Asia

A Bangladeshi man who jumped onto the train tracks to shield his baby with his body as a train ran over them has gained kudos but also criticism from social media users after a video went viral. The family had been travelling on the Dhaka-bound Titas commuter train at Bhairab Railway Station, according to a report by Bangladeshi newspaper Daily Sun. When the train, which was delayed by about 1½ hours, pulled into the station at about 3.30pm on Tuesday, the family reportedly failed to get...

North Korean athletes are set to step onto South Korean soil for the first time in eight years, raising hopes that sports could again help ease bilateral tensions even as Pyongyang continues to define Seoul as a hostile state. Naegohyang Women’s FC of North Korea have confirmed their participation in the 2025–2026 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Women’s Champions League (AWCL). “We have been informed by the AFC that Naegohyang Women’s FC have expressed their intention to participate in the...

Malaysia’s Umno is making a heady gamble by planning to strike out on its own, experts say, as the former ruling party looks to rally support from among the country’s Malay-Muslim majority in preparation for national polls that must be called in less than two years from now. Umno President Ahmad Zahid Hamidi on Sunday said the Barisan Nasional (BN) coalition that the party led was “almost certain” of standing alone in the coming general election, after more than three years as a junior partner...

Singapore and New Zealand on Monday signed the world’s first legally binding bilateral agreement to keep essential supplies – including food, fuel, healthcare products and chemical and construction materials – flowing even during crises. The Agreement on Trade in Essential Supplies was signed by Singapore’s Minister-in-charge of Energy, Science and Technology Tan See Leng and New Zealand’s Minister for Trade and Investment Todd McClay at the Singapore-New Zealand Annual Leaders’ Meeting in...

South Korean scientists have identified a potentially promising new pathway for treating ischemic stroke, long considered one of the most difficult challenges in modern medicine. According to the South Korean team, doctors in China are interested in a partnership and learning more about an experimental drug that it has developed to combat the disease. The team’s study, titled “Oxidative stress-induced astrocytic collagen biosynthesis drives glial barrier formation and neuronal death in ischemic...

More than 300 families have been evacuated after massive amounts of ash billowed from the Mayon volcano over the weekend due to the collapse of lava deposits from its slopes, Philippine officials said on Monday. There was no explosive eruption from Mayon, which has been erupting mildly on and off since January, but huge deposits of lava on its southwestern slope suddenly cascaded down in a pyroclastic flow – an avalanche of hot rocks, ash and gas – before nightfall on Saturday, said Teresito...

Select FamilyMart convenience stores in Japan have installed boxes to collect used clothing and household goods for reuse, joining similar initiatives taken by retailers, as a step to reduce waste and attract more customers. In a trial launched jointly with Bookoff Group Holdings, which buys and sells used goods, boxes were installed in around 30 FamilyMart stores in residential areas of Tokyo. Bookoff plans to sell some of the collected items overseas, including to Malaysia. FamilyMart said...

Malaysia’s anti-corruption agency on Monday questioned former economy minister Rafizi Ramli over a billion-ringgit semiconductor deal with British chip designer Arm Holdings, escalating a politically sensitive inquiry that has swept up ministers, senior officials and one of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s most outspoken former allies. Rafizi, the Pandan MP and a former senior figure in Anwar’s reformist People’s Justice Party, arrived at the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission’s (MACC)...

On a quiet March morning at Incheon International Airport, the head of a government agency responsible for administering industrial accident insurance stood before a memorial adorned with flowers and a photo of Nguyen Van Tuan. The 23-year-old Vietnamese worker had died 10 days earlier in a conveyor belt accident at a gravel factory in Icheon, Gyeonggi province. Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service (K-Comwel) President Park Jong-kil bowed deeply, offered flowers and placed his hand on...

AI skills are becoming a clear salary advantage for Singapore’s software engineers, with those who have such capabilities earning up to 25 per cent more than their peers, according to a new salary report by NodeFlair. The Singapore-based tech talent platform said its findings came from more than 230,000 verified data points and showed software engineers with AI expertise commanded a 13 to 25 per cent pay premium across experience levels. That marks a shift from 2024, when rising demand for AI...

