Singapore adds muscle to expert panel as probe into haze-linked firms gains speed

The number of Malaysians detained overseas for drug-related offences increased to 1,588 as of September this year, according to Deputy Foreign Minister Lukanisman Awang Sauni. Lukanisman said the five countries with the highest numbers of Malaysians detained were Indonesia (381), China (380), Singapore (310), Thailand (102) and Japan (72). He said increasingly sophisticated drug-smuggling methods had contributed to the frequent arrests of Malaysians overseas. “A total of 1,181 Malaysians were...

Xi Jinping has enforced loyalty as he prepares to claim a fourth term as leader. Among those removed was a prominent former diplomat, Liu Jianchao.

Judges took away the possibility of parole for an Australian woman, Erin Patterson, and rejected a bid to overturn her conviction over deadly beef Wellington lunch.

Australian mushroom murderer Erin Patterson lost a bid to overturn her convictions and had a harsher sentence imposed on Friday, failing to prove she was wrongfully jailed for killing three people with a poisoned lunch. Patterson was found guilty last year of murdering her husband’s parents and elderly aunt, deliberately lacing their beef Wellington meal with highly toxic death cap mushrooms. The 52-year-old maintained her triple murder convictions were a “miscarriage of justice”, urging the...

While many parents still question whether to give their children access to artificial intelligence, Malaysian tech worker Pravin Ganesan has embraced it to solve a very practical problem: helping his eight-year-old daughter with homework he sometimes struggles to explain. Pravin, 42, taught her a few basic prompts and checked the answers closely, finding that generative AI is particularly good at breaking down difficult concepts into child-friendly terms. “It has helped her learn and understand...

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

[The content of this article has been produced by our advertising partner.] The October 26 partnership with Merck is a prime example. The deal brings a Merck Hong Kong Centre directly into the Hong Kong Science Park, giving local startups immediate access to the global giant's scientific products, live demonstrations and expert consultation. The two sides will also co-organise technical training, clinical advisory sessions, and an annual Merck Innovation Day. Rogier Janssens, president of Merck...

The commercial fallout for Real Madrid may be temporary, but the precedent for censoring speech beyond China’s borders is far more consequential.

As the first country to have continuously retrieved rare-earth mud from such depths, Japan is in a position to influence the future of the maritime order.

Thailand’s government said on Thursday it had revoked the citizenship of a prominent head rabbi who was a naturalised Thai, as the country tightens enforcement of its immigration laws. Rabbi Yosef Chaim Kantor’s Thai citizenship was stripped over his repeated use of his US passport after naturalisation in 2013, according to an interior ministry statement. The order was signed by Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, who is also interior minister. Thai law prohibits naturalised citizens from...

Singapore’s decision to send its top diplomat to Indonesia on a surprise visit, following days of terse exchanges over a regional haze, underscores a bid to defuse growing tensions and seek a direct channel to President Prabowo Subianto. Analysts say Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan’s trip reflected his country’s preference for measured diplomacy amid rising nationalistic rhetoric in Indonesia, with the city state also mindful of containing any “negative fallout” as Jakarta grapples with...