Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is looking to expand the budget to fund inflation relief measures to support struggling households ahead of the upcoming general election, local media reported on Tuesday.

The size of an extra budget to be compiled to fund a fresh set of inflation relief measures will likely exceed 13 trillion yen (about $87 billion), Ishiba said at a campaign stop in Iwaki, Fukushima prefecture in northeastern Japan.

"We will aim to enact a large budget that will exceed the previous year's extra budget after putting together necessary measures," Ishiba said.

The government's new economic package will come as households continue to struggle with rising prices of everyday goods, with inflation outpacing wage growth, reports.

Representatives from the Lao central bank, the Bank of the Lao PDR (BOL), and local financial institutions gathered in the Lao capital, Vientiane, on Tuesday for training on green finance, aiming to strengthen understanding and implementation of sustainable financial practices.

The training aimed to develop a Laos green finance taxonomy, establish guidelines for green lending, integrate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) risk management, and set up a framework for thematic bond issuance, reports.

These initiatives are designed to align with ASEAN and international standards.

Deputy Governor of the BOL, Soulivath Souvannachoumkham, said that the training is a significant step toward building a greener and more inclusive economy.

Evaluation instruments to better guide Malaysia's investment policy are being developed to maintain the country's momentum as a major investment destination for key industries, a Malaysian official said on Tuesday.

Such instruments or "scorecard" will be aligned with the country's National Investment Aspirations (NIA) policy, which is composed of six pillars, namely increasing economic complexity, creating high-value jobs, extending domestic linkages, developing new economic clusters and improving inclusivity, and environmental, social, and governance (ESG), Malaysian Investment, Trade and Industry Deputy Minister Liew Chin Tong said in his keynote speech at the Securities Commission-World Bank Conference 2024.

Philippine President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos on Tuesday stressed the need to increase investments, develop financing mechanisms, and ensure inclusivity to reduce disaster risk in the Asia-Pacific region.

In his speech at the 2024 Asia-Pacific Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (APMCDRR) opening ceremony, Marcos highlighted the importance of "sustained and predictable data and financing", adding that such resources should be accessed by those economically challenged and disaster-prone.

Marcos said the Philippines, at the heart of the Pacific Ring of Fire, is highly susceptible to natural hazards, including tropical cyclones, earthquakes, and volcanic eruptions, as reported by news agency.

About 2,000 female security officers currently serve in Afghanistan's Ministry of Interior, local media reported.

"No employee or member of the Ministry of Interior, especially female police officers, will face any personal or official threats due to their duties in the previous administration," said Abdul Mateen Qani, spokesman for the ministry.

According to Qani, most female officers work in the ministry's service and inspection departments, reports.

A few months back, a Taliban-led Afghan government announced the ratification of 'Law on the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice', with 35 articles detailing significant restrictions on the Afghan population with arbitrary and potentially severe enforcement mechanisms.

A Bruneian man lost his life in a highway accident in the country, local media reported.

The accident happened on Monday along the Telisai-Kuala Belait highway in Brunei, involving a sedan and a lorry. Police personnel were immediately dispatched to the scene, reports.

It is believed that the victim was standing beside his vehicle, which had stopped at the side of the highway when the accident occurred.

The police are continuing their investigation to determine the exact cause of the accident, according to the report.

Earlier on July 20, a member of the Royal Brunei Armed Forces died after his high-powered motorcycle collided with a vehicle during a convoy at KM39 on Jalan Keningau-Tambunan.

Tokyo stocks rose on Tuesday, with the key stock index rising for the fourth straight day on overnight Wall Street gains and a weak yen.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei stock index, the 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average, gained 0.77 per cent, or 304.75 points, to close at 39,910.55.

During intraday trading, the Nikkei briefly exceeded the 40,000 mark for the first time in nearly three months, a level last seen on July 19.

The rise was supported by gains in US stocks during Japan's holiday and a weaker yen against the US dollar, which bolstered risk appetite among overseas investors, news agency reported.

New Zealand has intensified the crackdown on cybercrime with a legislation's first reading on Tuesday, as 11 per cent of Kiwis were victims of fraud and cybercrime in 2023, causing significant financial harm and emotional distress, official statistics show.

By joining the Budapest Convention, also known as the Council of Europe Convention on Cybercrime, New Zealand is signalling to other like-minded countries that it takes cybercrime seriously and is prepared to do its part to eliminate it, Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said, news agency reported.

The Budapest Convention is the only binding international treaty on cybercrime, aligning member countries' laws and making it easier for them to cooperate on criminal investigations, Goldsmith said.

Millions of Australian households are experiencing severe food insecurity, according to a report published on Tuesday by hunger relief charity Foodbank Australia.

The report said 3.4 million households across the country experienced food insecurity in the last 12 months. Of those, 2 million households experienced severe food insecurity.

Food insecurity is defined by the Australian government as whenever the availability of nutritionally adequate and safe foods or the ability to acquire acceptable food in socially acceptable ways is limited or uncertain.

South Korea's export volume grew for the 13th successive month in September due to strong demand for locally-made oil and tech products, central bank data showed on Tuesday.

The export volume index gained 3.9 per cent in September from a year earlier, continuing to expand since September last year, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK).

In terms of volume, outbound shipments for computers, electronic and optical devices, including semiconductors, increased 5.7 per cent in September every year, keeping an upward trend for the 14th straight month.

Export volume for coal and oil products advanced by 9.7 per cent, but those for chemical products, electrical equipment and machinery were reduced by single digits, news agency reported.