Asia - South China Morning Post

Financial news outlet Bloomberg harboured “unprecedented” malice in the publication and handling of an article about the purchase of good class bungalows in Singapore, lawyers for two Singaporean cabinet ministers alleged on Friday during closing statements in a defamation lawsuit.

Senior counsel Davinder Singh said the case was unprecedented in terms of ill intent and aggravation, seeking damages exceeding those against The Online Citizen chief editor Terry Xu, who was ordered to pay S$574,000...

The Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) has launched a US$10 billion facility to support members affected by conflict in the Middle East, the multilateral development lender announced on Thursday.

The Energy, Food Security and Economic Resilience Facility, sitting alongside the bank’s existing financing tools, offers up to US$10 billion over two years to help members tackle urgent needs around energy security, food security and economic resilience, according to a statement published by...

Vietnam auctioned off two Hermes handbags owned by real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, convicted in the nation’s largest fraud case, for 14.21 billion dong (US$539,000) as efforts to claw back billions of dollars in ill-gotten wealth accelerate.

The government is auditing assets owned by Lan and her affiliates to recoup billions in losses after courts ordered her to repay US$27 billion in damages.

Lan has so far repaid a total of more than 12 trillion dong to about 42,000 bondholders with more...

China’s landmark Pinglu Canal has entered its final phase of construction and is set to begin trial operations as early as September, with a first shipping route linking the country’s heartlands to the free-trade port of Hainan, according to Chinese state media reports.

The Pinglu Canal – China’s most ambitious waterway project in centuries – will stretch 134km (83 miles) from Nanning, capital of the southern Guangxi region, to the Gulf of Tonkin, known as the Beibu Gulf in China.

The aim is to...

A scam syndicate has been renting a bungalow in an upmarket area in Malaysia’s Johor state and using AI to carry out job scams all the way in Spain.

Police uncovered their activities when they arrested a total of 35 Chinese nationals during a raid at the bungalow in Gelang Patah at 11.50pm on May 14.

Iskandar Puteri OCPD Assistant Commissioner M. Kumarasan said the suspects, aged between 21 and 39, used artificial intelligence technology and ready-made language templates to communicate with...

As robots become more advanced to carry out complex tasks, they are set to be at the forefront of the next phase of Singapore’s goal to become a world-class artificial intelligence hub.

The city state hopes to position itself as a hub for “physical AI” – robots and autonomous systems that can clean buildings, deliver goods, patrol public spaces and eventually work in factories, hospitals and homes.

Singapore’s stable regulatory environment, strong digital infrastructure and experience deploying...

The Iran war has baked in stagflation and starvation through big reductions in the supply of oil and fertilisers. This inflationary pressure will only increase. As inflation sucks liquidity out of financial markets and into the real economy, bond yields are being pushed up across the world. If bond yields rise by more than a percentage point, a likely scenario before the year’s end, the liquidity diversion could be big enough to pop the AI bubble.

The US-Israeli war on Iran has disrupted the...

It began as a satirical online project. Now millions of young Indians are flocking to it as an outlet for their frustration.

A parody political party called the Cockroach Janta Party, with the insect as its symbol, has exploded across India’s social media by turning absurdist humour into protest.

Memes and short videos mocking corruption, joblessness and political dysfunction have flooded social media sites, where millions of users are embracing the cockroach – known for its ability to survive...

The Philippine justice chief ordered authorities on Thursday to enforce an International Criminal Court warrant for the arrest of a senator wanted on an alleged crime against humanity. He warned that anyone helping the senator evade a nationwide hunt would face criminal charges.

Senator Ronald Dela Rosa “is a fugitive from justice”, Justice Secretary Fredderick Vida said in a news conference. “He should be brought to the ICC to face the charges.”

Dela Rosa is a former national police chief who...

As high fuel prices and disruption from the Middle East conflict force many Asian carriers to cut capacity and rearrange routes, Singapore Airlines (SIA) is moving in the opposite direction: adding long-haul flights to Europe in a bid to capture traffic from its Gulf rivals.

Aviation analysts said the carrier’s expansion reflected a rare combination in the region: a strong balance sheet, insulation from sudden jumps in fuel prices due to its hedging strategy and a hub in Singapore that could...