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This Week in Asia /

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Illustration: Huy Truong
Singapore

‘It’s inevitable’: Singapore’s workers brace for AI disruption

The city state wants 100,000 workers to become ‘AI bilingual’. But with entry-level roles already vanishing, time may not be on its side.

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Indonesia

Indonesia’s US trade deal faces a sovereignty reckoning at home

Singapore

Singapore real estate giants feel the heat amid China’s property woes

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Qatar

Qatar’s LNG halt exposes Asia’s energy vulnerability

Analysts say the turmoil underscores Asia’s need to shift to renewable energy, as nations scramble for alternatives amid the disruption.

QatarEnergy’s liquefied natural gas production facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, on Monday. Photo: Reuters
QatarEnergy’s liquefied natural gas production facilities in Ras Laffan Industrial City, Qatar, on Monday. Photo: Reuters
Indonesia

Is Indonesia’s fuel subsidy sustainable as Iran war continues?

Higher oil prices would mean bigger fuel subsidies, piling on the pressure on a budget that is already under investor scrutiny.

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Thailand

Thailand’s PTT to freeze pump prices as Iran attacks spur panic buying in region

The energy firm will maintain prices for 15 days, even as Thailand says it will still export oil to Laos.

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India

India’s 100GW nuclear push was missing one thing. Canada just provided it

India needs to triple its uranium supply to meet its nuclear targets. Canada, with mines already in the pipeline, is well placed to deliver.

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An Indian man cycles along a dirt road next to the Norora Atomic Power Station in India’s Uttar Pradesh state. Photo: AFP
An Indian man cycles along a dirt road next to the Norora Atomic Power Station in India’s Uttar Pradesh state. Photo: AFP
Middle East

Asia’s travel sector rattled by Iran attacks, fears of ‘domino effect’ slowdown

Airlines are bracing for higher oil prices, continuous flight disruptions and plunging traveller confidence.

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Middle East

Asia’s main oil artery is all but blocked. What happens now?

Oil has surged by the most in four years. Tankers are fleeing the Gulf and up to 10 million barrels a day may be stripped from global supply.

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India

India’s AI superpower dream: flush with cash, short on capacity

India’s AI ambitions could add half a trillion dollars to its economy or deepen inequality if cannot train up its workforce fast enough.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi poses with global tech leaders at the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi on February 19. Photo: India’s Press Information Bureau/Reuters
Central Asia

Trains through the Taliban: Central Asia’s plan to bypass Russia and Iran

The Soviet Union severed Central Asia’s ancient trade routes to the Indian subcontinent. The region’s modern-day leaders want them back.

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A Taliban guard walks along railway tracks near a TAPI pipeline construction site at the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan border in 2024. Photo: AFP
A Taliban guard walks along railway tracks near a TAPI pipeline construction site at the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan border in 2024. Photo: AFP
India

India in limbo over Russian oil imports as talks with US on trade deal continues

Washington has previously tied lower tariffs on Indian exports to the US to New Delhi’s commitment to curb its purchases of Russian oil.

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Singapore

Singapore budget surplus: poor ‘fiscal marksmanship’ or prudent forecast?

MPs have questioned whether the GST rise was necessary after the government projected a US$12 billion surplus in the current financial year.

Singapore

As Deliveroo leaves Singapore, spotlight turns on city state’s tight market

The platform’s departure has underscored the challenge of turning a profit in a dense, tightly contested market.

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A Deliveroo rider in Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong, in 2025. The UK-founded food delivery platform has been scaling back in parts of Asia in recent years, including Hong Kong, as competition intensifies in the region. Photo: Sam Tsang
Brics

Why Brics can’t do away with US dollar even as currency cooperation rises

Brazil says there has been no proposal or talks within Brics to create a common currency across the bloc.

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Brics leaders meet at their 2025 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: AFP
Brics leaders meet at their 2025 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photo: AFP
India

India and Brazil set sights on US$30 billion trade milestone by 2030

The two founding Brics members are deepening links on rare earths, innovation and AI to diversify growth beyond the West.

Malaysia

Malaysia’s biggest state wants its energy wealth back – and it’s going to court

Sarawak state is challenging oil giant Petronas’ dominance in the highest court, in a test for the prime minister’s unity coalition.

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Singapore

Cross-border trips to Johor push Singapore checkpoint traffic to new high

About three-quarters of the record 245 million travellers who crossed Singapore’s checkpoints last year went via the land border.

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Vehicles travel across the causeway from Malaysia’s southern state of Johor to the Woodlands immigration checkpoint in Singapore on October 10, 2025. Photo: AFP
Vehicles travel across the causeway from Malaysia’s southern state of Johor to the Woodlands immigration checkpoint in Singapore on October 10, 2025. Photo: AFP
Trade

Tariff whiplash throws Asia’s recent US trade deals into doubt

India has already paused trade talks with Washington as other Asian nations are left to question the validity of their recent agreements.

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Thailand

Thailand ‘buzzing’ with travel boom as Chinese tourists back in droves

The country’s heavy investment in wooing Chinese visitors appears to have paid off as it overcomes safety fears to secure holiday growth.

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The Philippines

Views of corruption in Philippines worsen as ‘grease money’ dents confidence

A global index on corruption perceptions shows the Philippines posting its lowest ranking since 2012.

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Protesters wearing face masks depicting Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and Vice President Sara Duterte take part in an anti-corruption rally in Manila in November. Photo: AFP
India

India-Europe trade corridor gathers pace as Modi, Macron pledge port partnership

The India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor is seen as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative.

A container terminal at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Photo: Reuters
A container terminal at Mundra Port in the western Indian state of Gujarat. Photo: Reuters
India

India AI summit aims to shift focus from model races to scaled reality

The event offers emerging economies a chance to reframe AI as public infrastructure and work together to put it into public services.

Indonesia

Can Indonesia’s US$762 million Ramadan stimulus boost spending and growth?

The package, which includes fare cuts and food handouts, is meant to keep people travelling and shopping, and help shore up early-growth momentum.

Cambodia

Battered Cambodia seeks economic reset after Thailand border war

Shuttered borders have choked trade and sent migrant workers home, forcing Phnom Penh to seek new partners and markets.

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Cambodian migrant workers cross from Thailand into Cambodia at the Ban Laem checkpoint in Chanthaburi on July 28, 2025. At least 20,000 people were estimated to be returning to Cambodia amid fighting along the Thai–Cambodian border around that time despite reported peace talks. Photo: dpa
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