The Amazon deliveries stopped reaching the USS Abraham Lincoln in February as it entered the conflict zone with Iran. A few weeks later – much to the chagrin of the sailors on board – even that most American of meals, the hamburger, was compromised by supply shortages when burger buns ran out.

But as they unwind on their first shore leave in 286 days, the 5,000 crew of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier are finding out what tens of thousands of their forebears already knew: Pattaya will...

Malaysia declared an emergency on Friday in a town in Sarawak state on Borneo Island after air pollution breached the country’s emergency-level threshold linked to fires in neighbouring Indonesia.

The Air Pollutant Index in Serian, a small agricultural town of just under 90,000 near the border of Indonesia’s Kalimantan province, surged to 521 on Friday, according to Malaysia’s environment department. Sarawak’s much larger capital, Kuching, also showed a hazardous reading of 311.

Malaysia’s King...

India is betting big on domestic manufacturing of semiconductors – the microscopic brains that power everything electronic from cars to AI processing – in an ambitious bid to slash imports and boost its local industry.

But observers say the country should set its sights even higher upstream on the value chain by mobilising its “secret weapon” – a talent pool that could realise its dream to turn “Make in India” into “Engineer in India”.

New Delhi earlier this week launched the second phase of its...

The son of Malaysia’s king has dismissed a report that a potential tax bill of more than S$2 billion (US$1.6 billion) is complicating his plans to sell 16.6 hectares (41 acres) of land in Singapore, saying he was “more than happy” to absorb levies on both sides of the causeway.

“As a regular taxpayer, this is normal. No complication and more than happy to contribute to both countries. Should make it double,” Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim posted on social media on Thursday, hours after the...

South Korea is moving towards the possible deployment of naval assets to the Strait of Hormuz under mounting pressure from Washington, potentially making it one of the first US allies to contribute militarily to the strategically vital waterway, observers have said.

The government has reportedly drawn up plans to deploy military assets, including a naval logistics support ship and P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, to the strait.

If carried out, the deployment would mark South Korea’s first dispatch...

A court in the Philippines has issued a warrant of arrest against Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio over death threats she made against President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr.

The warrant involves three counts of grave threats, according to a court order that also set bail at 120,000 pesos (US$1,900) for each count. The charges were first filed last month, based on a National Bureau of Investigation criminal complaint in February 2025.

Duterte’s lawyer, Paul Lawrence Lim, on Friday confirmed the Quezon...

Two sailors from the US aircraft carrier making a port call to Thailand were sent back to the ship after a drunken altercation, Thai police said on Friday.

Police were alerted to a “small scuffle” involving the sailors in the early hours of Thursday near Pattaya’s nightlife hotspot Walking Street, city police chief Colonel Anek Srathongyoo said.

“The sailors were drunk and they were fighting, making loud noise,” he said.

He described the incident as “trivial” and said local residents had only...

The presence of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s youngest son at the opening of detained televangelist Apollo Quiboloy’s 75,000-seat Kingdome stadium this week offered a striking display of how ties between the Duterte family and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) have endured despite the criminal cases surrounding its founder.

Observers say the lavish inauguration, attended by an estimated 80,000 people alongside Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, proved the organisation’s ability...

A “wintry wonderland” on a highway in tropical Malaysia left motorists awestruck – until a police revelation melted away the viral moment and turned it into a road safety warning.

Social media videos showed thick white foam carpeting several lanes of the Shah Alam Expressway as vehicles drove through the “snowy” route.

The spectacle was extremely unusual in Malaysia, where there is no traditional winter season and temperatures remain relatively uniform throughout the year.

However, that did not...

Two hydropower workers were pulled from a tunnel buried by debris in Nepal on Friday, a rare ray of hope on the 10th day of rescue efforts after catastrophic Himalayan flooding.

Rescuers cheered as one man was pulled from a muddy opening, video released by the energy ministry showed. He was helped to his feet by rescuers, and later carried on the backs of the emergency workers, raising his hand as they took him towards a helicopter.

A photograph showed the second man caked in mud, his hands...