Asia

Pakistan and Bangladesh are entering the latest phase of the US-Iran conflict with thinner cushions than many Asian economies, raising the risk that another oil shock could quickly spill into higher food, transport and electricity costs for millions of people, analysts have said. Both economies rely heavily on imported fuel, leaving them particularly vulnerable to any prolonged spike in oil and diesel prices. Jamus Lim, an associate professor of economics at ESSEC Business School Asia-Pacific,...

Malaysia’s shift towards an older society is accelerating, as children make up a shrinking share of the population and older people a growing one, raising difficult questions over who will work, pay taxes and provide care in the decades ahead. Children aged 14 and below made up 21.2 per cent of the population in 2026, down from 21.6 per cent a year earlier, according to official figures released by the Department of Statistics Malaysia (DOSM) on Friday. People aged 65 and above rose from 8 per...

Singaporean Jo Teoh has spent over three decades waking up to birdsong, the rustle of leaves as macaques jump through trees, and the lingering smell of damp earth. Much of her time living in the western estate of Sunset Way revolves around the adjacent forest, where she and her family watch hornbills glide over the canopy. “The neighbourhood lives with the forest,” said the media producer, 68. “It has shaped the character of our home and community.” But the chirps and faint crickets may soon...

Singapore announced on Friday it took possession of 38 Oxley Road, the former home of its founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew, and would study how it could be developed into a public space, ending years of public debate over what to do with the property amid a family feud among the late leader’s children. In the interim, necessary maintenance works would be carried out as required, and there would be no public access to the site, the Singapore Land Authority (SLA) and the National Heritage...

A powerful earthquake that struck southern Japan this week has exposed the vulnerability of the country’s manufacturing supply chains, a decade after a devastating quake in the same region triggered widespread industry disruption. Tuesday’s 7.1-magnitude quake claimed at least 34 lives, ruptured roads and cut off utilities to thousands of households. It also brought factories to a halt in an area critical to Japan’s auto industry and known as well as the country’s “Silicon Valley” due to its...

A Malaysian pilot who tested positive for meth, MDMA, and cocaine after flying a passenger plane to Indonesia risked the death penalty for allegedly smuggling more than 70,000 Ecstasy tablets in his suitcase, officials said on Friday. The 39-year-old pilot, identified only by his initials, MSO, was arrested on Wednesday at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport shortly after arriving from Kuala Lumpur. The airport customs office did not say which carrier the pilot worked for, but the...

Singapore’s Senior Minister K. Shanmugam and Minister for Trade and Industry (Energy and Industry) Tan See Leng have each been awarded S$145,000 (US$113,000) in legal costs following their successful defamation suit against Bloomberg and its journalist. A court earlier this month ruled that a December 2024 Bloomberg article on Good Class Bungalow (GCB) transactions had defamed the ministers. Bloomberg and its reporter, Low De Wei, were ordered to pay S$230,000 in damages to each...

An apparent communication breakdown between US and South Korean militaries led South Korean troops to train their weapons on an American drone launched during a joint exercise on Thursday, triggering an evacuation alert near the inter-Korean border. The incident highlights the need for a comprehensive review of the allies’ command-and-control coordination, operational procedures, air defence capabilities and troop training, according to military experts. The near-friendly-fire episode was...

The police and the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) have opened investigations after British trip-hop band Massive Attack expressed support for the Palestinians at their concert in Singapore on Wednesday. “Police confirm that reports were lodged and investigations are ongoing,” the police and IMDA said on Thursday. “IMDA is also investigating a possible breach of licence conditions.” The band shouted “Free Palestine” during their performance at The Star Performing Arts Centre,...

Singapore fashion retailer Love, Bonito said that some customers’ personal data may have been exposed after a security vulnerability on its website allowed unauthorised access to account information. In an email to customers on Thursday, CEO Dione Song said the company identified the vulnerability on Sunday and resolved it on the same day. Based on its investigations, the data that may have been affected includes customers’ names, dates of birth, email addresses, shipping addresses, phone...

