Southeast Asia

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Performers at the HaveFun Live Show in Singapore. Photo: HaveFun

Singapore organisers in limbo over work visa ban on foreign performers

A scheme allowing foreign performers to work up to six months at public entertainment outlets in Singapore will end, following ‘widespread abuse’.

5 hours agovideocam

Malaysia under pressure to explain police shooting of trio as outcry mounts

5 Dec 2025 - 6:40PM

‘Better late than never’: Singapore parents laud curbs on phone use in schools

5 Dec 2025 - 5:47PM

Hong Kong fire: dead Indonesian helper found huddled with ward hailed as selfless

Her grieving husband says his wife would have survived had she fled first, as the flat where she worked was on the fourth floor.

4 hours ago

Indonesian domestic worker Sri Wahyuni had told her husband Sugeng Widodo that she liked her job in Hong Kong. Photo: Sugeng Widodo

Bali mulls Airbnb ban to put a lid on revenue leak, overtourism

Airbnbs have emerged as a cheaper alternative to the sprawling resorts that dot the island, eroding tax revenue from hotels.

5 Dec 2025 - 3:41PMvideocam

The Philippines

Anger boils in Philippines over official’s US$8.50 Christmas feast budget

Critics call the Philippine trade chief’s 500-peso Noche Buena price guide for a family of four a ‘fantasy’ that insults the poor.

5 Dec 2025 - 6:24PMvideocam

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‘Crowd is missing’: stronger ringgit keeps Singapore shoppers away from Johor

‘This is probably the worst year-end crowd we have seen since the Covid-19 pandemic,’ a business owner says.

5 Dec 2025 - 12:01PM

A traditional market in Johor Bahru, Malaysia. Photo: Shutterstock

Are Singaporean Chinese the ‘least attractive’? Viral image stirs debate

Social media users said Singapore had no Vivian Chow or Edison Chen, but experts warned against warped beauty standards shaped by media.

5 Dec 2025 - 6:42PM

Chinese executive named as suspect in Indonesia radioactive contamination probe

PT Peter Metal director Lin Jingzhang faces investigation after domestic scrap caused caesium-137 contamination and US export recalls.

5 Dec 2025 - 3:15AM

‘No longer contentious’: Malaysia to weigh Singapore’s water project plan

The two countries have disagreed over water supply for decades, such as the perceived low prices charged by Malaysia’s Johor.

5 Dec 2025 - 1:58PM

The border crossing connecting Singapore to the Malaysian southern city of Johor Bahru. The state of Johor supplies untreated water to Singapore daily. Photo: AFP

Chinese tourists pivot to South Korea, Thailand amid Japan travel ban

Spat began when Japan’s PM Sanae Takaichi suggested potential military intervention in Taiwan Strait, leading Beijing to issue a travel warning.

4 Dec 2025 - 5:06PM

An alley crowded with tourists in central Seoul’s Bukchon Hanok Village. Photo: Korea Times

In wake of Hong Kong blaze, Southeast Asia’s fire hazards come under scrutiny

Serious structural defects and inefficient bureaucracy tainted by corruption are common in the region, fire safety experts say.

4 Dec 2025 - 6:42PM

Penang set to scoop up Chinese tourists skipping Japan, Thailand’s Hat Yai

Penang anticipates a surge in year-end visitors, with events and food-driven itineraries boosting hotel bookings.

4 Dec 2025 - 4:02PMvideocam

China’s wealthy tone down the bling in Singapore as asset scrutiny deepens

Increased audit sees super-rich buyers favouring art and wine over Bentleys and private jets, adopting a discreet lifestyle.

4 Dec 2025 - 3:03PM

China’s super-rich in Singapore have shifted to discreet luxury amid scrutiny. Photo: Reuters

Anwar’s ex-aide to stand trial on corruption charges linked to Sabah businessman

The aide is accused of receiving cash and gifts as inducement to help the businessman secure mineral exploration projects.

4 Dec 2025 - 2:21PMvideocam

Shamsul Iskandar Mohd Akin, former senior political secretary to Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, brought to the Kuala Lumpur Court Complex by Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission officers on Monday. Photo: Reuters

Oxford slammed for not naming Indonesian researchers in rare flower find

After an uproar over the perceived snub, the university named the Indonesian researchers involved in Rafflesia’s rediscovery on social media.

5 Dec 2025 - 7:39AM

Singapore’s Pritam Singh loses appeal against conviction for lying

The Workers’ Party chief was in February found guilty of two counts of giving false testimony to a parliamentary committee and fined.

4 Dec 2025 - 7:39PM

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Escaped Malaysian reveals torture, rape inside Cambodia job scam centre

Muhammad Syafiq said hundreds of Malaysians are still trapped in the Phnom Penh site, where he was beaten up daily.

4 Dec 2025 - 9:42AMvideocam

Computers and equipment at an online scam centre in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Photo: EPA/Agence Kampuchea Presse

‘We side with Indonesia’: ex-minister rejects claims of China bias

Luhut Pandjaitan says China’s technological prowess and deep pockets made it an ideal partner for propelling Indonesia’s economy.

3 Dec 2025 - 7:29PM

The Philippines

Philippines’ first family says financial scrutiny welcome amid graft allegations

A spokesperson for the president said his family was open to lifestyle checks after questions emerged over funds sent to his son’s district.

3 Dec 2025 - 6:19PMvideocam

Extreme weather

Asia’s floods kill over 1,000, lay bare human cost of climate inaction

From Indonesia’s deadliest disaster since 2018 to a state of emergency in Sri Lanka, Asia reels from a week of climate-fuelled destruction.

3 Dec 2025 - 5:45PMvideocam

People walk past the ruins of houses in a village affected by heavy flooding in Batang Toru, Indonesia’s North Sumatra province, on Wednesday. Photo: AP

Thailand, Cambodia clash at UN mine ban talks as ‘fragile’ border truce teeters

Analysts warn relations are in a ‘fragile place’ as the neighbours trade barbs and leverage international law at a UN meeting in Geneva.

3 Dec 2025 - 5:07PMvideocam

A member of the Thailand Mine Action Centre shows a landmine during a media visit to the border province of Surin, Thailand, in August. Photo: Reuters

Thais in good spirits after government lifts ban on afternoon alcohol sales

The eased rules permit alcohol sales from 11am to midnight during the six-month trial period.

3 Dec 2025 - 4:55PM

Indonesia’s cyclone tragedy exposes lethal cost of forest destruction

Green groups say plantations and mines have degraded Sumatra’s land, amplifying a disaster that killed more than 700 and displaced thousands.

4 Dec 2025 - 3:26PMvideocam

Myanmar’s opium poppy growing at 10-year high amid civil war, turmoil

Myanmar has overtaken Afghanistan as the world’s main known source of illicit opium.

3 Dec 2025 - 4:59PM

Myanmar residents displaced by conflict work in an illegal poppy field in February. Photo: AFP

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