This Week in Asia

Health & Environment

Lifestyle & Culture

Satellite imagery shows Super Typhoon Fung-wong as it approaches the Philippines on November 9. Photo: NOAA/EPA

Health & Environment

6 cyclones, 5 weeks: Philippines can’t escape its endless cycle of disaster

Corruption, complacency and climate chaos conspire to turn the Philippines’ natural hazards into man-made tragedies.

6 Dec 2025 - 8:17AMvideocam

Probe links Philippines flood corruption to Pogo crypto schemes

5 hours agovideocam

Jakarta vs the internet: Indonesia’s gamble with digital freedom

6 Dec 2025 - 3:30PM

Economics

‘We all knew’: is your job safe from the AI you are helping to train?

Asia makes the chips driving the AI boom, but the technology threatens to erase jobs and widen the region’s wealth gap, a new UN report says.

6 Dec 2025 - 3:54PM

A Thai engineer services AI-powered healthcare robots in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE

Lifestyle & Culture

One-Punch Man and the human cost of Japan and South Korea’s soft power

Behind the multibillion-dollar export boom lies a hidden crisis of low wages, 60-hour work weeks and unliveable pressure on invisible staff.

6 Dec 2025 - 12:00PM

Lifestyle & Culture

Singapore organisers in limbo over work visa ban on foreign performers

A scheme allowing foreign performers to work up to six months at public entertainment outlets in Singapore will end, following ‘widespread abuse’.

6 Dec 2025 - 2:55PMvideocam

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Politics

Can India still rely on Russia as a ‘time-tested’ defence partner?

India has to balance meeting its defence needs from Russia and managing its trade ties with the US as tariffs continue to loom.

5 Dec 2025 - 8:31PMvideocam

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi (right) and Russian President Vladimir Putin held talks at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Friday. Photo: AP

People

Malaysia under pressure to explain police shooting of trio as outcry mounts

Audio recording and forensic claims released by the men’s families appear to contradict police accounts of the confrontation.

5 Dec 2025 - 6:40PM

Politics

Is the Philippines vulnerable to another military-triggered political crisis?

Analysts said an alleged plot by retired generals to oust President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr appears inspired by 2001’s EDSA Dos uprising.

5 Dec 2025 - 6:00PMvideocam

Lifestyle & Culture

‘Better late than never’: Singapore parents laud curbs on phone use in schools

The city state is among countries that have stepped up measures to curb screen time and tighten social media restrictions for adolescents.

5 Dec 2025 - 5:47PM

Singapore is among countries that have stepped up measures to curb screen time and tighten social media restrictions for adolescents. Photo: TNS

People

Hong Kong fire: dead Indonesian helper found huddled with ward hailed as selfless

Her grieving husband says his wife would have survived had she fled first, as the flat where she worked was on the fourth floor.

5 Dec 2025 - 10:29PM

Indonesian domestic worker Sri Wahyuni had told her husband Sugeng Widodo that she liked her job in Hong Kong. Photo: Sugeng Widodo

Lifestyle & Culture

Anger boils in Philippines over official’s US$8.50 Christmas feast budget

Critics call the Philippine trade chief’s 500-peso Noche Buena price guide for a family of four a ‘fantasy’ that insults the poor.

5 Dec 2025 - 6:24PMvideocam

Politics

Myanmar’s criticism of Takaichi signals ‘loyalty’ to China ahead of election

A junta spokesman slammed the Japanese prime minister’s comments on Taiwan, saying Tokyo had not shown remorse for its ‘crimes’ in Asia.

5 Dec 2025 - 6:44PMvideocam

Lifestyle & Culture

Are Singaporean Chinese the ‘least attractive’? Viral image stirs debate

Social media users said Singapore had no Vivian Chow or Edison Chen, but experts warned against warped beauty standards shaped by media.

5 Dec 2025 - 6:42PM

The viral image has sparked a debate on beauty standards in Singapore. Photo: X, source unknown

Lifestyle & Culture

Japan weighs plan to punish sex buyers, but will it be enough?

Experts warn the sex industry will find ways to circumvent new rules and the problem needs to be tackled from various angles simultaneously.

5 Dec 2025 - 7:08PMvideocam

People walk past an entrance gate of Kabukicho, Tokyo’s red-light district, in Shinjuku, Japan. Photo: EPA-EFE

Economics

‘No longer contentious’: Malaysia to weigh Singapore’s water project plan

The two countries have disagreed over water supply for decades, such as the perceived low prices charged by Malaysia’s Johor.

5 Dec 2025 - 1:58PM

Economics

Cyber scams threaten confidence in India’s outsourcing industry

Fraudsters leveraging India’s cost advantages and skilled workforce create a systemic risk for legitimate businesses, analysts warn.

4 Dec 2025 - 7:37PMvideocam

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Health & Environment

6 cyclones, 5 weeks: Philippines can’t escape its endless cycle of disaster

Corruption, complacency and climate chaos conspire to turn the Philippines’ natural hazards into man-made tragedies.

6 Dec 2025 - 8:17AMvideocam

Satellite imagery shows Super Typhoon Fung-wong as it approaches the Philippines on November 9. Photo: NOAA/EPA

Politics

‘It’s time for us to rise’: India races to rebuild its lost maritime muscle

India is eyeing a future as a leading shipping and shipbuilding nation, backed by big investments – and expertise from South Korea and Japan.

30 Nov 2025 - 5:12PM

Politics

Malaysia’s poorest state prepares a poll shock for the prime minister

Decades of neglect and withheld resource revenue have left short-changed Sabah seething and primed for a political fight.

24 Nov 2025 - 5:02PM

Health & Environment

Climate collapse: Southeast Asia’s new normal?

With a 30th year of Cop climate talks under way in Brazil, for many of Asia’s most vulnerable populations, the crisis is already here.

21 Nov 2025 - 6:58AM

Illustration: Huy Truong

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

LATEST Asia NEWS

Health & Environment

6 cyclones, 5 weeks: Philippines can’t escape its endless cycle of disaster

6 Dec 2025 - 8:17AMvideocam

Satellite imagery shows Super Typhoon Fung-wong as it approaches the Philippines on November 9. Photo: NOAA/EPA

Politics

Jakarta vs the internet: Indonesia’s gamble with digital freedom

6 Dec 2025 - 3:30PM

Young men play online games and surf the internet at a cyber cafe in Jakarta last month. Photo: AFP

Economics

‘We all knew’: is your job safe from the AI you are helping to train?

6 Dec 2025 - 3:54PM

A Thai engineer services AI-powered healthcare robots in Bangkok, Thailand, in 2023. Photo: EPA-EFE

Southeast Asia

‘We’ll bring him home’: Thai family to end long wait for Gaza hostage return

1 hour ago

On Rinthalak, 80, mother of deceased Thai hostage Sudthisak Rinthalak, sits next to his pictures at their house in Nong Khai province, Thailand, on Friday. Photo: Reuters

Lifestyle & Culture

One-Punch Man and the human cost of Japan and South Korea’s soft power

6 Dec 2025 - 12:00PM

A still from Japanese superhero saga One-Punch Man. The latest episode garnered complaints about its uneven pacing and “rushed” storytelling. Photo: Netflix

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Surachanee Sriyai

Asian Angle | The Thai influencer bringing viral warfare to Cambodia’s border

Surachanee Sriyai

6 Dec 2025 - 11:00AM

Jared Bissinger

Opinion | Why China is succeeding in Myanmar while the West has been sidelined

30 Nov 2025 - 1:30PM

Nguyen Khac Giang

Asian Angle | The hidden domestic agenda behind Vietnam’s baffling foreign policy

Nguyen Khac Giang

29 Nov 2025 - 1:30PM

Opinion | Self-interest is now the main driver of Britain’s Asia policy

Bill Hayton

24 Nov 2025 - 9:21AM

Opinion | Reinventing Kaohsiung: Taiwan’s port city transcends its industrial past

Donald Low

22 Nov 2025 - 1:30PM

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

Filipino fishermen worry about Chinese nature reserve in disputed waters

Filipino fishermen worry about Chinese nature reserve in disputed waters

Centenarian becomes oldest person to climb Mount Fuji

Centenarian becomes oldest person to climb Mount Fuji

Cambodia unveils new Chinese-built airport

Cambodia unveils new Chinese-built airport

Ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra to serve 1 year in jail

Ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra to serve 1 year in jail

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

TRENDING TOPICS

The Philippines

South China Sea

Advertisement

Advertisement

Advertisement

MOST POPULAR

1

Escaped Malaysian reveals torture, rape inside Cambodia job scam centre

4 Dec 2025 - 9:42AMvideocam

2

‘Crowd is missing’: stronger ringgit keeps Singapore shoppers away from Johor

5 Dec 2025 - 12:01PM

3

How sanctioned Russian oil flows freely via a tiny Pacific island nation

2 Dec 2025 - 12:50PMvideocam

4

Sabah polls: blow for Anwar as partner party shines, but key ally is wiped out

30 Nov 2025 - 8:26AM

5

Malaysia raids men-only wellness centre, prosecutor among 201 arrested

29 Nov 2025 - 1:14PMvideocam