Asia-Pacific

Australia’s High Court has dismissed MACH Energy’s appeal over the approval of its Mount Pleasant coal mine expansion in New South Wales. The decision, delivered on Wednesday, 7 October, leaves the company’s challenged expansion approval invalid. The case was brought by the Denman Aberdeen Muswellbrook Scone Healthy Environment Group, a community organisation in the Hunter

More than 176,000 tonnes of fuel, mostly diesel, were loaded at South Korean ports for shipment to Russia during July and August, according to an analysis of port records and ship movements by the Guardian⁠. It identified seven tankers making 14 voyages to Russia’s far east. Three of the vessels were under UK and EU sanctions, the

The World Bank expects East Asia and the Pacific to grow by 4.5% in 2026, raising its forecast as demand for technology goods supports several economies in the region. The projection, published on Tuesday 6 October, is higher than the 4.2% forecast the Bank gave in April. It is a forecast for the year, not

Japan has lodged a protest with the United States after police arrested a US Marine on suspicion of robbing and killing a woman in Okinawa. The case has also brought demonstrators onto the streets of Okinawa and Tokyo. Police suspect Lance Corporal Devin Jacob Ballard, 20, of killing Anna Yagi, 39, at a hotel in

North Korea fired a ballistic missile towards the sea on Saturday, according to South Korea’s military, as tensions continue over landmine blasts near the border between the two countries. South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said the missile was launched from the Wonsan area on North Korea’s east coast at about 6.30am local time. It

Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto has appointed Arrmanatha Christiawan Nasir as foreign minister, replacing Sugiono in a cabinet reshuffle on Thursday, 1 October. Nasir, a career diplomat who had served as deputy foreign minister, was sworn in at the State Palace in Jakarta. Sugiono was moved to the role of coordinating minister for human development and