Asia

On Great Nicobar, a remote island located closer to Indonesia than mainland India, New Delhi is embarking on one of its biggest developments in decades. The US$9 billion project is intended to transform the country’s southernmost tip into a major transport hub comprising a transhipment port, an international airport and associated logistical facilities. Spread across 166 sq km (64 square miles), the project in India’s Andaman and Nicobar archipelago is slated for completion over three decades,...

Two Indian climbers have died on Mount Everest during a record-breaking period of ascents via Nepal’s southern route, as experts warn of overcrowding on the world’s highest peak. “They fell ill while descending at high altitude. We are working out how to retrieve the bodies,” Nivesh Karki, director at Pioneer Adventures, said. He named them as Sandeep Are, who he said summited on Wednesday, and Arun Kumar Tiwari, who reached the peak on Thursday. Nepal is home to eight of the world’s 10 highest...

Thousands of protesters in Bangladesh clashed with police in a bid to seize a suspect accused of raping a four-year-old girl, officials said on Friday. In recent months, the South Asian country has seen a spike in reported cases of violence against women and children, fuelling widespread anger. Police said the suspect, Monir Hossain, was detained by locals in Bangladesh’s second-largest city of Chattogram and was being handed over to the authorities on Thursday when tensions boiled over among...

After three agonising days with no word from his son, Warsono finally saw the face he had been waiting for. The 60-year-old Indonesian from Bandar Lampung in Sumatra spoke by video call on Thursday evening to his son, Andre Prasetyo Nugroho, following the 27-year-old journalist’s release from Israeli detention in Gaza. “To my great relief, I could see he was in one piece, albeit somewhat worse for wear,” he said, adding that his son had bruises on his hands from being tightly zip-tied and,...

The Javan and Sumatran rhinos are down to their last few dozen, just like the Cat Ba langur of Vietnam, while the soala living in Laos’ Annamite mountains may already be gone for good. Southeast Asia’s remarkable biodiversity is under severe threat from the encroachment of cities and farms, deforestation, warming seas and the trafficking of rare wildlife for food, traditional medicines and as pets. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) told This Week in Asia that more than...

Perhaps the most fascinating and important aspects of US President Donald Trump’s jolt to the global economy have been its unintended consequences, especially the impact on relations between China and India. Two consistent aspects of Trump’s meandering narrative are to “make America great again” by bringing manufacturing jobs back to the US, and to hobble China as an economic and strategic threat. A decade later, there has been negligible progress on either objective. Instead, the unintended...

Former Malaysian economy minister Rafizi Ramli’s breakaway gamble is unlikely to bring down Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on its own, analysts say, but it could still wound the ruling coalition by peeling away reformist voters who helped Pakatan Harapan (PH) take power in 2022. Rafizi and former natural resources and environmental sustainability minister Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad announced on Sunday that they would quit Anwar’s People Justice Party (PKR), vacate their parliamentary seats and take over...

On Cenang Beach, Mohamad Zaki Najmi sells jet ski rides and boat tours in Langkawi’s turquoise water: adventure activities that have powered the Malaysian island’s tourism economy for years. But costs are rising fast on the popular resort island, and the sea sports operator has been forced to pass them on to customers – a last resort for tourism players in Malaysia as competition for international visitors hots up across Southeast Asia. Higher fuel prices, triggered by the US-Israel war on Iran,...

Financial news outlet Bloomberg harboured “unprecedented” malice in the publication and handling of an article about the purchase of good class bungalows in Singapore, lawyers for two Singaporean cabinet ministers alleged on Friday during closing statements in a defamation lawsuit. Senior counsel Davinder Singh said the case was unprecedented in terms of ill intent and aggravation, seeking damages exceeding those against The Online Citizen chief editor Terry Xu, who was ordered to pay S$574,000...

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has launched a US$10 billion facility to support members affected by conflict in the Middle East, the multilateral development lender announced on Thursday. The Energy, Food Security and Economic Resilience Facility, sitting alongside the bank’s existing financing tools, offers up to US$10 billion over two years to help members tackle urgent needs around energy security, food security and economic resilience, according to a statement published by...

