Politics

Canberra says the business visa programme remains open despite widespread reports in the past weeks saying it had been ‘axed’.

New Zealand is sending a small defence team to the Middle East to join an international alliance against Houthi militants targeting civilian ships in the Red Sea.

FamilyMart’s parent company says it has ended a deal with Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems, adding it is against ‘supporting violence or killing’.

While the Catholic leaders stood with the Philippines’ fishing folk, they stressed that armed conflict over the hotly-contested sea was not a “moral option”.

Indonesian engineers are under investigation for allegedly trying to remove a USB device containing information on the South Korean-made KF-21 fighter jet.

Raghad Kurdi has refuted allegations that she forcibly removed the state’s longest-serving chief minister from a hospital ICU against his doctor’s orders.

Critics have accused the South Korean government of playing into Japan’s narrative on Dokdo, which Tokyo claims as the Takeshima islands, amid pressure from Washington for the two to set aside their historical quarrels.

A police report alleges that Taib Mahmud’s wife, Ragad Kurdi Taib, had forcibly removed him from a hospital in Sarawak over the weekend.

The row over an irrigation project is also throwing up allegations that authorities have other hidden agendas behind the development, which is set to be built on ancestral tribal land.

The decision to halve Najib’s sentence and cut his fine for corruption linked to the plunder of the 1MDB state fund enraged the public and reopened wounds on all sides of Malaysia’s festering political divide.

The presidential front runner denied making a ‘very cruel’ comment on voters’ intelligence, as he fended off questions about women’s rights and his multibillion-dollar plan to provide free meals.

Japan deployed airborne early warning aircraft and at least one marine destroyer in response to Chinese vessels sailing near disputed islands in the East China Sea.

Some experts say the proposed law infringes on ‘open justice’ and raise concerns over how assessments of offenders would be conducted.

With days to go before the February 14 polls, a clear win for the ruling party’s presidential pick appears all but impossible.

Vietnam also has the ability to isolate maritime issues from bilateral ones, analysts say, ensuring fewer confrontations with China compared to the Philippines.

Najib will be freed in August 2028 after his 12-year jail term was halved by Pardons Board led by King Sultan Abdullah, in one of his final acts in office.

Analysts said Philip Chan’s case highlighted alleged Chinese political interference in Singapore, and the government’s readiness to tackle it despite concerns about repercussions.