Antipodean Johor Bahru opens in Malaysia

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s re-election should provide continuity for the country’s trade push into Southeast Asia, analysts say, as Vietnam and Indonesia pursue preferential trade agreements with Mercosur, the South American bloc in which Brazil is the largest economy. But better access to Brazil and other Mercosur markets is far from assured, with trade experts pointing to difficult negotiations over tariffs and agricultural access, as well as political differences within...

John Lee, the city’s chief executive, said his housing secretary would step down, but he vehemently defended the government.

Japan wants a more united and proactive Southeast Asia as it sees Asean as a bulwark against an intensifying great-power rivalry, analysts say, while uncertainty over Washington’s long-term Indo-Pacific strategy has deepened Tokyo’s concerns about the region’s future. Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi on Wednesday urged Southeast Asian nations to strengthen their collective response to emerging security threats, warning of a “rapidly deteriorating” security environment and shifts in the...

Smoke from this year’s Indonesian forest and peatland fires has inflicted an estimated 8 billion ringgit (US$1.97 billion) in welfare losses on Malaysia, contributing to an estimated 1,700 deaths and severely disrupting manufacturing, according to a report commissioned by the country’s leading industrial group. The study, “The 2026 Fire Season and Transboundary Haze in Malaysia”, was conducted for the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM), as reported by the Malay Mail. Drawing on...

A flurry of meat seizures across Thailand and Vietnam has raised fears of animal-borne diseases devastating regional livestock populations and unsafe food ending up on consumers’ plates. Driven by rising energy and logistics costs, unscrupulous suppliers have targeted restaurants and wet markets desperate to protect margins by sourcing cheap, unregulated cuts – even those past their expiry date or tainted with disease. On October 21, police in Vietnam’s southern province of Dong Nai dismantled a...

Karl Bushby has walked 31,000 miles, crossing some of the world’s harshest landscapes. He plans to reach his mother’s house in England next week.

A South Korean special prosecutor on Thursday demanded the death penalty for ousted president Yoon Suk-yeol, ahead of an appeal court verdict on rebellion charges over his brief imposition of martial law in December 2024. The Seoul High Court has yet to set a date for a verdict on Yoon’s appeal of a life sentence handed down in February by the Seoul Central District Court. The court found that he illegally mobilised troops and police to seize the legislature, arrest political opponents and...

Indonesia’s communications minister has urged calm after a former Singaporean nominated member of parliament (NMP) suggested the city state could disrupt its neighbour’s internet access, arguing that any outage would cripple connectivity on both sides. Communication and Digital Affairs Minister Meutya Hafid said the government and public “need not be irritated” by comments from ex-NMP Calvin Cheng. In Singapore, NMPs are appointed to bring non-partisan perspectives to the legislature; they do...

Two friends claimed trial to a charge of animal cruelty at the Sessions Court in the Malaysian state of Penang for allegedly dragging a dog tied to a motorcycle last month. Lee Beng Hooi and Yeoh Keat Chye, both 62, pleaded not guilty to the charge read before judge Irwan Suainbon on Thursday. They were jointly charged with dragging a female black dog on an iron chain along the road using a motorcycle, causing the animal unnecessary pain and suffering. The offence allegedly occurred along a back...

Chinese tech giant Tencent Holdings is using Southeast Asia as a launch pad to take its “cost-effective” artificial intelligence tools global, fronted by its workplace assistant WorkBuddy, amid cutthroat competition at home. The company was targeting existing regional customers of its cloud computing and big data services, particularly in markets such as Indonesia, according to Dowson Tong, CEO of Tencent’s Cloud and Smart Industries Group. The international push coincided with triple-digit...

News organizations owned by two billionaires close to Prime Minister Narendra Modi say the legislation could make investigative reporting nearly impossible.

The move will block shipments from BGI, a major Chinese firm that U.S. officials allege is associated with forced labor and the abuse of minority groups.