A Singapore driver has been jailed for more than five years after causing the death of a pillion rider in a high-speed challenge, with local media reporting he had shown no remorse after the incident. Jarrett Tee Lee Kiat, 30, was involved in blocking and braking games with a motorcyclist, the court heard, and had asked passengers in his rented Mercedes-Benz, Do you want to see a motorcycle fly? before swerving into the path of his opponent on the East Coast Parkway (ECP) in February last...

A case at Singapores Nanyang Technological University (NTU) involving three students accused of academic misconduct over the use of generative AI (Gen AI) has prompted observers to question if tertiary institutions need clearer processes to deal with disputes. The students were told by their teacher in a briefing for a module on health, disease outbreaks and politics at the School of Social Sciences that the use of ChatGPT and AI tools was not allowed in the development or generation of their...

Thailands Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra is under mounting pressure from protests, court cases, coalition rifts and a spiralling border dispute with Cambodia a convergence of crises that could determine whether she remains in office. Paetongtarn, 38, is Thailands youngest leader and the daughter of Thaksin Shinawatra, whose two-decade power struggle with the royalist establishment has repeatedly thrown the country into political turmoil. The return of Thaksin from self-imposed exile...

The heads of the Philippine and Malaysian navies have pledged to deepen maritime cooperation, reflecting growing trust between both sides and mutual concerns over regional security despite their overlapping claims in the South China Sea. Admiral Tansri Zulhelmy Bin Ithnain, chief of Malaysias Royal Navy, met with vice-admiral Jose Ma Ambrosio Ezpeleta, flag officer in command of the Philippine Navy, during a courtesy call in Manila on Wednesday. He also held talks with the Philippine military...

A United Nations agency is rallying policymakers, non-government organisations and academics to support its ethics guidelines on artificial intelligence (AI) at a time when the technology is rapidly changing the world. Unesco, the 194-member UN heritage agency that produced the worlds first and so far only global AI ethics standards four years ago, hosted a forum in Bangkok this week to drive the adoption of its recommendations. However, there is a long way to go before the recommendations...

A Qatari firm has pledged a US$2.5 billion investment to help Indonesia realise an ambitious affordable housing push, with plans to build 1 million homes over five years a major contribution to President Prabowo Subiantos broader pledge to construct 3 million new dwellings during his term. The initiative is expected to face complex challenges from securing land and managing construction costs to integrating housing with urban infrastructure but officials and experts say these could be...

Malaysian police have arrested three suspects in connection with the murder of a 20-year-old university student in Cyberjaya, the countrys flagship tech hub. The killing has sparked outrage and renewed scrutiny of campus security. Maniishapriet Kaur Akhara was found dead in her dormitory on Tuesday, with authorities later revealing that the accommodation complex lacked basic security measures such as closed-circuit television cameras. In a statement on Friday, Sepang district police said they...

Chinas defence ministry has warned the Philippines against self-inflicted destruction by hosting US missile systems and denounced Manilas plan to encourage fishermen to operate in disputed South China Sea waters. Meanwhile, the Chinese embassy in Manila dismissed drug-smuggling allegations by Philippine military officials as baseless slander. The United States has reportedly decided to deploy additional strategic Typhon missile systems in the Philippines after transporting the mid-range...

The death of a Brazilian woman who fell while climbing a volcano in Indonesia has renewed scrutiny of safety standards at the countrys adventure tourism hotspots, amid a string of recent accidents involving foreign visitors. Juliana Marins, 26, fell some 600 metres (1,968 feet) while attempting to summit Mount Rinjani, a volcano on Lombok island, on Saturday. Her body was only recovered four days later after rescue efforts were hampered by dense fog, steep cliffs and unstable terrain. The...

A marquee visit by Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to China this week has underscored a push by Southeast Asian countries for multilateralism amid uncertainty over Americas commitment to the region and free trade. Observers say Wongs comments during his five-day trip, particularly at the World Economic Forum in Tianjin, or so-called Summer Davos, are aligned with the regional agenda of Asean members in recent years. But even as Chinese President Xi Jinping called for his country and...

