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This Week in Asia /

Health & Environment

Related Topics:
Coronavirus pandemic
Climate change
Wellness
Oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz as seen from Khor Fakkan, the United Arab Emirates, on March 11. Photo: AP
US, Israel war on Iran

Is the Strait of Hormuz a ticking environmental time bomb?

A major oil spill in the Gulf could damage fragile marine habitats, leading to dire consequences for the region, conservationists warn.

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Thailand

Thai undertaker brings corpse to petrol station to prove fuel need

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Japan

Where can Japan store its nuclear waste? Island plan raises alarm

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Asean

Burning daylight: Iran war energy shock revives Asean’s power grid plans

Oil is up, coal is back and so are fuel queues. As the Middle East burns, Southeast Asia dusts off an old plan to rewire its future.

Illustration: Huy Truong
Illustration: Huy Truong
Defence

Activists push for Cop31 to discuss impact of wars on global climate

Military activities are hampering the transition towards renewable energy, with data transparency lacking among major defence spenders.

Singapore

As haze returns to Singapore, is crisis ‘quietly accepted’ by Asean?

Some Singaporeans are resigned to tolerating the annual occurrence despite the health risks and higher electricity bills.

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Malaysia

Malaysia’s weather is so hot that it can warp a payment card

Rice fields are drying out in the northern region, while heat-related health cases are rising across the country.

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A Malaysian from Perak shows a toll payment card warped by the extreme heat affecting the country’s northern region. Photo: Threads/lltlps
A Malaysian from Perak shows a toll payment card warped by the extreme heat affecting the country’s northern region. Photo: Threads/lltlps
The Philippines

A dog killer in the Philippines was fined US$17. New bills seek reform

Dedicated police units and a national watchdog. Two new bills aim to ensure animal abusers face justice, not just a US$17 fine.

Japan

In Japan, trains will get an extra 20 seconds to avert catastrophe from quakes

Tokyo has predicted an 80 per cent chance of a magnitude-9 quake in the next 30 years, that could cause 300,000 deaths.

South Korea

South Korea’s hurry-hurry spirit keeps killing its factory workers

Nine of the 14 people killed in Friday’s factory fire in Daejeon died in a room that did not officially exist.

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Heavy smoke billows from the blaze at a car parts factory in Daejeon, South Korea, on Friday. Photo: Yonhap/AFP
Singapore

‘Super-aged’ Singapore’s secret to growing old well? Stay busy

Forget doing nothing. At the city state’s active hubs, the soundtrack to ageing is sewing machines, exercise bikes and guitar lessons.

Elderly citizens use sewing machines at the Yong-en Active Hub in Singapore. Photo: Kolette Lim
Elderly citizens use sewing machines at the Yong-en Active Hub in Singapore. Photo: Kolette Lim
Climate change

Himalayan glacial loss threatens 2 billion as Asia’s ‘water tower’ shrinks

Conflicts, such as the Iran war, are diverting global attention away from the ecological crisis, scientists warn.

Ageing society

Mortal combat: Southeast Asia fights fears of death to plan for the end

Birth rates are falling. Populations are ageing. In Southeast Asia, the business of dying has never been bigger.

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India

India’s weight-loss drug price war begins as key patent expires

Generic slimming drugs are expected to flood a market where one in four adults are currently either overweight or obese.

A group of women walk on a street in Madurai, Tamil Nadu. About a quarter of India’s adult population is either overweight or obese. Photo: LightRocket via Getty Images
Malaysia

Malaysia’s ‘shielded’ medical tourism sector to benefit from Iran war’s impact

With the war affecting the outlook of Dubai’s medical hub, Malaysia could draw more patients from the Middle East.

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A FlyDubai aircraft prepares for landing as smoke rises from an ongoing fire near Dubai International Airport on Monday. Photo: TNS
A FlyDubai aircraft prepares for landing as smoke rises from an ongoing fire near Dubai International Airport on Monday. Photo: TNS
Artificial intelligence

Too hot to handle? Southeast Asia’s AI data centre gold rush strains power grids

Data centres crave cold. Southeast Asia is anything but. Now, the AI boom is pushing tropical engineering to the limit.

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Asean

Asean bets on new framework to remedy ‘uneven’ disaster response

The new ‘ASPECT’ initiative could help boost quicker collective regional responses during large-scale or evolving disasters, analysts say.

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Malaysia

‘Ocean is our income’: the Malaysian fishers being pushed out by progress

Malaysia’s government says the Port Klang expansion is sustainable and essential. Local Mah Meri fishers fear for their livelihoods.

Malaysian fisherman Lingan bin Man pulls up to the jetty in Kampung Sungai Kurau with his family. Photo: Ushar Daniele
Malaysian fisherman Lingan bin Man pulls up to the jetty in Kampung Sungai Kurau with his family. Photo: Ushar Daniele
US, Israel war on Iran

No longer safe: Iran war puts 9 million Indian workers in the line of fire

As missiles fly, drone strikes from Dubai to Doha are shattering the illusion of safety for millions of Indian expats living in the Gulf.

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India

‘Death is a release’: Indian parents win right to grant son a dignified death

Harish Rana was comatose and bedridden for over a decade. Now, the Supreme Court has ruled that his ‘endless misery’ can finally end.

Indonesia

‘Quite severe’: coastal erosion threatens future of Bali’s famed Kuta Beach

Experts warn extreme weather and decades of coastal development on the resort island have worsened the situation.

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Tourists relax on Kuta Beach in Bali, Indonesia, in December 2025. Officials say the erosion on Kuta Beach is “quite severe”. Photo: EPA
The Philippines

250 men went down with a WWII ‘hell ship’. Now the US is coming back for them

Eight decades after the Oryoku Maru was sunk by American bombs, specialist divers are returning to retrieve the 250 men still trapped inside.

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Hundreds perished when the Japanese “hell ship” Oryoku Maru was sunk in 1944. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Hundreds perished when the Japanese “hell ship” Oryoku Maru was sunk in 1944. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Indonesia

Why Indonesia’s waste-to-energy goal may not be ‘quick fix’ for landfill crisis

With billions to be spent on new waste-to-energy plants, critics are questioning the potential cost to Indonesian cities and the environment.

US, Israel war on Iran

Sowing the seeds of hunger: war on Iran puts Asia’s next harvest at risk

As Gulf gas plants go offline, missing fertiliser shipments today could mean empty shelves and record food prices by autumn.

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Thailand

Thai police thought she was drunk. She was already dying

A 21-year-old died because an assumption was made. The same assumption later left a stroke victim in a coma with 50-50 odds of survival.

A Thai officer interacts with a woman who was brought to a police station instead of a hospital following a motorcycle crash in Bangkok. Photo: Facebook / anuwatf.ch7
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