Asia

The election may change the political setting in which India-Israel relations operate, but it is unlikely to erase the interests and institutional links that sustain them.

Discussions highlight the training challenges posed by Japan’s expanding arsenal and opportunities for closer defense cooperation with New Delhi.

In much of the world, Chinese firms introduced local consumers to Japanese aesthetics. Now, they are ready to sell Japanese culture back to Japan itself. 

Singapore’s ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) has retained its core executive team in what is seen as a cautious approach despite pledges of renewal, with observers pointing to ministerial promotions as a better indication of leadership plans. The PAP emerged from an internal election on Sunday with an unchanged slate for the Central Executive Committee (CEC), its highest decision-making body, as rising ministers Jeffrey Siow and Jasmin Lau failed to secure seats, though four remaining co-opted...

The myth of the ASEAN FTA as a bad deal is costing India diplomatically.

Indonesia and Singapore are looking to set up a joint task force to deal with haze from Indonesia’s wildfires, the countries’ foreign ministers said on Tuesday, as they met to reaffirm their ties after weeks of simmering tensions. The visit to Jakarta by Singapore Foreign Minister ‌Vivian Balakrishnan came amid mounting frustrations in the city state over the transboundary haze generated by Indonesia’s most intense forest fires in 11 years. After a two-hour meeting, Singapore and Indonesia’s top...

Lomé’s maritime ambitions, deepening ties with Beijing, and growing coordination with the AES could reshape West Africa’s trade and geopolitical architecture

A 50-million-peso (US$780,000) bounty for information leading to the arrest of fugitive Philippine senator Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa has raised questions over the Marcos administration’s ability to enforce the law against high-profile political figures, with analysts warning the move risks making Manila appear weak and reactive. Dela Rosa, who served as national police chief under former president Rodrigo Duterte, faces an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for alleged crimes...

Under pressure from ARSA and the Myanmar military, the AA is looking to simply move vulnerable villagers to new locations.

A court in India has ordered the ⁠takedown of an online documentary posted by Hotmail co-founder Sabeer Bhatia accusing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and billionaire Gautam Adani of cronyism, after Adani Enterprises sued, calling it defamatory. Adani’s flagship firm, Adani Enterprises, told the High Court in the eastern city of Kolkata that the documentary, which garnered millions of views on social media in recent days, was riddled with false content and had prompted ‌inquiries from some...

Indonesia could gain critical defence technology, investment and export opportunities through a new multi-nation defence pact with Turkey, Qatar and Pakistan, but analysts warn its success hinges on turning high-level ambition into concrete projects. The four Muslim-majority nations signed the Badr Memorandum of Understanding in Doha on Wednesday. The agreement outlines a framework for defence “cooperation and integration” across joint research and development, training exchanges and industrial...

The collision of two Philippine Air Force training aircraft that killed four pilots has raised questions about whether the service’s training, maintenance and safety systems can keep pace with Manila’s ambitions to acquire more advanced combat aircraft. The crash, which occurred during a fly-by rehearsal at Fernando Air Base in Lipa City, Batangas province, south of Manila, on Friday has renewed calls for a comprehensive review of the Air Force’s ageing fleet, pilot instruction, maintenance...

South Korea’s embrace of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs appears particularly pronounced among younger adults, with roughly one in six Gen Z respondents reporting they had used or been prescribed the medication in 2025, according to a new report. The 2026 Korea Wellness Report, released by KB Financial Group on Sunday and cited by The Korea Times, surveyed 2,000 men and women aged 25 to 69 between July and August. Across all age brackets, the overall uptake stood at 10.3 per cent. Gen Z adults – defined...

A bus fitted out ⁠with oxygen tanks is ⁠providing a sanctuary in a ⁠city on Indonesia’s Borneo island, where people are choking from forest-fire-induced haze and the blazes show no sign of letting up. Indonesia regularly battles seasonal forest fires, predominantly on Sumatra and Borneo islands, but this year the infernos are the most intense in ‌more than a decade. An intense El Nino weather phenomenon has driven up temperatures, leaving the country’s vast forests and peatlands more vulnerable...

South Korea’s President Lee Jae Myung has been urged by critics to play the latest instalment in the blockbuster Call of Duty video game franchise to better appreciate the need for defences against an invasion by the North. The call from opposition lawmakers follows the release on Friday of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, a first-person shooter depicting a full-scale surprise attack by North Korea on the South. Players fight North Korean troops as Park Hyun-jun, a private in the South Korean...

