How does a missile strike on a Qatari gas plant end up raising the price of rice in Bangladesh? The answer is fertiliser, an unglamorous commodity that nevertheless sustains much of what the world eats.

Qatar burns natural gas to produce ammonia. Ammonia is converted into urea. Urea goes into the ground and out of the ground comes grain.

Disrupt the first step, as Iran did when it struck QatarEnergy’s liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing facility on March 1, and the consequences travel along...

British Airways and Deutsche Lufthansa are adding flights to Asia amid increased long-haul demand as customers seek alternatives to Middle East carriers hamstrung by airspace closures at home.

BA will operate more flights from London to Singapore and Bangkok this week, using aircraft that currently are not needed in the Gulf region.

The airline has temporarily cut back its Middle East schedule, cancelling all Abu Dhabi flights until at least October and stopping flights to cities including...

Pakistan will come to the aid of Saudi Arabia whenever needed, according to the spokesman for Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, as Iran retaliates against US-Israeli strikes by hitting Gulf nations.

Saudi Arabia and nuclear-armed Pakistan, which shares a border with Iran, signed a defence pact in September last year, elevating their long-standing security partnership, which is being tested by the Middle East crisis.

There was “no question we might, we will” come to Saudi Arabia’s aid “no matter...

Thai police have broken up a web of Chinese companies allegedly using Thai fronts to control the kingdom’s coconut supply, squeezing prices to record lows of 2 baht (6 US cents) per fruit and allowing wide profit margins on sales into China.

The probe, launched across western agricultural provinces where the nam hom coconut farms are based, reflects broader concerns about the exploitation of Thai fruit farmers by foreign businessmen who set prices and dictate market terms.

Raids on eight...

Nepal’s incoming government has signalled it will pursue a more pragmatic foreign policy centred on national interests, as the newly victorious Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) seeks to recalibrate relations with both China and India after years of shifting political alignments.

In its election manifesto, RSP pledged to pursue “balanced and dynamic diplomacy” with both neighbours, emphasising economic cooperation, cross-border connectivity and trade while transforming Nepal from a “buffer state...

South Korea’s transport ministry cut construction costs and approved improper airport safety structures for more than two decades, the state auditor said in a report on aviation safety management after a Jeju Air crash that killed 179 people.

The December 2024 crash involved a Boeing 737-800 which was struck by birds, belly-landed and overran the runway at Muan International Airport, killing almost everyone on board after it struck a concrete support for a localiser antenna. The only survivors...

Just as Sri Lanka thought it had bought some time with a one-month visa for the Iranian sailors it rescued, another of Iran’s warships appeared offshore, deepening Colombo’s struggle to stay out of a war that keeps washing up on its doorstep.

The vessel was detected nine nautical miles (17km) off the coast on Tuesday, a week after a US submarine sank the Iranian frigate IRIS Dena and damaged the IRIS Bushehr off the southern port of Galle on March 4.

Sri Lanka now hosts hundreds of Iranian naval...

Thailand’s Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has finalised his coalition partners and tapped allies for cabinet posts, but the spillover from the war in the Middle East is already diluting the economic momentum his new government hopes to take into office.

Anutin’s in-tray was already bulging with promises to address domestic woes, including high household debt and a slowdown in growth that has led to an anaemic 2026 forecast of between 1.5 and 2.1 per cent.

But the unexpected spike in energy...

A 59-year-old man will be charged in a Singapore court on Wednesday over four videos he posted on TikTok between 2023 and 2025, the police and Protection from Online Falsehoods and Manipulation Act (POFMA) Office said on Tuesday.

The videos contained content which promoted ill will between different racial groups as well as false statements of fact, police and the POFMA Office said in a joint news release.

He will be charged with two counts of defamation and one count of attempting to promote...

This article was first published on March 11, 2011.

By Greg Torode, Martin Wong and Agencies

A farm building engulfed in flames as it disintegrated in giant waves; a minibus tumbling end over end, pushed ahead of a 10-metre wall of water - the tsunami triggered yesterday afternoon by the largest earthquake in Japanese history produced scenes of horror along the country’s northeast coast.

At least 1,000 people were killed as the wall of water swept away everything in its path. The death toll is...