Calls for tougher penalties and swift deportations are mounting in Bali, as local leaders warn that a rise in offences by foreign visitors risks damaging the Indonesian islands international reputation. Komang Nova Sewi Putra, deputy chairman of Balis legislative council, said the time had come for decisive action against tourists who violate the law or flout local customs, including immediate deportation. If we were abroad in a fight, we would immediately deport them. Why isnt it...

Vietnams food safety authorities have issued a nationwide public health warning following a local police bust of a large counterfeit oil operation secretly selling animal-feed oil as cooking oil to restaurants, factories and food producers across the country. Police in Hung Yen province raided the Nhat Minh Food Production and Import-Export Company on Tuesday. It was allegedly repackaging imported animal feed-grade vegetable oil under the Ofood brand and selling it as cooking oil, the ..

Malaysias Islamist party has decried a racist statement by one of its leaders, who has been widely criticised for including a picture of the countrys first ethnic Chinese three-star general in a social media post warning of the political rise of the nations largest minority group. Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS) grass roots leader Zaharudin Muhammad sparked outrage over a post on his Facebook page on Tuesday, in which he wrote a hypothetical news story of Malaysia welcoming its first...

The brutal murder of a 20-year-old university student in her dormitory has renewed scrutiny on safety lapses in Cyberjaya, a township hailed in the 1990s as Malaysias Silicon Valley but now notorious for crime. Maniishapriet Kaur Akhara, a University of Cyberjaya undergraduate, was found dead on Tuesday due to blunt force trauma to the head, Sepang district police said on Thursday. Investigation at the scene found no signs of forced entry into the victims residence. Further examination of the...

FWD Group has launched its long-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong, as the pan-Asian insurer founded by local tycoon Richard Li Tzar- kai approaches the end of a four-year odyssey for capital that has taken it from New York back to his hometown. FWD plans to sell 91.34 million shares at HK$38 each, according to a filing on Thursday to the Hong Kong exchange, valuing the insurer at HK$48.3 billion (US$6.15 billion). The insurer could upsize the IPO to 105 million shares and...

A five-year-old Indonesian boy was allegedly struck on the head with a wine bottle by a stranger in Singapore an incident that has prompted Indonesian media outlets and social media users to question personal safety in the city state, long regarded as one of the worlds safest travel destinations. The incident occurred on June 20 in Singapores Arab Street district, a popular tourist area, as the family was seated outside a coffee shop shortly before attending Friday prayers at the nearby...

As President Donald Trump deepens the US militarys involvement in the Middle East, questions are resurfacing over whether the Philippines could again play a logistical role to support Washington, as it did during the Iraq War more than two decades ago. The issue came up at a press briefing conducted by the Philippine military on Tuesday, where officials were asked if facilities designated under the Enhanced Defence Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) could be used to support US operations against...

Vietnamese real estate tycoon Truong My Lan, who masterminded a US$12.5 billion banking fraud, has avoided the gallows after the government on Wednesday scrapped the death penalty for eight crimes, including embezzlement. Lan, the chairwoman of property giant the Van Thinh Phat Group, was sentenced to death last year on embezzlement and bribery charges. Her lawyer said the sentence will be converted to life imprisonment after the National Assembly abolished capital punishment for eight...

Malaysias armed forces made a historic move when it promoted Johnny Lim Eng Seng to lieutenant general on Monday. Lim is the first ethnic Chinese serviceman to reach the rank of a three-star senior officer. It was a significant promotion in the countrys Malay-dominated military, which has long struggled to attract interest from among the ethnic Chinese and ethnic Indian minorities to enlist as soldiers. Lim, who hails from Melaka state in the peninsulas south, has been with the armed forces...

The Malaysian appeal court on Wednesday quashed the corruption conviction of former youth and sports minister Syed Saddiq Syed Abdul Rahman, admonishing the lower court for not throwing out the allegations of embezzling funds earlier. Syed Saddiq, a 33-year-old rising political star, was found guilty in 2023 of abetting a subordinate to withdraw 1 million ringgit (US$235,000) from his party Bersatus youth wing account, and misappropriating another 120,000 ringgit to fund his 2018 election...

