Asia - South China Morning Post

Visitors to the Osaka-Kansai Expo 2025 in Japan have been warned to be on alert for redback spiders, following the discovery of a nest in a public area and more than 70 sightings since April.

It marks the latest in a string of setbacks that have plagued the high-profile international event since its launch, from bomb scares to power outages.

In a notice posted on the organiser’s website on Thursday, visitors were urged to report any sightings of the spiders – easily identified by the distinctive...

Raden Igun Wicaksono has a warning for Indonesia’s leaders: the fight is just getting started.

The chairman of one of the country’s largest motorcycle taxi associations has promised “greater and greater escalation”, warning that millions of drivers are ready to ignite what he calls the ojol revolution, “ojol” being a shorthand for motorcycle taxi drivers booked through apps like Gojek or Grab.

Just weeks ago, Wicaksono and his fellow workers joined students and labourers and helped force...

Chavalit Frederick Tsao’s family fortune dates back to the 1800s in China, but like the tributaries of the winding Yangtze River, along which his great-grandfather built a shipping and logistics empire, another branch of the business has caught the eye of the fourth-generation leader of the Tsao Pao Chee (TPC) group – wellness.

Tsao is one of the biggest proponents of the well-being economy, which prioritises human and environmental health over traditional economic growth by shifting business...

The Australian government has unveiled a plan to improve domestic exporters’ access to the Chinese market after Beijing’s removal of trade barriers that previously affected A$20 billion (US$13.3 billion) worth of the country’s goods.

The two-year Accessing New Markets Initiative will provide A$50 million of funding in an attempt to “build on” China’s recent scrapping of several trade restrictions affecting Australian products, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said in a statement on...

Japan is set to deploy advanced drones to intercept unidentified aircraft and vessels in a move designed to reduce the burden on fighter pilots and modernise its military response protocols amid an increase in air and maritime incursions.

Operational testing of the US-manufactured MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones for this purpose is expected to begin next year, according to a report by the Yomiuri newspaper, citing sources within the defence ministry.

Analysts say Japan’s military is playing catch-up....

Earlier this month, Anthropic, the American artificial intelligence company, entered the US-China fight. It barred companies from using its AI services if they were more than 50 per cent owned by Chinese entities. This was a double punch – China’s access to American technology hit another obstacle, and the global business world was prodded again to reject Chinese investment.

Just a few months ago, Anthropic’s move would have knocked the wind out of China. But the recent Shanghai Cooperation...

JPMorgan Chase will cut the weight of the largest bond issuers in its flagship emerging-market index, diverting investor flows from the likes of China and India towards smaller nations.

The Wall Street bank will gradually lower the issuer cap on its GBI-EM Global Diversified index in the first half of 2026, according to a client notice seen by Bloomberg.

The limit will fall to 9 per cent from 10 per cent currently, with the implementation to be phased over a period of several months, the...

Coup rumours swirled in the Philippine capital over the weekend, with the military placed on “red alert” and all leave for its personnel cancelled, ahead of planned protests against corruption in state-funded flood control projects.

Sources close to and within the military confirmed to This Week in Asia that certain private individuals, former generals and groups were trying to persuade active-duty officers to withdraw their support for Commander-in-Chief and President Ferdinand Marcos...

In Asia’s real estate sector, South Korea is a star performer. In the first half of this year, the region’s fourth-largest economy recorded the second-highest volume of commercial real estate transactions after Japan. Moreover, Seoul experienced the strongest growth in prime residential prices in annualised terms in the second quarter among 46 markets tracked by Knight Frank.

Singapore is another top performer. Office vacancy rates are among the lowest in the region while the city state was one...

Indian security forces killed a top Maoist commander and two other rebels in a gun battle on Monday, officials said, as the government intensifies efforts to crush the decades-long conflict.

India is waging an all-out offensive against the last remaining traces of the Naxalite rebellion, named after the village in the foothills of the Himalayas where the Maoist-inspired guerrilla movement began nearly six decades ago.

More than 12,000 rebels, soldiers and civilians have been killed since a...