Asia - South China Morning Post

In a blaring nightclub in wartime Myanmar, partied-out revellers doze until dawn by the dance floor, wary of journeying home despite the end of a post-coup curfew.

Lasers streak the smoke-filled air and music is cranked up to 150 decibels, according to one DJ – as loud as a jet engine at take-off – but the weekend clubbers slumbering on sofas dotted around the warehouse-sized Yangon venue do not stir.

“That became a habit, they’re used to it,” said one 29-year-old veteran of the capital’s elite...

Chinese investors in Indonesia’s nickel industry recently sent a formal protest letter to President Prabowo Subianto. The message reflects their concerns over Indonesia’s political and economic direction, and the long-term trajectory of Chinese investment and Indonesia’s industrialisation programme will hinge on how Indonesia resolves them.

The letter, submitted by the China Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia (CCCI), complained about a series of government policies, including proposed royalty...

Two major Japanese chemical manufacturers could halt production of a gas crucial to AI chipmaking starting next month, as supply tightens and prices surge amid Beijing’s export controls on tungsten.

The price of tungsten hexafluoride has jumped more than 200 per cent year on year because of supply bottlenecks, coupled with rising chip demand, market data showed. The gas is a critical precursor in the semiconductor industry, where it is used to develop the microscopic connections inside advanced...

A woman swimmer was ⁠seriously injured in a shark ⁠attack at a Sydney beach on ⁠Saturday, authorities said, in the latest of a spate of such encounters off Australia’s coast.

Emergency services were called to Coogee Beach in the east of Sydney, Australia’s largest city, in the morning on reports that the 35-year-old had been bitten by a large shark about 30 metres (100 feet) from the shore.

“The woman was pulled from the water by members of the public, who commenced first aid,” police said in a...

Bangladesh’s new leader is set to visit Malaysia and China later this month in a trip that Dhaka says reflects its independent foreign policy – with the decision to skip India seen less as a snub than a bid to strike a diplomatic balance.

Tarique Rahman, who became Bangladesh’s 11th prime minister in February, plans to visit Malaysia on June 21–22 before a three-day official visit to China from June 23 on his first overseas trip since taking office.

The Malaysia leg, scheduled ahead of any visit...

When Natasha Ann Lum was growing up, there was no place for Singlish – an English-based creole language in Singapore – at home. Her father was adamant that Lum and her brother not speak with broken grammar or use conversational markers such as “lah”, “lor” or “eh”.

“He didn’t have the luxury of education and felt like he missed out on work opportunities because he didn’t speak English at a level that was required, so he wanted to make sure my brother and I would be better off,” said the software...

The International Criminal Court ordered a medical assessment of former Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte to determine whether he is fit to stand trial, with proceedings set to start in November.

It is the second time that Duterte, who is facing charges of crimes against humanity over his drug war that killed thousands of people, will undergo a health check ordered by the court.

The ICC’s pre-trial chamber found in January that the former leader, who ruled the Philippines from 2016 to 2022,...

A possible meeting next week between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Donald Trump offers a chance to reset ties following a year of strained relations over tariffs, Pakistan, and now, the Iran war.

US forces this week attacked three Indian-crewed vessels in the Gulf of Oman region, killing at least three sailors and prompting protests from New Delhi.

Modi and Trump would likely want to contain the latest tensions and avoid derailing efforts to get relations back on track...

As Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi heads to the G7 meeting in France next week, she is expected to hear rumblings of discontent over Tokyo’s apparent diplomatic outreach to Moscow.

With European Union member states and most Nato nations united in their resolve to push back on Russia’s ongoing aggression against Ukraine and isolate Moscow, Japan’s very different approach to Vladimir Putin’s regime has not been overlooked.

Senior officials from Japan’s foreign and trade ministries travelled...

Dan Rae Hugo has never heard of the Asean Petroleum Security Agreement. All he knows is that his diesel costs have doubled, his profit margins have evaporated and the rice on his neighbours’ tables now costs 20 per cent more than it did before the Iran war.

The 43-year-old has been farming the fields of Iloilo, the Philippines, for 18 years. He has never worked harder for less.

“It’s all the inputs: the diesel, the labour for operating the machines, the transportation when we harvest … It’s the...