In boardrooms and backstreets from Singapore to Hanoi, owners of Asia’s small and medium-sized enterprises had barely got over the shock of the pandemic’s economic upheaval when another disruption arrived – this time from Washington, in the form of new tariffs that risk upending cross-border commerce and livelihoods.
Following a series of hard-fought trade negotiations with the Trump administration, many Southeast Asian nations now find themselves confronting US tariffs ranging from 19 to 20 per…
Filipinos increasingly open to sex education as teen pregnancies, HIV cases rise
Almost three in four Filipinos believe that schools should teach children about sex and reproductive health, a new survey has shown – a marked shift in public sentiment that advocates say underscores the urgency of combating disinformation and religious resistance as teen pregnancies and HIV cases surge in the Philippines.
In the nationwide survey conducted in March, 73 per cent of respondents agreed it was important to teach “concepts of sexuality, sexual health and family planning in schools…
Malaysia accused of ‘blocking progress’ on plastics as it sides with oil giants
As plastic waste chokes oceans, poisons wildlife and infiltrates human bodies, the world’s governments met in Geneva this week to hammer out a landmark United Nations treaty.
But the summit was thrown into disarray as a coalition of oil‑producing states determined to block binding limits on plastic output – with which Malaysia was controversially aligned – saw negotiations stretched into an unscheduled eleventh day without agreement.
The Geneva talks, billed as the “Paris Agreement for plastics”…
Gamer movement demands consumer rights for discontinued online games
Technology companies face a new challenge over how they manage older software after campaigners stepped up their efforts to stop them shutting down old videogames, an expert has warned.
Online Safety Act fees and penalties to set by reference to revenue
Online service providers active in the UK have been urged to carefully calculate the revenues they derive from services in-scope of the Online Safety Act after it was confirmed that regulatory fees and penalties will be set with reference to those revenues.
In rare move, Singapore grants clemency to drug trafficker on death row
Singapore has granted clemency to Tristan Tan Yi Rui, an inmate on death row for drug trafficking, and commuted his sentence to life imprisonment instead.
The 33-year-old’s case is believed to be the first time since 1998 that the city state, known for its zero tolerance for drugs, has commuted the death sentence of an inmate on death row. Tan was convicted in 2023 of trafficking not less than 337.6 grams of methamphetamine.
In a letter from Julius Lim, principal private secretary to the…
Nearly 3,000 Malaysian government employees caught taking bribes in a decade
Almost 3,000 Malaysian government employees had been caught taking bribes over the last decade, lawmakers heard on Friday, topping the list of receivers of under the table payments over the past decade and nearly three times more than in the private sector.
Bribery remains entrenched in Malaysian society despite strong public sentiments for its eradication. High-profile corruption scandals, including those involving several former prime ministers, has done little to dampen the public appetite…
Enforcing dispute board decisions by emergency arbitration
Over the last 10 years, many leading arbitral institutions have amended their rules to make arbitration more responsive to users’ needs, resulting in the introduction of emergency arbitrator procedures.
30,000 stranded at Japan’s Osaka expo after train service chaos
About 30,000 visitors to Japan’s World Exposition in Osaka were left stranded, with some forced to spend the night inside the expo grounds, after the sole train service to the venue had to be halted due to a power outage on Wednesday.
Services on the Chuo Line, the only direct route to Yumeshima, the artificial island that hosts the expo, were halted at 9.30pm – 30 minutes before closing time – because of an electrical failure, Kyodo news agency reported.
While the Osaka Metro partially restored…
Bali gets tough: can new task force keep unruly tourists in check?
Indonesia has set up a new immigration task force to keep lawbreaking foreigners in Bali in check, but critics warn the presence of uniformed officers on the popular resort island risks putting tourists on edge.
Agus Andrianto, minister of immigration and corrections, on August 5 inaugurated the Immigration Patrol Task Force in Bali’s provincial capital Denpasar, with the mission to “suppress illegal acts by foreigners”, as well as provide rapid response to immigration violations.
“The formation…