The Indonesian government has faced backlash over its plan to further downsize already tiny proposed subsidised housing, with critics worrying that the cramped conditions may jeopardise physical and mental well-being. Indonesias housing authorities are proposing a reduction in the minimum plot size for subsidised homes from 60 square metres (645 sq ft) to 25 square metres (270 sq ft), and shrinking the built area from 21 square metres (226 sq ft) to 18 square metres (194 sq ft). However, the...

From Cambodian cassava being blocked for sale in Thailand to a ban on Thai fuel flowing the other way, a border spat stoked by nationalists on both sides has left more than 1 million Cambodians working in Thailand exposed to a damaging fallout. Over 5,000 Cambodian workers returned each day last week, fearing border closures and a growing nationalist enmity inside Thailand, Cambodian officials have said. On Monday, Hun Manet, Cambodias prime minister and the scion of the Hun Sen dynasty, ..

Australia is a possible destination for the interim release of the Philippines former president, Rodrigo Duterte, who is currently being held at the International Criminal Courts (ICC) detention centre in the Netherlands. Philippines Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio said her fathers lawyers were looking at Australia for his release to a third-party country, The Philippine Star newspaper reported on Tuesday. Duterte has been detained in The Hague since March over alleged crimes linked to...

The Philippines could suffer a setback in its efforts to counter Beijings assertiveness in the South China Sea if the United States shifts its attention from the Indo-Pacific to the Middle East, observers have warned. Iran on Tuesday retaliated against US strikes on its nuclear facilities by launching at least six missiles at an American base in Qatar, but Doha said the attack had been thwarted. The spectre of a closure of the vital Hormuz Strait shipping artery has also loomed over the...

In Tuanjie Village, in the heart of Chongqing Chinas largest inland city, best known for its spicy hotpot orange gantry cranes hoist cargo onto goods trains bound for Europe and Russia. Each day, hundreds of containers pass through the sprawling 82,000-square-metre yard, exporting electric vehicles and components or returning with cars, meat, wine and dairy. Just a five-minute drive away, blue cranes mark another yard this one unloading tropical fruits and raw materials from Southeast...

The Philippines Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio has called on the country to steer away from its unbalanced foreign policy in an implicit criticism of President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr, as she offered her clearest indication yet of where she stands on China. In a speech delivered to a group of Filipinos at the Parliament Gardens in Melbourne on Sunday, Duterte-Carpio warned against leaning on a foreign power and allowing its weapons systems to be deployed in the Philippines, calling such...

The decision by a British carrier strike group to dock at a civilian cruise centre instead of a naval base in Singapore during a visit has put into focus Londons priority on soft power and public outreach in the region amid conflict in the Middle East. With the city states iconic skyline as a backdrop, the 284-metre-long, 80,000-tonne HMS Prince of Wales became the first warship to dock at the Marina Bay Cruise Centre on Monday for its first port of call as part of its eight-month deployment...

A string of suspected gangland shootings that killed four men in just eight days has shaken Kuala Lumpur, stoking public fears and casting doubt on police assurances that the city remains safe. The shootings took place in the Klang Valley Malaysias most affluent region encompassing Kuala Lumpur and industrialised areas of neighbouring Selangor after masked gunmen struck in full view of witnesses and CCTV cameras. The latest shooting on Friday saw a 46-year-old man gunned down in broad...

US air strikes on Iran sent oil prices soaring on Monday, leaving Asian shippers burdened with fresh costs on top of extra insurance premiums of US$1 million more per tanker, as Tehran threatened to close the crucial Strait of Hormuz sea lane. Up to 20 million barrels of oil pass each day through the strait, one-fifth of the global supply, most of it destined for East Asias biggest economies China, South Korea and Japan. The neck of water is controlled by Iran, whose parliament on Sunday...

British national Bethany Clarke still remembers that day in Vang Vieng, Laos tubing down the river with friends, followed by a sunset happy hour at the Nana Backpackers Hostel. It had all the hallmarks of a classic backpacker afternoon. The vodka and whisky shots were free. The cost would come later. It was November 12, 2024. The next morning, Clarke and her two companions childhood friend Simone White and a male friend set out early for a kayaking trip they had planned the day before. But...

