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SCMP

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.
1. In Japan, surge in shoplifting by foreign gangs sparks vigilance warning

2. What’s behind the no-show of North Korean troops in Ukraine war?

3. Paranormal event or hoax? ‘Missing’ Malaysian influencer rescued from jungle

4. ‘Chindia’ returns as India and China prepare for a Trump earthquake

5. Has Philippine President Marcos outplayed the Dutertes in impeachment fight?

6. Singapore’s pandan cake showdown: tradition vs modernity

7. Extortion at Jakarta airport: dozens of officials fired over bribery probe



70-year-old Chow Yun-fat’s endurance, feng shui advice: 7 Lifestyle highlights

Chinese civilisation’s true age; engineer leaves US to find freedom: 7 science highlights

Japan’s Takaichi sweeps election, Kuala Lumpur mayoral ethnicity debate: 7 Asia highlights

China accused of secret nuclear tests, Eileen Gu’s big comeback: 5 weekend reads you missed

SCMP Highlights

Singapore’s pandan cakes, extortion at Jakarta airport: 7 Asia highlights

An advert for pandan cake from Old Seng Choong in Singapore. Photo: Instagram/oldsengchoong


Shoplifting cases have surged in Japanese retail stores, including thefts involving foreign suspects. Photo: Getty Images

North Korean leader Kim Jong- un meets soldiers during a training in North Korea. Photo: AP

Eyka, a Malaysian TikTok influencer, was reportedly rescued from a jungle in Bandung, Indonesia, on Wednesday. Photo: Amnazhan/TikTok

Indian police escort a migrant man (centre) who arrived in Amritsar on Wednesday after being deported from the United States. Photo: AP

Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr and his deputy Sara Duterte-Carpio at the inauguration ceremony in Manila in 2022. Photo: AP

A Bengawan Solo outlet in Singapore’s Changi Airport Terminal 2. Photo: Shutterstock

People walk with their luggage at Soekarno-Hatta Airport in Jakarta. Photo: Reuters

Legal challenge to US tariffs, Chinese billionaires, Nezha 2: 5 weekend reads you missed

Illustration: Brian Wang

Wan Hai cargo containers are stacked at the Port of Los Angeles in Long Beach, California on February 3, 2025. Photo: EPA-EFE

Like its logo, DeepSeek has become an industry whale in its own right, becoming impossible to ignore as it resets assumptions about what it takes to be an artificial intelligence leader. Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Donald Trump has suggested the population of Gaza should be expelled and the US take over. Photo: EPA-EFE

Zhong Shanshan, the founder of beverage giant Nongfu Spring, is one of several Chinese billionaires who have set up new universities in recent years. Photo: Instagram/@newmoney_gr

Animated film Nezha 2 has broken records at Chinese cinemas over the Lunar New Year holiday, proving that stories based in ancient Chinese mythology are a winning formula. Photo: Xinhua

Tibetan tree rings highlight link between climate change and fall of major Chinese dynasties

Dry periods on the Tibetan plateau were linked with major political upheaval. Photo: Xinhua

‘Salami-slicing’ at sea? Chinese buoys test Japan’s patience

A Chinese buoy deployed at a unspecified location in the East China Sea in 2021. Photo: Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy Of Sciences

A Chinese maritime surveillance vessel passes near the Diaoyu Islands, which Japan administers and calls the Senkakus, in 2013. Photo: Kyodo

News

Asia

From an iconic dessert to a ‘missing’ Malaysian influencer, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting


From an iconic dessert to a ‘missing’ Malaysian influencer, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting.


Singapore’s pandan cakes, extortion at Jakarta airport: 7 Asia highlights

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From an iconic dessert to a ‘missing’ Malaysian influencer, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting

1. In Japan, surge in shoplifting by foreign gangs sparks vigilance warning

2. What’s behind the no-show of North Korean troops in Ukraine war?

3. Paranormal event or hoax? ‘Missing’ Malaysian influencer rescued from jungle

From an iconic dessert to a ‘missing’ Malaysian influencer, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting