North Korea's nuclear weapons programme has for several years posed a growing threat to international security " to its neighbours in the South and to the rest of the world. However, the hermit kingdom has also been fashioning another weapon with whi

After his capture while fighting for the communists during the Vietnam war, Nguyen Duc Gan endured four years of brutal captivity in a POW camp run by the US-allied South Vietnamese. Today, Nguyen, 72, holds no grudge against the Americans. In fact,

It is an irony of the so-called free economies that their governments are more constrained than China's when it comes to pursuing growth. China's central bank can print as much money as the economy needs; its government can order state-owned banks to

The law is after him, the ladies call him "daddy", and he's running in Thailand's impending elections promising a welfare state. As the March 24 polls draw nearer, the 40-year-old scion of Thailand's biggest auto-parts manufacturer is emerging as a d

Lidia's son turned nine this month in Sri Lanka, but she did not have the chance to sing him a birthday song. From Hong Kong, where she works as a domestic worker, Lidia cries over the distance that grew between them. "My husband does not allow me to

According to Chinese tradition, the first day of the Lunar New Year is one of the most sacred occasions. It is when Chinese around the world gather with their loved ones to celebrate and pray for an auspicious year ahead. But the first day of the Yea

Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman created quite the buzz this week with his whirlwind weeklong Asian tour, starting in Pakistan on Sunday before moving to India and wrapping it up with a two-day stop in China that ended on Friday. Many

Members of the Nepalese royal family " Crown Prince Dipendra, King Birendra, Prince Nirajan, Queen Aiswarya and Princess Shuriti " pictured in 1990. Photo: Reuters MASSACRE IN THE PALACE It was the night of June 1, 2001 when Narayanhity Palace, the r

In the latest case, a new cosmetics advertisement for the Spanish fashion house Zara featuring a Chinese model has stirred up debate on the topic of "uglifying China". Since the ad "Beauty is Here" was released on Sina Weibo last week, a number of an

The political party that stunned Thailand with its now-vetoed nomination of King Maha Vajiralongkorn's sister as its prime ministerial candidate has resumed campaigning following a temporary suspension, with its leaders putting up a defiant front ahe

The American at the centre of Singapore's HIV data leak scandal ran education-related businesses in Hong Kong, charging as much as HK$8,000 for each assessment of a child with special needs, the South China Morning Post has found. Mikhy Farrera Broch

US and North Korean senior diplomats on Thursday began last-minute talks in Hanoi as official sources claimed both sides had not yet reached a consensus on the joint communique to be issued at next week's summit of the two countries' leaders. The mee

Slash defence spending and end conscription? Such proposals from Thailand's leading anti-junta political party have had the country's citizens cooing in agreement ahead of the first elections since a 2014 coup, but some industry analysts say the dras

Former New Zealand prime minister Jenny Shipley has distanced herself from a controversial op-ed published in China's People's Daily, saying the state-run newspaper constructed it from an interview she did during a visit to China last December. Publi

The Hong Kong government's plan to remove e-cigarettes and other novel tobacco products from the market by prohibiting their sale, import and marketing is a regressive step in tobacco control. It is likely to hinder, rather than help, efforts to redu

Choi Won-ho had grand plans when he became the first person to introduce South Korean fried chicken to the North in 2007. The businessman, who made headlines when he opened the Rakwon Chicken Restaurant in Pyongyang's Moranbong district, hoped to eve

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) has 10 member states comprising Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. A Rohingya refugee girl next to newly arrived refugees who fle

During the same time, revenues exploded tenfold to over 20 billion dong (US$860 million) and the regular workforce more than doubled to 180 employees. "In the past, as a state-owned company, we worked according to the state's plan, meaning we just ca

Yasar Arafat, 23, has a bachelor's degree in engineering, and dreams of being like Tesla founder Elon Musk, some day inventing a product that will help mankind. For now, he is employed by Swiggy - an online food delivery service in New Delhi valued a

At least six politicians have come under fire so far for not possessing the academic credentials previously attributed to them. It all began with Deputy Foreign Minister Marzuki Yahya, after it was revealed that his business degree was not obtained f

From offering mobile payment services such as WePay and Alipay to hiring front-desk staff proficient in Mandarin, the New Zealand Chinese Travel and Tourism Association was not short of advice for Kiwi tourism operators on how to benefit from an infl

Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya's abortive prime ministerial bid last weekend had stunned investors and political observers, as it brought to the fore questions about differences in the palace - King Maha Vajiralongkorn vetoed the move - and whether th

THE THAI DRAMA lasted ostensibly less than a day. But the shock waves of the February 8 political earthquake triggered by Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya's abortive prime ministerial candidacy " vetoed by her younger brother King Maha Vajiralongkorn wi

As top Chinese and American negotiators huddled in Beijing on Thursday and Friday to haggle over a comprehensive agreement to defuse the trade war, international reactions have been a mixed bag of trepidation and optimism. Following the conclusion of

"I have been born, from the first second of my life, as a prince," he said. "It is difficult to say what it's like to be a fish when you are a fish. Or what it's like to be a bird when you are a bird." Today, the king splits his time between Germany

It's a mouthful, but in the coming weeks the term is likely to be on the lips of many of the Lion City's lawmakers as they debate the national budget Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat will unveil on Monday. The NIRC is the amount of Singapore governmen

The South China Sea, one of the world's busiest waterways, is subject to several overlapping territorial disputes involving China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. The conflict has remained unresolved for decades but has emerged

Korea was annexed by Japan in 1910 and liberated in 1945 at the end of the second world war. The US and the Soviet Union agreed to partition the Korean peninsula into two occupation zones. This division was meant to be temporary but cold war rivalry

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) was an ambitious trade agreement involving 12 countries that encompassed 40 per cent of the world's economy and over 800 million consumers. The member countries were Japan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Aus

Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad has become the first world leader to confirm his attendance at China's second Belt and Road Initiative summit this April, in a move analysts say is aimed at reassuring Beijing of his commitment to the project. They say the