Vietnamese crab exporter double-skinned crabs

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This Week in Asia

A participant holds a placard reading “No War” during a protest against Japan’s lethal arms export rule change, in Tokyo’s Shinjuku district on Friday. Photo: AFP

East Asia

Japanese protest ‘frightening’ easing of decades-old arms export curbs

New rules permitting the sale of lethal weapons overseas come as Japan ramps up defence ambitions and seeks to enter the global arms market.

6 hours ago

‘Paradigm shift’: is China’s deal with mining giant BHP a global yuan milestone?

24 Apr 2026 - 8:00PMvideocam

Chinese drone discovery sharpens focus on Asia’s undersea security race

24 Apr 2026 - 7:27PM

Politics

Robredo’s 2028 snub leaves Philippine opposition scrabbling for ‘saviour’

A March survey showed that the popularity gap between Leni Robredo and presidential front runner Sara Duterte-Carpio had narrowed.

24 Apr 2026 - 6:00PM

Leni Robredo gives a post-election statement from her home in Magarao, Camarines Norte, on May 10, 2022. Photo: Office of the Vice President/AP)

Politics

Is Indonesia’s blasphemy law for religious protection or political purpose?

The law has come under the spotlight after complaints filed against a former vice-president over his comments on sectarian violence.

24 Apr 2026 - 5:57PMvideocam

Politics

‘We owe it to the world’: Philippines pushes for South China Sea code this year

Talks between Asean and China to agree on setting rules for maritime behaviour and crisis management under the code have stalled.

24 Apr 2026 - 3:59PMvideocam

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Economics

Why US tanker blockades are raising risks for Southeast Asian strait controllers

The bigger risk is not of the Iran war spilling into their waters, but the strain of operating in more contested sea lanes, analysts say.

24 Apr 2026 - 3:10PMvideocam

Guided-missile destroyer USS Michael Murphy patrols the Arabian Sea during a maritime blockade on April 15. Photo: US Navy/AFP

Politics

US slaps sanctions on Cambodian senator suspected of controlling scam centres

The sanction freezes all US assets linked to Senator Kok An and his named associates, and bars any American national from dealing with them.

24 Apr 2026 - 5:19PMvideocam

Lifestyle & Culture

This retiree in the Philippines downloaded an app. Then he lost his life savings

Industrial-scale malware is replacing ‘pig-butchering’ as Cambodia’s scam hubs pivot to high-speed digital heists.

24 Apr 2026 - 10:41AMvideocam

Politics

Australia signs US$7 billion Japan warship deal to boost firepower against China

The formalised deal offers Canberra a strategic alternative to uncertain US defence ties, analysts say.

24 Apr 2026 - 8:56AM

A Mogami-class stealth frigate from Japan’s Maritime Self-Defence Force docks in Darwin, Australia, on June 6, 2025. Photo: Kyodo/AP

Southeast Asia

Married Singaporean man’s secret Indonesian wedding ends in jail time

Low Kok Peng married a domestic helper in Batam before the pair returned to Singapore and he continued living with his first wife.

24 Apr 2026 - 3:45PM

Low Kok Peng arrives at Singapore’s State Courts on Friday. Photo: CNA

Politics

A Delhi-Dhaka thaw? India opens door to Sheikh Hasina extradition talks

The former Bangladeshi leader and close Indian ally remains ‘a strategic asset for Delhi’, an analyst says.

24 Apr 2026 - 3:44PMvideocam

People

Bangladeshi YouTuber’s death sparks mourning amid Malaysia’s DUI crisis

Muzahid Millad was killed in a crash involving an allegedly drunk Malaysian soldier, prompting calls for justice and stricter laws.

24 Apr 2026 - 1:10PM

Lifestyle & Culture

Burger King in Japan dangles US$250,000 to lure rival franchisees

Meanwhile, Philippine fried chicken chain Jollibee has announced a record operating income and is accelerating its global expansion.

24 Apr 2026 - 2:40PM

Two customers bite Burger King’s Whopper hamburgers after the chain’s first Tokyo store officially opened in Shinjuku, Tokyo, in 2007. Photo: AP

Southeast Asia

Indonesia rules out collecting transit fees from ships in Malacca Strait

‘As a trading nation, Indonesia supports freedom of navigation and expects open sea lanes,’ Foreign Minister Sugiono says.

