Asia

The leaders of Thailand and Cambodia agreed on Thursday to pursue trust-building measures to advance a fragile ceasefire and establish peace, after rare talks over last year’s deadly fighting between the two neighbours. Troops remain deployed ‌on both sides of their long-disputed 817km (508-mile) border after battles in July and December when skirmishes quickly escalated into air strikes and heavy exchanges of artillery and rockets. The Philippines, which is hosting Asean meetings on the island...

India’s military is exploring alternative energy sources amid surging oil and gas prices caused by supply disruption from the Iran war, a trend that analysts say is set to accelerate among Asian countries heavily dependent on energy imports. According to local media reports, the Indian army plans to get biogas stoves to replace natural gas-fired appliances for cooking. It is also exploring the use of green fuels for army vehicles and administrative work, as well as solar and wind power for...

Two Singapore residents who were on board the hantavirus-hit cruise ship MV Hondius are currently being isolated at the National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID), where they are being tested for the virus. “Their test results are pending. One has a runny nose but is otherwise well, and the other is asymptomatic. The risk to the general public in Singapore is currently low,” the Communicable Diseases Agency (CDA) said on Thursday. CDA said it was notified on Monday and Tuesday that the...

Indonesia’s economy grew 5.6 per cent during the first quarter of 2026, its fastest pace in more than three years, but analysts warn that the coming months will pose significant tests for Southeast Asia’s biggest economy. Statistics body BPS attributed the growth to robust household consumption – which made up 54.36 per cent of gross domestic product and grew by 5.52 per cent year-on-year – and a surge in government spending. Amalia Adininggar Widyasanti, head of BPS and deputy minister for...

AirAsia X co-founder Tony Fernandes said he is preparing to launch a new airline, betting that expanding while the aviation industry’s being roiled by high oil prices will pay off in the future. The new airline will be announced in the next month or two, Fernandes said in a video interview from Montreal late on Wednesday. The low-cost Southeast Asian carrier group is moving some planes for the business it is starting, he said, without providing further details. The expansion would come on the...

Myanmar’s appointment of a close confidant of US President Donald Trump to rebuild ties with Washington could offer the regime a sliver of hope to rebrand itself, even as a breakthrough on major issues, such as American investment in the country’s critical minerals sector, is likely to be limited. Naypyidaw’s Ministry of Information has hired veteran American political lobbyist Roger Stone to boost relations with the Trump administration, according to filings under the US Foreign Agents...

South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Thursday rebutted US President Donald Trump’s assertion that a South Korean-operated vessel was attacked as it was acting on its own without US protection in the Strait of Hormuz – a focal point of the ongoing Iran war. “For several days before the fire broke out, the ship had been anchored in the relevant waters near the United Arab Emirates on the inner side of the Strait of Hormuz,” the ministry said in a statement. The remarks followed an...

Gunmen on motorbikes in India’s West Bengal ambushed and killed a political aide from the ruling Hindu-nationalist party days after it swept state elections, police said on Thursday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won a resounding victory on Monday in the eastern state of more than 100 million people, taking 207 of the 294 assembly seats, for its first-ever state victory in West Bengal. Chandranath Rath, 41, a close aide of West Bengal’s BJP chief Suvendu Adhikari,...

The queues start to form before the lunchtime rush at Phed Mark, a Bangkok kitchen with a pop-up feel that dishes up steaming plateloads of pad kaphrao – a runny fried egg with fiery minced meat over rice – to a clientele of mainly Chinese tourists. Founded by YouTuber Mark Weins, Phed Mark has turned a Thai staple into a must-eat for Chinese visitors, who defy the heat to patiently wait each day on plastic stools for their turn outside the Ekkamai bus terminal. A lot has to do with its...

At a time when Jakarta's foreign policy decisions are particularly consequential and sometimes controversial, public scrutiny of them has strangely diminished.

When Malaysian oil tankers became stranded in the Persian Gulf, Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim phoned a friend.

Despite what the alarming drop in the value of its currency might suggest, Indonesia is not on the brink of an economic crisis.

The 2001 MoU set up a framework for discussions on joint oil and gas exploration in areas of the Gulf of Thailand claimed by both sides.

