Asian News

As the defence chiefs of the US and China head to Singapore to promote their security strategies for the Indo-Pacific, countries in the region face a choice. Yet given their desire for development and cooperation, the US’ focus on exclusivity and rivalry offers little compared to China’s vision of mutual understanding.

June 08, 2022 10:20 PM

SEOUL - South Korea has eased airport restrictions and removed mandatory quarantine for unvaccinated travellers, as part of efforts to reopen borders now that its domestic Covid-19 situation has stabilised.

The wife of the former PM has relinquished her claim on a US$220,000 white gold diamond bracelet that police seized in 2018 along with 12,000 pieces of jewellery, 423 watches and 567 luxury handbags stuffed with US$30 million in cash.

June 08, 2022 9:27 PM

JAKARTA - Efforts by Indonesia to curb rising cooking oil prices at home by messing with the free market have disrupted the market and any positive outcome would not last, experts have argued.

June 08, 2022 9:06 PM

Doubts over how its replacement, school-based assessments, will be carried out.

Nation reopened borders April 1, hoping for two million visitors this year; one million have already visited, with travel sector battling to cope.

June 08, 2022 7:48 PM

BANGALORE - A Supreme Court commission probing the killing of four people accused of a 2019 gang rape and murder found that the police deliberately shot all the accused even though they did not try to escape.

Mitsuhiro Taniguchi was wanted by police over false applications for pandemic subsidies, and left Japan for Indonesia in October 2020. He was found in a Sumatran fish trader’s house after saying he wanted to invest in fisheries.

June 08, 2022 7:28 PM

She has relinquished her claim on a US$220,000 (S$303,000) white gold diamond bracelet.

Former diplomat Pavin Chachavalpongpun, an associate professor at Kyoto University, suspects the attack was masterminded from Thailand – he writes books about the country’s military and monarchy, where criticism of the king is taboo.

Cambodian defence minister dismisses fears that his country would let China build a military base on its soil, saying any country could use the facilities.

June 08, 2022 6:00 PM

Join The Straits Times's associate editor Ravi Velloor, in this series of podcasts as he distils his experience from four decades of covering the continent.

Soaring costs of fuel and agricultural supplies are forcing farmers to charge more, while prices are surging in Japan due the yen’s drop to a 20-year low, surging energy costs and the crisis in Ukraine.

June 08, 2022 5:43 PM

BEIJING (AFP) - China will offer citizens as much as US$15,000 in cash for reporting threats to "national security", state media reported, in Beijing's latest move to whip up fears of external foes.

Viral footage showed Thitisan Utthanaphon and six other officers wrapping plastic bags around 24-year-old Jirapong Thanapat’s head and trying to extort US$60,000.

June 08, 2022 4:35 PM

The hardline group is giving security assurances as part of an initiative to woo back high-profile individuals 

The police colonel with a taste in luxury cars was filmed wrapping bags around the head of a suspect.

Nguyen Thanh Long was dismissed from his ministry post and is being investigated for abuse of power. Hanoi’s mayor was swept up in the price-gouging investigations as well.

June 08, 2022 3:44 PM

SHANGHAI (REUTERS) - Shanghai officials are seeking to revive confidence among multinational firms bruised and frustrated by the city's Covid-19 lockdown, by holding multiple meetings with foreign firms and easing a key border requirement for overseas workers.

June 08, 2022 3:13 PM

One analyst said joint South Korea-US military drills help Japan justify becoming a normal military state.