The Mecca security pact between Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan stipulates that an armed attack against one shall count as an attack against all three. Yet the real message is directed at the United States: if being an American ally offers no immunity against attack, there is little point in waiting for Washington to honour its security guarantees.
That there has been no official White House statement casts some doubt on whether Donald Trump is really “very happy to see that Saudi Arabia,…
Singapore’s island merger plan fuels nuclear power speculation
Singapore’s plan to merge several islands off its southwest coast into a new hub for industry, defence and “new power generation infrastructure” has stirred speculation over whether the site could one day host a nuclear power plant.
The city state is studying advanced nuclear technologies, including small modular reactors (SMRs), as part of its long-term planning for a net-zero power system, but the government has not decided whether to deploy nuclear energy, let alone where any future plant…
Meet the Indian food safety officer shaking up Mumbai with viral raids
Tukaram Mundhe is an Indian bureaucrat on a mission.
As a state food safety commissioner, the 51-year-old has raided food businesses in the country’s commercial capital Mumbai in an unprecedented crackdown on poor hygiene and unsafe food that has captivated the public nationwide.
Mundhe has led the suspension of food permits of four Domino’s and one Pizza Hut outlet in recent weeks, and has also targeted cricket clubs, hotels and well-known restaurants in over 3,000 raids since he took over as…
What AI and copyright means for Australian data centre operators and AI infrastructure investment
How Australia charts its own course on AI and copyright will directly influence future demand for data centre capacity in the country.
Can Singapore’s latest pro-family push change minds on parenthood?
Singapore’s latest pro-family push has been welcomed by some parents for tackling the costs of raising children, but others say lower fees and more leave are unlikely on their own to overcome deeper worries over time, careers, housing and lifestyle.
During the annual National Day Rally on Sunday night, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong announced a raft of measures to make having children more appealing in the city state.
These include increasing childcare leave based on the number of children a…
Former cricket captains appeal to Pakistan over jailed ex-PM Imran Khan’s healthcare
A group of 21 former international cricket captains, including India’s Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev, signed a letter to Pakistan’s government on Sunday regarding the healthcare of jailed former prime minister Imran Khan.
Khan has been in prison since 2023 and was sentenced late last year along with his wife to 17 years on corruption charges they both deny.
The 73-year-old, who was also a former Pakistan cricket captain, was transferred back to jail on Friday hours after he was taken to hospital…
Indonesia arrests 72 suspected of starting forest fires as haze persists
Indonesian authorities arrested 72 people suspected of starting some of the forest and peatland fires as huge blazes in central and west Indonesia triggered choking haze.
Indonesia has been battling fires driven by an intensifying El Nino pattern and a prolonged dry season, generating dense smoke that crossed into Malaysia, according to Indonesia’s National Disaster Management Agency, or BNPB.
Fires are a regular problem in Indonesia that strain relations with neighbouring countries.
Plantation…
1,500 Indonesian soldiers deployed to fight Borneo wildfires
Indonesia is deploying an additional 1,500 soldiers to Borneo, an official said on Saturday, to help tackle wildfires that have burned through swathes of the island and created thick smog choking some areas.
Fires between January and July burned over 200,000 hectares of land – an area three times the size of the capital Jakarta, the government said this week, as dry conditions driven by a powerful El Nino weather pattern take hold.
President Prabowo Subianto, on a visit to Borneo on Saturday to…
Myanmar air strike kills 14 praying at monastery, rebel witnesses say
A Myanmar military air strike on a monastery where civilians were gathered for a meditation retreat marking Buddhist Lent killed 14 people, two rebel fighters who witnessed the aftermath said.
Myanmar has been consumed by civil war since the military staged a 2021 coup ousting the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi and detaining the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
Over the past five years, more than 100,000 people are estimated to have been killed across all sides as the military battles an…
China and US push Southeast Asia over their AI blocs. Will it test region’s non-alignment?
Southeast Asian leaders have long insisted they will not be forced to pick sides in the great-power rivalry between the US and China. But their posture is about to be further tested.
This time, the battleground is AI. While Washington wants the region locked into Pax Silica – its bid to build a China-free artificial intelligence supply chain – Beijing wants its neighbours to join China’s own World Artificial Intelligence Cooperation Organisation (Waico).
Sources told the South China Morning Post…