There is little in common between Daron Acemoglu and Xi Jinping. As a strong advocate of the Western model of liberal democracy, Acemoglu, co-recipient of the 2024 Nobel Prize in economics, may be considered the ideological opposite of the Chinese president. But on a crucial point about Chinas future, the two may, strangely, be on the same page: an across-the-board introduction of cutting-edge technology may enhance productivity and maintain economic growth. It may counteract the negative...

Indonesia halted operations at its main international airport outside Jakarta on Sunday after ash spewed from the Anak Krakatoa volcano more than 150km (93 miles) away, impacting thousands of passengers. Mount Anak Krakatoa erupted on Saturday, producing a fountain of lava and booming sounds that could be heard up to a few hundred kilometres away, the geology agency said in a statement. Two new eruptions were recorded on Sunday, the volcanology agency warned. Ash from the volcano was detected ..

The US rejected a claim by Malaysias opposition Islamist party that Washington once sought to influence the countrys choice of political leadership, calling the allegation false. The United States has never sought to decide Malaysias political leadership, US embassy in Malaysia Charge dAffaires David H. Gamble Jnr said in a statement on social media on Sunday. Any account to the contrary is false. Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) president Abdul Hadi Awang said at the Islamist partys...

The recent release of classic arcade games on the White House website, which allow players to deport migrants and build a border wall, has stoked more fear and anger among Filipino-Americans, as observers call out the xenophobic tactics in US President Donald Trumps widening immigration crackdown. Analysts and immigrant advocates described the games, unveiled on Thursday, as frightening, trivialising the human toll of the policies and normalising hostility towards migrants, particularly...

Yap Yee Lin has been serving espresso at a Starbucks in Malaysia since 2012, longer than many of his colleagues have worked anywhere. But it was only last year, after 13 years with the company, that he was promoted to shift manager at a branch in Kuala Lumpurs Bangsar Village II. The wait says less about Yap, who is deaf, than it does about how rare that kind of promotion still is for deaf workers in the Southeast Asian nation and how much has had to change around him to make it...

The Labour Department recently upgraded its Heat Stress at Work Warning system, making it easier for higher-tier alerts to be sent out, so that employers and workers, especially those who have to work outdoors, can react quickly during very hot weather. Unfortunately, the most we seem to be able to do is issue warnings and recommend passive mitigation measures such as relaxing the work schedule, resting in the shade and staying hydrated. We are sitting ducks as temperatures peak year after...

Police are investigating shameful racist and xenophobic online comments about the China-Nepal disaster and Singapore Airlines (SIA) investment in Air India, Senior Minister K Shanmugam said on Saturday. Mr Shanmugam told reporters that the Ministry of Digital Development and Information will also ask social media platforms to remove comments that breach guidelines. The media tells me that they had to remove several comments because they were so nasty. I dont know if all the comments are all...

Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio posted bail at a Manila courthouse on Saturday, a day after an arrest warrant was issued over her alleged death threat against the countrys president. Duterte-Carpio was charged last month with grave threats stemming from a late-night news briefing in which she claimed to have hired a hitman to kill President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, his wife and a congressman cousin should she be cut down first. She later said the comments had been misconstrued. The...

Malaysias biggest Islamist opposition party has used its annual convention to reopen the door to former rival Umno, while signalling that any reunion will come with a new pecking order as the party sets its sights on leading the federal government. The recalibration comes after a partnership involving Umno and the Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) jointly toppled Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahims coalition in Negeri Sembilan last month, weeks after Umno crushed Pakatan Harapan (PH) in Johor. With...

When the day heats up, small business owner Chung Kee Wa, 68, changes how he tends his oil palm plantation in Yong Peng, in Malaysias southern Johor state. Oil palms younger than three years offer little shade, so he tends them in the early mornings and evenings, spraying pesticide, applying fertiliser or weeding. We try our best to avoid going to the plantation around noon, Chung said. He carries extra drinking water and, as a smallholder, decides when to slow down or change his hours. But...

In a country consumed by conflict, a sport defined by brutality dominates: Myanmars lethwei martial art, where headbutts are encouraged and knockout blows are the aim of the game. I cant live without fighting, said 19-year-old Su Luck, who enters the ring under the paradoxical pseudonym Peace Prize. I have never once considered giving up this passion, she said. Lethwei is traditional Burmese boxing, distinct from Thai kickboxing because head blows are permitted and fighters compete...

Helen Fungs home felt empty. After her husband died last October, she found herself rattling around a house in Singapore with only a domestic helper she could not get along with for company. She turned down her childrens invitations to move to England, put off by Londons grey winters, and instead checked herself into an assisted living facility. On a recent Monday afternoon in St Bernadette Lifestyle Village at Trevose Crescent, tucked away in the leafy residential estate of Bukit Timah, Fung...

Thailands embrace of data centres hit a speed bump after the government suspended construction of 49 server farms as public concerns about the power- hungry facilities impact on communities intensify. The projects were halted to give officials time to develop new industry regulations, expected to be announced in a month, Danucha Pichayanan, secretary general of the National Economic and Social Development Council, said at a press briefing on Friday. Danucha spoke after the first meeting of the...

Malaysia declared an emergency on Friday in a town in Sarawak state on Borneo Island after air pollution breached the countrys emergency-level threshold linked to fires in neighbouring Indonesia. The Air Pollutant Index in Serian, a small agricultural town of just under 90,000 near the border of Indonesias Kalimantan province, surged to 521 on Friday, according to Malaysias environment department. Sarawaks much larger capital, Kuching, also showed a hazardous reading of 311. Malaysias King...

The son of Malaysias king has dismissed a report that a potential tax bill of more than S$2 billion (US$1.6 billion) is complicating his plans to sell 16.6 hectares (41 acres) of land in Singapore, saying he was more than happy to absorb levies on both sides of the causeway. As a regular taxpayer, this is normal. No complication than happy to contribute to both countries. Should make it double, Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim posted on social media on Thursday, hours after the...

A court in the Philippines has issued a warrant of arrest against Vice- President Sara Duterte-Carpio over death threats she made against President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr. The warrant involves three counts of grave threats, according to a court order that also set bail at 120,000 pesos (US$1,900) for each count. The charges were first filed last month, based on a National Bureau of Investigation criminal complaint in February 2025. Dutertes lawyer, Paul Lawrence Lim, on Friday confirmed the ..

Two sailors from the US aircraft carrier making a port call to Thailand were sent back to the ship after a drunken altercation, Thai police said on Friday. Police were alerted to a small scuffle involving the sailors in the early hours of Thursday near Pattayas nightlife hotspot Walking Street, city police chief Colonel Anek Srathongyoo said. The sailors were drunk and they were fighting, making loud noise, he said. He described the incident as trivial and said local residents had only...

The presence of former Philippine president Rodrigo Dutertes youngest son at the opening of detained televangelist Apollo Quiboloys 75,000-seat Kingdome stadium this week offered a striking display of how ties between the Duterte family and the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KJC) have endured despite the criminal cases surrounding its founder. Observers say the lavish inauguration, attended by an estimated 80,000 people alongside Davao City Mayor Sebastian Duterte, proved the organisations ability...

Six Malaysian men have been detained in connection with a drug smuggling case involving a 39-year-old Malaysia Airlines pilot detained at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Indonesia. The six were arrested following information obtained during questioning of the pilot by a team of Bukit Aman Narcotics Crime Investigation Department (NCID) officers sent to Jakarta from August 11 to 15. Bukit Aman NCID director Commissioner Hussein Omar Khan said the six had allegedly acted as suppliers ..

As pressure mounts in the Philippines for authorities to act on strengthening school security after two fatal shootings in eight weeks, safety experts say any measure must look at mitigating violence much earlier, even before a child brings a weapon to the campus gate. A bill pushed by lawmaker Bam Aquino will require schools to establish a comprehensive safety framework, including localised safety plans with guidelines on prevention, emergency response and recovery. The bill also includes...

Another 777 students and teachers contracted food poisoning in Indonesias Central Java after consuming government-issued free meals, a school principal said on Thursday, bringing the total number of people made ill by the scheme to more than 1,700 in just a week. In separate incidents in three other locations this week, 950 Indonesians had fallen ill as a result of food poisoning linked to the programme, a member of a parliamentary commission overseeing health said. President Prabowo Subianto...

An adult male orangutan found struggling to breathe in a palm oil plantation on Indonesias Borneo died hours after being rescued, authorities said on Thursday. The orangutan, named Sampurna and believed to be around 20 years old, was found by residents on Sunday morning in Ketapang district, West Kalimantan, an area affected by wildfires. He was unable to stand and was struggling to breathe when a joint team from the West Kalimantan Natural Resources Conservation Agency and the Indonesian...

A Malaysian royals plan to sell a tract of land in the heart of Singapore faces a complication: a tax bill that may exceed US$1 billion. A levy known as a land betterment charge has emerged as a sticking point in negotiations between some prospective buyers and the current owner, the eldest son of Malaysias billionaire king, according to people familiar with the matter. The owner wants any buyer to foot the bill, the people said, asking not to be identified because the information is...

Another 14 luxury condominium units and a grade A office at Suntec Tower One forfeited in connection with Singapores largest money laundering case will be put up for sale at auctions this month. The properties, located in prime areas such as River Valley and Orchard, will be auctioned by real estate firms Edmund Tie & Company (ETC) and Knight Frank. As of Thursday morning, a total of 25 properties have been listed for auction. ETC will auction units at South Beach Residences, 8 Saint Thomas ..

Friend-for-hire services have started taking off in Thailand as the countrys social landscape changes with an ageing population and a rise in the number of unmarried people. The service is a new type of gig work in which people are paid to act as companions, for instance accompanying someone on a trip to take photos or even joining them in indoor rock climbing. Although no official figures are available, industry players say demand for professional companions has increased in recent years due...

Vietnamese police arrested a deputy health minister on Wednesday for allegedly accepting huge bribes, part of an investigation into a company accused of smuggling medical equipment, authorities said. Vietnam has pursued a high- profile anti-corruption campaign in recent years that has netted dozens of business leaders and senior government figures. Deputy Health Minister Tran Van Thuan, a leading oncologist in Vietnam, was taken into custody due to his acceptance of bribes involving a large ..

Singapore is positioning itself as a bridge between Central Asia and Asean, as both regions increasingly look to each other amid growing disruption to global trade and intensifying superpower rivalry. The political appetite exists, but analysts say trade benefits will still hinge on overcoming obstacles such as geography and a lack of connectivity. Singapores Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong pitched the city state to Central Asian businesses during his visits to Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan from...

About 1.4 million students in six Indonesian provinces had shifted to online learning due to poor air quality triggered by forest and land fires, an official said on Wednesday. As of September 2, around 1.43 million students from 12,874 schools in six of the provinces hit hardest by forest and land fires had been studying remotely, Gogot Suharwoto, an education ministry official, told the media. Indonesia has intensified efforts to contain haze caused by wildfire in the six provinces, which...

Aptly dubbed the Pinglu 001, the first command and management vessel for the Pinglu Canal was delivered on Monday and will soon enter service as China prepares to open the strategic waterway designed to support surging trade with Southeast Asia. The delivery marks one of the final steps before the 72.7 billion yuan (US$10.8 billion) megaproject is expected to officially open later this month after years in the making. The canal is a signature project for the worlds second-largest economy as ..

Vietnam faces heightened security in the South China Sea amid reports of construction works in the Paracels archipelago which Beijing calls Xisha Islands with analysts saying that the latest developments could alter the strategic balance in the contested waters. Hanoi voiced its strong objection after reports citing satellite imagery said new Chinese infrastructure had appeared on Yagong Island, called Ba Ba Island by Vietnam. Vietnam resolutely opposes this, has made serious...

The Malaysian Islamic Development Department (Jakim) will summon a Malaysian participant in the Miss Equality World 2026 pageant in Thailand for questioning, following the circulation of social media posts. In a statement on Tuesday, Jakim director general Dr Sirajuddin Suhaimee said Jakim would work with state Islamic religious authorities and relevant agencies to take action against the individual in accordance with existing laws and regulations. He said the participants involvement in the...

A former Malaysian minister has been remanded for five days as part of an anti-corruption inquiry into the management of the countrys state haj fund. The suspect, who is in his sixties, was detained at about 4.30pm on Tuesday after he went to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) headquarters in Putrajaya to have his statement recorded. MACC confirmed the arrest in a statement on social media but did not release the former ministers identity. The arrest was made around 4.30pm and it...

Cambodia says it has flushed out a scam industry estimated to have stolen tens of billions of US dollars last year alone, but a string of arrests in recent days suggests the gangs behind it may have simply changed address. Scam centres proliferated across Cambodia during the pandemic, when hundreds of thousands of jobless young people were pulled into defunct casino complexes to target victims worldwide with bogus romance, cryptocurrency and investment frauds. Chinese criminal networks found ..

Smoke from Indonesian wildfires blanketed Manila on Tuesday, turning fires nearly 2,000km (1,242 miles) away into a public-health warning for the Philippine capital and reviving concerns over Southeast Asias recurring transboundary haze problem. The haze, carried by southwesterly winds from fires in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of Borneo, prompted health experts to urge people to wear N95 masks outdoors as air quality deteriorated across parts of Metro Manila. In parts of the capital ..

Malaysia is looking to Chinas rice-prawn farms as a model to extract more from its shrinking paddy land as a slide in rice self-sufficiency has left it increasingly reliant on imports from its Southeast Asian neighbours. The experiment is also part of an attempt to confront other issues such as ageing farm

Philippine fast food giant Jollibee Foods Corp said on Tuesday it was planning to spin off and list its international operations on the Hong Kong stock exchange, abandoning earlier plans of a US listing. Jollibee Foods said it was progressing in separating its international business, Jollibee Foods Corporation International, ahead of its planned spin-off and listing. The fast food restaurant operator now plans for a Hong Kong listing citing its existing presence in the city and brand...

A proposed troop access deal between the Philippines and Britain marks the latest step in Manilas drive to draw more European and like-minded powers into its efforts to safeguard the free flow of trade through the South China Sea and neighbouring waterways. The visiting forces agreement would allow troops from both countries to train and operate temporarily on each others soil, a move analysts said could deepen the Philippines ties with Nato members and reduce its reliance on the US security...

A Thai court has sentenced a 25-year-old activist to two years in prison for violating the countrys strict royal insult law, a rights group said, with her lawyer on Tuesday vowing to appeal. A criminal court convicted Tantawan Tuatulanon on Monday over a live streaming she aired near a royal motorcade in March 2022, legal advocacy group Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR) said in a statement. The court found Tantawan intended to defame Thailands highly revered monarchy when she questioned ..

Malaysian police have crippled a cross-border drug syndicate with the seizure of 86.2kg of methamphetamine worth 4.31 million ringgit (US$1 million) in Penang and Selangor. The bust resulted from intelligence sharing between Malaysian and Thai police after Thai authorities seized 166kg (370lbs) of suspected methamphetamine from a Malaysian man in Hua Hin on August 8. Penang police chief Dennis Lim Kwang Keng said the information led to Ops Zoraptera, resulting in the arrest of four suspects ...

After more than 250 days at sea, much of it fighting the war on Iran and amid reports of dire conditions on board the USS Abraham Lincoln is finally set to dock near Pattaya this week, giving more than 5,000 American sailors and Marines shore leave as the Thai resort city hopes they will spend big during their last pit stop before home. The eastern Thai beach resort, known for its colourful nightlife, has faced a grim low tourist season, driven in part by the economic downturn triggered by...