In a blaring nightclub in wartime Myanmar, partied-out revellers doze until dawn by the dance floor, wary of journeying home despite the end of a post-coup curfew. Lasers streak the smoke-filled air and music is cranked up to 150 decibels, according to one DJ – as loud as a jet engine at take-off – but the weekend clubbers slumbering on sofas dotted around the warehouse-sized Yangon venue do not stir. “That became a habit, they’re used to it,” said one 29-year-old veteran of the capital’s elite...

Chinese investors in Indonesia’s nickel industry recently sent a formal protest letter to President Prabowo Subianto. The message reflects their concerns over Indonesia’s political and economic direction, and the long-term trajectory of Chinese investment and Indonesia’s industrialisation programme will hinge on how Indonesia resolves them. The letter, submitted by the China Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia (CCCI), complained about a series of government policies, including proposed royalty...

Two major Japanese chemical manufacturers could halt production of a gas crucial to AI chipmaking starting next month, as supply tightens and prices surge amid Beijing’s export controls on tungsten. The price of tungsten hexafluoride has jumped more than 200 per cent year on year because of supply bottlenecks, coupled with rising chip demand, market data showed. The gas is a critical precursor in the semiconductor industry, where it is used to develop the microscopic connections inside advanced...

A woman swimmer was ⁠seriously injured in a shark ⁠attack at a Sydney beach on ⁠Saturday, authorities said, in the latest of a spate of such encounters off Australia’s coast. Emergency services were called to Coogee Beach in the east of Sydney, Australia’s largest city, in the morning on reports that the 35-year-old had been bitten by a large shark about 30 metres (100 feet) from the shore. “The woman was pulled from the water by members of the public, who commenced first aid,” police said in a...

Peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait needs a “joint answer” from people on both sides, Beijing’s top Taiwan affairs official said on Saturday. “As profound changes unseen in a century accelerate across the world, the international landscape is becoming increasingly turbulent and complex, the situation in the Taiwan Strait remains complex and severe,” Wang Huning told the Straits Forum, an annual event designed to boost exchanges between Taiwan and mainland China. “The future direction of...

Bangladesh’s new leader is set to visit Malaysia and China later this month in a trip that Dhaka says reflects its independent foreign policy – with the decision to skip India seen less as a snub than a bid to strike a diplomatic balance. Tarique Rahman, who became Bangladesh’s 11th prime minister in February, plans to visit Malaysia on June 21–22 before a three-day official visit to China from June 23 on his first overseas trip since taking office. The Malaysia leg, scheduled ahead of any visit...

A Hong Kong intern doctor arrested on suspicion of unauthorised access to patient data remains in custody, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source familiar with the matter told the SCMP that the 24-year-old woman, surnamed Lai, was arrested at about 7pm on Friday and was still being held at Cheung Sha Wan Police Station on Saturday morning She was arrested on suspicion of access to a computer with dishonest intent. The arrest came within three days of police receiving a report from a...