24 Apr 2026 - 11:30AMvideocam

A container vessel sails through the Malacca Strait in Port Klang, Malaysia, on Wednesday. Photo: EPA

Politics

How fake job ads in Philippines led to alleged spy recruitment pipeline

The ads, some of which experts say were linked to China, aimed to get unsuspecting Filipino defence specialists to give up key information.

24 Apr 2026 - 11:00AMvideocam

Economics

Malaysia’s durian growers in ‘survival mode’ as early glut squeezes export trade

An early bumper harvest and rising fuel and freight costs are squeezing premium durian exporters as they race to get their fruit into China.

24 Apr 2026 - 12:35PMvideocam

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Health & Environment

Shock therapy: war forces oil-addicted Asia to finally go green

Burned by soaring energy prices, Southeast Asian nations are racing to future-proof themselves against the volatility of war.

18 Apr 2026 - 8:00AMvideocam

Floating solar panels are seen at a hydro-solar farm run by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand in Ubon Ratchathani province. Photo: AFP

Politics

Japan’s Middle East oil habit gets an Iran war reality check

Almost all of Japan’s oil comes from the Middle East. A closed strait turned that dependence into a trap.

11 Apr 2026 - 8:00AMvideocam

Lifestyle & Culture

Cultural capitals: Southeast Asia seeks soft power to outlast the buzz

The region’s creators are going global, but the structures to sustain them are still catching up.

4 Apr 2026 - 9:50AMvideocam

Health & Environment

Burning daylight: Asean’s power grid plans get an Iran war jolt

Oil is up, coal is back and so are fuel queues. As the Middle East burns, Southeast Asia dusts off an old plan to rewire its future.

3 Apr 2026 - 10:40PM

Illustration: Huy Truong

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Highlights from

THIS WEEK IN ASIA

Politics

Chinese drone discovery sharpens focus on Asia’s undersea security race

24 Apr 2026 - 7:27PM

South and Southeast Asian nations are stepping up capabilities to boost undersea surveillance and defend deep-sea cables, analysts say. Photo: Shutterstock

Politics

Robredo’s 2028 snub leaves Philippine opposition scrabbling for ‘saviour’

24 Apr 2026 - 6:00PM

Leni Robredo gives a post-election statement from her home in Magarao, Camarines Norte, on May 10, 2022. Photo: Office of the Vice President/AP)

Politics

Is Indonesia’s blasphemy law for religious protection or political purpose?

24 Apr 2026 - 5:57PMvideocam

A crowd watched a burning shopping centre in Ambon in 1999 amid clashes between Christians and Muslims that had killed hundreds in the Indonesian city that year. Photo: Reuters

Politics

US slaps sanctions on Cambodian senator suspected of controlling scam centres

24 Apr 2026 - 5:19PMvideocam

Equipment used at a scam centre in Phnom Penh in March. This year Cambodia has conducted the largest crackdown on scam bases since the crisis emerged during the pandemic. Photo: AP

Politics

‘We owe it to the world’: Philippines pushes for South China Sea code this year

24 Apr 2026 - 3:59PMvideocam

A Chinese coastguard vessel (right) fires its water cannon at the Philippine BRP Datu Pagbuaya near Philippines-occupied Thitu island, locally called Pag-asa island, at the South China Sea last October. Photo: Philippine coastguard via AP

MORE IN This Week in Asia

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Outside In | The Iran war is brewing a food crisis we must avert

David Dodwell

24 Apr 2026 - 4:30PM

Macroscope | Why fixing Japan’s monetary policy isn’t getting any easier

Nicholas Spiro

23 Apr 2026 - 5:20PM

Opinion | Iran crisis casts light on energy security from the US to Asia

Warwick Powell

22 Apr 2026 - 5:30PM

Opinion | How new US-Indonesia defence pact sharpens China’s ‘Malacca dilemma’

Julien Chaisse

21 Apr 2026 - 5:30AM

Opinion | As Iran war fallout hits Southeast Asia, US is losing influence to China

Nikola Mikovic

19 Apr 2026 - 9:46PM

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Filipino fishermen worry about Chinese nature reserve in disputed waters

Filipino fishermen worry about Chinese nature reserve in disputed waters

Centenarian becomes oldest person to climb Mount Fuji

Centenarian becomes oldest person to climb Mount Fuji

Cambodia unveils new Chinese-built airport

Cambodia unveils new Chinese-built airport

Ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra to serve 1 year in jail

Ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra to serve 1 year in jail

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TRENDING TOPICS

South China Sea

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