Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is looking to push back national elections until the second half of next year, people familiar with the matter said, as state poll defeats and soured partnerships reveal his political vulnerability. That time frame would mark a significant delay. Just months ago, the 79-year-old leader was said to be mulling a snap election as soon as this October, perceiving his greatest risk at the time to be rising fuel prices. But two humbling state election losses...

South Korea’s police said on Thursday they were seeking indictments of seven transport ministry officials over the 2024 Jeju Air crash that killed all but two of the 181 people on board. The Boeing 737-800 operated by Jeju Air skidded off the runway at Muan International Airport in southern South Korea after its landing gear failed to deploy, slamming into a concrete structure and bursting into flames. Authorities have found traces of bird strike in the plane’s engines and the plane’s two black...

The assets managed by China’s private funds grew last month as those of its mutual funds shrank, with investors diversifying their portfolios amid a sell-off of semiconductor shares. The net assets under management (AUM) of domestic mutual funds shrank by 560 billion yuan (US$83.3 billion), or 1.4 per cent month on month, in July to 39.11 trillion yuan, according to data released by the Asset Management Association of China on Wednesday. The decrease ended a four-month run of mutual fund growth,...

Tokyo is experimenting with a radically faster way of buying new weapons – picking a domestically built interceptor drone less than three months after launching the procurement process. Analysts say this shift could help Japan respond more quickly to China’s expanding military capabilities. The defence ministry’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA) announced on Tuesday that it had signed a contract to buy Terra Drone’s Terra B1 system following competitive trials. The decision...

A proper kitchen, a washing machine and a table where children can do their homework – these are some of the bare necessities that people expect for their homes. But for many families living in subdivided flats in Hong Kong, that is unfortunately not the reality. People in subdivided flats – dwellings created by dividing an existing flat into several smaller units, usually around 50 to 100 sq ft each – must fit their sleeping and storage spaces into a single cramped room, with a tiny kitchen and...

Singapore’s new rules for messaging platforms mark a significant shift in the country’s fight against scams, placing greater responsibility on digital services to help stop fraudsters before they reach potential victims, as the government seeks stronger penalties for non-compliance. Analysts said the requirements could reduce the number of people exposed to scams and offer a potential model for other Southeast Asian countries, while cautioning that sophisticated fraudsters could adapt and seek...