Asia

India’s education minister resigned on Saturday, handing a major victory to youth protesters who had demanded he quit ‌to take responsibility for examination paper leaks, and who erupted in celebration on news of his departure. “We have done it,” said Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janta Party that led the protests, to loud cheers at the Jantar Mantar protest site in New Delhi. India’s biggest street protests of recent years have become a political flashpoint, ⁠posing one of the...

Heatwaves come and go, and while this is happening with increasing frequency and intensity – as this year’s record-breaking temperatures show – they slip from attention once things cool off. What does not disappear is the lasting and costly damage they do to the basic infrastructure we rely on in our daily lives. Ultra-hot days and nights can result in the deaths of many people (those who cannot afford air conditioning especially) and they ignite forest infernos of terrifying intensity. Some of...

Ukraine hopes to gain support from Japan as it looks to produce Patriot air defence systems under US licence, citing the expertise of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries that manufactures the interceptors for the Japanese defence forces, according to an aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “We maintain political dialogue” towards seeking cooperation from Japan, which is one of the few countries granted a licence to build the Patriot surface-to-air missile system, Sergiy Kyslytsya, first...

Japan has been establishing dialogue frameworks for artificial intelligence with like-minded countries and Global South partners to reduce reliance on top US and Chinese firms and promote domestic companies abroad. The outreach signals a growing recognition among those countries of the need for cooperation, rather than going it alone, to survive in the increasingly competitive field of AI. At home, Japan is seeking to foster its own domestic AI ecosystem. The move by the United States to...

By day, Adele Lee juggles schedules and administrative work as a personal assistant to a senior director at a financial advisory firm. Three evenings a week, the 32-year-old logs back on, this time to sell second-hand clothes through TikTok livestreams, fielding questions from viewers and packing orders herself after the broadcast ends. The side hustle brings in about S$500 (US$390) a month, supplementing her monthly salary of almost S$4,000. The extra cash helps pay for her insurance premiums...

In an industry built on going global, K-pop’s freshest phenomenon has succeeded by doing the exact opposite: staying home. Rescene, a five-member girl group from little-known agency The Muze Entertainment, debuted in 2024 but largely flew under the radar until recently. Now, they are the talk of the town – chart-toppers, brand ambassadors and a name that is suddenly inescapable across South Korea. No stadium tours preceded their rapid ascent from relative obscurity. No Hybe-scale marketing...

Japan’s tourism boom has packed the streets of Tokyo, Kyoto and Osaka with foreign visitors, but one of the country’s most scenic regions is still struggling to draw them north. Tohoku, the northern region of Japan’s main island of Honshu, comprises Aomori, Iwate, Miyagi, Akita, Yamagata and Fukushima prefectures – an area known for mountains, hot springs, skiing, festivals and a slower rural pace of life. Of the record 42.7 million foreign visitors to Japan last year, just 2.57 million –...

Bali has “aura” and political titan Luhut Pandjaitan wants to channel it to transform Indonesia’s famed resort island into an international financial centre. But President Prabowo Subianto’s special adviser and economic tsar is not relying on subtle nods to Gen Z slang to sell paradise. Instead, he conjures up a striking image to make his case. A friend recently sent him a photograph of kamikaze drones lighting up the skies over Abu Dhabi, accompanied by a plea: help us get out. Indonesia,...

India’s Akasa Air and Malaysia’s AirBorneo are pressing ahead with expansion plans despite soaring jet fuel prices and disruption from the US-Israel war on Iran, in a development analysts say shows smaller Asian carriers finding room to grow while larger airlines grapple with capacity constraints. Akasa Air, India’s youngest airline, said last week that it was seeking to raise 10.5 billion rupees (US$110 million) through equity and debt, including loans from state-run banks, to fund its...

A tornado tore through an industrial site in Batam, Indonesia, ripping roofing from workshop facilities and sending helmeted workers running for cover as weather officials warned that unstable conditions could trigger further sudden storms. The short-lived wind vortex, described locally as a puting beliung, struck VME Process in Tanjung Sengkuang, Batu Ampar, at about 10am on Wednesday, damaging workers’ shelters and scattering construction materials across the site, according to Indonesian...

