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This Week in Asia
A petrol station following a bomb attack in Thailand’s southern province of Narathiwat on Sunday. Photo: AFP

Southeast Asia

4 injured in bombings in Thailand’s south amid ongoing insurgency

Security agencies believed the attacks were a ‘signal’ timed with elections for local administrators taking place on Sunday, and ‘not aimed at insurgency’.

US strips moral framing from foreign aid in ‘America first’ pivot

Singapore businesses list rising costs and tariffs as their biggest challenges

Lifestyle & Culture

Soft power, hard cash: inside Southeast Asia’s billion-dollar anime obsession

Driven by Gen Z spending and streaming, the region’s US$1.3 billion anime market represents a triumph for Japan’s cultural push.

Anime cosplay enthusiasts pose for photos in Singapore in 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE
Anime cosplay enthusiasts pose for photos in Singapore in 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

Economics

Indonesia eyes 6% growth in 2026, as a youth jobs ‘time bomb’ ticks

Economists have cast doubt on the ‘optimistic’ target as educated youth struggle to find work and manufacturing lay-offs neared 80,000.

Southeast Asia

System failure at Malaysia-Singapore border leaves thousands stranded

Intermittent faults had plagued the system for days before a total crash caused weekend misery for thousands.

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Economics

India overtakes Japan in economic size – while prosperity trails far behind

Becoming the No 4 economy is a source of pride. Now, the race is on to turn statistical success into 8 million new jobs a year.

Shoppers walk along a street illuminated with decorative lights ahead of New Year celebrations in Bengaluru, India, last month. Photo: AFP
Shoppers walk along a street illuminated with decorative lights ahead of New Year celebrations in Bengaluru, India, last month. Photo: AFP

Lifestyle & Culture

‘No taste’: Malaysia’s Life of Pi and Squid Game artists warn against AI rush

After viewers slammed AI-enhanced films for looking ‘cheap’, local experts warn that algorithms serve profit, not storytelling.

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Southeast Asia

Malaysia vows crackdown on air force officers’ ‘immoral culture’

The air force is investigating the ‘yeye culture’ scandal involving 20 officers, pledging strict action against those found guilty.

Southeast Asia

Singapore steps up migrant worker reforms amid calls for deeper change

The government has rolled out a slew of new initiatives, such as improved safety and living conditions and better healthcare access.

Migrant workers in the back of an open lorry in Singapore on December 6, 2025. Photo: Kyodo

Lifestyle & Culture

Fisherman, defector or spy? Mystery ‘ghost ship’ discovery puzzles Japan

Korean writing on the boat led to conjecture that it was a ‘ghost ship’ similar to those that washed up on Japanese shores in the past.

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A wooden boat that washed ashore on a beach in Kanazawa, Japan, in 2018. Seven bodies were found nearby. Photo: Kyodo
A wooden boat that washed ashore on a beach in Kanazawa, Japan, in 2018. Seven bodies were found nearby. Photo: Kyodo

Politics

North Korea revives drone claims in rebuff to Seoul’s outreach

Analysts dismiss the ‘implausible’ breach involving low-tech devices as a ploy, backing Seoul’s denial that its military was involved.

Australasia

‘Leave, go’: Australia declares state of disaster amid bushfires

Emergency crews can now force evacuations as conditions rivalled the infamous ‘Black Summer’ blazes of 2019-2020.

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Health & Environment

Soaring healthcare costs in the Philippines: are doctors’ fees to blame?

Doctors have hit back, saying that they are being unfairly blamed for deeper systemic failures in healthcare financing.

Medical professionals attend to a patient at the government-run National Kidney and Transplant Institute in Quezon City, Metro Manila, the Philippines. Photo: Getty Images

Lifestyle & Culture

Meow arriving: Japan railway’s newest cat stationmaster clocks in

Yontama is the third cat to become stationmaster on the Kishigawa Line in Wakayama prefecture after the death of her predecessor last year.

Newly appointed cat stationmaster Yontama is held by Wakayama Electric Railway President Mitsunobu Kojima on Wednesday, in Kinokawa, Wakayama prefecture, Japan. Photo: Kyodo
Newly appointed cat stationmaster Yontama is held by Wakayama Electric Railway President Mitsunobu Kojima on Wednesday, in Kinokawa, Wakayama prefecture, Japan. Photo: Kyodo

Lifestyle & Culture

Bali’s toughest tourism proposal yet: checking foreign visitors’ bank accounts

Bali’s governor says the plan would deter low-spending visitors, though its enforcement would face legal and practical hurdles.

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Politics

Could Singapore remove Pritam Singh as Leader of the Opposition?

Parliament will soon debate a motion to consider whether Singh’s ‘conviction and conduct render him unsuitable to continue’ in the role.

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Economics

India overtakes Japan in economic size – while prosperity trails far behind

Becoming the No 4 economy is a source of pride. Now, the race is on to turn statistical success into 8 million new jobs a year.

Shoppers walk along a street illuminated with decorative lights ahead of New Year celebrations in Bengaluru, India, last month. Photo: AFP
Shoppers walk along a street illuminated with decorative lights ahead of New Year celebrations in Bengaluru, India, last month. Photo: AFP

Economics

Fair or fowl? Malaysia struggles to stomach its US trade pact

Local chefs fume over ‘lousy’ US poultry flooding the market, as critics call the trade agreement hastily reached and unfairly lopsided.

Economics

Thailand’s tourism crown slips as troubles in paradise mount

Border clashes with Cambodia, fierce competition from Malaysia, deadly floods and a strong baht threaten the kingdom’s holiday appeal.

Economics

As Southeast Asia’s middle classes lose their homes, the rich get sky garages

As wealthy buyers seek penthouses with living-room supercar parking, struggling families battle banks to keep a roof overhead.

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Illustration: Huy Truong
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Highlights from
THIS WEEK IN ASIA

Economics

India overtakes Japan in economic size – while prosperity trails far behind

Shoppers walk along a street illuminated with decorative lights ahead of New Year celebrations in Bengaluru, India, last month. Photo: AFP

Politics

US strips moral framing from foreign aid in ‘America first’ pivot

US President Donald Trump meets fishermen and women from American Samoa in the White House last year as he signs a proclamation expanding US fishing rights in the Pacific. Photo: EPA-EFE

Economics

Singapore businesses list rising costs and tariffs as their biggest challenges

US President Donald Trump holds a chart on so-called reciprocal tariffs at the White House in Washington last April. Photo: AFP

Lifestyle & Culture

Soft power, hard cash: inside Southeast Asia’s billion-dollar anime obsession

Anime cosplay enthusiasts pose for photos in Singapore in 2024. Photo: EPA-EFE

Economics

Indonesia eyes 6% growth in 2026, as a youth jobs ‘time bomb’ ticks

People cross the street in Jakarta’s main business district in November. Photo: EPA
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