Asia

Three Indian sailors on a commercial vessel hit by the United States off the coast of Oman are dead, New Delhi’s shipping minister said on Thursday. “It is deeply unfortunate to learn of the tragic incident aboard the Palau-flagged MT Settebello,” Sarbananda Sonowal said in a statement, referring to the strike on the vessel a day earlier. “Sadly, three Indian seafarers initially reported missing are now confirmed dead after bodies have been located and identified.” India’s foreign ministry...

The Philippines may be taking steps to curb gambling addiction, but the surge in calls to the Bridges of Hope hotline suggests the problem is worsening, according to the rehabilitation centre’s founder and director, Jon Ty. Ty said gambling now accounted for nine in 10 calls to the centre’s hotline so far this year, up from seven in 10 in 2025. Many of the callers were desperate family members reaching out because their loved ones were gambling addicts. Ty said many gamblers had also resorted to...

Zou Jiayi is president and chairwoman of the board of directors of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), a multilateral development lender headquartered in Beijing and inaugurated in 2016. Before leading AIIB, Zou was deputy secretary general of the national committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, China’s top political advisory body. She previously held senior roles at the Ministry of Finance, including as vice-minister, and as part of her three decades of...

Three men were charged on Thursday for their alleged involvement in a scheme to falsely declare China-made mattresses as Singapore goods in an apparent attempt to evade US import duties. Singaporeans Loh Yew Kong, 68; Leong Yu Fong, 41; and Loh Chen Sing Darren, 37, as well as three companies – Brighture Et Riche, Brighture Et Riche (Int) and Zenova International – were charged in connection with the alleged scheme, Singapore Customs said. Authorities commenced investigations in February last...

A Thai court on Thursday sentenced two ethnic Chinese Uygur men to death for the 2015 bombing of Bangkok’s Erawan shrine, the deadliest attack on the city in recent history that killed 20, including tourists from China, Malaysia and Singapore. The men, Bilal Mohammed, 41, and Yusufu Mieraili, 36, were arrested in a manhunt that followed the August 17, 2015 bombing which brought carnage to the heart of Bangkok at rush hour. Thai police said they found bomb-making materials at a Bangkok address...

The mayor of a southern Philippine town that was devastated by a powerful earthquake pleaded on Thursday for helicopters to transport food to stave off hunger in several landslide-isolated villages. The 7.8 magnitude offshore quake, one of the strongest to hit the archipelago in half a century, struck on Monday off the southern province of Sarangani and has left at least 47 people dead and 688 injured, with 31 still missing. More than 45,000 people remained displaced, about half in emergency...

Japan’s signing of a 20-year LNG supply deal with Malaysia’s Petronas has cast the Southeast Asian country as a valuable energy and security partner, as Tokyo looks to protect itself from global supply shocks and deepen ties with trusted allies. The latest move also underscores how, amid the energy crisis, Asian nations are striking deals bilaterally, with Malaysia leveraging its vast natural resources to rise as a “middle power”, according to analysts. Under the agreement announced during...

South Korea imposed on Thursday a record US$409 million fine on e-commerce giant Coupang over a leak that exposed the data of more than 30 million customers, provoking ire from US lawmakers. The move caps a months-long probe into the country’s largest online retail platform, which is incorporated in the United States. Allegations of a massive data leak first surfaced in November, becoming an unexpected source of friction between Seoul and Washington. “We have decided to impose a total of 624.68...

India is taking unprecedented measures to restore confidence in its national student examination system after a series of scandals fuelled angry protests from young people and put pressure on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government. Last month, authorities took the extraordinary step of cancelling the medical entrance exam results of more than 2 million students after allegations of widespread leaking of the papers. For the retest on June 21, the government will deploy the Indian Air Force...

Singapore police said arrest warrants for fugitive financier Jho Low remain active, even as the Malaysian continues efforts to seek clemency from US President Donald Trump. “Warrants of arrest and Interpol red notices for both Tan Kim Loong and Low Taek Jho are still in effect,” the police said in a statement on Wednesday. Tan is a known associate of Low and is also implicated in Malaysia’s multibillion-dollar 1MDB scandal. Low is accused by US and Malaysian authorities of masterminding the 1MDB...

