Pakistan is hoping that its role in building a diplomatic off-ramp from the US-Israel war on Iran will enable it to become a key actor in the Middle East after the conflict ends, analysts say.

If Islamabad can deliver without being sucked into the maelstrom, it can capitalise on its position as peacemaker by signing defence deals with Gulf monarchies and attracting investment from them to strengthen its weak economy.

This will help finance Pakistan’s military expansion for its envisioned new...

Japan on Wednesday raised tobacco and corporate taxes to finance a boost in defence spending, with income tax hike set to follow in 2027 as the government projects the tax increases will add some 1.3 trillion yen (US$8 billion) annually in revenue.

As the security environment surrounding Japan deteriorates and the government is set to further strengthen the country’s defence capabilities, the public is likely to face further tax burdens to finance the outlays, which have now ballooned to a...

China and Pakistan unveiled a joint five-point plan on Tuesday to restore peace in the Persian Gulf after five weeks of US-Israeli bombardment of Iran.

China, Pakistan five-point initiative for restoring peace in the Middle East by scmp

Japan has moved swiftly to contain the diplomatic fallout after a member of its Self-Defence Forces broke into the Chinese embassy in Tokyo last week.

But observers and local media say the incident has given Beijing an opening to reinforce claims of rising militarism and anti-China sentiment in Japan.

Yoshinobu Kusunoki, commissioner general of the National Police Agency, on Monday called the break-in on March 24 “extremely unusual and serious”, adding that it “should not have happened”.

His...

A Scottish crime boss is to be deported to Spain on Wednesday after he was arrested on the Indonesian resort island of Bali in connection with large-scale drug trafficking and money laundering, authorities said.

The 45-year-old, identified as Steven Lyons, was taken into custody by immigration officers at Ngurah Rai International Airport on Saturday on arrival from Singapore, Untung Widiyatmoko, head of Indonesia’s branch of Interpol, said on Tuesday.

The immigration system had flagged him as...

Tokyo’s Shibuya ward – home to the famous scramble crossing and one of the Japanese capital’s busiest shopping and nightlife districts – is abandoning its long-standing policy of asking people to take their rubbish home.

Instead, it is turning to on-the-spot fines as visitor numbers surge and litter piles up.

Under a new campaign branded “If you throw trash, you lose cash”, anyone caught dropping rubbish will be fined 2,000 yen (US$12.50), with enforcement starting on June 1 after a grace...

Rising fuel costs linked to the Middle East conflict could push more Filipinos deeper into debt, analysts have warned, with one regional study describing the Philippines’ credit card burden reaching a “critical” risk level.

Although credit card ownership in the Philippines remains relatively low, data indicates that cardholders appear to be using them far more intensively as living costs outpace income growth.

Credit card receivables in the Philippines have been growing consistently at more than...

As with any conflict, the war in Iran has driven people to choose sides and adopt partisan positions. This includes the view that, despite the acts of aggression by the US and Israel, the Islamic Republic somehow “deserves” the attacks due to years of regional instability caused by its Axis of Resistance.

This is not to suggest that the Iranian regime has always been a victim. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ transgressions through the Quds Force have been well documented.

But let’s be...

The Philippines said on Tuesday it will rename more than 100 island features in a bid to reinforce its “sovereignty” in the disputed South China Sea, including areas claimed by China.

The features to be renamed under President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s executive order belong to the Spratly archipelago, site of repeated confrontations between Philippine and Chinese vessels.

Beijing claims the South China Sea in nearly its entirety despite an international ruling that its assertion has no legal...

A Japanese prosecutor who publicly accused her boss of rape condemned her office on Tuesday for failing to protect victims, after it rejected her request for an independent probe into harassment within the organisation.

Very few women in Japan speak out about sexual assault but Hikari (not her real name) came forward in 2024 to accuse Osaka’s then top prosecutor of raping her six years earlier.

Kentaro Kitagawa, head of the Osaka District Public Prosecutor’s Office, was arrested and admitted the...