From the decks of battered fishing boats, the struggle over Scarborough Shoal has entered a new, precarious phase. As China steps up its patrols, Filipino fishers say they are being forced to abandon seas their families have plied for generations raising fears that whats unfolding at the reef could become the playbook for Beijings wider South China Sea ambitions. The Chinese coastguards intensified enforcement of a controversial anti-trespassing law is the latest move in Chinas campaign to...

The occasional water buffalo still wanders across the vacant plots of Thu Thiem, an area of Vietnams most populous city long promised redevelopment that is now poised for transformation on a grand, possibly Trumpian, scale. Set along the Saigon River, with the glassy skyline of downtown Ho Chi Minh City rising just 3km (1.9 miles) away, Thu Thiem could soon be home to a new Trump Tower after the US presidents middle son Eric, executive vice-president of the familys real estate empire, scouted...

On his first state visit to Singapore, Indonesias President Prabowo Subianto was strikingly candid: he had copied with pride his neighbours approach to housing and investment, he said presenting the city state as a model for his own governments ambitious development agenda. But chasing Singapores success risks overlooking the deeper reforms Indonesia must tackle to make such policies work at home, analysts say. The remarks came [earlier this week for online as Prabowo met President...

Thailands besieged Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra scrambled on Saturday to shore up her wobbling coalition after a leaked phone call drove defections from her government and rekindled resentments against her family, threatening to end her time in office after less than a year. Compounding her woes, Paetongtarn is set to face a court challenge from Thai senators and planned street protests demanding her ouster. Thailands youngest ever leader at 38 and the daughter of divisive two-time...

Five months into Donald Trumps presidency, Southeast Asia finds itself adrift. The foundations of its relationship with the US have been shaken by punitive tariffs and a sudden withdrawal of aid that hurt some of the regions most vulnerable even as Washington maintains its military presence with an eye fixed squarely on China. This volatility has deepened a sense of American unreliability across Southeast Asia, according to experts who spoke to This Week in Asia. Yet a complete rupture...

Singapore Airlines is facing a lawsuit in the United States after a New York paediatrician claimed she suffered a severe allergic reaction mid-flight when she was served shrimp despite having warned cabin crew of her shellfish allergy. The incident forced the aircraft to divert to Paris for emergency medical care. In a complaint filed on Tuesday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, Dr Doreen Benary alleged that her explicit allergy disclosure was overlooked during ..

Asean risks a fresh blow to its already dented credibility if it fails to de- escalate tensions between Thailand and Cambodia, analysts have warned, as a deadly border skirmish and a political leak threaten to trigger broader regional fallout. A full-blown border war between Thailand and Cambodia will damage Aseans credibility, Abdul Rahman Yaacob, a research fellow at the Lowy Institutes Southeast Asia programme, told This Week in Asia. The regional organisation is already under fire for...

A judge on Friday discharged disgraced former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak from a US$6.3 million money laundering case after ruling that the prosecution had failed to provide relevant documents to the defence. The ruling marks the second time a case involving Najib has been dismissed due to prosecutorial inaction, raising fresh questions about the conduct and priorities of the Attorney Generals Chambers (AGC). Najib, who led the country for nine years until his defeat in the 2018...

A family in Malaysia has suffered a heartbreaking double tragedy after a baby was smothered by his father, who had died in his sleep from a heart attack and rolled onto his child. Three-month-old Muhammad Nur Daniel Nuruleffendy was pronounced dead by hospital officials in Melaka state, not long after he was brought in unconscious by his mother on Thursday morning. Azura Abdul Mallik, 40, found her third child on her bed with his face under her husbands right arm after coming back from her...

Indonesian President Prabowo Subiantos visit to Russia this week is seen as a pragmatic step towards advancing ties between the two Brics members while maintaining Jakartas non-aligned foreign policy. Officially part of the 75th anniversary of IndonesiaRussia diplomatic ties, Prabowos three-day visit will include a keynote address by him at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) on Friday, following an invitation by his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin. Indonesias foreign...