Our report that China’s landmark Pinglu Canal is set for trial operations in September was one of the most read the week it was published. Interestingly, most of those who read the report were from the United States, followed by Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, Australia and Hong Kong. The report had three times as many Singaporean readers as local ones. I find this disparity concerning and not for reasons of editorial vanity. While the Pinglu Canal is a global story – representing one of the...

The Philippines’ armed forces chief has moved to quell fears of political intervention after a bitter Senate leadership crisis triggered tighter security, stalled military promotions and fuelled concern that partisan groups could exploit “rumblings” inside the ranks. Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Romeo Brawner Jnr acknowledged unease among some personnel but told This Week in Asia that the military would remain out of politics. “Political intervention is far from our mandate,” Brawner said...

An American diplomat was found dead in Myanmar’s largest city, the US State Department said, and members of the diplomatic community in Yangon say a Thai woman has been detained by police in connection with the investigation. American officials in Thailand and the US embassy in Myanmar referred questions on the case to the State Department, which confirmed the “death of a US government employee” assigned to the embassy in Yangon but gave no other details. “Out of respect for the privacy of the...

Malaysia’s prosecutors have closed a criminal intimidation investigation involving former anti-corruption chief Azam Baki, saying a complaint by businessman Albert Tei did not “meet the legal threshold” for further action. The decision comes against the backdrop of Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s government facing pressure over prosecutorial independence. Anwar had campaigned on a reformist, anti-corruption platform that has since been tested by high-profile dropped cases and delayed...

Prabowo Subianto has brought one of Indonesia’s most prominent labour leaders into his administration, giving organised labour a voice inside the presidential palace while also fuelling concerns that the country’s unions are being pulled away from street-level activism. Said Iqbal, former president of the Indonesian Trade Union Confederation (KSPI), defended his appointment as special adviser on labour affairs in an exclusive interview with This Week in Asia, arguing that workers needed direct...

Four Indonesian soldiers found guilty of an acid attack that left an activist blind in one eye were sentenced on Wednesday to up to three years in prison by a military court, with a judge calling their actions “arrogant”. The four, all members of the military’s Strategic Intelligence Agency (BAIS), were found guilty of premeditated assault for the attack in March that left Andrie Yunus, 27, blind in one eye. They were arrested shortly after the attack, and BAIS head Yudi Abrimantyo stepped down...

A dismissed high-ranking Filipino police officer convicted of orchestrating the 2016 killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo was arrested in the Philippine capital of Manila after nearly two years on the run, authorities said on Wednesday. President Lee Jae Myung welcomed the arrest, vowing to seek justice for criminals targeting South Koreans abroad and expressing gratitude to officials in both countries for their joint efforts. Rafael Dumlao, who was a top official of an anti-drug unit...

Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong is set to visit the Russian city of Kazan next week in a trip that would mark the first high-level talks between leaders from both sides since the city state imposed sanctions on Moscow over its invasion of Ukraine, sources have confirmed. Wong will attend the Asean-Russia Commemorative Summit from June 17 to June 19 to mark the 35th anniversary of dialogue relations between Moscow and Asean, according to sources who spoke to This Week in Asia on condition...

Almost 20,000 people have signed an online petition in Japan to protest against US President Donald Trump and the White House using manga and anime characters in posts on social media. In the latest example, a video on Truth Social uploaded on Saturday depicts Trump as ninja Naruto Uzumaki from Naruto, sparking a furious reaction from some fans of the popular series. The clip is part of an AI-generated music video for “Thank You, President Trump”, a song by Anthony Constantino, a Republican from...

The death of a 17-year-old who was filmed after being swept out to sea at a popular tourist spot has prompted soul-searching in Indonesia about the bystander effect. Elmi Febrianti had been visiting the Apparalang tourist site in Bulukumba regency with her family on Sunday when she ventured to a clifftop known as a popular selfie vantage point and was struck by a large wave that dragged her out to sea. Apparalang is known for its turquoise waters and towering limestone cliffs, whose dramatic...

