Asia - South China Morning Post

The Asia-Pacific region presents insurers with substantial growth opportunities when it comes to covering climate-related risks, according to Swiss Re, one of the world’s largest reinsurers.

Victor Kuk, Swiss Re’s head of property and casualty reinsurance in Southeast Asia, India, Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, said that only 16 per cent of climate-related risks in the region were presently insured. Kuk spoke on Tuesday at the Climate Business Forum: Asia Pacific, hosted by the International...

Business leaders have called for deeper economic integration in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) for the bloc to enjoy seamless trade and travel between member states, and fully tap its potential as a region with a young growing middle class.

Speakers at the Hong Kong-Asean Summit 2025 on Tuesday stressed that Asean, while having to overcome challenges stemming from diversity among its 10 members, was an attractive hub with investment opportunities.

Wang Shuguang, president and...

Two British men have been arrested on suspicion of smuggling over a kilogram of cocaine onto the Indonesian resort island of Bali, an official said on Tuesday, potentially exposing them to some of the world’s toughest drug laws.

Indonesia commonly sentences drug traffickers to death, although the country has not carried out such a sentence for nearly a decade.

Rudy Ahmad Sudrajat, the head of the Bali Narcotics Agency, said an airport security officer intercepted one of the men, a 29-year-old...

Two contractors at the centre of the Philippines’ growing flood control scandal have named nearly 20 lawmakers and government officials they accuse of demanding kickbacks and offered to turn state witnesses, but legal experts say their alleged role in the scheme could undermine their plea for immunity.

In sworn testimony presented to the Senate on Monday, Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya and Pacifico “Curlee” Discaya – a married couple – claimed that corrupt politicians and Department of Public Works and...

Nepal’s Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli resigned on Tuesday as demonstrators defied an indefinite curfew and clashed with police, a day after 19 people died in violent protests triggered by a social media ban and mounting frustration over political corruption.

“I have resigned from the post of prime minister with effect from today … in order to take further steps towards a political solution and resolution of the problems,” Oli said in a letter to President Ram Chandra Paudel.

The 73-year-old’s...

The Philippines’ potential purchase of F-16 fighter jets from the United States has been put on hold due to budget constraints, Manila’s ambassador to Washington said on Tuesday.

The US State Department approved the potential sale, valued at an estimated US$5.6 billion, earlier this year in what was seen as a significant capability boost for the Philippine Air Force amid rising regional tensions.

“Right now, I think it’s on hold, mainly because … the funding is the key element of this whole...

Business leaders and governments should think of Asean as a bloc with nearly 700 million people and an emerging middle class instead of individual countries when considering the vast trade potential of the region, Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke said on Tuesday.

While Hong Kong was essential to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as an international financial hub that promoted technological innovation with a well-regarded legal system, the bloc could also offer great...

Malaysia’s National Security Council has ordered a temporary tightening of security at Petronas’ massive gas facility in Borneo and launched an immediate investigation into what it described as a “threat” to the critical energy infrastructure.

The NSC on Monday said it was taking “proactive measures” in response to security threats targeting liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities nationwide, with a particular focus on the complex in Bintulu, a town in the Bornean state of Sarawak.

“The Malaysian...

Scrutiny of Mahathir Mohamad’s wealth has turned to assets allegedly held in the UK by the 100-year-old former prime minister, Malaysia’s anti-corruption chief has said, in a widening purge that has implicated the ex-leader’s family and close associates.

The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has been investigating Mahathir since last year after two of his sons were instructed to declare their assets.

The move is part of a broader corruption investigation involving the country’s elite,...

South Korea’s powerful prosecution service, long accused of wielding justice selectively, is to be dismantled under a sweeping reform plan that government officials and ruling party lawmakers say is necessary to curb abuse of authority.

But critics warn the move may create constitutional disputes and deepen political fault lines.

President Lee Jae-myung’s Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), which holds a majority in the National Assembly, joined forces with the Presidential Office and the cabinet...