Japan’s prime minister is set to arrive in Australia to strengthen ties with one of her country’s strongest allies as she seeks to build on an updated regional strategy laid out in Vietnam. Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is scheduled to touch down late on Sunday local time in Canberra for the three-day visit, which will focus on defence, critical minerals and broader economic security. The two countries have grown increasingly concerned about the changing security and economic environment in the...

A woman carrying a knife has been arrested after being tackled by the crowd during the Rain Rave Water Music Festival in Kuala Lumpur on Saturday night. In a viral video, a man can be seen attempting to disarm the woman. Several others from the crowd, along with security personnel, then joined in to restrain her until the police arrived. She was seen being arrested shortly after. Kuala Lumpur police chief Fadil Marsus reportedly confirmed the arrest of the 28-year-old woman for possession of a...

Astronomers in Japan have recently launched what they say is the country’s first organisation dedicated to the search for alien life, with radio observations planned in the summer next year. “They must exist somewhere in the universe. I’m excited to be putting this into action,” said Shinya Narusawa, an astrophysical expert at the University of Hyogo and head of the Japanese Society for SETI – the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Narusawa, a 61-year-old leading expert in the SETI field,...

Across Bangkok, aromas of garlic, chilli and grilled meat drift from roadside stalls and carts, but tighter controls on vendors threaten livelihoods and the street food culture that defines the Thai capital. Convenient, full of flavour and popular among locals and tourists alike, Bangkok’s street food is one of the city’s signatures, where sizzling woks and smoky charcoal grills turn boulevards and pavements into open-air kitchens from morning until late at night. But many street sellers in the...

Rising youth suicides in Manila, fuelled by emotional distress and digital triggers, have spurred calls to expand support for vulnerable Filipinos, as the deeply religious country begins to confront mental health more openly. In 2018, Macy Castaneda Lee, a 16-year-old Manila high school student, thought about ending it all after grappling with past trauma, including childhood molestation. Now a journalist and founder of the mental health advocacy group Talang Dalisay, Lee has turned that ordeal...

In India, cuddly and colourful animals are paraded across Instagram, Facebook and YouTube channels, where free advice is shared on how to raise a lemur – or what to feed an iguana – in congested megacities far from forest habitats. Cuteness has become a commodity in Asia’s social media world, with Thailand’s main airport emerging as a reluctant hub for wild animal smuggling. On Wednesday, a 19-year-old passenger bound for Taipei tried to evade security at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport with...

Japan and China are Asian powerhouses that should collaborate responsibly for the peace and prosperity of the region. However, bilateral relations have experienced ups and downs since the start of the century and are now at their lowest point after normalisation in 1972. A major cause of this is the widening perception and information gap between the two nations that needs to be addressed through direct people-to-people contact. Some, perhaps many, misunderstand that Japan and China are always...

When Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto recently visited Seoul for a state visit, one of the most memorable moments was a photo that he took with a 19-year-old Indonesian K-pop idol. Nyoman Ayu Carmenita, better known as Carmen of the girl group Hearts2Hearts, symbolises Indonesia’s ascendancy in the K-pop universe: no longer just a vast market for the genre’s stars, with the country increasingly playing a part in the industry’s global growth. Foreign Minister Sugiono said on April 22 that...

Japan and South Korea are closing ranks as they prepare for high-level meetings aimed at steadying ties amid growing regional volatility, with analysts saying the diplomatic push reflects shared concern over China, North Korea and the reliability of US commitments under President Donald Trump. Both countries appear willing to put past differences aside, at least for now, as they confront an assertive China and an unpredictable US administration that has unsettled long-standing allies and...

A pact between India and Russia on reciprocal access to military facilities is expected to boost Moscow’s influence in the Indian Ocean and increase New Delhi’s presence in the Arctic. However, it does not mean the two countries’ bases will be opened to each other’s armed forces as they step up defence cooperation, according to analysts. India and Russia signed the Reciprocal Exchange of Logistics Agreement (RELOS) covering military exercises, training and humanitarian missions in Moscow in...

