Televangelist Zakir Naik has sparked a furore in recent days with his comments about Malaysia’s Indian and Chinese communities.

Report by Australia-based researchers urges US allies to overhaul military investment to prevent American military might being undermined in the region.

New US defence secretary Mark Esper has announced plans to deploy missiles and build more US bases in Asia. But he faces an uphill battle convincing countries wary of entering China’s crosshairs.

Tsao started his business empire in 1949 with a solitary coal-burning ship and built it into a multi-sector industrial conglomerate.

Singapore Airlines, Cebu Pacific and Malaysia Airlines are among the carriers re-routing aircraft as thousands of demonstrators descend on the airport.

The three countries’ moves are likely to be followed by other regional economies in the short term, experts say, as the lower rates come on the back of weak oil prices and fears over the US-China trade war.

State news agency CNA pulls celebrity Subhas Nair from music documentary over his video taking issue with Chinese portrayal of Indians in ad campaign.

The video was made by two rappers of Indian ethnicity in response to an ad on a government initiative that featured an ethnic Chinese actor whose skin had been darkened to portray characters of different races.

Talk of a tie-up with Uncle Sam to host a military base is increasingly dragging the Indian Ocean island nation into a great-power struggle.

Beijing-backed firm will help spur development along 640km East Coast Rail Link route following nine months in which project’s future hung in the balance.

Analysts say the prime minister is throwing his weight behind Azmin, while simultaneously be trying to shore up his own party – and his son, Mukhriz, may become a key figure in the tussle over who becomes the country’s next leader.

Following Muhammad’s issuance of the triple talaq on June 22, the sharia court in his state of Kelantan issued a divorce certificate on July 1, the lawyer said.

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.