Fuel prices cast a dark shadow over Asia travel season

There will be no real winners in traditional tourism this summer – only airlines, tourist destinations and central banks left counting the cost.

Trump-Xi summit sparks Taiwan headlines, but raises doubts over US grasp of bigger picture

Japan suggests possible yen intervention, with US support

Japanese authorities recently spent close to $63bn intervening after the yen weakened beyond the JPY160 per dollar level.

China’s Treasury sell-off gains pace as fault lines appear in dollar dominance

That China is increasing its share in non-US sovereign debt at the same time many countries are purchasing Treasuries is classic China, with Beijing now starting to don the puppetmaster’s gloves.

Japan quietly resumes Russian oil imports as Hormuz crisis forces a pragmatic rethink

A cargo of Russian oil arrived in Japan for the first time since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz as pragmatism overtakes principles in Tokyo.

Has the Third World War started – in Asia?

As history has demonstrated many times to date, the ‘start’ of a world war is less a moment than a process, and Asia today is beginning to look uncomfortably similar to Europe of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Asian trade jitters spark fresh Malacca Strait monetisation push

The collapse of maritime stability in the Middle East has cast a long, overdue shadow over the busiest maritime chokepoint in Asia: the Strait of Malacca.

Why global population collapse will keep the wars coming

Demographers warned for decades that ageing, declining states grow more dangerous, not less. The wars now spreading from Eastern Europe to the Gulf to East Asia look increasingly like the opening engagements of a long contest over who outlasts whom.

With Washington’s reliability shifting daily, Northeast Asia’s security order frays

US policy is increasingly variable, shaped by domestic politics, transactional needs, and at times which side of the bed its leader wakes up on.

Asia-Pacific defence spending hits post-2009 high as China-Taiwan tensions drive regional build-up

Military expenditure the Asia-Pacific region increased sharply in the last year, reaching a total of $681bn - an increase of 8.1% year on year and the largest annual expansion in military spending since 2009

UPDATE: Shots fired, Trump evacuated from black-tie event in Washington

US President Donald Trump has been rushed from the White House Correspondents’ Dinner in the US capital after an armed suspect was detained following a shooting incident.

Trump’s Iran gambit leaves APAC region ‘Quad’ dead in the water

The European Union has already, for all intents and purposes broken away from the US. It is only a matter of time before the Quad either ceases to function or decides to go its own way, without the US.

Toyota opens new R&D hub southwest of Tokyo

Toyota Motor Corp has unveiled a new research and development hub aimed at advancing mobility products and services within its experimental Woven City in Susono, Shizuoka prefecture in central Japan.

Japan’s JAPEX hints at profit cuts due to Middle East disruption

Japan Petroleum Exploration has issued a press release warning of the impact on its business from escalating tensions in the Middle East, indicating that higher LNG procurement costs and suspended oil production are expected to weigh on earnings.

Japan remains vigilant despite easing of tsunami threat

The Meteorological Agency took the unusual step of highlighting a 1% likelihood of a magnitude 8 tremor occurring soon, a risk level ten times higher than the standard baseline.

DATA: Japan tsunami waves of up to 3m forecast for Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate

Japan has forecast tsunami waves of up to 3m for Pacific coastlines of central Hokkaido, Aomori and Iwate after a magnitude 7.4 quake off Sanriku, with the first wave of 0.4m observed at Miyako.

BREAKING: Tsunami of 80cm observed at Kuji, Iwate as 3m waves forecast for northern Japan

A tsunami of 80cm has been observed at Kuji port in Iwate Prefecture following the magnitude 7.4 earthquake off the Sanriku coast, with waves of up to 3m forecast for Pacific coastlines of Hokkaido and northern Japan.

UPDATE: Magnitude 7.4 earthquake hits off northern Japan, tsunami warning issued for Hokkaido and Tohoku regions

A magnitude 7.4 earthquake has struck off Japan's Sanriku coast at a depth of 10km, prompting a tsunami warning for Pacific coastal areas of Hokkaido and Tohoku with shindo 6 lower recorded in Aomori Prefecture.

Western Japan lenders strike capital, business alliance

Japan's Shiga Bank and Senshu Ikeda Holdings, the parent of Senshu Ikeda Bank, have agreed to a capital and business tie-up, marking the latest step in the consolidation trend among Japan’s regional lenders.

Quality matters: how the Hormuz crisis tests refinery flexibility

The disruption highlights a key reality often overlooked in the oil market: while volumes may be globally fungible, crude quality is not.