Migrant rights advocates have hailed the release of Filipino trafficking victim Mary Jane Veloso after 16 years in detention as a victorious milestone, but warn that her case exposes the dangers that still confront many vulnerable workers overseas. After coming harrowingly close to being executed years ago in Indonesia, Veloso walked free on Friday night from the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong City, grateful for the absolute pardon granted by Philippine President Ferdinand...

ByteDance accounts for roughly one-fifth of China’s delivered data centre capacity, making the TikTok owner the country’s largest tenant and a main driver of its artificial intelligence buildout, according to new estimates by research firm SemiAnalysis. The estimate comes from the firm’s tracking of more than 1,000 facilities in China operated by over 60 companies. ByteDance rents nearly all of its data centre footprint, SemiAnalysis said. Its AI products include Doubao, an assistant that...

China’s top intelligence and security agency on Monday issued a stark new warning on the risks of cryptocurrencies, highlighting their role in crime and stressing that transactions are not anonymous. Here are three things to know about the fresh warning from the Ministry of State Security (MSS) and China’s latest stance on virtual assets. What did the ministry say about cryptocurrencies? Virtual currencies facilitated money laundering activities and cyberattacks, and served as “accomplices” in...

An escalating diplomatic row over Ukraine’s disclosure of a North Korean prisoner-of-war transfer is threatening to jeopardise South Korea’s future ties with and support for Kyiv, analysts say, even as it hands fresh ammunition to the political opposition in Seoul. South Korea’s presidential official issued a statement late on Sunday demanding an official explanation and apology for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s disclosure about the POWs at last week’s UN General Assembly. Seoul said...

A male named Ping Ping and a female named Fu Shuang landed on Sunday, days after China’s leader said he would dispatch “envoys of friendship” to the United States.

Tokyo on Monday rebuked Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov after he voiced opposition over the weekend to Japan’s drive for permanent membership of the UN Security Council, claiming the country was on a “path of militarisation”. Lavrov’s comments came as the security council, tasked with safeguarding peace, is facing calls for reform amid accusations it failed to prevent recent conflicts such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, due largely to the veto power of its five permanent members:...

Mainland Chinese stocks fell to their lowest level in 13 months on Monday as the sell-off in technology shares intensified amid concerns that elevated global capital costs and surging oil prices would curb risk appetite. Markets opened the week on a sombre note, with the CSI 300 Index dropping 2.2 per cent to close at a level not seen since August 21 last year. The chip-heavy Star Market 50 index tumbled 4.1 per cent, capping its steepest single-day decline in five weeks and closing in on the...

Singaporean Najwa Alhabshi remembers spending her teenage years poring over literary classics such as F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and George Orwell’s 1984. The books introduced her to ideologies, philosophies and the American dream while expanding her vocabulary. But as work commitments grew, the pages of her books started yellowing. Finding time to read became harder, and her smartphone screen eventually took over. “I think I just fell out of reading,” the 35-year-old tutor said....

Six Singaporeans, including journalist Kirsten Han and Phua Chu Kang actors Lim Kay Siu and Neo Swee Lin, were charged on Monday with taking part in public assemblies. The assemblies were held in prohibited areas, with one held outside the State Courts in support of abolishing the death penalty, as well as candlelight vigils held outside Changi Prison for death row inmates. The six charged are Annamalai Kokila Parvathi, 38, Ten Leu Jiun Jeanne-Marie, 56, Howe Wen Khong Rocky, 31, Kirsten Han,...

In the latest milestone for China’s heavy-duty gas turbine manufacturers, Shanghai Electric has secured a turnkey contract to deliver equipment to a power plant in Malaysia, giving it a foothold in a market dominated by established foreign players amid a global supply crunch. The state-owned conglomerate, based in the Chinese financial centre, hailed the deal reached earlier this month as evidence of the competitiveness of its integrated solutions and its capacity to design and manufacture...

Amid intensifying debate over the risks posed by rapid advancements in artificial intelligence, Chinese developers dominating the open-weight ecosystem are grappling with a unique problem: how to ensure their user-modifiable models remain safe once they are released. To address the challenge, Z.ai and Beijing-based safety consultancy Concordia AI released a report on open-weight AI risk management on Monday that they said offered “the first comprehensive, evidence-based foundation” for balancing...

