Asia

Workers’ Party chief Pritam Singh has called for a more modest increase to Singapore’s ministerial salaries, challenging the argument that a higher pay was needed to attract top talent from the private sector. At Thursday’s parliamentary debate on changes to the political salary framework, Singh questioned if the city state’s high earners in the private sector were deterred from politics by lower pay or whether the issue was political responsibilities. He argued that most of the city state’s...

Grab Singapore has apologised after a new promotional series formatted like popular Chinese microdramas raised concerns over personal boundaries and passenger safety in the city state. Titled I Fell In Love With My Grab Driver, the video campaign stars local actress-model Regina Lim as Emily, a widow stretched thin by the demands of her children and mother. The campaign’s trailer, released on Friday, shows Emily meeting Grab driver Henry – played by Singaporean actor-singer Glenn Yong – when he...

Four Chinese nationals, including a woman, claimed trial at the Sessions Court in Balik Pulau, Malaysia’s Penang state, on Thursday to charges of kidnapping a Singaporean man. The accused: Liu Ting Jun, 46; Huang Jin, 39; Wang Hao Yu, 32; and Guan Siqi, 24, pleaded not guilty after the charge was read to them in Mandarin before Sessions Court Judge Ahzal Fariz Ahmad Khairuddin. According to the charge sheet, the four are alleged to have acted jointly to abduct and wrongfully confine 72-year-old...

At least five people were killed and 86 remain missing for after a fire erupted aboard a ferry near a tourist hotspot in the Philippine province of Palawan, the coastguard said on Thursday. The blaze broke out on the MV June Aster on Wednesday evening about 2.2km (1.3 miles) offshore, the coastguard said, adding that five casualties had been brought ashore. Video shared by the coastguard on social media showed the vessel completely engulfed in flames. Hundreds of people, desperate for news about...

The Philippines’ military modernisation road map is set for delays over budget constraints, with critics calling out what they say is President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s “lip service” approach and questioning his commitment to the ambitious project. In 2024, Marcos approved a revised 1.9 trillion Philippine pesos (US$30 billion) plan to acquire newer military assets until 2034, aiming to enhance the capability of the military to project power in parts of the South China Sea that Manila considers...

Russia has rebuffed a strongly worded complaint from Japan about the unveiling of a statue in the city of Khabarovsk depicting a Soviet soldier smashing an imperial-era border marker bearing the emblem of the Japanese emperor, with analysts suggesting the bilateral relations will inevitably remain chilly. The 15-metre granite monument to the Soviet Union’s victory over Japan in 1945 shows a soldier using the butt of his rifle to shatter the border post, identical to the former markers installed...

Indonesia is facing ⁠a surge in emissions from wildfires burning through parched stretches of forest and peatland on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra, with carbon dioxide readings currently the highest in the world, data has shown. Fire emissions from Indonesia from September 1 to September 7 reached 19.7 million metric tons, overtaking Russia this week and making up more than a third of the global total, according to Fire Emissions Watch, a portal developed by the European Union’s Copernicus...

Singapore’s DBS Bank is being sued for an estimated S$1.298 billion (US$1.03 billion) in damages linked to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal, Southeast Asia’s largest lender DBS Group has said. The claimants include the liquidators of four companies: BlackRock Commodities (Global), Platinum Global ‌Luxury Services, Affinity Equity International Partners and TKIL Global Investments. The liquidators confirmed in an emailed statement that they ‌had filed and served a damages claim of more than...

The death toll from measles in Bangladesh topped 1,000 children since March, health officials said on Wednesday, admitting that failures in a vaccination drive could have fuelled the outbreak. The South Asian nation of 170 million has recorded 1,002 deaths and 187,484 infections among children, making this year’s outbreak the country’s deadliest in decades, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). Measles is highly contagious, spreading through coughs and sneezes, and has...

Malaysia’s ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition has doubled down on its pledge to stamp out corruption, as all eyes turn to the country’s Pardons Board, which is reportedly set to discuss the possible release of disgraced former leader Najib Razak at a meeting this week. The Pardons Board, chaired by the country’s king, is expected to meet on Friday to discuss potentially granting Najib clemency from his ongoing jail sentence for corruption linked to the multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal,...