Southeast Asia’s governments have spent months trying to blunt the effects of war-driven energy shocks from the Middle East, but renewed fighting between the United States and Iran has exposed how limited those defences are, analysts have warned. The latest flare-up has revived fears of a second round of fuel disruption across the region, where many economies remain heavily dependent on imported oil and shipping routes linked to the Gulf. Southeast Asian leaders expressed “grave concern” over...

Malaysia has ordered the UN refugee agency to stop registering new refugees while it builds a biometric identification system that officials say will give them greater control over a population of more than 215,000 displaced people. But rights advocates warn the freeze risks leaving newly arrived asylum seekers with no way to prove they need protection, opening a dangerous gap in a country that does not accord them formal legal status. The cabinet ordered the United Nations High Commissioner for...

Japan’s move to establish a new bureau to boost defence cooperation with allies is part of Tokyo’s wider policy to deepen deterrence against China, analysts say, adding that the internal reform was also long overdue for the government. The new unit will be under the defence ministry to oversee international coordination with like-minded countries, according to government and political sources cited by local media earlier this month. The move is said to be aimed at strengthening the ministry’s...

First, the US-Israeli war on Iran sparked a Diet Coke shortage in India by squeezing supplies of aluminium cans, triggering an unusual wave of “Diet Coke parties” in one of the world’s largest consumer markets. But now, the fizzy drink is getting pricier. Across India, Coca-Cola has hiked prices of ‌Diet Coke – sold predominantly in aluminium cans in the country – by more than 10 per cent due to the ongoing Middle East conflict, which has choked its supply chain. As a result, the company had...

A ⁠South ⁠Korean court ⁠on Friday ordered SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won to pay his former ‌wife Roh Soh-yeong 944 billion won (US$644 million) in a divorce-related property division case, lower than a previous 1.38 trillion won ⁠award that had drawn scrutiny of his stake in the group’s holding company. If finalised, the ruling from the Seoul High Court would be South Korea’s most expensive divorce ever. Chey is worth about US$5.6 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, with his...

Bangladesh President Mohammed Shahabuddin, a former ally of ousted prime minister Sheikh Hasina, will resign on Friday halfway through his term, according to his spokesman. The president’s office is a largely ceremonial post and Shahabuddin is quitting much before the end of his tenure in April 2028. The decision comes after Hasina announced her plan to return in December to surrender following a court conviction. “As a result of his illnesses, it is no longer possible for him to discharge his...

Malaysia’s ambassador to the United States was ⁠summoned by the ⁠US State Department to explain ⁠Kuala Lumpur’s position on Israel, state media reported, citing the country’s foreign minister. Foreign Minister Mohamad Hasan said Ambassador Muhammad Shahrul Ikram Yaakob told the State Department that Malaysia’s long-standing policy of not recognising ‌Israel was not new. “It has always been Malaysia’s policy. Our immigration policy does not recognise the State of Israel or the Zionist regime....

Barely four months into its implementation, South Korea’s new labour-friendly law is coming under growing scrutiny as workers’ demands for bonuses tied to a fixed percentage of corporate profits spread across the country. If left unchecked, critics warn, the revised Trade Union and Labour Relations Adjustment Act – commonly known as the Yellow Envelope Act – could fuel labour disputes, create uncertainty for businesses and threaten an economy that is only beginning to recover. At the heart of...

Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet pledged to step up a crackdown on transnational online scam networks, but warned the criminal syndicates were adapting by fracturing into smaller, decentralised cells across the region. Authorities had already shut down more than 670 illegal scam operations while expanding intelligence sharing with key international law enforcement partners, he said, including during a visit this week with US Federal Bureau of Investigation Director Kash Patel. “We will make...

A potent cocktail of domestic and international political headwinds continues to weigh on the Philippines’ economic recovery, even as inflation eased in June. Economists point to turmoil in the Senate and a recent corruption scandal that rocked the nation as internal shackles holding back an already fragile economy reeling from energy shocks and extreme weather. Dutch financial think tank ING said in a recent report that political uncertainty was compounding the Philippines’ economic pressures,...

