Asia - South China Morning Post

As South Koreans brace for another sweltering summer, a grim joke has taken hold in casual conversation: “This will be the coolest summer for the rest of our lives.” For many young people, that line is no longer dark humour but a blunt summary of how the climate crisis feels – relentless, immediate and deeply personal.

Among South Korea’s young generations, a wave of what experts call “climate anxiety” is reshaping their daily lives, from how they exercise and shop to whether they plan to marry...

North Korean ruler Kim Jong-un’s recent display of nuclear-processing capabilities appears timed with reports of an impending visit by China’s leader and fuelled by insecurities about Seoul’s nuclear submarine talks with Washington.

Analysts also say that mounting trilateral talks involving the United States, Japan and South Korea have galvanised Kim into doubling down on Pyongyang’s status as a nuclear-armed state.

The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced on Friday that Xi...

Listening to US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth at the recently concluded Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, I thought of the iconic Sichuan opera act of face-changing, where performers switch masks in an instant.

Last year, Hegseth’s speech at the event was filled with blatant attacks on China. This year, he put on a completely different face, declaring that: “Under President Trump’s leadership, relations between the United States and China are better than they’ve been in many years.”

Why this...

Japanese homemaker Maki Watanabe carefully ⁠pours into a plastic bottle the oil she used to cook her ⁠deep-fried aubergines, doing her part in her Tokyo kitchen for a national effort to ramp up production of eco-friendly jet fuel.

“It would take a tremendous amount to make an aircraft fly, so I hope we can collect more,” said Watanabe, whose penchant for cooking allows her to donate about 40 litres (10 gallons) a year.

Her contribution is pooled at a nearby supermarket that is among roughly 300...

For Beijing-based METiS TechBio CEO Lai Tsai-ta, ageing is comparable to bugs building up in a complex software system – it happens once errors begin to accumulate in the genetic code of human cells, such as their DNA sequences.

“Those errors can be reprogrammed. It becomes possible to use AI to read, rewrite and reverse cells, or at least slow the ageing process,” Lai said in an interview with the South China Morning Post.

The process could begin by fixing “immune cells, such as T cells, as...

Waves break along Cenang Beach as the sun drops over the Andaman Sea, washing Langkawi’s white sand in gold. Tourists sip fresh coconuts beneath rows of bright umbrellas, gazing out at the “Jewel of Kedah”: a duty-free archipelago long sold as one of Malaysia’s premier tropical escapes.

Out on the water, meanwhile, small boats traverse the 8km (five miles) of open water that separates Langkawi from Thailand’s Koh Tarutao. On fast boats, the crossing takes a matter of minutes. No navigation...

Indonesia is considering buying hi-tech policing equipment from China, setting out a shopping list for technology ranging from drones to tactical armoured vehicles at a police equipment trade show in Beijing.

The Indonesian National Police is particularly interested in counterterrorism equipment, including intelligence technology, tactical weapons, bomb disposal gear and special purpose vehicles, according to a list of requirements released at a forum held at the expo on Thursday.

Most of this...

While a wave of job cuts across Asia’s finance and other industries due to wider use of artificial intelligence has spurred concerns, a new study shows that the technology’s net impact on employment is not as clear-cut.

Recruiters and industry observers say many companies are adding AI-related roles without having to lay off workers.

A study by professional services firm Aon released on Wednesday shows that 74 per cent of 504 companies surveyed across industries in the Asia-Pacific region have...

Thailand said on Friday it will join a UN arbitration process chosen by Cambodia to resolve a festering maritime boundary dispute, but put on hold for now other two-way efforts to settle their contested borders.

This week Cambodia launched a compulsory conciliation process under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), after Bangkok decided last month to unilaterally end a ‌2001 framework pact for talks on a disputed maritime belt.

For more than 25 years, both have claimed...

China-Canada relations are undergoing a thaw after years of estrangement and recrimination. China and India are seeking a rapprochement despite deep-seated distrust and sometimes violent border disputes. Both cases share a common element: Donald Trump.

Meanwhile, following the US president’s visit to Beijing, his defence secretary Pete Hegseth avoided mentioning Taiwan at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore. He sounded almost conciliatory by hailing ties with Beijing as “better than they’ve...