EU’s Southeast Asia push hits funding crunch as China widens lead

A former Miss Thailand and well-known social activist was arrested on Friday alongside her husband, accused of siphoning off money from her charity to buy luxury homes as police examine an estimated 1 billion baht (US$30 million) in donations. Panadda “Boom” Wongphudee, 50, was detained at her Bangkok home early on Friday morning after the Criminal Court issued arrest warrants accusing the couple of public fraud and money laundering. Her husband, fitness influencer and businessman Atip...

The Democratic Party’s sweep of both houses of the US Congress could stabilise Washington’s commitment to the Philippines, bringing relief to allies rattled by President Donald Trump’s Iran war and his shifting foreign policy. Analysts expect bipartisan support for Manila to endure, with Democratic oversight set to rein in Trump’s unpredictability. But they warn that Washington could still turn inward to deal with domestic challenges, diverting attention from the Indo-Pacific. The rebuke of...

The sweeping midterm election victory by US Democrats has triggered warnings from analysts that an impending regulatory clampdown could derail the nation’s multi-trillion-dollar artificial intelligence data centre buildout. Wall Street forecasters slashed their projections for Big Tech infrastructure spending hours after the vote, cautioning that a wave of proposed project moratoria and tighter oversight could stall up to 30 per cent of planned US facilities and force developers to downscale...

Hong Kong’s Exchange Fund, the war chest used to defend the local currency, reported a 74 per cent tumble in third-quarter earnings amid pervasive market uncertainty, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) said on Friday. Earnings totalled HK$18.6 billion (US$2.4 billion) in the quarter, plunging from HK$70.8 billion a year earlier. For the first nine months of 2026, total earnings slid 39.6 per cent from a year earlier to HK$171.9 billion. The Exchange Fund’s Hong Kong equities portfolio...

Malaysia’s disgraced former prime minister Najib Razak left prison for house arrest after Umno on Friday paid a 50 million ringgit (US$12.3 million) fine required under the terms of his royal pardon. The clemency granted by King Sultan Ibrahim in September allows Najib to serve the remainder of his sentence under house arrest until August 2028, after more than four years behind bars for corruption linked to the 1MDB sovereign wealth fund. His exit from prison may renew scrutiny of Prime Minister...

A summit could bolster Xi Jinping’s stature. But talks about Ukraine’s future and limits on nuclear weapons pose uncomfortable choices for China.

Malaysia’s Sarawak will hold a state election on December 12 as the incumbent government seeks a fresh mandate to press demands over autonomy and control of the territory’s natural resources. The filing of nominations will begin on November 28 and early voting will be on December 8, Election Commission chairman Ramlan Harun told reporters on Friday. The 14-day election campaign involving more than 2.05 million eligible voters choosing 82 members will end on December 11, the commission said in a...

Japan’s growing strategic partnership with Vietnam is putting Tokyo’s commitment to a rules-based regional order under scrutiny, as Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi faces calls to press Hanoi over its failure to honour labour rights commitments. The issue is expected to surface during Vietnamese President To Lam’s four-day visit to Tokyo from Sunday, raising questions about how far Japan is prepared to defend the principles underpinning a major Pacific trade agreement when its economic and security...

Japanese and South Korean shares plunged on Friday after US shares tumbled overnight on worries that midterm election results could slow or derail the artificial intelligence data centre investment boom. Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index fell 5.1 per cent to 56,930 points in early trade. Seoul’s Kospi index dived 8.5 per cent to 4,923, triggering a circuit breaker which suspended trading for 20 minutes. Investors had initially cheered Tuesday’s Democratic drubbing of US President Donald Trump’s...

A road project with coordinates pointing to Nigeria. A government building apparently located in the Sahara Desert. Another road mapped to a sea near Brunei. These are among the unlikely locations listed for infrastructure projects in the Philippines’ proposed 2027 national budget, according to independent watchdogs that have discovered the discrepancies, highlighting problems with government transparency and accountability. Their scrutiny of Manila’s proposed 7.2 trillion pesos (US$114 billion)...

When Huang Baoying was growing up, her older brother helped look after her, their parents recalled. Huang Bocan would tutor his younger sister at night and help her with her studies, their mother said. To his parents, he was a responsible son whom they trusted to help care for Baoying while they worked long hours. Years later, he would be sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering her. “We never imagined that things could become so serious,” their father said after Bocan, 34, was sentenced on...