When leaders of the Brics group of emerging economies meet in New Delhi on September 12-13, India will confront an awkward paradox: the grouping has never been bigger or harder to make coherent. What informally began as a four-member bloc comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2006 has expanded into a grouping spanning Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. Its members include major energy exporters, manufacturing powers, emerging economies and countries with sharply different...

A family court has granted a man a personal protection order (PPO) against his wife, who had abused him emotionally or psychologically with text messages about him having sex with his sister. The court found that the sending of fake images and videos of the husband and his sister engaging in sexual acts, generated by artificial intelligence, amounted to family violence. The man had sought the PPO alleging that his wife had inflicted emotional or psychological abuse on him by accusing him of...

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto’s flagship free nutritious meals programme is facing renewed scrutiny after yet another wave of mass food poisoning that affected more than 2,000 students, raising questions about why safeguards on paper fail to translate to food safety on the ground. A series of illnesses were reported in Java, Sumatra, and Sulawesi in the past week. The latest was on Tuesday in Rembang, Central Java, where 200 students of an Islamic school showed symptoms of food poisoning...

Schools in the capital of Indonesia’s South Sumatra province switched to remote learning on Wednesday as worsening haze from forest and peatland fires pushed air pollution to unhealthy levels, adding to disruptions that had already affected more than 1.4 million students across the country, officials said. Indonesia has been plagued by forest and land fires for decades but an intensifying El Nino pattern and a prolonged dry season made the impact of the fires especially dire this year. Toxic...

South Korea is inching closer to a potentially risky military role in the Strait of Hormuz after sending a fact-finding team to the Middle East, with Seoul weighing US pressure to contribute against the threat of Iranian retaliation. The mission underscores the dilemma Seoul faces over supporting a major security ally and avoiding being dragged into a conflict it did not start. Observers argue that any deployment should be delayed, limited and conducted through a broader coalition rather than...

A gunman shot and killed a kindergarten teacher on Wednesday inside a school building in eastern Thailand, where 44 children and three other teachers were evacuated safely, authorities said. The shooting took place around 11am inside a building at the Nongplalai Municipal Kindergarten in Chonburi province, about 150km (93 miles) southeast of the capital Bangkok. All 44 students were unharmed and evacuated along with the other teachers after the shooting, according to the Chonburi provincial...

Dissent voiced in an ongoing inquiry into Australia’s most ambitious nuclear submarine pact has laid bare growing uncertainty over US commitment, amid questions about the clarity of Canberra’s explanation of the Aukus deal to citizens. Under the trilateral security pact between Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States, Canberra will get eight nuclear-powered submarines at an estimated cost of up to A$368 billion (US$266 billion). Three used Virginia-class nuclear submarines will...

Malaysian politicians have slammed a Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) party leader for claiming that those who join the Islamist party would “certainly” go to heaven. Among them, Amanah vice-president Mahfuz Omar, said in a social media post on Tuesday: “PAS’ office is not an immigration counter for the afterlife, where you get a ‘heaven’ stamp upon showing your membership certificate and ballot vote.” During the PAS assembly over the weekend, secretary general Takiyuddin Hassan said party...

Nagoya in central Japan said on Wednesday that it has decided to provide emergency relief across the city where at least 41 people sustained minor injuries after a linear rain band formed, pounding the Tokai region with record rainfall the previous day. Many commuters and students were stranded for the night in Nagoya after transport was paralysed due to the rain. Around 1,600 people had taken shelter at evacuation centres as of 7pm on Tuesday and 200 vehicles had been damaged by the rain as of...

A second pilot has been arrested in the ongoing investigation of a drug trafficking case involving a Malaysia Airlines pilot arrested in Indonesia for allegedly smuggling drugs worth 45 million ringgit (US$11 million). Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) director Commissioner Hussein Omar Khan said the latest arrest was made two days ago and that the suspect was believed to be in charge of handling the proceeds of the drug sales. “He was caught in the Klang Valley area and...