Sources say Vientiane is poised to replace Phnom Penh as China’s spoiler in ASEAN.

As the sun sets over Fiji’s tiny Serua Island, its climate-threatened inhabitants soak in one of the reasons they have rejected attempts to relocate their village – the “US$100 million views”. The island looks like a utopia from the mainland, two steep palm-covered knolls sandwiching its low-lying centre, flanked by coral reefs and rich fishing grounds. But it is on the island itself that the risk from rising seas becomes clearer, with a concrete sea wall providing the only defence against waves...

More than one in 10 Malaysian men have borrowed money to pay for dates, while nearly six in 10 usually pick up the entire bill, a survey has found. The findings come as rising living costs place a financial strain on romance in Malaysia, where money worries are increasingly complicating plans for marriage and starting a family. According to the Dating Expenditure Survey in Malaysia, released on Tuesday by independent policy research firm LEGASI Research, 13.2 per cent of male respondents...

Given international developments, geopolitical rivalries, and the expertise needed to develop a logistics center, finding a replacement investor will be difficult.

The estranged half-brother of Meghan Markle, Duchess of Sussex, has called their father a “disgusting monster” after handing over a trove of alleged child abuse material belonging to their shared parent to police in the Philippines. The four boxes containing mobile phones, computer equipment and other personal belongings were handed over to the Philippine National Police’s Women and Children Protection Centre last week by Thomas Markle Jnr, who was previously his father’s full-time carer. Markle...

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing. 1. Filipinos split on Marcos’ sea handling amid row over Chinese envoy’s remarks Filipinos are almost evenly divided over the Marcos administration’s handling of the maritime dispute with China, even as nearly three in four favour diplomacy over confrontation, according to...

The global index provider MSCI has threatened to downgrade the country to "standalone market" status, potentially triggering billions of dollars in capital outflows.

South Korean medical drama Doctor X: Mafia in White has become the latest target of political controversy over how fictional works portray history, after a National Assembly petition demanded a halt to its airing over its depiction of the 1980 Gwangju Uprising. The petition, posted on Saturday on the National Assembly’s petition website, calls for a review of the drama’s production and a halt to its broadcast. It has gathered the 100 supporters required to be made public. The petitioner said...

Unlike most of its ASEAN counterparts, Malaysia can look forward to strong growth, increased state revenue, and shrinking deficits in 2027.

A Myanmar citizen living in Denmark on Monday filed a complaint with Danish authorities against the country’s ruling military junta for alleged war crimes committed against minorities. The complainant, Ngun Siang Dim, who is from the Chin minority, claims she saw 40 houses burn down in her village in Chin State, in western Myanmar, and that several members of her family and friends were killed or left permanently disabled by landmines laid by the junta. The military junta “has done so many...

A decision by Turkey, Pakistan, Qatar and Indonesia to jointly develop and produce weapons systems marks a major push to reduce reliance on Western armaments that come with political strings attached, observers say. Following the signing of the Badr memorandum of understanding in Doha on Wednesday, the four governments separately said they would work towards integrating their defence industries and supply chains to meet military needs. “By leveraging the capabilities of each country in the field...

The Pentagon has assigned the USS Colorado as the first US nuclear-powered attack submarine to join a rotating force to be based in Western Australia. The 115-metre (380-foot) Virginia-class submarine, armed with land-attack missiles and sophisticated torpedoes, would sail to the new Australian base in late 2027, officials said on Tuesday. The deployment was a “significant milestone” in building up a joint US-Australia-UK deterrence in the Pacific under their Aukus defence pact, the allies said...

In parts of Southeast Asia, unsold homes are piling up as developers struggle to clear housing stock – yet young buyers hoping to land their first property still cannot find an affordable home. The paradox reflects a growing mismatch between the homes being built and what aspiring buyers can afford, according to analysts, who point to speculative investment, financing hurdles and poor locations as factors leaving properties empty even amid demand for affordable housing. In Vietnam, the problem...

Dili will seek to "ensure that ASEAN’s principles work together in support of peace and the well-being of its peoples," says the country's vice minister for ASEAN affairs.

Over the past few years, the country’s military has received hundreds of thousands of barrels of aviation fuel from Iran’s large tanker “shadow fleet.”