Search-and-rescue teams have recovered four bodies near the site of an avalanche that left 10 climbers missing in northern Pakistan, police said on Friday. “Preliminary reports indicate that four bodies have so far been recovered,” Gilgit-Baltistan region’s police spokesperson said in a statement on Facebook, adding that the condition of the remaining climbers was still being verified. A search operation ended for the day and would resume on Saturday, police said. Ten international mountaineers,...

China has won approval for domestically developed surgical robots to be used in Vietnamese hospitals, marking a major step forward as the country’s high-end medical equipment makers push to challenge Western dominance overseas. The Chinese-made surgical robots had been registered and installed at several leading medical facilities in the Southeast Asian nation, according to China’s National Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA). The two countries would also deepen cooperation in robotic...

Malaysian police are investigating three reports of alleged vote-buying ahead of Saturday’s Negeri Sembilan state election. Negeri Sembilan police chief Deputy Comm Datuk Alzafny Ahmad said on Friday two reports had been lodged in Seremban and one in Port Dickson. The first involved a 69-year-old man from Sikamat, who claimed a group of men handed him 300 ringgit (US$74) in cash to vote for a particular candidate. “The men, who arrived in a car, allegedly gave him the money in an envelope before...

Japan and South Korea’s prominent roles in this year’s US-led Rim of the Pacific (Rimpac) military exercises have fuelled speculation over whether the two neighbours might set aside their historical grievances and deepen defence cooperation. Held in waters off Hawaii, this year’s Rimpac is the world’s largest maritime exercise, involving 30 nations, more than 30,000 troops and an armada of aircraft, surface ships and submarines. Running from June 24 to July 31, the exercise saw South Korean Rear...

Russia used a North Korean missile for a strike on a village that killed five members of the same family, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday, in what would be the first time such a weapon has been fired in the ‌war in nearly a year. Russia has launched North Korean missiles at Ukrainian targets before, but their first deployment since August points to a fresh stock of weapons that Moscow can draw on as it steps up missile attacks, a military source said. Russia pounded...

Hongkong Land will acquire Singapore’s Wheelock Place for about S$1.1 billion (US$900 million) through its Singapore Central Private Real Estate Fund (SCPREF), marking the fund’s first acquisition since its launch in February. The mixed-use commercial property on Orchard Road is being acquired from an entity owned by Hong Kong-listed Wharf Real Estate Investment Company, according to a statement released by Hongkong Land on Thursday. The transaction is expected to conclude by the end of...

India’s invitation to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to attend a Brics summit in New Delhi in September is being seen as a chance to repair ties after one of the most turbulent periods in relations between the neighbours in years. If Rahman accepts, he will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly for the first time since becoming Bangladesh’s leader after elections in February. Brics is an association of leading emerging national economies whose members include Brazil,...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has seized on the release of a long-delayed inquiry into the country’s Islamic pilgrimage fund to revive his anti-corruption message just days before the state of Negeri Sembilan holds an election. The move is seen as a calculated bid by Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to turn a governance issue against state rival Umno, although observers are divided on whether it would be damaging enough to hurt Malaysia’s oldest Malay nationalist party. Anwar’s...

Japan’s Aeon Mall Kumamoto was rebuilt to withstand earthquakes after it was damaged in strong quakes in April 2016. Its June reopening was meant to be a fresh start, the gleaming building a symbol of rebirth for the mall and residents of Kashima town. Then Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake shook this new-found confidence. “When this quake hit, I immediately knew the epicentre was close,” 30-year-old Nishiyama told Agence France-Presse. “I didn’t think this was going to happen here again.” Two...

Malaysia’s claim that Myanmar has agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya has raised hopes of easing pressure on its strained refugee system, but has also alarmed activists over the risks of returning members of the persecuted minority group to a country still engulfed by conflict. Rights groups insist any movement of refugees into Myanmar – where the military is fighting multiple conflicts and most Rohingya are denied citizenship – must be voluntary and backed by guarantees of safety, legal status...

