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The Chinese leader Xi Jinping, who is likely preparing to secure a fourth term in power in 2027, has complained that officials cannot be trusted.

Singapore has expanded its investigation into haze-creating fires in Indonesia that have blanketed the city state in smog, requesting information from 10 locally registered companies. The National Environment Agency (NEA) sent notices seeking documents and details of land concessions in Indonesia owned by the firms, their firefighting and blaze prevention measures, and their relationship to other relevant companies, according to a Friday statement. All 10 Singapore-registered companies were...

North Korea sent a letter to the United Nations Security Council accusing Seoul of fabricating a landmine explosion that injured three South Korean soldiers, its state media reported Monday. Tensions between the two Koreas have soared since the South last month blamed the blast inside the heavily fortified demilitarised zone that separates the countries on landmines laid by the North, an accusation it has fiercely rejected. The North Korean permanent representative to the UN sent a letter on...

“How can South Korea’s law be this weak? Twenty-three people died!” Those were the words of Chinese mother Li Shun-ji after South Korea’s Supreme Court upheld a reduced four-year prison sentence for Aricell CEO Park Soon-kwan last Tuesday over a 2024 factory fire that killed 23 workers, including Li’s then-24-year-old daughter, Yan Jing-jing. The blaze at the lithium battery manufacturer’s factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi province, killed 17 Chinese nationals, one Laotian national and five South...

Philippine police are investigating a laptop found alongside images of child abuse at the former home of Meghan Markle’s estranged father, with “full results” expected in a week, the country’s interior minister told reporters. Thomas Markle, whose daughter is married to Britain’s Prince Harry, had been living in Cebu in the Philippines until reportedly returning to the US earlier this year. Philippine interior minister Jonvic Remulla said the country planned to take “appropriate legal actions”...

Prosecutors indicted a 20-year-old US Marine on Sunday on suspicion of robbing and murdering a woman in Okinawa earlier this month as the case renews anti-base sentiment among locals burdened with hosting the bulk of US military installations in Japan. Devin Ballard, who is stationed at Futenma Air Base, is charged with killing the woman by wrapping a phone cord around her neck at a hotel in Naha, the capital of the southern island prefecture, and taking her backpack containing a wallet on...

The appearance of K-pop singer G-Dragon on electronic billboards in major Chinese cities despite Beijing’s K-pop ban points at a contrast between political shadows clouding international relations and actual commercial linkages in East Asia. Amid tensions over Seoul’s military alliance with the United States and other issues, G-Dragon featured in eight McDonald’s products across more than 8,000 outlets in mainland China. The penetration and appeal of Korean cultural icons show how transnational...

Filipinos are almost evenly divided over the Marcos administration’s handling of the maritime dispute with China, even as nearly three in four favour diplomacy over confrontation, according to a new survey. That preference has taken on added significance after recent remarks by China’s ambassador to Manila sparked a diplomatic row ahead of November’s Asean summit. The feud underscored the challenge of managing tensions with Beijing, and increasingly hostile rhetoric could make the diplomatic...

Chinese technology giants are dangling annual pay packages approaching 1 million yuan (US$149,739) to attract artificial intelligence engineers who can turn AI models into commercial applications. Companies including ByteDance, Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group Holding are stepping up recruitment and training of the so-called forward-deployed engineers (FDEs), who work directly with customers to develop and integrate AI applications into business operations. Demand for such professionals has...

The tanker detained by Indonesian authorities that was used in an attempt to smuggle 1.16 tonnes of ketamine is owned by a Malaysian-registered company. Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department director Hussein Omar Khan said the two directors of the company that owns the MT Global 168 are Malaysians. He said the company’s office is located in Johor Bahru, Malaysia’s Johor state. According to Hussein, the tanker had previously applied for registration under the Malaysian flag but had...

Tran Dai Thang spotted two young people who had picked up their drinks at a pop-up cafe beside his travelling bookstore and were about to leave, so he called them over. One of them said they did not read books, Thang recalled. But he kept the conversation going and eventually persuaded the visitor to buy a book for 10,000 dong (US$0.40) – heavily discounted from its original price of 45,000 dong. For Thang, an artist and publisher, the small sale mattered far less than the fact that someone who...

Singapore expects all parties who have signed commercial contracts for gas supplies to “honour their commitments”, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Sunday after Indonesia cut its exports. Speaking at the People’s Action Party (PAP) convention, Wong added that Singapore’s gas importer will take the necessary steps to protect its rights and interests. Indonesia began reducing natural gas exports to Singapore on Saturday. Indonesia’s upstream oil and gas regulator SKK Migas said the move was to...