An Indonesian police inquiry into the wiretapping of President Prabowo Subiantos phone was a matter for law enforcement, the countrys police chief said on Thursday, as the scandal exposed the deepening cracks between Prabowo and his former backer and predecessor, Joko Widodo. We assure you that this is purely law enforcement and has nothing to do with rivalries or anything else, police chief Suyudi Ario Seto told reporters without elaborating, adding that the arrests must serve as a lesson...

Singapores Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA) on Thursday rejected a report that a power outage at Woodlands Checkpoint caused traffic congestion along the causeway and on several roads in Johor Bahru on Wednesday. In its account of Wednesdays events, ICA said a build-up of Singapore-bound traffic occurred amid planned electrical maintenance works, while two vehicle breakdowns on the Malaysian side of the causeway subsequently contributed to traffic tailing back into...

Vietnams growing nuclear partnership with Russia could help Hanoi gain the expertise needed to fuel its ambitious nuclear programme amid doubts over Western sanctions against Moscow and financing challenges complicating the plans. The Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute (Vinatom) and a subsidiary of Russias state nuclear corporation Rosatom, which is leading the development of the MBIR International Research Centre, announced on Tuesday that they had signed a memorandum of understanding to...

A young Malaysian Muslim who took part in Hindu rituals to pray for his ailing mother publicly repented on Thursday in a ceremony live-streamed by state religious authorities, a day after a sharia court ordered him to undergo three months of faith rehabilitation. The spectacle has raised questions about the enforcement of Islamic orthodoxy in Muslim-majority Malaysia, where state religious departments wield significant influence to police the personal conduct and religious beliefs of...

Thailand has banned a textbook about the country on national security grounds, with the tomes exiled editor saying on Thursday it was outlawed over its content on the Thai monarchy. The royal family holds revered status in Thai society and is shielded from criticism by a strict defamation law that critics say is used to muzzle dissent. The book, a second edition of the Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Thailand published in English in August, was edited by Pavin Chachavalpongpun, a prominent...

Thai conservationists are sleuthing for clues to help save the countrys last herd of dugongs by testing the mammals poop for stress hormones, its microbiome and other health indicators to prevent the extinction of this beloved yet critically endangered sea creature. But first they have to find the faeces a green fist-sized ball consisting of the seagrass the gentle dugongs graze on daily in the coastal shallows of the Andaman Sea. It is literally drop-in-the-ocean work for the teams using...

Philippine investigators are examining whether Thomas Markle Jnr, the half- brother of Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, was involved in alleged child sexual abuse offences as an investigation into their father widens, according to the countrys interior secretary on Thursday. Interior Secretary Juanito Victor Remulla said witnesses had alleged that underage girls were brought to the younger Markles home. Markle Jnr was being treated as a person of interest, not a suspect, Remulla told reporters...

The Philippines on Thursday voiced optimism that the Democratic Partys resounding midterm election win would prompt the United States to adopt a different approach to President Donald Trumps hardening immigration crackdown that has ensnared many Filipinos. Trumps Republican Party was routed in Tuesdays polls, with the Democrats taking control of both houses of the US Congress and gaining legislative power to check his policies. The drubbing has given hope to Jose Manuel Romualdez, Manilas...

A man was sentenced to life imprisonment on Thursday for murder after being part of a group that abused his 19-year-old younger sister until she died. Huang Bocan, who joined his girlfriend and another man in starving the victim and chaining her to a toilet, was first charged in 2021 with common intention of committing murder by causing bodily injury to Huang Baoying. Huang, a 34-year-old Singaporean, was convicted on Thursday of committing murder by causing his younger sisters death. The...

A massive power outage at the Woodlands checkpoint in Singapore caused a heavy traffic jam on most major roads leading to the Malaysian checkpoint in Johor Bahru on Wednesday. Although all counters were operating at optimum level at the Bangunan Sultan Iskandar Customs, Immigration and Quarantine complex in the southern state of Johor, the jam lasted for many hours due to a build-up of vehicles from the Singapore side. It is learnt that the issue started at about noon on the Singapore side. A...

Philippine police said on Wednesday that three memory cards and a mobile phone turned over by the son of Meghan Markles estranged father contained child sexual abuse material. Last week, Philippine police said they were investigating a laptop found alongside images of child abuse at an alleged former residence of Thomas Markle, whose daughter is married to Britains Prince Harry. Philippine interior minister Jonvic Remulla said at the time the country planned to take appropriate legal actions...

Singapores parliament on Wednesday passed tougher penalties against companies responsible for forest fires in Indonesia, including curbs on related business dealings, as the city state doubles down on enforcement following one of its worst haze episodes in more than a decade. The amended Transboundary Pollution Haze Act will see penalties on such companies increase tenfold to a maximum fine of S$1 million (US$780,000) a day, capped at a total of S$20 million. The Act has been invoked twice...

Lawyers for Malaysias jailed former prime minister Najib Razak on Wednesday dismissed speculation about his imminent transfer to house arrest, as his former ruling party struggles to raise the 50 million ringgit (US$12.3 million) fine needed to bring him home. The rumours came as Najibs United Malays National Organisation (Umno) seeks to build on recent electoral victories, with analysts saying his return to house arrest could give the party a boost among supporters ahead of the next general...

Indonesia has called on Russia to stop recruiting its citizens to fight in Ukraine, but the appeal may prove ineffective unless President Prabowo Subianto directly pressures his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on the issue, analysts have said. On Sunday, Indonesias Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Yvonne Mewengkang said: The Indonesian government asked the Russian government to take all necessary steps to ensure that no Indonesians will be recruited into the Russian military or any...

An Indonesian military helicopter carrying eight people on a firefighting mission crashed in waters off Borneo island on Wednesday, killing a crew member, the army said. The Southeast Asian archipelago has for months been struggling to control wildfires that have burned through large swathes of Sumatra, Borneo and Papua islands, causing choking haze that drifted to neighbouring Malaysia, East Timor and Singapore. The helicopter took off on Wednesday morning from Seruyan district in Borneos...

In one of the biggest scandals to hit the Indonesian National Police (Polri), President Prabowo Subianto on Wednesday sacked his chief of staff, former national police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, after his arrest for allegedly wiretapping the president, cabinet ministers, politicians and journalists. The government raised the stakes on Wednesday when presidential spokesman Prasetyo Hadi addressed reporters in Jakarta, warning that the surveillance could amount to treason and endanger state...

Malaysian police have arrested a 25-year-old woman who allegedly caused a disturbance by assaulting visitors at a shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur, with the suspect admitting her involvement in the incident. Dang Wangi OCPD Assistant Commissioner Ahmad Azwan Amin Nordin said the local woman was arrested at about 5.40pm on Tuesday in Bandar Sri Damansara to assist in investigations. Initial investigations found that the suspect admitted to being involved in the incident, he said in a statement...

Indonesian authorities have arrested three people for allegedly tapping President Prabowo Subiantos phone, according to police on Tuesday, with media reports suggesting one of the suspects may be a senior official. Prabowo, who took office in 2024, has come under increasing pressure for his governments handling of the economy and destructive wildfires in the Southeast Asian archipelago. Top detective Asep Safrudin identified the suspects only by their initials, LSP, ASN, and EH, and said they...

A German tourist was among two men still missing on Tuesday after a landslide struck a glamping resort on the island of Bali in Indonesia. Heavy rains on Sunday afternoon caused the landslide, which struck the Eco Park Pelaga Glamping Retreat in Petang district at around 11pm, The Bali Times reported. Three tents collapsed while a fourth fell into the Tukad Yeh Kilap River and was swept away by the currents. The 4-hectare (10-acre) property, which houses 25 tents, sits on a steep cliff beside...

The Indonesian government is facing mounting pressure to scrap the value-added tax (VAT) on sanitary pads and other menstrual hygiene products, with critics arguing it adds to the financial burden for women from low-income families already struggling to buy basic necessities. While the 11 per cent tax on such products is not new, the issue has gained traction amid public anger over rising living costs. Students took to the streets of Jakarta last week to protest against the governments ..

A rally organised by Jakarta police to promote national unity has instead raised questions about whether the Indonesian government is using public events to blunt dissent, with questions raised over the identities of some participants after one admitted in a television interview that he had been paid to attend while posing as a university student. The controversy has fuelled criticism of what analysts describe as an intensifying effort to drown out opposing voices, while drawing attention to ..

An organiser behind a fundraiser for a boy whose parents died in an alleged hit-and-run accident in Singapore has vowed transparency, thanking donors for their overwhelming kindness amid debate over the campaigns authenticity. Farah Diyanah Razid, who identified herself as a family member of the victims on the crowdfunding platform Give.Asia, said all contributions collected through the drive were intended solely for the childs welfare and future. The clarification came after social media...

Malaysias unity government is facing an increasingly uncomfortable test ahead of the Melaka state election, with parties governing together at the federal level reverting to old rivalries as they compete for votes in a contest that could foreshadow shifting alliances before a national poll due by February 2028. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahims ruling Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition is under pressure to put on a strong showing against federal partners Umno, which is widely expected to retain power...

The discovery of dozens of pet remains dumped in sacks along a roadside in the Philippines has sparked public outrage and raised questions over whether the countrys animal welfare laws adequately protect pets after death. A pet crematorium in Bacoor, Cavite province nearly three hours drive from the dumping ground in neighbouring Bulacan province has been ordered to shut following complaints from pet owners, as police investigate allegations that the business improperly disposed of animals...

Singapore will work with Asean member states to strengthen the implementation of an agreement on transboundary haze when it chairs the regional bloc next year, the countrys environment minister said on Tuesday. It will also work with the bloc to establish the Asean Coordinating Centre for Transboundary Haze Pollution Control in Indonesia, said Minister for Sustainability and the Environment Grace Fu. In response to questions in parliament, Fu said the coordinating centre will strengthen...

Malaysias halal safeguards are under scrutiny after filthy conditions and suspected slaughtering breaches at a chicken plant sparked demands to explain how it ignored warnings and operated for years without certification. The hygiene failures at the Puchong facility came to light after authorities seized more than 6.5 tonnes of chicken during a raid last week. The factory, which processes more than 40,000 chickens daily and supplies businesses across the Klang Valley in Kuala Lumpur, is ..

The impeachment trial of Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio may soon draw to a close after the prosecution decided to drop several of her charges, a move that legal experts have said is intended to speed up the trial and secure a conviction by focusing on the strongest evidence against her. Beyond the trial, the decision could have significant political implications for the 2028 presidential race, with a swift verdict potentially removing a strong candidate, according to analysts. ..

A 29-year-old Singaporean man was sentenced to five years and nine months jail in Australia on Monday after he killed a man who stole a backpack from his rental car. Lincoln Ng Jing Kai chased the man in a car and knocked him off his e-bike before driving over him. He was originally charged with murder, but pleaded guilty to manslaughter in August after prosecutors agreed to accept the lesser charge. Sentencing him, Judge Terence Palmer said Ngs actions involved an element of taking the law...

Singapore is pitching itself as a bridge between the European Union (EU) and Asean, as the two blocs continue their protracted discussions to seal a free trade agreement (FTA). However, Myanmars political uncertainty is a major hurdle towards an EU-Asean FTA, and Singapore will have to play a key role to break the deadlock when it assumes the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year, according to an analyst. At a joint press conference with German Chancellor...

Rising from verdant ridge lines of southern Laos, 133 Chinese-built wind turbines help power Vietnams surging growth and represent part of a regional rush to diversify energy sources. The view is beautiful. Theyre bigger than trees, 23-year-old Toukta Phonsala said inside her wooden stilt house in Dak Wai village, her baby bouncing on her lap. Hydroelectric dams have proliferated across Southeast Asia in recent years, but production drops off in the dry season and critics lament the...

As India seeks to expand its security cooperation with Southeast Asia by sharing its battle-tested counterterrorism expertise, defence analysts say its experience would only partly meet Aseans needs given the differences in threat perception and domestic priorities. Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh made the offer at the Asean Defence Ministers Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) in Cebu on Thursday. Citing Operation Sindoor as an example of Indias counterterrorism capabilities, he offered to share...

The Philippines military modernisation drive could offer South Korea an opportunity to transform its role as a major arms supplier into a deeper defence partnership, analysts say. This prospect gained fresh momentum after Philippine Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jnr and his South Korean counterpart, Kang Shin-chul, agreed to deepen cooperation in military modernisation, defence technology and joint training on the sidelines of an Asean security summit in Cebu last week. Teodoro ..

Malaysian police have launched an investigation into a fight at a shopping centre in Kuala Lumpur after a viral video showed a man slapping a woman who allegedly assaulted his two young children. While police have not officially identified the venue, social media users claim the incident took place at the Ombak KLCC shopping centre. The 35-second clip circulating on social media shows a heated argument between the pair after the man confronted the woman over her actions. The altercation turns...

Video game companies have long been at the vanguard of artificial intelligence, using it in its more nascent form to dictate non-player character behaviour, simulate crowds and adjust game difficulty on the fly years before the advent of chatbots like ChatGPT. Today, the technology is increasingly being deployed to write code, create visual assets and even synthesise real-time voice-overs, supplanting humans who would have otherwise done the work. Yet studios do still pay people to animate ..

Malaysian Transport Minister Anthony Loke Siew Fook has dismissed a recent claim on social media that students were forced to serve alcohol at an old boys association reunion and centenary dinner, calling the allegations a politically motivated attack against him. The DAP secretary general, who is also a former student of St Pauls Institution, claimed the individual who allegedly uploaded the post had been looking for every possible opportunity to attack him. In the social media post, the...

Long dubbed an air-conditioned nation, Singapore is experimenting with cooling alternatives from chilled beams to passive displacement to curb its thirst for energy-guzzling air conditioning. The city state has the highest per-capita air conditioner ownership rate in Southeast Asia, with about 99 per cent of private residences equipped with cooling units. Singapores local building sector accounts for one-fifth of its emissions, while cooling itself accounts for 40 to 60 per cent of a...

For Singaporean flight attendant Chloe Tan Zi Ling, 35, the problem with paper straws is their impracticality. It softens before we can finish the drink, so we have to gulp it down without a straw, she said, adding that reusable metal alternatives left an unpleasant taste in her mouth. Her frustration reflects a wider debate over Asias shift away from plastic straws, with a recently released South Korean study finding that conventional plastic straws performed better than paper and other...

Nearly 200 nations have struck hard-fought agreements at a UN biodiversity summit, but the outcome was accompanied by disappointment over missed opportunities to address humanitys destructive toll on nature. Delegates cheered on Friday as crucial texts were approved in overtime but the celebrations were tempered by acrimonious debates and regret over limited progress on some of the most contentious issues. The Cop17 summit in Armenia sought to revive a landmark commitment to halt and reverse...

Malaysias Melaka state began its election campaign on Saturday after 79 candidates were cleared to contest a poll testing whether Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahims governing partners can turn an opportunistic alliance with his Islamist opponents into a platform for national power. The coastal state south of Kuala Lumpur heads to the polls on November 14, handing the United Malays National Organisation (Umno) and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) another opening to deepen cooperation after...

Nafeesa Azman has applied for hundreds of jobs over the past two months, yet the 24-year-old Malaysian marketing graduate is yet to find a permanent role that pays what she needs or uses the skills she spent years, and a good deal of money, developing. Natthanicha Intawong, a final-year media arts student in Bangkok, describes the terror many of her peers feel as they prepare to enter a jobs market that artificial intelligence is already beginning to scythe through. For Joshua Nai, a ..