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South Korea earned US$116.63 billion more from the world than it spent in the second quarter of this year – exceeding the combined current account surpluses of Germany and Japan for the first time on record. The current account measures a country’s trade and income with the world. It counts goods and services sold abroad, money earned on overseas investments and payments flowing the other way. A surplus means more foreign currency is coming in than going out. Surging demand for semiconductors...

For decades, China was one of the world’s largest sources of migrant labour. Its workers staffed factories at home and built infrastructure abroad. But demographic decline may eventually force China to contemplate a striking reversal: importing workers on a meaningful scale. That change is not imminent. China still has a vast labour force and substantial youth unemployment. It is investing heavily in industrial automation, extending working lives through a gradual increase in the retirement age,...

A Malaysian ruler is demanding accountability over the mismanagement of a pilgrimage fund, after a government rescue package, criminal proceedings against former officials and half-hearted reforms have fuelled concerns about political influence in an institution entrusted with the savings of millions of the country’s Muslims. Tabung Haji holds the savings of more than 9.8 million depositors and helps Malaysian Muslims finance and undertake the pilgrimage to Mecca, a religious obligation for...

Chinese biotech firms face fresh headwinds in their global expansion as Washington’s proposed outbound investment restrictions threaten to disrupt deal structures, even though drug licensing agreements remain untouched for now, analysts say. The US Treasury Department’s draft rules released last week would “make it much harder for Chinese biotech firms to attract direct US investment or enter joint ventures”, according to David Zhang, an analyst at policy research firm Trivium China. US Treasury...

Chinese AI video-generation models have surpassed leading US rivals in visual quality, but several fall behind in safety safeguards, according to researchers at the University of Hong Kong. ByteDance’s Seedance 2.0 Pro took top spot in a ranking of 12 leading artificial intelligence video-generation models, scoring 3.84 out of 5 for visual quality. It outperformed Google DeepMind’s Veo 3.1, which scored 3.47, and OpenAI’s Sora 2 Pro, on 3.27, in a study led by Zhenhui Jack Jiang, professor of...

Sydney’s new multibillion-dollar airport has already confused some travellers, with passengers mistaking the new facility for the Australian city’s existing airport and even booking flights to the wrong side of the country. Western Sydney International Airport, which opened at the weekend after decades of planning, is about 60km (37 miles) from the city centre, compared with just 8km for the existing Kingsford Smith Airport. The new airport operates around the clock, while most passenger flights...

The villagers who first spotted the five baby orangutans in a casuarina forest in India in early September were puzzled by their reddish hair and unfamiliar faces. The three males and two females, aged six to eight months – were left on a plantation in eastern India’s Odisha, over 2,700km (1,700 miles) from their native rainforests in Borneo and Sumatra, evidence of a growing illicit trade of apes being trafficked into India. They are now at an Indian zoo, where keepers reportedly have been...

China’s expanding semiconductor industry is fuelling mounting anxiety in South Korea, where a new consultancy report has warned local chipmakers to defend profitability as Chinese rivals scale up production and strengthen market share. Samil PwC, the South Korean member firm of the global consultancy, said in a report made public on Monday that Chinese competition would likely heat up first in the areas of conventional memory, mature-node manufacturing, and packaging and testing. To stay ahead,...

The death of a 21-year-old delivery rider at an underground gig in Malaysia, now being investigated as murder, has highlighted concerns over crowd safety and regulatory flaws in the country’s independent live music scene, industry players say. Police reclassified the case on Sunday, four days after the man died from head injuries sustained at the gig in the southern state of Melaka, where the event was reportedly held without the necessary permits and local authority approval. The...

Former Japanese prime minister Yasuo Fukuda, who used ⁠his brief period ⁠in office to seek ⁠closer ties with Asian neighbours, particularly China, has died at the age of 90, according to the Nikkei business daily on Monday. The Japanese politician, the first son of a prime minister to become one ‌himself, died on Thursday from heart failure, the Nikkei reported. Following news of his death, Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi expressed “deep sorrow” when speaking to reporters in Tokyo, praising him as...

As days of dangerous heat become more frequent in Japan, Sendai has emerged as the most comfortable city, with a climate that is “not too hot and not too cold”. The Miyagi prefectural capital, about 300km (186 miles) from Tokyo, has the best weather, according to the Asahi newspaper, with the lowest number of midsummer and midwinter days among 11 major cities in the nation. Citing Japan Meteorological Agency data, the newspaper reported that Sendai had only 31 midsummer days and no midwinter...

Four years ago, party-goers dressed as police officers were reportedly mistaken for the real thing amid a deadly crowd crush in South Korea’s capital. Now, as Seoul prepares for its fourth Halloween since the disaster, police have launched a week-long nationwide crackdown on imitation police uniforms and equipment, aiming to stop any such confusion from happening again. The nationwide operation, announced by the National Police Agency on Sunday, runs until Monday next week. More than 4,500...