the platforms Jakarta said children would be banned from using – as well as popular video game Minecraft and gaming platform Roblox. To register, he simply lied about his age. “He can access everything,” Inne Abidin said of her son. “His friends use everything...

Elon Musk’s accusation that powerful Indian business interests are blocking Starlink’s entry into India has sparked a political row, but analysts say the dispute also highlights security concerns, regulatory hurdles and strategic calculations shaping the satellite service’s expansion across Asia. In a post on social media, Musk said Starlink was licensed in more than 165 countries and had spent five years complying with Indian laws and regulations. “So why still no licence? Is Ambani the real...

Malaysia plans to spend 460 billion ringgit (US$112.6 billion) under its 2027 budget, expanding welfare assistance and tax relief while retaining fuel subsidies as households contend with higher living costs. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who is also finance minister, presented the spending plan in parliament on Friday as his government faces pressure for an early election following a series of state poll defeats. Anwar said the budget should be judged on “whether more people can live with...

The Philippines is developing a national road map to combat child labour as part of a broader push across Southeast Asia, where poverty and insecure livelihoods continue to drive children into work despite government efforts to stamp out the practice. But analysts warn that policy commitments alone will not be enough without stronger support for vulnerable families, better access to education and more effective enforcement of child protection laws. On September 23 and 24, government officials,...

As Russian President Vladimir Putin watched the final stage of the massive Tsentr-2026 military exercise in the Urals recently, Chinese troops were training alongside forces from Russia, Belarus and other countries. More than 47,000 military personnel joined the exercise, which incorporated lessons from the war in Ukraine. The symbolism extends beyond Chelyabinsk. From Russia’s invasion of Ukraine to Chinese military exercises with Belarus – and now China’s participation alongside Russian and...

Grace often hears other Singapore mothers debating how much private tuition their children need. Some rush to enrol their offspring in multiple classes before they turn five, while others try to resist the pressure to add lessons outside school. She enrolled her two children, now aged four and seven, in Chinese tuition when they were three to give them greater exposure to their ancestral tongue. “Neither of their parents speaks fluent Mandarin at home … I guess there is some degree of pressure...

Malaysia’s government will boost spending on social welfare while maintaining subsidies to rein in the cost of living under its 2027 Budget unveiled on Friday, as Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim seeks to shore up public support while under pressure to call for an early general election. Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) has suffered bruising defeats in a series of state elections since December, as voters expressed disapproval of his administration’s failure to deliver on promises of reforms, which had...

A senior Japanese government spokesperson said it was regrettable that the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office had requested that Dutch authorities extradite International Criminal Court president Tomoko Akane and eight other officials. “Time and again we have conveyed to the Russian side that measures targeting individuals connected to the ICC are unfair and unacceptable. We find it regrettable that the Russian side has nevertheless requested various nations to extradite these individuals,”...

Two years after the Philippines banned its notorious offshore gaming hubs, or Pogos, a recent crackdown on hundreds of foreigners has highlighted a worrying trend of embedded corruption that still enables the sector to thrive. In September, the National Bureau of Investigation raided a call centre-style facility in Makati City, arresting more than 120 Chinese nationals linked to an alleged illegal trading and “lust scam” that tricked local and foreign victims into sharing explicit videos, which...

The Singapore International Film Festival (SGIFF) is standing by its decision to screen South Korean political thriller The Assassin(s) as its opening film, despite calls from South Korea’s conservative opposition People Power Party (PPP) to withdraw it over allegations of historical distortion. The film, directed by Hur Jin-ho and starring Yoo Hae-jin, Park Hae-il and Lee Min-ho, has drawn criticism in South Korea over its fictionalised portrayal of a real-life 1974 assassination attempt on...

A boy and his sister lost their lives in a road accident after they wanted to attend classes despite their school being closed due to the haze in Malaysia’s Johor state. Their elder brother, who took them on his motorcycle to check out the school for themselves, was killed as well. The three siblings – Nordaniel Aiman Norlizan, 18, Nordaniel Fikri Norlizan, 11, and Puteri Naufa Raisha Norlizan, eight – were found by their grandfather, lying motionless at the scene of the accident in...

A decade after the shutdown of Soranet – a sprawling online hub for secretly filmed and non-consensual sexual videos that became a symbol of South Korea’s digital sex-crime crisis – the country is still struggling to stamp out similar networks and copycat sites that have emerged in its wake. Their prevalence reflects the difficulties of deterring such illegal activities, policing the online space and changing societal attitudes towards women. Last month, a man was detained over an alleged...

Educational and cultural exchanges have become a new casualty of rising tensions between the Philippines and China. About 150 Chinese teachers have left the Philippines months after Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr renewed warnings that such people-to-people ties could pose security concerns. Families of volunteer instructors have expressed safety concerns. Beyond disrupting classes and potentially harming tourism in the Philippines, this could further narrow interaction between the two...

South Korea flight-tested on Thursday its first domestically developed hypersonic weapon, designed to fly at least five times the speed of sound and evade missile defence systems, bringing Seoul closer to what it says could be game-changing weapons capabilities. There was no immediate response from North Korea, which last week tested its own hypersonic missile that landed in the waters near Japan. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung attended the test, saying it was a major step in strengthening...

A Philippine bill expanding the country’s espionage law to cover peacetime activities is raising concerns among journalists and legal experts, who warn that its broad provisions could stifle free expression and restrict public scrutiny of national issues. The House of Representatives approved the measure on September 17, paving the way for a broader definition of espionage than under the current law, which dates to 1941 and focuses on wartime spying. The Senate is considering a similar...

A second visit by one of the top US naval officers to India this year has raised expectations that the two countries can insulate their growing military ties from trade tensions. US Admiral Samuel J. Paparo, who leads the US Pacific Command, is scheduled to leave India on Thursday after spending six days meeting with senior Indian defence officials and others. The talks, which follow Paparo’s visit to India in February, come as Washington weighs further tariff pressure on India over its...

The Philippines is “resigned” to managing its long-standing dispute with Beijing in the South China Sea and avoiding dangerous escalations, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr said on Thursday. At the Forbes Global CEO Conference in Singapore, Marcos said: “I don’t know if we can find a resolution to the problem, but we are resigned to just being able to manage the problem, so that we do not have mistakes, we do not have misinterpretations. “My greatest fear is that some seaman, some soldier, just...

South Korea said on Thursday it would recall its ambassador to Ukraine in response to a deepening diplomatic row over the transfer of North Korean prisoners of war to Seoul. The two countries have been at loggerheads since Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky last month disclosed the prisoner transfer, sparking anger in Seoul, which said it had placed their families in North Korea at risk. The recall also comes days after a media report alleged more than 176,000 tonnes of fuel, mostly diesel,...

Fast Retailing, the parent company of Japanese clothing retailer Uniqlo, has defied the ongoing political tensions between Beijing and Tokyo and soft consumer sentiment in China to log a rebound in sales and profits on the Chinese mainland. The Japanese firm said the 2026 financial year, which ended in August, had been a period in which its mainland China business had “made steady progress, with encouraging steps indicating a return to growth”, according to its annual report released on...