Thai authorities said on Wednesday they are investigating a Bangkok clinic where a Nigerian-born British businessman and influencer underwent a penis enlargement procedure that led to his death. A coroner in London last month ruled that the March 6 death of Igho Ubiribo, 43, in the Thai capital was caused by the hyaluronic acid injection he received hours earlier. The case has reignited debate about medical tourism, with Thailand a leading destination for visitors from abroad seeking healthcare,...

Former Malaysian pilgrimage fund chairman Abdul Azeez Abdul Rahim pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to abusing his position to secure a lucrative corporate post and influence a 193.5 million ringgit (US$47.5 million) investment by the fund. Azeez, 60, a veteran Umno Supreme Council member, is the highest-profile politician to be charged so far in the fallout from a royal inquiry into the state-run savings fund Tabung Haji. Wearing a purple police lock-up uniform and handcuffed as he stood in the...

US President Donald Trump has condemned Australia’s recent moves to clamp down on social media – predominantly run by American tech companies – as “a form of extortion”, hinting at more threats to come. “President Trump has unequivocally warned trading partners against imposing digital services taxes, fines, and other forms of extortion on America’s leading technology sector,” White House economics spokesman Kush Desai said on Tuesday night, as reported by news.com.au. “The administration...

The police have identified and interviewed five people over online comments relating to the Nepal floods and discussions surrounding Singapore Airlines’ (SIA) investment in Air India. Senior Minister K Shanmugam said on Saturday that the police were looking into “shameful” racist and xenophobic online comments about the Nepal-Tibet disaster and SIA’s investment in Air India. In response to media queries, the police on Wednesday confirmed they received police reports and are investigating certain...

Five people, including medical ⁠staff, died after a “flying ⁠doctor” service helicopter crashed in Malaysia on Tuesday, authorities and state news agency reports said, as haze from wildfires complicated search efforts. Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad in a statement ‌said initial information showed a pilot and four ministry staff were aboard the chopper that crashed near Sarawak state’s Long Lellang short take-off and landing airport. Among them were a medical officer, an assistant medical...

By 2045, Japan’s Self-Defence Forces (SDF) could shrink to 130,000 personnel – nearly half today’s strength. But Tokyo has already ruled out one think tank’s controversial fix: recruiting foreign nationals. The proposal formed part of a report written by a panel of senior former defence bureaucrats and military chiefs, released by the Sasakawa Peace Foundation on September 2. It attracted widespread comment, both supportive and critical, before Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi made the...

A 22-year-old man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to teaming up with friends to steal nearly a quarter-billion dollars in bitcoin from a Washington resident – one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in US history – and then embarking on a wild spending spree with the laundered proceeds. Malone Lam, an eighth-grade dropout who came to the US from Singapore, faces a maximum prison sentence of 20 years after pleading guilty to a federal racketeering conspiracy charge. US District Judge Colleen...

Singapore remains open to considering chemical castration as a measure to tackle sex crimes if there is clear evidence that it is effective in reducing crime, Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam has said. However, the evidence so far was inconclusive, he said in a written parliamentary reply on Tuesday. “We remain open to considering measures including pharmacological anti-androgen treatments, also known as chemical castrations, if it is clear that such measures are effective in bringing down...

South Korea said on Tuesday it had sent a fact-finding team to assess the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, stressing no decision had been made about potential troop deployment to the strategic waterway. Traffic through the vital shipping route has been virtually paralysed since the US-Iran war began on February 28, disrupting global energy markets. The South Korean defence ministry said it had “dispatched a fact-finding team to assess conditions on the ground in the Strait of Hormuz”. “The...

Thai authorities arrested 12 South Koreans and a Chinese national accused of running a scam call centre from a high-end rented house south of Bangkok, police said on Tuesday. The alleged scammers “entered Thailand from a neighbouring country and were hiding in Samut Prakan province, renting a luxury house”, Thai police said in a statement, without naming the country. Cambodia and Myanmar, which border Thailand, have become hubs for criminal groups operating fake romance, investment and other...