While the premier’s involvement will bring about a ceasefire between the two PKR leaders, who are both designated to succeed him, analysts say the rivalry will continue to intensify.

It’s the first domestic forfeiture of assets linked to the scandal, in which some US$4.5 billion of funds were allegedly plundered from state coffers.

The low-cost carrier had been locked in a long-running legal dispute over its refusal to raise fees for international passengers departing from its hub in Kuala Lumpur.

Lim Guan Eng said the seizure of US$240 million from a bank account of China Petroleum Pipeline Engineering was ‘company specific’ and not conducted against its country of origin.

Local media this week reported the couple filed for divorce in May, soon after the birth of their son, and an image of their purported divorce certificate has been circulating online.

PKR leader Anwar says his deputy and economic affairs minister Azmin should step down if he is proven to be one of two men in the videos, while an insider says the arrests could force a ‘major showdown’ within the party.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s cabinet was on Tuesday sworn in, stacked with loyalists from the junta era follows nearly four months of political wrangling since the election on March 24.

Haziq Abdul Aziz, a former political aide, claimed he had an affair with Azmin Ali, the influential economic affairs minister. Azmin is considered a potential successor to Mahathir Mohamad as prime minister, despite a pact for Anwar Ibrahim to take power.

In granting a licence to a joint venture backed by China Telecom, the Philippine leader is going against the grain. But in a land where social-media fans face notoriously slow speeds, national security isn’t the main concern.

The Malaysian leader says his aim is to help the ethnic group economically. Analysts spot other motives: hollowing out the opposition and thwarting his rival Anwar Ibrahim.

First proposed in 2011, the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership would span territories home to 3.5 billion people, with a GDP of US$22.6 trillion – if only its prospective members could agree on its terms.

As headwinds from the US-China trade war hit Singapore and economic clouds gather, talk is in the air that now may be just the time for Lee Hsien Loong to call an election.

The stalled talks last month caused ‘hurt feelings on both sides’, says the Lion City’s prime minister, who also feels the protests in Hong Kong are a question of sovereignty and hopes the city will ‘overcome these problems’.

The marches that involved an estimated 2 million people have inspired a range of views from the region’s citizens and direct action veterans. Some see hope in Hongkongers’ audacity, while others go from condemnation to ambivalence.

The ‘real test’, Halimah said, was the reaction of people when ‘a bomb goes off or [when] people get killed because of racial or religious hatred’.

Many fear decoupling of American and Chinese economies will soon mean having to choose between the two powerhouses and their different sets of rules.

Few Southeast Asian nations – especially those with strong United States security ties, such as Singapore – engage with the Chinese navy bilaterally.

Analysts say Washington’s inclusion of Southeast Asian economic powerhouses, including Vietnam, ‘defies logic’, while observers question whether it has to do with their close economic relationship to China.

Political observers described the elder as a figure with unmatched influence whose death signals ‘a new era’ in Thai politics.

Until the trade war turned nasty, the Chinese telecoms giant had been the region’s 5G developer of choice. Now its US ban has thrown those plans into chaos.

Abu Kassim Mohamed said the government still had its work cut out in fighting graft despite an improvement in the Rule of Law Index.

Look out for the people’s well-being, the king told the legislature in its first session after the disputed March 24 polls, for which the pro-junta Palang Pracharat Party and its rivals the Democratic Front are both claiming victory.

Wanted in Malaysia, Singapore and the US, some media reports say Low is living freely in China – but Beijing says it has no knowledge of his location

The youthful Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit put his name forward for the top job this week, but with mounting legal woes, a lack of consensus among anti-junta parties, and the scales tipped in the military’s favour, his move is seen as ‘symbolic’.

The region’s smaller countries must avoid taking sides and encourage Washington and Beijing to be ‘frenemies’ says the Lion City’s former leader Goh Chok Tong

Other power brokers could be in the running to lead the country, including royal privy councillor and long-time technocrat Ampon Kittiampon.

The Lion City has pushed through a law against fake news despite criticisms that it grants the government too much power. Campaigners now fear other countries will follow suit in an effort to stifle dissent

As Malaysia marks the Pakatan Harapan’s historic election victory over the Barisan Nasional, critics say the prime minister’s second stint in power is beginning to resemble his first – when he ruled with an iron fist.

Malaysian government adviser Daim Zainuddin says the Lion City may be using a delaying tactic in the long-standing dispute as it heads towards self-sufficiency in its water supplies

The two-time finance minister thinks the US$10.6 billion East Coast Rail Link will take years to make a profit, while Low – alleged to be the central figure in the 1MDB scandal – contacted him in a bid to help negotiate with Beijing.