Vietnam auctioned off two Hermes handbags owned by real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, convicted in the nation’s largest fraud case, for 14.21 billion dong (US$539,000) as efforts to claw back billions of dollars in ill-gotten wealth accelerate. The government is auditing assets owned by Lan and her affiliates to recoup billions in losses after courts ordered her to repay US$27 billion in damages. Lan has so far repaid a total of more than 12 trillion dong to about 42,000 bondholders with more...

China’s landmark Pinglu Canal has entered its final phase of construction and is set to begin trial operations as early as September, with a first shipping route linking the country’s heartlands to the free-trade port of Hainan, according to Chinese state media reports. The Pinglu Canal – China’s most ambitious waterway project in centuries – will stretch 134km (83 miles) from Nanning, capital of the southern Guangxi region, to the Gulf of Tonkin, known as the Beibu Gulf in China. The aim is to...

A scam syndicate has been renting a bungalow in an upmarket area in Malaysia’s Johor state and using AI to carry out job scams all the way in Spain. Police uncovered their activities when they arrested a total of 35 Chinese nationals during a raid at the bungalow in Gelang Patah at 11.50pm on May 14. Iskandar Puteri OCPD Assistant Commissioner M. Kumarasan said the suspects, aged between 21 and 39, used artificial intelligence technology and ready-made language templates to communicate with...

As robots become more advanced to carry out complex tasks, they are set to be at the forefront of the next phase of Singapore’s goal to become a world-class artificial intelligence hub. The city state hopes to position itself as a hub for “physical AI” – robots and autonomous systems that can clean buildings, deliver goods, patrol public spaces and eventually work in factories, hospitals and homes. Singapore’s stable regulatory environment, strong digital infrastructure and experience deploying...

The Iran war has baked in stagflation and starvation through big reductions in the supply of oil and fertilisers. This inflationary pressure will only increase. As inflation sucks liquidity out of financial markets and into the real economy, bond yields are being pushed up across the world. If bond yields rise by more than a percentage point, a likely scenario before the year’s end, the liquidity diversion could be big enough to pop the AI bubble. The US-Israeli war on Iran has disrupted the...

It began as a satirical online project. Now millions of young Indians are flocking to it as an outlet for their frustration. A parody political party called the Cockroach Janta Party, with the insect as its symbol, has exploded across India’s social media by turning absurdist humour into protest. Memes and short videos mocking corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction have flooded social media sites, where millions of users are embracing the cockroach – known for its ability to survive...

The Philippine justice chief ordered authorities on Thursday to enforce an International Criminal Court warrant for the arrest of a senator wanted on an alleged crime against humanity. He warned that anyone helping the senator evade a nationwide hunt would face criminal charges. Senator Ronald Dela Rosa “is a fugitive from justice”, Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said in a news conference. “He should be brought to the ICC to face the charges.” Dela Rosa is a former national police chief who...

As high fuel prices and disruption from the Middle East conflict force many Asian carriers to cut capacity and rearrange routes, Singapore Airlines (SIA) is moving in the opposite direction: adding long-haul flights to Europe in a bid to capture traffic from its Gulf rivals. Aviation analysts said the carrier’s expansion reflected a rare combination in the region: a strong balance sheet, insulation from sudden jumps in fuel prices due to its hedging strategy and a hub in Singapore that could...

Malaysia’s internet regulator issued a statutory demand to TikTok on Thursday after a fake account allegedly used artificial intelligence to insult the country’s king, including posts falsely claiming he ate pork and manipulated images pairing his face with animal bodies. The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said in a statement that TikTok had failed to take “sufficient and timely action” against offensive and defamatory content targeting the country’s royal...

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s declaration that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was a “war criminal” highlights the balancing act between his human rights convictions and commitment to protecting Seoul’s interests in the Middle East, analysts have said. Lee’s comments came as Seoul was pushing for the release of two South Korean nationals detained by Israeli forces while attempting to reach the Gaza Strip aboard humanitarian aid boats, drawing attention to his willingness to...