The Victorian heroine has long been celebrated in China for her independence and insistence on equality.

Malaysia is pushing to take durian, whose powerful smell delights its lovers and repels its haters, beyond its roadside stalls and family orchards to convince fans of the spiky fruit that its varieties are worth seeking out. Devotees savour durians like wine. For Malaysian ones, the taste of their rich and creamy flesh varies widely across types. Some are prized for their sweet custard and fruity notes, others for a hint of bitterness, an alcohol tinge, or even a peanut butter...

The "provisional understanding" between Beijing and Manila over the Philippine resupply of Second Thomas Shoal appears to have broken down.

Zhuhai Amicro Technology, a Xiaomi-backed chipmaker, is preparing to begin premarketing for a Hong Kong initial public offering (IPO) of more than US$100 million as early as this week, according to people familiar with the matter. The company passed its listing hearing with bourse operator Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX) last week, clearing the final regulatory hurdle for a share sale in the city, the people said, requesting anonymity because the information is private. According to...

Rescue teams on Monday searched for a dozen people swept away by an avalanche that killed at least four on a Nepalese mountain during severe weather. Rescuers from the Nepal National Mountain Guide Association, which is leading the efforts, said they recovered two more bodies on Monday in addition to two others who were found on Sunday. The tragedy happened at Mount Himlung, a 7,126-metre (23,380-foot) peak in north central Nepal. Twelve people were missing. Eight experienced mountain guides...

Malaysian police were set to begin questioning 10 former Negeri Sembilan state officials on Monday over a disputed bid to remove the state’s long-time ruler. It comes a week after Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir dismissed the 10 ex-members of the executive council, which serves as the state’s cabinet, for breaching their oaths of allegiance by backing his removal. Negeri Sembilan, south of Kuala Lumpur, has been locked in a months-long struggle over its throne that helped bring down the previous...

Khieo Lapchanh is the latest Lao exile to fall victim to the growing authoritarian collaboration between the Mekong region's governments.

Dr Siti Hasmah Mohamad Ali, the wife of former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad, died on Monday aged 100. Her family confirmed her death after she was admitted to the National Heart Institute in Kuala Lumpur. The cause of death was not immediately clear. Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, whose decades-long feud with Mahathir defined modern Malaysia’s politics, said on Monday that Siti Hasmah would be granted a state funeral. “The nation will always remember her maternal presence and cherish...

City Developments (CDL), the Singapore property group controlled by one of the country’s wealthiest families, said it wants to invest S$5 billion (US$3.9 billion) in Singapore, China and Japan by 2029 as part of measures to regain investor confidence after a feud within the clan. The firm also aims to sell S$6 billion of assets within the same period either via outright divestments or seeding suitable assets into managed vehicles, according to an exchange filing on Monday. It wants to set up a...

Mary Jane Veloso has always maintained her innocence, claiming that a relative tricked into carrying a large shipment of drugs.

A proposal to upgrade meals for foreigners awaiting deportation at Incheon International Airport has divided immigration officials, with frontline officers raising safety concerns and some questioning whether better food is appropriate for those ordered to leave South Korea for violating the law. According to immigration authorities on Sunday, the Incheon Airport Immigration Office under the Ministry of Justice is considering providing in-flight meal boxes to foreign nationals awaiting...

This year’s haze crisis has added to the heat woes squeezing livestock farmers in Malaysia and Indonesia as they struggle to keep their animals cool, fed and productive. While it is difficult to separately assess the effects of haze-related smoke from heat, water shortages, feed and disease, farmers and industry groups say the cumulative strain is severely affecting animal health, productivity and their finances. In Selama, Perak, poultry keeper Zaiful Zakaria, 42, had begun installing...

In China, A.I. doomsday warnings can feel distinctly Western or like a ploy to stop Chinese A.I. companies from trying to overtake their U.S. rivals.

Around 100,000 ornamental koi carp ready for sale were swept away after heavy rain caused by a typhoon breached some levees at a lake in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo, it has been revealed as authorities assess the widespread damage to local farming and fisheries. Typhoon Dujuan, which approached the region about a week ago, inundated rice paddy fields and other farmland while flooding facilities where carp and eels were being cultivated near Lake Imbanuma in northern Chiba. Kenji Tani, who runs...