An acid attack against a woman doctor has sent shock waves through Pakistan’s medical sector, sparking strikes and a protest demanding safety and justice for the victim. A man threw acid at Mahnoor Nasir at her hospital in the southern city of Quetta on Saturday, causing burns to 7 per cent of her body, according to the provincial chief minister’s office. Officers killed the suspected perpetrator, Humayun Shah, a lift operator at the medical facility, at a bus station as he tried to...

Sydney’s new A$5.6 billion (US$4 billion) airport will ⁠open to passengers in ⁠October after more than a decade ⁠of planning, adding red-eye flight options from Australia’s largest city as the existing hub operates under night curfew restrictions. The current airport, located closer to Sydney’s central business district, can host take-offs and landings only until 11pm and after ‌6am due to tough noise regulations, limiting airline scheduling options relative to other major Australian cities like...

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda is raising an uncomfortable question for Asian governments: could the virus travel through the region’s airports before health systems detect it? While experts say the risk of a major outbreak in Asia remains low, the latest flare-up has renewed scrutiny of whether hospitals, contact tracers and border surveillance systems remain ready after years of post-Covid fatigue and strained global health funding. Khoo Yoong Khean, deputy...

A viral post of a couple lying and cuddling in the middle of a public field in Malaysia has drawn outrage and calls for religious authorities to act in the Muslim-majority country, where public intimacy can quickly turn into a morality row. In one of the clips, uploaded to social media on Tuesday, a man and woman lie facing each other at Dataran Kemerdekaan in Shah Alam, the capital of Selangor state. Another shows the woman with her head on the man’s lap. Social media users claimed the pair...

India is moving closer to undertaking its biggest military revamp since independence, with the army, navy and air force placed under commanders overseeing specific theatres of conflict, amid concerns over whether such a set-up can simultaneously counter China and Pakistan. Analysts said the debate over the proposed Integrated Theatre Commands was not just about a streamlining exercise but whether India’s military could be cohesive enough to deal with border disputes and evolving threats. The...

Thailand’s former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is officially a free man, less than a week after receiving a royal pardon, according to the Department of Corrections. Thaksin, 76, served eight months of a one-year sentence for corruption and abuse of power before being released on parole last month due to his age and health. The Department of Corrections said the former premier was required to wear an electronic monitoring device as a condition of his release. The telecoms billionaire was...

Singapore’s move to ban anti-Indian social media posts reportedly originating from a China-based platform has thrown into sharp relief how foreign actors can exploit racial fault lines in the city state. Analysts warn that this emerging battleground for disinformation is being “weaponised” against the country’s multiracial society. On Saturday, Singapore’s Ministry of Home Affairs said it ordered social media giants YouTube, Facebook and X to block access to 14 online posts after investigations...

India’s sharp ⁠increase in gold import tariffs is fuelling a resurgence in smuggling that could exceed 100 tonnes this year, as soaring grey market margins allow smugglers to undercut banks and refiners of the precious metal, industry officials and bullion dealers said. India, the world’s biggest gold market after China, more than doubled import tariffs to 15 per cent in May to curb demand, ‌cut the trade deficit and ease pressure on the rupee. But the move has created an opportunity for...

Japan could be heading into one of the worst typhoon seasons in its recorded history, raising fears that stronger, more frequent storms will test not only the country’s disaster defences but also a summer travel industry already stretched by packed trains, hotels and itineraries. Tokyo-based Weathernews, a private meteorological firm providing long-range forecasts across Asia, has predicted that as many as 28 typhoons could affect Japan this year, with up to 14 potentially making landfall – well...

People always talk knowingly about Weimar, a period of extremes: artistic and social-sexual decadence, democratic liberalism and the radicalisation of the left and the right, before Germany’s descent into Hitlerian hell. The city as a symbol, close to the site of the former Buchenwald concentration camp, is back in the news, well, at least the op-ed pages of the Western press. That’s rarely a good sign. “The new crisis [in Germany] seems uncomfortably familiar because, in some respects, it...