The United States has denied any role in Norway’s decision to cancel a missile sale to Malaysia, saying it had supported the acquisition, after the dispute raised questions over Washington’s influence on weapons deals involving American-made components. The dispute centres on Naval Strike Missiles (NSMs) built by Norway’s Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace for a fleet of new Malaysian combat ships, with Kuala Lumpur saying it had already paid 95 per cent of the contract, valued at €126 million...

The medical ⁠condition of Thai ⁠Princess Bajrakitiyabha has ⁠worsened as a result of multiple infections in several organs, with doctors unable to contain her irregular heart ‌rate, the Royal Palace said in a statement on Thursday. The 47-year-old princess and eldest daughter of King Maha Vajiralongkorn was taken to hospital in December 2022, after she collapsed ⁠from a heart condition and other infections. ‌She has been in a coma ever since. After years of treatment, doctors discovered a...

The US military will deploy its Typhon midrange missile launcher and Himars rocket system to southwestern Japan next month for joint exercises with the Self-Defence Forces, sources familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in a move apparently aimed at deterring China. The systems will be deployed to the Maritime Self-Defence Force’s Kanoya Airbase in Kagoshima prefecture during the Valiant Shield and Orient Shield joint exercises between June and September, the sources said. The Typhon...

Singapore’s plan to trial weaponised unmanned drones has put a spotlight on Southeast Asia’s fast-growing interest in systems that can track and strike at targets without putting operators directly in harm’s way. But as countries race to upgrade their drone and counter-drone capabilities, analysts say regulation, transparency and confidence-building will be crucial to prevent accidents or miscalculations that could fuel regional tensions. Singapore announced on Thursday that it would start...

Singapore’s push to prepare workers for artificial intelligence is facing a stern test after Meta and Standard Chartered announced lay-offs this week, fuelling debate over how far AI is already reshaping jobs in the city state. The cuts have made one question more urgent for Singapore: can its goal to train workers to take on new or redesigned roles keep pace with increased use of AI and automation by companies as they reduce headcounts? Meta employees in Singapore reportedly began receiving...

In New Delhi’s chaotic traffic, where the backs of autorickshaws sometimes double as mobile billboards, some commuters are now being greeted by an unlikely face: US President Donald Trump. Splashed beneath his portrait is the slogan: “Happy Birthday America!” About 100 autorickshaws carrying large images of Trump and the Statue of Liberty have appeared across the Indian capital in recent weeks. In a city where the backs of thousands of three-wheelers are routinely covered with ads for...

Indonesia will require exports of key commodities to pass through a state-appointed enterprise in a sweeping effort to curb revenue leaks, tighten oversight of natural resources and keep more foreign exchange earnings at home. The policy, announced by President Prabowo Subianto in a rare address to parliament on Wednesday, would apply to palm oil, coal and ferroalloys – three major export earners for Southeast Asia’s largest economy. Under the new regulation, producers would have to sell their...

China’s exports of rare earth permanent magnets to Japan slightly rebounded in April after slumping the previous month, but Japanese firms warn they are facing “severe” shortages as a diplomatic row between Beijing and Tokyo grinds on. Shipments of permanent magnets from China to Japan rose by 2.5 per cent in April compared with the previous month, according to Chinese customs data released on Wednesday. But the modest rise only partly offset the 17.3 per cent plunge recorded in March. The...

Malaysia’s unity government will remain intact until the end of its term amid speculation of snap elections, according to Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil. “Barisan Nasional, Gabungan Rakyat Sabah and Gabungan Parti Sarawak have given their commitment that they will support this government till the end of its term,” Fahmi said on Wednesday after a cabinet meeting. “This commitment reflects the priority given to the interests of the people and the country, while enabling the government to...

For generations of Indian tech workers, the H-1B visa has been a golden ticket, turning ambitious engineers from Hyderabad and Bengaluru into Silicon Valley professionals, as it transformed Indian IT firms into global powerhouses. Now, a Trump administration proposal to sharply raise the minimum salaries required to qualify for the programme threatens to close that door to the United States, redirecting Indian talent towards Europe, Australia, New Zealand and beyond instead. Under the new...