Singapore
Illicit gold networks fuelling conflict, organised crime across Africa and global south, GI-TOC warns
Illicit gold has become a critical source of financing for organised crime, armed groups and sanctioned regimes across Africa, a Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime report finds.
Singapore’s nuclear question
Singapore has been looking long and hard into energy sources the island can still explore.
Philippines quake leaves at least 15 dead and 129 injured
Several countries across the region, including the Philippines, Indonesia and Japan, issued tsunami warnings following the quake, although most have since been lifted.
The Singapore to Malaysia migration reshaping Southeast Asia
An industrial migration is quietly shifting the economic landscape of Southeast Asia, particularly that surrounding Singapore and Malaysia.
South China Sea tensions drive a quiet realignment against Beijing
The Philippines is not alone as other countries bordering the South China Sea are also starting to push back. Surprisingly given shared Communist ideals is Vietnam, which has become one of the region's most active challengers of Chinese claims.
Asia’s EV race speeds up as China’s champions challenge Tesla
As of mid-2026, China remains the centre of gravity in the EV world.
Indonesia bets on resource nationalism to plug fiscal gaps
Mineral export bans and upcoming windfall taxes have become the country’s overarching strategy - one that is increasingly running up against regulatory bottlenecks, illegal capital leakages, and local governance deficits.
Asia’s coal comeback complicates energy transition across region
Taiwan has struggled to secure LNG supplies through May and finalised contracts covering roughly half of June demand, but additional procurement costs are expected to reach into the billions of US dollars to complete.
The baby bust: how a global demographic crisis crept up on everyone
Just a decade ago, the dominant demographic narrative was of "dying Russia" — a population hollowed out by the chaos that followed the Soviet collapse, shrinking through a combination of low birth rates, high mortality and mass emigration.
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.
Malaysia shifts from Singapore overflow hub to regional AI data centre powerhouse
The Malaysian data centre landscape is in the middle of a transformation, in which the country tries to evolve from a secondary destination for Singapore’s overflow demand into a regional leader in high-value Artificial Intelligence infrastructure.
ASEAN’s power gamble will shape the region’s economic future
Electricity demand across the wider ASEAN region is rising rapidly. Manufacturing expansion, electric vehicle adoption and the construction of energy-intensive data centres are driving consumption higher and higher every day.
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.
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
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.
China quietly tightens its regional grip across Southeast Asia
Beijing and Hanoi are stepping up co-operation centred on internal security, in the process offering a preview of how China may deepen ties across south-east Asia despite longstanding differences with several countries in the region.
Australia, Singapore increase energy ties
Australia and Singapore have agreed to reinforce energy co-operation, pledging to maintain flows of refined fuel and LNG as both nations work to navigate international and regional energy issues on the back of the conflict in the Middle East.
ADB projects slower growth in all of Asia
According to an outlook forecast report by the Asian Development Bank, the broad Asia region including its many developing high growth economies are facing what can be best described as the most complex set of headwinds in years.
Southeast Asia’s energy squeeze
The war in Iran has delivered a systemic shock to global energy markets, but few regions have felt the strain as acutely, or quite as quickly, as Southeast Asia.
Jurong Island’s output cut triggers $1.64 petrol spike in Australia
Singapore’s reclaimed oil refining region, the 32-square-kilometre Jurong Island, has become the primary driver of record-high petrol prices in Australia as Middle East supply shocks ripple through the Asia-Pacific energy corridor.