An old Thai proverb says, “If you love your cow, tie it up; if you love your child, beat them”. It is meant to convey that a loving and responsible guardian should discipline their child and that corporal punishment is an act of care as sensible as tethering one’s cattle so that it does not wander off. For many generations, this proverb and traditional practices have normalised corporal punishment. This attitude is also displayed by teachers in schools. One year after Thailand legally banned...

Japan and Vietnam are set to agree to boost their partnership in economic security in leaders’ talks on Saturday, as Japan seeks to strengthen supply chains for critical resources amid its diplomatic spat with China and the Middle East crisis. As Tokyo looks to deepen ties with Southeast Asian nations with an eye to China’s increasing economic engagement with the region, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi will also give a speech on Japan’s updated vision for its free and open Indo-Pacific policy...

Southeast Asian growers can now ship durians to China faster than before using a new cold-storage rail service linking Thailand, Laos and southwest China’s Yunnan province, slashing prices for the pungent fruit. The first goods train laden with durians from Thailand – China’s biggest source of the fruit – began winding its way north through Laos to China over the weekend, state broadcaster CCTV reported on Tuesday. More than 90 per cent of the world’s durian exports – worth about US$7.5 billion...

With his broad smile, Tatsumi Hokuto helps an elderly woman in a Japanese care home almost effortlessly to her feet and makes sure she is steady. At first glance, Hokuto cuts an unlikely figure for a carer role: a powerfully built 27-year-old in tight leggings and a black singlet, with the physique of a dedicated bodybuilder. But for Nagoya-based Visionary, a company that operates nursing and care facilities across Japan, that contrast is precisely the point. Visionary’s “macho carers” like...

When Malaysia’s government announced a ban on two books in mid-April, the move raised eyebrows, with some questioning the intent of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s administration and his reformist credentials. The home affairs ministry on April 16 declared that the books – one of which was a memoir of the grandmother to an ally of Anwar – were a danger to national security for containing communist elements and ideologies. The decision triggered immediate pushback, predictably from civil society...

Japan’s relaxation of its weapons-export rules opens a path for talks that could one day lead to Tokyo supplying military equipment to help Ukraine resist Russia’s invasion, Kyiv’s ambassador to Japan said. “This allows us to talk,” Yurii Lutovinov said in an interview at Ukraine’s embassy. “Theoretically, it’s a very big step forward.” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s move last week to ease export rules – Japan’s latest shift away from a strict post-war pacifist stance – has sparked broad...

Singapore and Thailand ranked among the world’s “least miserable” economies in an annual index compiled by a Johns Hopkins University economist, who said Southeast Asia was one of the “healthiest economic neighbourhoods” in the world. The 2025 Hanke’s Annual Misery Index (HAMI), compiled by applied economics professor Steve Hanke, measures the “economic temperature” of a country and seeks to approximate how its average citizen experiences the economy. This year’s HAMI found that several...

A train hit a car in Indonesia on Friday, killing four people including two children, police said, days after another deadly train crash outside the capital Jakarta. The driver of the car involved in the collision in Central Java province did not see the oncoming train on a level crossing due to thick fog, local traffic officer Eko Ari Kisworo said in a statement issued by the police. The train then collided with the car, which carried nine people and was flung about 20m (66ft) before hitting a...

A man who is believed to have struck a 17-year-old high school student in the face with a hammer in Tokyo earlier this week was arrested on Friday after a manhunt on suspicion of attempted murder, according to local police. Teruyuki Takabayashi, 44, was apprehended in Narashino, Chiba Prefecture after allegedly attacking the boy between 7.15am and 7.25am on Wednesday in Fussa, a suburban area in western Tokyo. The boy was part of a group of seven teenagers hanging around a nearby restaurant at...

A horrific train crash that killed 16 passengers on the outskirts of Jakarta has prompted Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto to pledge 4 trillion rupiah (US$230 million) to overhaul level crossings across Java after officials identified one such intersection as a key point in the chain collision. The pledge targets one of the key weaknesses in Indonesia’s rail network: crossings that are unguarded, poorly maintained or haphazardly created by local communities. Transport analysts said the...