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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. Malaysian badminton player threatened with knife attack online over performance

2. K-drama star Cha Eun-woo’s ad campaigns pulled amid tax scrutiny in South Korea

3. Malaysia’s expat salary rules dubbed ‘ridiculous’, stoking talent drain fears

4. Groomed at 15: Indonesian actress lays bare her stolen youth in viral memoir

5. ‘Anything can happen’: Saudi-UAE rift risks tearing Middle East apart

6. Long and short of it: why Okinawa lost crown as Japan’s island of longevity

7. Singapore PM accepts Workers’ Party’s rejection of Leader of the Opposition role



Korean travel boom in China, PLA tightens fuel rules: 5 weekend reads you missed

China’s canal to Southeast Asia, Nipah virus raises concerns: SCMP’s 7 highlights

Japan’s love for Chinese noodles; AI’s Year of the Horse forecasts: 7 Lifestyle highlights

Nipah virus alarms China, semiconductor fibre breakthrough: 7 science highlights

SCMP Highlights

K-drama star Cha Eun-woo faces scrutiny, life expectancy in Okinawa: 7 Asia highlights

Japanese women in Okinawa show off vegetables freshly picked from their garden. Photo: Getty Images

Indonesian actress Aurelie Moeremans’ memoir, “Broken Strings: Fragments of Stolen Youth”, details her experience of being groomed as a teenager. Photo: Handout

Malaysian badminton doubles players Teo Ee Yi (left) and Ong Yew Sin (right) playing in the 2024 German Open. Photo: YouTube/German Open Official

South Korean actor Cha Eun-woo. Photo: Instagram/eunwo.o_c

Kuala Lumpur’s skyline. Malaysia will double the minimum pay threshold for expatriate visas in June. Photo: Reuters

Under Indonesian law, a criminal offence such as molestation or other acts of sexual violence must first take place before child groomers can be punished. Photo: Shutterstock

Yemeni separatists wave South Yemen and UAE flags during a protest against Saudi Arabia in Aden on December 30. Photo: EPA

Singapore’s opposition Workers’ Party Secretary General Pritam Singh (centre) with his party’s members at Serangoon Stadium as they wait for the results of the 2025 general election. Photo: AFP

China’s births plunge, Trump’s Greenland pledge in Davos: SCMP’s 7 highlights

A nurse feeds a newborn at a hospital in Nanjing, China. The nation’s birthrate plunged by double digits last year. Photo: Getty Images

US President Donald Trump in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday. Photo: Reuters

Illustration: Lau Ka-kuen

Saturday’s Long March-3B failure was the first in more than five years. Photo: Xinhua

Malaysians’ foreign-policy satire, Japan’s fighter jet project boost: 7 Asia highlights

This screengrab from a dashcam video shows the moment the Stoned & Co co-founder is honked at to get out of the way. Photo: Instagram/sensual.96s

A worker carries a bunch of oil palm fruit at a plantation in Slim River, Malaysia. Malaysians repeatedly referenced palm oil in online jokes responding to a recent US embassy space photo, stressing the country has palm oil rather than crude petroleum. Photo: Reuters

Leader of the Opposition Pritam Singh leaves the Supreme Court in Singapore after his appeal was dismissed in December. Photo: Reuters

A JF-17 takes part in a flying display at the 2015 Paris Air Show. Photo: Reuters

China’s Ningbo cuisine; Hong Kong goes Back to the Past: 7 Lifestyle highlights

Ningbo-style marinated virgin crab is served at Zao Feng Lou in Cixi, Ningbo. The region’s unique cuisine, blending umami, salty and stinky flavours with innovative techniques, showcases its rich culinary heritage. Photo: Hei-kiu Au

Will the Year of the Horse 2026 be lucky for you? Fortune-teller Tong Pik-ha offers her comprehensive predictions for those born under all 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

As the Year of the Horse 2026 approaches, we explore the origins and prevalence of the Chinese surname Ma, which literally translates as “horse”. Photo: Shutterstock

Louis Koo in a still from Back to the Past. The film, a sequel to the 2000s TVB drama series A Step into the Past, is setting records at the local box office.

Tesla’s defeat, Harvard’s success, Trump ‘top global risk’: 7 US-China relations reads

Practitioners perform martial art next to a BYD Sealion 7 electric vehicle at Singapore Motorshow on January 9. Photo: AFP

 Practitioners perform martial arts next to a BYD Sealion 7 electric vehicle at Singapore Motorshow on January 9. Photo: AFP

Photo: Xinhua

Photo: AP

Photo: Shawn Miller/Library of Congress

Photo: Bloomberg via Getty Images

Photo: Getty Images via AFP

Photo: Getty Images via TNS

China’s quantum warfare weapons; ‘rising star’ quits US: SCMP’s 7 highlights

A woman in the Philippines spent four years worshipping the animated character Shrek. Photo: SCMP composite/Shutterstock/IG@thetropixs

The PLA said the technology was being tested on the front lines. Photo: Xinhua


A vast solar farm is under construction at a coastal area in China’s eastern Jiangsu province. Photo: AFP

Corporate governance activist David Webb has died at the age of 60. Photo: May Tse

News

Asia

From longevity in Japan’s Okinawa to proxy wars in Middle East, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting


From longevity in Japan’s Okinawa to proxy wars in Middle East, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting.


K-drama star Cha Eun-woo faces scrutiny, life expectancy in Okinawa: 7 Asia highlights

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From longevity in Japan’s Okinawa to proxy wars in Middle East, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting

1. Malaysian badminton player threatened with knife attack online over performance

2. K-drama star Cha Eun-woo’s ad campaigns pulled amid tax scrutiny in South Korea

3. Malaysia’s expat salary rules dubbed ‘ridiculous’, stoking talent drain fears

From longevity in Japan’s Okinawa to proxy wars in Middle East, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting