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This Week in Asia /

Health & Environment

Related Topics:
Coronavirus pandemic
Climate change
Wellness
A worker pumps fuel into a car at a petrol station in Bangkok, Thailand, on Thursday. Photo: EPA
Thailand

Thai undertaker brings corpse to petrol station to prove fuel need

After being denied fuel, a Thai man live-streamed the moment he showed station staff an occupied coffin to prove his urgent need.

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Japan

Where can Japan store its nuclear waste? Island plan raises alarm

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Asean

Burning daylight: Iran war energy shock revives Asean’s power grid plans

Defence

Activists push for Cop31 to discuss impact of wars on global climate

Military activities are hampering the transition towards renewable energy, with data transparency lacking among major defence spenders.

A damaged police station in Tehran following Israeli and US strikes on March 3. Global conflicts are hampering climate goals to reduce or end fossil fuel use. Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters
A damaged police station in Tehran following Israeli and US strikes on March 3. Global conflicts are hampering climate goals to reduce or end fossil fuel use. Photo: West Asia News Agency via Reuters
Singapore

As haze returns to Singapore, is crisis ‘quietly accepted’ by Asean?

Some Singaporeans are resigned to tolerating the annual occurrence despite the health risks and higher electricity bills.

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Malaysia

Malaysia’s weather is so hot that it can warp a payment card

Rice fields are drying out in the northern region, while heat-related health cases are rising across the country.

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The Philippines

A dog killer in the Philippines was fined US$17. New bills seek reform

Dedicated police units and a national watchdog. Two new bills aim to ensure animal abusers face justice, not just a US$17 fine.

Killua, a three-year-old golden retriever, was found dead inside a sack in 2024. Photo: Vina Arazas
Killua, a three-year-old golden retriever, was found dead inside a sack in 2024. Photo: Vina Arazas
Japan

In Japan, trains will get an extra 20 seconds to avert catastrophe from quakes

Tokyo has predicted an 80 per cent chance of a magnitude-9 quake in the next 30 years, that could cause 300,000 deaths.

South Korea

South Korea’s hurry-hurry spirit keeps killing its factory workers

Nine of the 14 people killed in Friday’s factory fire in Daejeon died in a room that did not officially exist.

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Singapore

‘Super-aged’ Singapore’s secret to growing old well? Stay busy

Forget doing nothing. At the city state’s active hubs, the soundtrack to ageing is sewing machines, exercise bikes and guitar lessons.

Elderly citizens use sewing machines at the Yong-en Active Hub in Singapore. Photo: Kolette Lim
Climate change

Himalayan glacial loss threatens 2 billion as Asia’s ‘water tower’ shrinks

Conflicts, such as the Iran war, are diverting global attention away from the ecological crisis, scientists warn.

Nepal’s Mera Glacier is among the handful of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region that meets the World Glacier Monitoring Service’s benchmark standards. Photo: Patrick Wagnon/ICIMOD
Nepal’s Mera Glacier is among the handful of glaciers in the Hindu Kush Himalaya region that meets the World Glacier Monitoring Service’s benchmark standards. Photo: Patrick Wagnon/ICIMOD
Ageing society

Mortal combat: Southeast Asia fights fears of death to plan for the end

Birth rates are falling. Populations are ageing. In Southeast Asia, the business of dying has never been bigger.

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India

India’s weight-loss drug price war begins as key patent expires

Generic slimming drugs are expected to flood a market where one in four adults are currently either overweight or obese.

Malaysia

Malaysia’s ‘shielded’ medical tourism sector to benefit from Iran war’s impact

With the war affecting the outlook of Dubai’s medical hub, Malaysia could draw more patients from the Middle East.

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A FlyDubai aircraft prepares for landing as smoke rises from an ongoing fire near Dubai International Airport on Monday. Photo: TNS
Artificial intelligence

Too hot to handle? Southeast Asia’s AI data centre gold rush strains power grids

Data centres crave cold. Southeast Asia is anything but. Now, the AI boom is pushing tropical engineering to the limit.

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A technician works at a data centre in the United States last year. Photo: AWS/Reuters
A technician works at a data centre in the United States last year. Photo: AWS/Reuters
Asean

Asean bets on new framework to remedy ‘uneven’ disaster response

The new ‘ASPECT’ initiative could help boost quicker collective regional responses during large-scale or evolving disasters, analysts say.

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Malaysia

‘Ocean is our income’: the Malaysian fishers being pushed out by progress

Malaysia’s government says the Port Klang expansion is sustainable and essential. Local Mah Meri fishers fear for their livelihoods.

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US, Israel war on Iran

No longer safe: Iran war puts 9 million Indian workers in the line of fire

As missiles fly, drone strikes from Dubai to Doha are shattering the illusion of safety for millions of Indian expats living in the Gulf.

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A worker assesses the damage after a drone strike on a building in Dubai’s Creek Harbour neighbourhood on Thursday. Photo: Getty Images/AFP
A worker assesses the damage after a drone strike on a building in Dubai’s Creek Harbour neighbourhood on Thursday. Photo: Getty Images/AFP
India

‘Death is a release’: Indian parents win right to grant son a dignified death

Harish Rana was comatose and bedridden for over a decade. Now, the Supreme Court has ruled that his ‘endless misery’ can finally end.

Indonesia

‘Quite severe’: coastal erosion threatens future of Bali’s famed Kuta Beach

Experts warn extreme weather and decades of coastal development on the resort island have worsened the situation.

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The Philippines

250 men went down with a WWII ‘hell ship’. Now the US is coming back for them

Eight decades after the Oryoku Maru was sunk by American bombs, specialist divers are returning to retrieve the 250 men still trapped inside.

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Hundreds perished when the Japanese “hell ship” Oryoku Maru was sunk in 1944. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Indonesia

Why Indonesia’s waste-to-energy goal may not be ‘quick fix’ for landfill crisis

With billions to be spent on new waste-to-energy plants, critics are questioning the potential cost to Indonesian cities and the environment.

Registered scavengers walking in the Bantargebang landfill in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta. Photo: AFP
Registered scavengers walking in the Bantargebang landfill in Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta. Photo: AFP
US, Israel war on Iran

Sowing the seeds of hunger: war on Iran puts Asia’s next harvest at risk

As Gulf gas plants go offline, missing fertiliser shipments today could mean empty shelves and record food prices by autumn.

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Thailand

Thai police thought she was drunk. She was already dying

A 21-year-old died because an assumption was made. The same assumption later left a stroke victim in a coma with 50-50 odds of survival.

Malaysia

Malaysia slashes gym licence fees by 80% to fight urban obesity

Faced with some of Southeast Asia’s highest obesity rates, officials are dangling a regulatory ‘carrot’ to gym operators – but will it work?

A man runs on a treadmill with a view of Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Photo: Shutterstock
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