Singapore and Indonesia’s latest push to trade low-carbon electricity could become more than a bilateral energy deal, with analysts saying it might offer Southeast Asia a practical test case for a regional power grid that has long struggled to move from ambition to implementation.
The cooperation, centred on electricity-import deals and cross-border interconnector projects, is also expected to strengthen Singapore’s energy security and help the city state reach its sustainability goals, while…
India to supply Indonesia with long-range missiles
India will supply Indonesia with long-range missiles, an Indian official said on Tuesday as their leaders agreed to deepen ties in defence, critical minerals and other areas.
President Prabowo Subianto is hosting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Jakarta during a three-day state visit, with a deal on the BrahMos missile system topping the agenda.
An agreement for “cooperation on BrahMos system” was struck during the visit, Indian foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal said in a post on…
UK employment tax ruling impacts LLPs
A recent ruling by the UK’s highest court could lead to an increase in employment-related tax costs for limited liability partnerships (LLPs), experts have said.
Philippines’ impeachment showdown: why removing VP Sara could be uphill battle
Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio did not attend the opening of her impeachment trial on Monday, leaving her lawyers to fight charges that, if upheld, could remove her from office, permanently bar her from politics and reshape the 2028 presidential race.
Legal experts told This Week in Asia they expected Duterte-Carpio to be difficult, though not impossible, to convict despite the gravity of the charges because prosecutors would need at least 16 senators – two-thirds of the chamber –…
Law delaying EU’s ‘high-risk’ AI rules finalised
Businesses that provide, deploy, import or distribute ‘high-risk’ AI systems will have more time to comply with EU requirements relating to those systems once new legislation adopted by law makers takes effect, which is expected to happen in the coming days.
Indonesia, Singapore say key oil passage will remain ‘accessible’
Indonesia and Singapore vowed on Monday that the Strait of Malacca, a critical oil transit chokepoint in the region, will remain “accessible” even as Iran imposes fees on ships traversing the Strait of Hormuz.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto discussed the matter with Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in Jakarta as Southeast Asia reels from the effects of oil prices pushed sky-high by the Middle East war.
The Strait of Malacca, surrounded by Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and…
Japanese space probe, size of a fridge, flies near asteroid in planet defence test
A Japanese space probe performed a fly-by of a near-Earth asteroid on Sunday, in a test mission for technology that could help protect the planet from space rocks.
The fridge-sized Hayabusa2 was due to fly within 800 metres (0.5 miles) of asteroid Torifune, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) scientists said earlier, a trial run to see whether such a probe could deflect a potentially dangerous space rock away from Earth.
The mission comes after Nasa deliberately smashed a spacecraft into…
How bitter Persian Gulf rivals can make peace the Asean way
“The Emiratis – by far the most hawkish, by far the most pro-Israel country in the [Gulf Cooperation Council] – they’re having conversations with the Iranians that have never happened before,” US Vice-President J.D. Vance told British media outlet UnHerd following the Iran-US negotiations in Switzerland.
The Iranians “are certainly talking differently than they have in the past”, he added in a note of cautious optimism, highlighting how both Washington and its allies in the Persian Gulf are…
Japan pledges US$3 million for Kazakhstan’s Caspian Sea water decline
Japan has partnered with the UN Development Programme (UNDP) to support Kazakhstan’s efforts to address the decline in the Caspian Sea’s water level driven by climate change, pledging a 465 million yen (US$3 million) grant towards its sustainable use.
Under the initiative for the world’s largest inland water body, Japan hopes to promote cooperation among littoral states on water resource management and enhance monitoring systems, according to the foreign ministry. The decline in the Caspian…
Drug traffickers using social media to hire Thai airline staff as couriers
Early in the morning on June 18, a message from an unknown account slipped into the TikTok inbox of a flight attendant in Bangkok with a series of questions: “Are you flying to Australia? Do you do carry-for-hire? What is your rate?”
The 30-year-old, who flies for a regional budget carrier, ignored the message and forgot about it – until Tuesday, when a Thai Airways flight attendant was charged with importing more than one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of heroin into Australia hidden in several tote…