It’s too soon to tell, as the fight with Iran started less than a week ago. But at least in the near-term, China will likely hold its fire on Taiwan. However, if the Iran conflict continues for an extended period, lasting months rather than weeks, while casualties mount and the
Malaysian police began probing the case following a report lodged by a 56-year-old man in January.
With much of India’s oil and gas trade flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, any disruption there could quickly ripple across its economy, observers say.
Australia has said it has 115,000 citizens in the region.
A week of border fighting has killed dozens of Afghan civilians and displaced tens of thousands.
The Japanese government has decided to arrange chartered planes given the difficulty in securing tickets.
The suspects received monthly vouchers and electricity bill discounts under a government programme.
The escalating conflict in Iran and the Gulf region has exposed a structural reality: geography remains the ultimate arbiter of market stability. Nowhere is this more acute than the Strait of Hormuz, the maritime artery for 20% of global oil and a significant share of liquefied
TAIPEI, March 5 - Chinese air force activity around Taiwan has fallen sharply in recent weeks, with no flights at all in the past week, a sudden drop in what had been daily military manoeuvres that could signal Beijing is recalibrating its pressure on Taipei.
Lai Ching-te’s government proposed US$40b (S$51b) in funding for critical defence purchases.
March 5 - Shipments ranging from fresh produce to airplane parts are in limbo as an escalating Middle East conflict reduces the world's air cargo capacity by more than one-fifth and pushes up freight rates, with executives bracing for backlogs of goods.
There’s a tempting logic to the analogy. The Trump administration orchestrated the dramatic removal of Nicolas Maduro in January — a swift, tactically audacious operation that produced an oil deal, a compliant interim government and a triumphant press conference at Mar-a-Lago.
MFA has deployed crisis response teams to Oman and Saudi Arabia as it works to secure further evacuation options.
TOKYO – The panic sweeping through South Korea’s trading floors this week amid fast-developing fallout from war in the Middle East might not be as isolated as many investors hope. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the hottest stock markets among the globe’s major economies took a wild
GALLE, Sri Lanka, March 5 - Iranian sailors who survived a U.S. submarine strike in the Indian Ocean were recovering at a hospital in the Sri Lankan port city of Galle, authorities said on Thursday, a day after at least 87 were killed in the attack.
DUBAI/JERUSALEM/ANKARA, March 5 - Iran launched a wave of missiles at Israel early on Thursday, sending millions of residents into bomb shelters as the U.S.-Israel war with Iran entered its sixth day and just hours after moves to halt the U.S. air assault were blocked in
The Canadian prime minister said Australia and Canada should work together as 'strategic cousins'.
The US stations around 27,000 soldiers in South Korea.
March 4 - A Pakistani man accused of planning to kill President Donald Trump told jurors on Wednesday that he did not willingly work with Iran's elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps to devise the plot, media said.
March 4 - The impact of the Iran conflict on energy markets will be temporary and a \"small price\" to pay for U.S. military goals, U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told Fox News on Wednesday.
New Zealand still attracts more people than it loses, with a net migration gain of 14,200 in 2025.
The policies will be targeted at those aged 60 and older, with elderly care services to be increased.
BEIJING, March 5 - China said on Thursday that it would build a \"childbirth-friendly society\" in the next five years as it pledged to address concerns over employment, education, medical care, health and income, according to an official government report.
The worsening conflict in the Middle East disrupted oil and gas supplies.
It is also the first time the target has been lowered since it was cut to "around 5%" in 2023.
Election authorities say 65 political parties are in the fray.
Indonesia's participation on the board has drawn criticism from experts and Muslim groups at home, who say it compromises the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation’s long-standing support for the Palestinian cause.
KATHMANDU, March 5 - Nearly six months after a wave of unprecedented youth-led protests and the deaths of 77 people forced Nepal's then prime minister to quit, people began voting on Thursday in a general election that will choose a new parliament in the Himalayan nation.
China has set its 2026 economic growth target at 4.5 to 5 per cent, marking the first cut since 2023.
BEIJING, March 5 - China's 2026 defence spending will rise 7%, a copy of an official government report reviewed by Reuters showed on Thursday, slightly lower than the 2025 increase of 7.2% but roughly in line with rises over the last decade.
China’s defence outlays are closely watched as a barometer of Beijing’s strategic priorities as it presses ahead with military modernisation.
Beijing has shown little support for Tehran’s defence besides criticising the attacks.
China aims to have a world-class fighting force by 2050.
The move signals a more cautious outlook as the world’s second-largest economy grapples with weak demand, property strains and trade pressures.
The two countries produce around a third of global lithium and uranium.
A prolonged property slump and weak labour sentiments have dragged down its economy.
Malaysia is a key player in the vital chips sector but has been largely focused on the lower end of the market.
The United States government recently hosted a critical minerals summit aimed at reducing China’s predominant role in the global production of smartphones, weapons systems, lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicles (EVs). The meeting, which included representatives from
The missile incident was the first time that Türkiye, which has NATO's second-largest military, was drawn into the conflict.
The tests come shortly after he led a major once-in-five-years Party Congress.
They were ordered to leave by the US State Department due to “safety risks".
SYDNEY, March 5 - Australia said three more commercial flights were scheduled to depart the United Arab Emirates on Thursday as the first group of Australians stranded in the Middle East returned home overnight following the outbreak of the Iran conflict.
The failure to pass the Bill has exposed significant coordination gaps and "uneven political commitment" within the Anwar Ibrahim administration, say analysts.
International diversification has been a major theme this year, but the one-way traffic into North Asian markets has been heavy, says Shuli Ren for Bloomberg Opinion.