Malaysian King Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar arrived in Moscow on Thursday for a high-profile visit that comes as Kuala Lumpur looks for alternative oil sources amid a fuel crisis linked to the Iran war. Sultan Ibrahim landed at Vnukovo-2 International Airport at 4.20pm local time on Thursday, according to Malaysian reports, and was received by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrey Rudenko, senior protocol officials and Malaysia’s ambassador to Russia, Cheong Loon Lai. The king is attending Russia’s...

A South Korean appeals court reduced the sentence of former prime minister Han Duck-soo on Thursday by eight years for crimes relating to ex-president Yoon Suk-yeol’s martial law declaration. Yoon’s decree in December 2024 briefly suspended civilian rule and plunged South Korea into chaos, but only lasted around six hours as opposition lawmakers moved quickly to overturn it in a vote. A lower court had sentenced Han in January to a heavier-than-expected jail term of 23 years for engaging in the...

In the weeks leading up to Donald Trump’s second inauguration, conservatives in Japan were delighted and hopeful that his return would usher in robust economic growth, new trade opportunities and a stronger security relationship with Tokyo. Barely 18 months later, many of those same conservatives admit to being shocked at the state of the bilateral relationship and the mounting global uncertainties the US president’s policies have produced. For some of his diehard supporters in Japan, the...

New Zealand is weighing the purchase of advanced warships from Japan or the UK to modernise its ageing fleet and bolster its defence capability. The South Pacific nation, member of the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network alongside Australia, the US, the UK and Canada, is focused on Japanese Mogami-class or the UK’s Type 31 frigates. Discussions are under way with the Royal Australian Navy and the UK’s Royal Navy about the frigate replacement and ongoing service arrangements, Defence Minister...

The request came a day ahead of the 48th ASEAN Summit in Cebu, where the Myanmar conflict will once again be high on the agenda.

North Korea’s UN envoy said his country was not bound by the non-proliferation treaty (NPT) on nuclear weapons and external pressure would not change its status as a nuclear-armed state, official media reported on Thursday. Pyongyang threatened to withdraw from the treaty in 1993 and formally did so in 2003. It has since conducted six nuclear tests – prompting a raft of international sanctions – and is believed to possess dozens of nuclear warheads. Signatories of the NPT have been holding a...

North Korea has removed references to “national reunification” from its constitution and newly defined its territory as land bordering South Korea, a move analysts say may signal Pyongyang’s intent to avoid direct conflict with Seoul. The constitutional overhaul is widely seen as aligning with the North’s evolving stance towards Seoul – shifting away from reunification and towards a more formalised state-to-state relationship. Pyongyang took more than two years to revise the constitution after...

“In an increasingly severe security environment, no single country can now protect its own peace and security alone,” declared Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi last month, signalling a major shift in Tokyo’s defence posture. “Under the new system, we will strategically promote equipment transfers while making even more rigorous and cautious judgments on whether transfers are permissible,” she added, confirming long-running speculation that Tokyo would relax decades-old restrictions on...

An array of economic, political, and security issues are associated with China’s overseas ports.

“We can rely on bunkers, but not on ceasefires.”

Neither China nor Japan wants war. The danger is that each side increasingly believes the other is preparing for one.

A passenger bus collided head-on with a fuel tanker truck on a highway on Indonesia’s Sumatra island on Wednesday, killing at least 16 people and injuring four others, officials said. The crash occurred around midday on the Trans-Sumatra Highway in North Musi Rawas regency of South Sumatra province, when an intercity bus carrying at least 20 people struck a tanker truck travelling in the opposite direction, said Mugono, a local disaster management agency official. Mugono, who uses a single name...

Insights from Rosie Levine.

Many of the people who send fraudulent messages or manage fake investment accounts are victims of human trafficking and forced criminality.

A visit by Vietnam’s leader to India is set to enhance New Delhi’s growing influence with Hanoi while allowing the Southeast Asian country to hedge against China in the event of any escalation in maritime disputes. Vietnamese President To Lam’s trip underscores concerns from both countries of being “overly dependent” on any superpower, according to political analysts. Lam arrived in Delhi on Tuesday for a three-day visit, marking his first trip to India since assuming office. The visit coincides...

The next India-Pakistan crisis will be shaped by compressed timelines, more domestic pressure, weaker external constraints, and the perception that escalation can be controlled.

Beijing will disregard international law when in its own interest, forcing other countries to make difficult decisions about their own compliance.