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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. Will Iran collapse without Khamenei or can its regime endure?

2. Why US strikes on Iran just made North Korea less likely to play ball

3. Viral video of child being shoved at Tokyo’s iconic Shibuya Crossing stokes anger

4. Indonesia is getting an aircraft carrier. The Philippines isn’t. Does it matter?

5. Death of Iran’s Khamenei sparks outrage and calls for restraint in Asia

6. Anti-corruption agency seeks Malaysians’ help to find Daim’s 4 children

7. Did Philippine gig workers help Jeffrey Epstein clean up his online image?



China turns African port into tourist spot, students rethink Hong Kong: 5 weekend reads

Trump urged Xi to help end Ukraine war; China’s tech sanctions list: SCMP’s 7 highlights

Sharla Cheung’s film career, rise and fall of Hong Kong comics: 7 Lifestyle highlights

Chip prodigy returns to China, coal waste used for critical minerals: 7 science highlights

SCMP Highlights

Outlook for Iran leadership, Philippines investigates Epstein ties: 7 Asia highlights

Screenshots from a viral video posted by an social media user on Wednesday showing her daughter being shoved while attempting to take a photo at Tokyo’s iconic Shibuya Crossing. Photo: Instagram/peipeilin527

Smoke rises following an explosion in Tehran on Sunday. Photo: Reuters

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un delivers a speech on Sunday. Photo: KCNA/KNS/AFP

Screenshots from a viral video posted by a social media user on Wednesday showing her daughter being shoved while attempting to take a photo at Tokyo’s iconic Shibuya Crossing. Photo: Instagram/peipeilin527

A Philippine Navy AW159 Wildcat helicopter is secured on the helipad of the BRP Jose Rizal, a Philippine frigate, during a maritime cooperative activity in the South China Sea last year. Photo: AFP

Shiite Muslims mourn Khamenei’s death in Srinagar, India-run Kashmir, on Sunday. Photo: EPA

The late ex-finance minister Daim Zainuddin at a court in Kuala Lumpur before being charged with failing to declare assets, on January 29, 2024. He died later that year. Photo: EPA-EFE

Call centre agents working in Manila’s Makati financial district wait for calls from their US clients. Photo: Reuters

Singapore prime minister attacked by hundreds of Chinese-language fake AI videos

Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong takes part in the Asean Summit in Kuala Lumpur in October 2025. Photo: dpa

Some of the videos spread conspiracy theories about political infighting in Singapore. Photo: YouTube 

A screengrab from a video claiming that Singapore’s port is “collapsing”. Photo: YouTube

Deepfakes of late American investor Charlie Munger (right) feature in some videos. Photo: YouTube 

Many videos share the same template. Photo: YouTube 

Indian tycoon Anil Ambani’s US$410 million building seized in billion-dollar fraud probe

Indian industrialist Anil Ambani (centre) appears before the Enforcement Directorate in New Delhi on Thursday. Photo: AP

Anil Ambani’s 17-storey luxury property is in the upscale Pali Hill neighbourhood. Photo: X/PratibhaGoyal

Tycoon brothers Mukesh (left) and Anil Ambani attend the launch of Digital India Week on July 1, 2015. Photo: Getty Images

US, Thailand lead 30 nations in Southeast Asia’s largest military drill

US Ambassador Sean O’Neill attends the opening ceremony of Cobra Gold in Rayong province, Thailand, on Tuesday. Photo: Reuters 

What Deliveroo’s Singapore exit says about the city state’s food delivery wars

A Deliveroo rider in Lai Chi Kok, Hong Kong, in 2025. The UK-founded food delivery platform has been scaling back in parts of Asia in recent years, including Hong Kong, as competition intensifies in the region. Photo: Sam Tsang

A Deliveroo rider in Hong Kong in 2025. The company has been scaling back in parts of Asia, including Hong Kong, amid intense competition in the food delivery market. Photo: May Tse

Central Asia’s plan to bypass Russia and Iran? Railways through Afghanistan and Pakistan

A Taliban guard walks along railway tracks near a TAPI pipeline construction site at the Afghanistan-Turkmenistan border in 2024. Photo: AFP

A cargo train carrying fuel departs from Afghanistan, at the Afghanistan-Uzbekistan Friendship Bridge in the border town of Hairatan, Balkh province on June 23, 2025. Photo: AFP

The Orient Silk Road Express travels on its 4,600km route through Central Asia from Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan. Photo: Orient Silk Road Express

The China-backed Gwadar port in southwest Pakistan. Photo: Xinhua

(From left) Kyrgyzstan’s President Sadyr Japarov, Tajikistan’s Emomali Rahmon, Kazakhstan’s Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan’s Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Turkmenistan’s Serdar Berdymukhamedov at a Heads of State of Central Asia Summit in 2024. Photo: Kazakhstan’s Presidential Press Service / AFP

News

Asia

From predictions on Iranian leadership to North Korea’s nuclear vindication, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting


From predictions on Iranian leadership to North Korea’s nuclear vindication, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting.


Outlook for Iran leadership, Philippines investigates Epstein ties: 7 Asia highlights

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From predictions on Iranian leadership to North Korea’s nuclear vindication, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting

1. Will Iran collapse without Khamenei or can its regime endure?

From predictions on Iranian leadership to North Korea’s nuclear vindication, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting