Asia

India’s invitation to Bangladeshi Prime Minister Tarique Rahman to attend a Brics summit in New Delhi in September is being seen as a chance to repair ties after one of the most turbulent periods in relations between the neighbours in years. If Rahman accepts, he will meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi directly for the first time since becoming Bangladesh’s leader after elections in February. Brics is an association of leading emerging national economies whose members include Brazil,...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has seized on the release of a long-delayed inquiry into the country’s Islamic pilgrimage fund to revive his anti-corruption message just days before the state of Negeri Sembilan holds an election. The move is seen as a calculated bid by Anwar’s Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition to turn a governance issue against state rival Umno, although observers are divided on whether it would be damaging enough to hurt Malaysia’s oldest Malay nationalist party. Anwar’s...

Japan’s Aeon Mall Kumamoto was rebuilt to withstand earthquakes after it was damaged in strong quakes in April 2016. Its June reopening was meant to be a fresh start, the gleaming building a symbol of rebirth for the mall and residents of Kashima town. Then Tuesday’s magnitude 7.1 earthquake shook this new-found confidence. “When this quake hit, I immediately knew the epicentre was close,” 30-year-old Nishiyama told Agence France-Presse. “I didn’t think this was going to happen here again.” Two...

Malaysia’s claim that Myanmar has agreed to take back 5,000 Rohingya has raised hopes of easing pressure on its strained refugee system, but has also alarmed activists over the risks of returning members of the persecuted minority group to a country still engulfed by conflict. Rights groups insist any movement of refugees into Myanmar – where the military is fighting multiple conflicts and most Rohingya are denied citizenship – must be voluntary and backed by guarantees of safety, legal status...

For Singaporeans who grew up stirring Marmite into hot water, spreading it on toast or eating it in local dishes, the famously divisive yeast extract is easy to love, but now it is much harder to buy. Unilever International, the Singapore distributor of Marmite, has stopped supplying the spread locally, according to CNA, sending prices of the thick, dark yeast extract soaring to more than seven times its usual retail price on some online platforms. “We understand several consumers are...

India’s West Bengal state will bring back eggs to free school meals after a backlash against a decision by its Hindu nationalist government to replace them with vegetarian alternatives, officials have said. The reversal follows criticism from teachers, nutritionists and parents who argued that removing eggs from school lunches could deprive children from poor families of a key source of protein. The issue erupted last month after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government, elected for the first...

East Timor has become the unlikely venue for a war crimes case against Myanmar’s military leadership, as proceedings advance in Dili’s courts and test Asean’s uneasy approach to the junta. Brought by the Chin Human Rights Organisation (CHRO), the case is expected to shed light on whether a small nation with its own history of occupation and atrocity can use its courts to examine grave allegations against a fellow Asean member’s military rulers. It lands at an awkward moment for the Association...

The 7.1-magnitude earthquake that struck southern Japan toppled houses and split open streets in the small city of Yatsushiro, but town official Akio Matsushita is most worried about the invisible threats from the lack of water and power amid the punishing summer heat. Many of the port city’s roughly 58,000 households were still without running water or power on Thursday, ‌two days since the quake hit Kumamoto prefecture, killing at least 25 people. Matsushita, who is helping lead relief...

A French teenager who posted a video of himself licking a straw and returning it to an iJooz vending machine in Singapore was fined S$600 (US$465) for public nuisance on Thursday. The clip had gone viral after someone in his Instagram circle recorded it and forwarded the footage to a media outlet, the defence said. Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 19, pleaded guilty to one count of public nuisance, with a second charge of mischief taken into consideration. On March 12, Maximilien attended a...

Malaysia is stepping up scrutiny of foreign-run businesses amid concerns from local operators over competition from China. The government wants to retain Chinese investment, technology and affordable consumer goods, while assuring local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that foreign competitors are not subject to different rules. Former trade and investment minister Tengku Zafrul Aziz, now chairman of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority, said government social media analysis had...

Singtel, Singapore’s largest telecommunications company, confirmed on Thursday that it was in discussions with multiple parties over a potential stake sale ‌in its Australian telecoms unit Optus, but said there was no certainty the talks would result in a deal. Optus has been owned by ⁠Singtel since 2001. The company did not say which parties it is speaking with. In May, Singtel said it was ‌open ‌to bringing in an Australian minority partner ‌for Optus while reaffirming its commitment to ⁠the...

Asean’s optimism in concluding a long-awaited code of conduct (COC) for the South China Sea by year’s end is not shared by observers, who point to major differences of opinion between Beijing and the Philippines especially. Analysts say any eventual consensus on a code is likely to be broad and symbolic, noting the importance of keeping dialogue flowing even as “negotiation fatigue” sets in. The Association of Southeast Asian Nations and China were making “good progress” in negotiations,...

Hwaseong, South Korea, past midnight. An engineer watches a defect pattern surface on her screen – the kind that, caught now, saves a week of wafers. She is locked in, fully absorbed, the way engineers get when a breakthrough is close. But she has to go home. The law says so. Yet something is disrupting the clock she races against. Artificial intelligence is quietly rewriting what her hours are worth. On June 29, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung stood alongside the leaders of Samsung...

Global K-pop sensation BTS said on Wednesday they will not submit their music for next year’s Grammy Awards, following the Recording Academy’s introduction of new categories that include the Best Asian Pop Music Performance. The South Korean megastars had been widely tipped to be in the running for several of the Grammys’ top honours, including Album of the Year, after their comeback album, Arirang, became one of this year’s bestselling hits. “We have decided not to enter the Grammys this year,”...

India is planning a new law to combat AI deepfakes and impersonation scams amid a surge in cyber fraud and fake videos targeting top military officers. The cases have deepened concerns over the potential for misinformation to sow discord in India during a geopolitical crisis, such as in the war against Pakistan last year. The proposal aims to close a gap in India’s laws by clearly defining punishments concerning deepfakes and other related offences. The changes would also cover “digital arrest”...

Malaysia is tightening controls on high-risk hiking routes after officials linked a growing rescue burden to poor preparation, unauthorised trails and social media-driven summit attempts. The push is aimed partly at curbing gruelling “compressed hikes”, in which climbers try to complete long or technically demanding routes within a single day, often combining an ascent and descent that would usually be spread over a longer period. The Fire and Rescue Department recorded 52 cases involving 114...

The United States is pitching billions of dollars in investment to become Southeast Asia’s energy partner of choice, offering gas, grid technology and nuclear expertise as ongoing turmoil from the Iran war sharpens fears of future supply shocks. Analysts say the push serves American strategic and commercial interests – from opening markets for US liquefied natural gas to countering China’s dominance in big-ticket infrastructure – but also offers the region opportunity. Washington announced...

Indonesia’s attempt to lure back its native talent scattered around the world through limited dual citizenship has highlighted a long-held demand of the diaspora for such a scheme before they would consider returning home. The proposed revision to the citizenship law would mark a major shift for a country that has largely allowed only single citizenship since independence in 1945. Currently, children of mixed marriages can hold dual citizenship until they reach 18 years of age, when they are...

If South Korea wants to unlock access to South American trade, it will need to prove it is not a competitor interested only in extracting natural resources but a trustworthy partner committed to revitalising manufacturing industries, according to observers. On Monday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva agreed to revive negotiations on a free-trade agreement between South Korea and Mercosur, the South American trade bloc. A joint working group...

An American nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is set to dock in Da Nang this week, in a visit analysts say shows the durability of US-Vietnam relations despite trade tensions and global upheaval. The USS George Washington, a Nimitz-class carrier currently deployed with the US Navy’s Seventh Fleet out of Yokosuka, Japan, is expected to call at the central Vietnamese port from Thursday to Monday, though officials have yet to confirm the exact date. Its looming arrival “signals that engagement...

Singapore has signalled stability in the public housing market by scrapping a 15-month waiting period that barred private property owners from buying resale HDB flats – even as other curbs remain in place. National Development Minister Chee Hong Tat announced the change on Tuesday, saying the government recognised that the rule had caused inconvenience and disrupted the plans of those with genuine housing need who wanted to move from a private property into a Housing Development Board (HDB)...

Bangladesh’s fugitive ex-prime minister Sheikh Hasina said she was determined to return to her country by December despite fearing for her life. “I may be killed. I may be arrested. I may be sent to prison,” Hasina, 78, said in an email. “I am fully aware of my fate. Still, I want to go back because my people are calling me.” Toppled in August 2024 by a student-led uprising that ended her 15-year, iron-fisted rule, Hasina fled by helicopter to India as crowds stormed her palace. The United...

In an affluent neighbourhood in New Delhi, electric vehicle charging stations near a popular shopping area were busy with drivers powering up their scooters, trucks and cars. India’s capital city is in dire need of more charging facilities, EV drivers say, to implement an ambitious plan to phase out petrol vehicles in one of the world’s most polluted cities. “Charging facilities are not up to the mark yet,” said Shyam Singh, a marketing executive who owns a two-wheel electric scooter, adding...

Malaysia is finding it increasingly difficult to stay neutral in the US-China rivalry as the superpowers lock horns over trade, investment and the security of advanced technology, according to a top government adviser. “They don’t make us take sides when it comes to foreign policy,” Tengku Zafrul Aziz, senior political adviser to Malaysia’s Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, told This Week in Asia. “They ask me to take sides when it comes to security of technology.” Malaysia’s solution was...

The UN’s migration agency is warning that criminal networks have been trafficking hundreds of thousands of people – many of them educated English speakers – to work in online scam centres, and the caseload is growing. The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) says victims are often lured by fake job advertisements – mostly through social media – promising work abroad, only to get locked up, have their identity documents seized, and be forced through violence, threats and “debt bondage”...

Soldiers and emergency workers combed through a badly damaged shopping centre and collapsed houses looking for trapped survivors on Wednesday after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 18 people in southwestern Japan. The magnitude 7.1 earthquake that hit a day earlier in the Kumamoto area on the southern main island of Kyushu, also left at least 62 people injured, six of them seriously, the prefectural government said. The tally has been steadily growing, fanning fears it may continue to...

The European Union’s upgraded partnership with the Philippines signals the bloc’s intent to diversify its Indo-Pacific strategy beyond trade and into the security arena. It shows Brussels is seeking a larger role in a region where maritime disputes and challenges to the rules-based order could threaten its interests, according to analysts. On Friday, Philippine Foreign Secretary Maria Theresa Lazaro and the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy Kaja Kallas, who is also...

Washington’s new AI Spark initiative to promote American artificial intelligence systems in Southeast Asia’s public services and digital infrastructure is seen as a move to counter the region’s deepening partnerships with Chinese firms in the deployment of the technology. However, the initiative is unlikely to force Southeast Asia to choose between AI Spark and the Chinese model, as the region is expected to integrate US know-how with Chinese and local systems to avoid dependence on any single...

Researchers in South Korea say they have finally worked out how the brain flushes away waste – offering a clearer picture of the processes involved in dementia and other brain disorders that could one day be harnessed to treat them. The breakthrough, published this month in journal Cell, solved a puzzle that has stumped scientists since lymphatic vessels around the brain were first discovered roughly 250 years ago: how does our body clear away the waste? An international team led by Dr Koh...

Back in 2009, when China’s economy was expanding at about twice today’s pace, a little-known private firm made a quiet bet on uncharted territory: Indonesia. The company was on a quest: to secure nickel, a vital industrial metal used in stainless steel production and, increasingly, to power advanced batteries. That bet proved lucrative. By leveraging Indonesia’s vast nickel reserves – the world’s largest – and securing greater control over upstream supplies, Tsingshan Group has grown into a...