SINGAPORE – Singapore has been named the top city in the Asia-Pacific region, based on where people would most like to live and visit, and where they believe they will find the best job opportunities, according to a new study. The inaugural 2025 Asia-Pacific Best Cities report ranked over 140 cities in the region in three categories – liveability, lovability and prosperity. Tokyo came in second and Seoul, third. Other cities in the top 10 include Hong Kong (4th), Bangkok (6th) and Sydney (7th). China had 33 cities in the top 100, the most of any nation, with Beijing (5th)…
Author: Asia News Network
SINGAPORE – For the first time in 14 years, Singapore emerged as the least corrupt country in the Asia-Pacific region in 2024. This is according to global anti-graft watchdog Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) report that was released on Feb 11. This is the first time since 2010 that the Republic has won the accolade, beating out New Zealand, which had held that position for 14 years. Transparency International’s report also ranked Singapore the third-least corrupt nation in the world, which is the Republic’s highest position since 2020. Singapore scored 84 out of a possible 100 on a scale…
SEOUL – South Korea’s Defense Ministry reported Tuesday that North Korea has continued supplying military aid to Russia since last year, including 200 units of long-range artillery, likely in exchange for Moscow’s support in developing intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear submarines. In its report submitted to the National Assembly’s National Defense Committee on Tuesday, the ministry stated, “North Korea has continued supplying weapons, ammunition, and other military support to Russia following its troop deployment to the war in Ukraine.” The Defense Ministry estimated that North Korea has provided Russia with over 11,000 troops, and a significant amount of ammunition, with…
TOKYO – In his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump last week, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba presented a new approach for Nippon Steel Corp.’s plan to acquire U.S. Steel Corp., saying it would not be an acquisition but an investment. “[Nippon Steel] is considering a bold proposal that is completely different from anything in the past, something that would create a win-win situation for Japan and the United States,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told reporters on Monday. Nippon Steel planned to acquire all shares of U.S. Steel and make it a wholly owned subsidy. But the administration of former…
YANGON – Food insecurity and malnutrition are at an alarming level in Myanmar, with 55 percent of children living in poverty, UNICEF Myanmar has announced. Myanmar has been grappling with a range of escalating conflicts for four years now, with the situation taking its toll on children the most, with violence, displacement and disruption of essential services such as health and education posing a serious threat to the survival and well-being of children, UNICEF Myanmar said. About a third of those displaced are children, forced from their homes and communities, and now face an uncertain future. In 2024, 750 children…
BEIJING – The meteoric rise of DeepSeek, a Chinese private artificial intelligence startup, sheds light on a new way for Chinese AI chip companies to seek breakthroughs amid Washington’s tougher tech restrictions to challenge the dominance of US semiconductor company Nvidia and reshape the global computing landscape, experts said on Monday. Highlighting that DeepSeek has developed a ChatGPT rival at a fraction of the reported cost of its US peers, they said its emergence shows that developing high-performance large language models does not require the exorbitant purchase of Nvidia’s AI chips, and more Chinese chip alternatives can be used in…
SINGAPORE – A student who was influenced by far-right extremism started role-playing as a terrorist in an online game, where he pretended to kill Muslims in a mosque. The 18-year-old Singaporean, whom the Internal Security Department (ISD) identified as Nick Lee Xing Qiu, had idolised Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant, who killed 51 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2019. Lee wanted to attack Muslims at a mosque in Singapore, and got a tattoo and T-shirts with custom prints of logos associated with neo-Nazi, white supremacist and far-right groups. On Feb 10, ISD said it had…
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra called a press conference at Government House on Tuesday to discuss her recent meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping last week, during which she addressed Thailand’s entertainment complex policy. The premier clarified that when Xi inquired about the policy, she explained that the entertainment complex would not be a casino-centric attraction. Instead, she said, the casino component would make up less than 10% of the overall project, which is primarily designed as a family-friendly destination. She emphasised that the complex would include various entertainment and leisure facilities for visitors of all ages. Paetongtarn also noted that…
BANGKOK – Sa Kaeo police were alerted on Thursday afternoon after a man attempted to use a private logistics service to mail dried infant bodies to a woman in Chiang Mai. A logistics service shop in Tambon Ban Mai Nongsai, in Sa Kaeo’s Aranyaprathet district, contacted the police at 1 pm, reporting the discovery of two small human corpses in a package that a client attempted to send. The staff at the shop told police that they found the package suspicious and asked to see what was inside, discovering two blackened dried bodies. The package was addressed to a recipient…
JAKARTA – A complaint from the Chinese Embassy in Indonesia over extortion cases at the main Soekarno-Hatta International Airport has led to the removal of 30 immigration officials from airport duty, and raised anew a debate over shakedowns involving tourists. The Chinese mission in a Jan 21 letter, which was posted on X by anti-corruption activists and widely circulated since, conveyed a formal complaint regarding at least 44 instances of extortion against more than 60 Chinese nationals at Indonesia’s busiest airport, which welcomed 54.8 million passengers in 2024. The Straits Times has reached out to the Chinese Embassy in Jakarta…