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Asia

This Week in Asia

Security personnel stand guard outside the Unification Church headquarters in Tokyo on Wednesday. Photo: Kyodo

East Asia

Japanese court upholds order to dissolve Unification Church over donations

The order will take immediate effect, with the group losing its religious corporation tax status and liquidation procedures to begin.

13 minutes agovideocam

Hin Leong founder OK Lim has Singapore jail term cut to 13½ years on appeal

35 minutes ago

In Japan, a yakuza’s mansion is now for sale. Here’s why

52 minutes agovideocam

Politics

Duterte allies use Iran war threat to attack Philippines’ US ties

Social media posts claim US bases in the Philippines are like ‘bullseyes on Filipino soil’, prompting the military to debunk the disinformation.

3 hours agovideocam

A naval base in Cagayan province, the Philippines. The Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement, or EDCA, allows US forces rotational access to selected Philippine military bases. Photo: EPA-EFE

Southeast Asia

Thousands of passengers ‘stuck’ in Indonesia’s Bali after war grounds planes

With foreigners at risk of overstaying their visas, the Bali immigration office has introduced a free same-day emergency stay permit.

3 hours ago

Lifestyle & Culture

‘Social morals are dying’: Japan’s under-20s are getting high like never before

The relaxed attitude towards ‘fashionable’ drugs has been cited as one reason for more young Japanese arrested for cannabis offences.

4 hours agovideocam

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People

Villagers’ ‘swift action’ stops runaway train in Malaysia’s Sabah

The train had suffered a brake failure during a morning commute in southwest Sabah, prompting calls from officials for a full investigation.

3 Mar 2026 - 7:40PM

Quick-thinking villagers in Malaysia’s Sabah state sacrificed a vital motorised rail trolley to force the runaway train to stop. The train had suffered a brake failure. Photo: handout

Australasia

Australia’s best-paid jobs are twice as likely to go to men as to women

Industries that pay the most, such as mining and construction, tend to have the largest gender wage gaps, according to a report.

2 hours ago

East Asia

Seoul’s AI sex crime detection tool goes nationwide in South Korea

The technology uses 24-hour real-time monitoring to identify unlawful sexual images and videos, request their removal and block re-uploads.

1 hour ago

Southeast Asia

Malaysian, Filipino killed in helicopter crash southeast of Manila

The Bell 505 helicopter was en route to Quezon when it crashed in a grassy area in Pililla town at about 7.30am.

3 Mar 2026 - 4:44PM

Police officers inspect the wreckage of a helicopter that crashed in Rizal on Tuesday. Photo: Rizal Provincial Police Office

Lifestyle & Culture

‘Too high a cost’: why some Singaporeans are forgoing parenthood

As the city state battles a record low fertility rate, analysts say deeper anxieties and rising opportunity costs continue to shape decisions.

3 Mar 2026 - 7:00PM

People walk across the Jubilee Bridge at the Marina Bay waterfront in Singapore in November 2025. Photo: AFP

Politics

‘Nothing to them’: Indonesia’s US-Iran peace broker bid faces long odds

Indonesia’s president offered to fly to Tehran in person, but critics say joining Trump’s ‘Board of Peace’ cost Jakarta its neutrality.

3 Mar 2026 - 5:55PMvideocam

People

Allies of Philippines’ Duterte step up online attacks as drug war trial looms

The efforts have focused on undermining the ICC itself, targeting victims and witnesses and normalising mockery of the dead.

3 Mar 2026 - 2:00PM

People

She married 2 men at once in Thailand – and her mother is fine with it

The two Austrian grooms each paid a 1 million baht dowry, then celebrated by leaping into a pond.

4 Mar 2026 - 2:29AM

Dujduan Ketsaro with her two grooms, Roman and Macky. Photo: Facebook

Lifestyle & Culture

Malaysian student charged with desecrating Koran in viral video

The viral post showing a man stepping on the Koran and mocking the Prophet Mohammed has triggered 82 police reports and a national outcry.

3 Mar 2026 - 3:30PMvideocam

A pupil learns to read Arabic during a Koran memorisation lesson. Photo: EPA

Politics

India’s 100GW nuclear push was missing one thing. Canada just provided it

India needs to triple its uranium supply to meet its nuclear targets. Canada, with mines already in the pipeline, is well placed to deliver.

3 Mar 2026 - 4:29PMvideocam

Lifestyle & Culture

How the Unification Church is facing fallout in Japan from Shinzo Abe’s murder

Critics have called the group a ‘money-making business’, with many people having lost huge sums of money from its ‘spiritual sales’.

3 Mar 2026 - 4:04PM

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Politics

Build fast, grow rich: To Lam’s blueprint for a rising Vietnam

Vietnam’s Communist Party chief is staking his legacy on 10 per cent growth, domestic megaprojects and an overseas charm offensive.

1 Mar 2026 - 8:00AM

Illustration: Huy Truong

Economics

Philippines’ AI reckoning puts millions of jobs on the line

The US$30 billion outsourcing sector is fighting to adapt, leaving millions of workers with a stark choice: upskill or be left behind.

14 Feb 2026 - 4:03PMvideocam

Economics

India’s trade blitz seeks to keep afloat a sinking global order

‘Jolted out of its slumber’ by US tariffs, New Delhi is aggressively diversifying trade alliances to act as a bridge in a polarised world.

10 Feb 2026 - 8:54PM

Politics

‘Critical point’: can Thailand election pave way for national reset?

With the economy struggling and corruption rife, Thai voters will look to the February 8 election as a chance to turn the country around.

31 Jan 2026 - 8:08AM

Thailand’s prime minister and Bhumjaithai Party leader Anutin Charnvirakul (second from right) greets people at a market during an election campaign at Chinatown in Bangkok on January 20. Photo: AFP

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Highlights from

THIS WEEK IN ASIA

People

In Japan, a yakuza’s mansion is now for sale. Here’s why

52 minutes agovideocam

Japanese police inspectors raiding the Osaka office of the Yamaguchi-gumi crime group in 1997. Photo: AFP

Politics

Duterte allies use Iran war threat to attack Philippines’ US ties

3 hours agovideocam

A naval base in Cagayan province, the Philippines. The Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement, or EDCA, allows US forces rotational access to selected Philippine military bases. Photo: EPA-EFE

Lifestyle & Culture

‘Social morals are dying’: Japan’s under-20s are getting high like never before

4 hours agovideocam

People take part in a march in Tokyo in 2023 calling for the legalisation of cannabis. Photo: AFP

People

Villagers’ ‘swift action’ stops runaway train in Malaysia’s Sabah

3 Mar 2026 - 7:40PM

Quick-thinking villagers in Malaysia’s Sabah state sacrificed a vital motorised rail trolley to force the runaway train to stop. The train had suffered a brake failure. Photo: handout

Lifestyle & Culture

‘Too high a cost’: why some Singaporeans are forgoing parenthood

3 Mar 2026 - 7:00PM

People walk across the Jubilee Bridge at the Marina Bay waterfront in Singapore in November 2025. Photo: AFP

MORE IN This Week in Asia

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Filipino fishermen worry about Chinese nature reserve in disputed waters

Filipino fishermen worry about Chinese nature reserve in disputed waters

Centenarian becomes oldest person to climb Mount Fuji

Centenarian becomes oldest person to climb Mount Fuji

Cambodia unveils new Chinese-built airport

Cambodia unveils new Chinese-built airport

Ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra to serve 1 year in jail

Ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra to serve 1 year in jail

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TRENDING TOPICS

South China Sea

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