Australia said on Friday it would pump an additional US$3.2 billion into building the country’s nuclear-powered submarines, part of a controversial defence pact with the United States and Britain. Under the 2021 Aukus deal, Australia’s most expensive defence project, the country will receive three nuclear-powered submarines from the United States. Australia and Britain will then build a new class of submarine in the 2040s. But the deal has faced scrutiny over whether slow submarine production...

Almost two years after six travellers died and one survivor was left blind from suspected methanol-tainted drinks in Laos, the criminal case is finally moving forward, with charges filed against a distillery owner – as victims’ families continue to demand answers and stern punishment. The distillery owner, whose products are thought to have caused the deaths, was charged last Friday with running an illegal business and selling harmful food products. He faces a jail term of three months to four...

Canada’s decision to join the next-generation Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) as an observer has eased Tokyo’s fears over its fighter jet future, while Germany is also reported to be exploring membership of the project, which already involves Britain, Italy and Japan. The moves could give fresh momentum to GCAP, a programme to develop a next-generation fighter that analysts say Japan sees as critical to replacing its ageing F-2 fleet and avoiding a gap in its air defences. Tokyo has been...

Indian activist Sonam Wangchuk ended a 26-day hunger strike on Friday over leaked medical school entrance exam papers that protesters say enabled cheating, but demonstrations demanding the education minister’s resignation were set to continue in the biggest youth-led challenge to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Youth protesters, led by the self-named Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) movement, demand that Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan resign over the leaks that affected some 2...

A social media post over an unpaid phone bill has triggered a data-protection investigation in Malaysia, after one of the country’s most recognisable influencers questioned how a stranger obtained details from his telecoms account. The episode involving Khairul Amin Kamarulzaman, better known as Khairul Aming, has raised uncomfortable questions for telcos about how tightly they manage customer account information and how quickly private details can be exposed when those controls fail. Khairul...

South Korea has abandoned its campaign prioritising pressure on the North to dismantle its nuclear weapons, a minister said on Thursday, marking a fresh overture by Seoul’s dovish government. President Lee Jae Myung has reversed the stance of his hawkish predecessor since taking power in Seoul in June 2025, offering nuclear-armed Pyongyang talks without preconditions. The hermetic leadership of North Korea has yet to respond to his repeated offers. But in a Thursday meeting with local reporters,...

The elevation of ties between the Philippines and New Zealand to a comprehensive partnership gives both countries a wider framework to deepen cooperation, as Manila expands its network of middle-power partners and Wellington steps up its engagement in Southeast Asia, analysts have said. The upgrade also builds on rapidly tightening defence ties, giving Manila another security partner and New Zealand a stronger foothold in an increasingly contested Indo-Pacific, observers add. New Zealand and the...

Nearly one in three younger Singaporean men either agreed or were neutral when asked if spousal violence could ever be acceptable, according to preliminary survey findings, raising questions about whether more men may not reject the idea of physical abuse in certain circumstances. The findings from the Gender Norms Perceptions Study were conducted by SG Her Empowerment (SHE), a Singaporean NGO, as reported by Channel NewsAsia (CNA) on Thursday. Among men born in 1981 or later – the millennial...

Indonesia’s push to rewrite its copyright law for the age of artificial intelligence has opened a new front in the battle between news publishers seeking compensation for their work and technology companies warning against overreach. At stake is who gets paid when AI systems and digital platforms use news, images, software and other copyrighted works – and how much human involvement is needed before AI-assisted output qualifies for legal protection. Last week, the House of Representatives said...

For the most dramatic change in a benchmark index in financial markets in recent years, look no further than the stock markets of developing economies. Just over a year ago, mainland China and India had a combined weight of 50 per cent in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index. Fast forward to today, and it is South Korea and Taiwan that account for over half of the gauge. At the end of last month, the weight of South Korea in the index stood at nearly 24 per cent, four percentage points more than that...