For Singaporeans who grew up stirring Marmite into hot water, spreading it on toast or eating it in local dishes, the famously divisive yeast extract is easy to love, but now it is much harder to buy. Unilever International, the Singapore distributor of Marmite, has stopped supplying the spread locally, according to CNA, sending prices of the thick, dark yeast extract soaring to more than seven times its usual retail price on some online platforms. “We understand several consumers are...

India’s West Bengal state will bring back eggs to free school meals after a backlash against a decision by its Hindu nationalist government to replace them with vegetarian alternatives, officials have said. The reversal follows criticism from teachers, nutritionists and parents who argued that removing eggs from school lunches could deprive children from poor families of a key source of protein. The issue erupted last month after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, elected for the first...

East Timor has become the unlikely venue for a war crimes case against Myanmar’s military leadership, as proceedings advance in Dili’s courts and test Asean’s uneasy approach to the junta. Brought by the Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO), the case is expected to shed light on whether a small nation with its own history of occupation and atrocity can use its courts to examine grave allegations against a fellow Asean member’s military rulers. It lands at an awkward moment for the Association...

The 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck southern Japan toppled houses and split open streets in the small city of Yatsushiro, but town official Akio Matsushita is most worried about the invisible threats from the lack of water and power amid the punishing summer heat. Many of the port city’s roughly 58,000 households were still without running water or power on Thursday, ‌two days since the quake hit Kumamoto prefecture, killing at least 25 people. Matsushita, who is helping lead relief...

A French teenager who posted a video of himself licking a straw and returning it to an iJooz vending machine in Singapore was fined S$600 (US$465) for public nuisance on Thursday. The clip had gone viral after someone in his Instagram circle recorded it and forwarded the footage to a media outlet, the defence said. Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 19, pleaded guilty to one count of public nuisance, with a second charge of mischief taken into consideration. On March 12, Maximilien attended a...

Malaysia is stepping up scrutiny of foreign-run businesses amid concerns from local operators over competition from China. The government wants to retain Chinese investment, technology and affordable consumer goods, while assuring local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that foreign competitors are not subject to different rules. Former trade and investment minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, now chairman of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, said government social media analysis had...

Singtel, Singapore’s largest telecommunications company, confirmed on Thursday that it was in discussions with multiple parties over a potential stake sale ‌in its Australian telecoms unit Optus, but said there was no certainty the talks would result in a deal. Optus has been owned by ⁠Singtel since 2001. The company did not say which parties it is speaking with. In May, Singtel said it was ‌open ‌to bringing in an Australian minority partner ‌for Optus while reaffirming its commitment to ⁠the...

Asean’s optimism in concluding a long-awaited code of conduct (COC) for the South China Sea by year’s end is not shared by observers, who point to major differences of opinion between Beijing and the Philippines especially. Analysts say any eventual consensus on a code is likely to be broad and symbolic, noting the importance of keeping dialogue flowing even as “negotiation fatigue” sets in. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China were making “good progress” in negotiations,...

Hwaseong, South Korea, past midnight. An engineer watches a defect pattern surface on her screen – the kind that, caught now, saves a week of wafers. She is locked in, fully absorbed, the way engineers get when a breakthrough is close. But she has to go home. The law says so. Yet something is disrupting the clock she races against. Artificial intelligence is quietly rewriting what her hours are worth. On June 29, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung stood alongside the leaders of Samsung...

Global K-pop sensation BTS said on Wednesday they will not submit their music for next year’s Grammy Awards, following the Recording Academy’s introduction of new categories that include the Best Asian Pop Music Performance. The South Korean megastars had been widely tipped to be in the running for several of the Grammys’ top honours, including Album of the Year, after their comeback album, Arirang, became one of this year’s bestselling hits. “We have decided not to enter the Grammys this year,”...