Japan is likely to face another record-setting summer, climate experts have warned, as global warming shrinks Arctic ice, changes wind direction and heats ocean temperatures. The Japan Meteorological Agency on Tuesday released its weather forecast for the coming months, predicting a 60 per cent probability of above-normal temperatures for all of Kyushu, Shikoku and the southern and eastern parts of Honshu between June and August. The southern islands of Okinawa, the northern prefecture of...

United States first lady Melania Trump is set to chair a meeting of the United Nations Security Council in New York on Monday, the White House announced, marking the first time a spouse of a serving world leader has done so. “First lady Melania Trump is set to make history at the United Nations, taking the gavel as the United States assumes the Security Council Presidency to emphasise education’s role in advancing tolerance and world peace,” the White House said. The US assumes a monthly...

A man who raped a foreign domestic worker in the bushes near a Singapore railway station after pretending to be a police officer was sentenced to 12 years’ jail and 12 strokes of the cane on Thursday. Sharveen Chetty, a 48-year-old Malaysian, had pleaded guilty to one count of rape on the second day of his trial. A second rape charge and a charge of impersonating a police officer were taken into consideration. In sentencing, Justice Dedar Singh Gill said Chetty was aware that the victim was a...

The increase in stamp duty on ultra-luxury homes above HK$100 million (US$12.8 million) is unlikely to change buying behaviour, analysts said, as the structural forces underpinning demand from mainland Chinese buyers could outweigh the impact of the rise in transaction costs. The Hong Kong government, in the annual budget on Wednesday, increased the tax rate on residential transactions above HK$100 million to 6.5 per cent from 4.25 per cent amid a surge in demand for high-end property from...

The United States has warned Syria against relying on Chinese technology in its telecommunications sector, arguing it conflicts with US interests and threatens US national security, according to three sources familiar with the matter. The message was conveyed during an unreported meeting between a US State Department team and Syrian Communications Minister Abdulsalam Haykal in San Francisco on Tuesday. Washington has been ‌coordinating closely with Damascus since 2024, when Syria’s now President...

A former fighter pilot in the United States Air Force, once entrusted with flying some of America’s most advanced combat aircraft, has been arrested for allegedly training pilots from China’s People’s Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) without authorisation, the US Department of Justice said. In a press release on Wednesday, the Department of Justice (DOJ) alleged that 65-year-old Gerald Eddie Brown Jr., also known by his call sign “Runner”, was taken into custody in Jeffersonville, Indiana,...

Ahead of China’s annual legislative meetings – typically a window into Beijing’s top-level policy agenda – this is the first entry in a series examining the complex economic recalibration driving China’s growth philosophy and its wide-ranging implications for local governments, financial investors and private enterprises. Beijing’s forceful campaign to instil a “correct” understanding of tenure performance among party cadres may signal Chinese leaders’ determination to downplay headline growth...