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This Week in Asia
Fireworks light up the midnight sky over Sydney Harbour Bridge and Sydney Opera House during 2025 New Year’s Day celebrations on January 1, 2025. Photo: AFP

Asia

The world begins welcoming 2025 with light shows, embraces and ice plunges

Revellers celebrated the new year with hope for a brighter future, as the Pacific region ushered in the new year with fireworks and festivities.

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Singapore growth beats estimates, PM Wong pledges support amid global tensions

South Korean crypto mogul Do Kwon extradited to US after months on the run

Southeast Asia

Singaporean and Japanese bulk carriers collide in China’s Yangtze River

The collision resulted in a fuel oil spill, but no injuries were reported. The incident is under investigation, with clean-up efforts under way.

The Yangze 22 is a bulk carrier under the flag of Singapore. Photo: Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group/File
The Yangze 22 is a bulk carrier under the flag of Singapore. Photo: Yangzijiang Shipbuilding Group/File

Economics

‘Palm oil is strategic’: Indonesia’s Prabowo calls for protection

Foreign countries are eyeing Indonesian palm oil as the ‘strategic material’ is crucial to their industries, President Prabowo Subianto says.

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Politics

Jeju Air crash: calls for removal of runway wall, as scrutiny intensifies

Experts say use of ‘frangible’ materials for guidance facilities to reduce impact of crashes would have made the accident ‘far less deadly’.

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South Asia

Nepal’s Kung fu nuns show off skills at monastery reopening after Covid closure

These nuns, trained in self-defence, are part of the Drukpa lineage, which promotes gender equality and empowers women through physical and spiritual development.

The nuns of the hilltop Druk Amitabha Monastery, put on the show of strength to mark the institution’s reopening, five years after the Covid-19 pandemic forced it to close its doors to the public. Photo: Facebook/Drukpa
The nuns of the hilltop Druk Amitabha Monastery, put on the show of strength to mark the institution’s reopening, five years after the Covid-19 pandemic forced it to close its doors to the public. Photo: Facebook/Drukpa

Lifestyle & Culture

No honey, no money: Thai forager laments risks to bee hives from deforestation

Pran Tee has attracted over 320,000 followers on Facebook thanks to his tree-climbing missions to extract honey from bee hives in Chiang Mai.

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Politics

South Korea’s Choi to fill Constitutional Court vacancies amid political turmoil

The move by acting President Choi Sang-mok aims to restore stability and prevent a credit rating downgrade, following the impeachment of two predecessors.

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East Asia

Flight data recorder from crashed Jeju Air plane loses critical component

The missing item could delay the investigation into the cause of the accident that killed 179 people.

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Recovery teams work at the scene where a Jeju Air plane crashed in Muan, South Korea, on December 30. Photo: AFP/Getty Images/TNS

Politics

Indonesia reviews France’s request to transfer death-row convict

Frenchman Serge Atlaoui has spent the past 20 years in prison in Indonesia after being arrested on drug charges.

French drug convict and death-row prisoner Serge Atlaoui (right) looks at his Indonesian lawyer Nancy Yuliana during a court hearing in Tangerang outside Jakarta on April 1, 2015. Photo: AFP
French drug convict and death-row prisoner Serge Atlaoui (right) looks at his Indonesian lawyer Nancy Yuliana during a court hearing in Tangerang outside Jakarta on April 1, 2015. Photo: AFP

Politics

South Korea court issues arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon

Yoon, who also faces criminal charges of insurrection, could be held at a police station or the Seoul detention centre.

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East Asia

South Korea airport had only 1 worker to fend off birds during plane crash

Staffing levels spark concerns about the adequacy of bird control operations at the airport.

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Politics

Why did Chinese ships spend record 353 days near Diaoyu Islands in 2024?

Beijing’s action aims to undermine Tokyo’s sovereignty over the islands and push Japanese defensive capacities to their limit, analysts note.

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A China Coast Guard vessel sails near a Japan Coast Guard vessel off Uotsuri Island, one of a group of disputed islands called Senkaku Islands in Japan, also known in China as Diaoyu Islands, in the East China Sea in April. Photo: Kyodo via Reuters

Politics

Malaysian satirist Fahmi Reza arrested for sedition in Sabah

The graphic designer is accused of insulting the state’s incoming governor Musa Aman with a sardonic caricature.

Malaysian satirist Fahmi Reza poses with a caricature on Musa Aman. Photo: Instagram/kuasasiswa
Malaysian satirist Fahmi Reza poses with a caricature on Musa Aman. Photo: Instagram/kuasasiswa

East Asia

North Korea’s Kim vows to further solidify Russia ties in letter to Putin

Kim and Putin signed a mutual defence treaty in June, which calls for each side to come to the other’s aid in case of an armed attack.

Lifestyle & Culture

‘I’m not afraid’: Japan PM Ishiba moves into ‘haunted’ official residence

Previous prime ministers were reluctant to move into the building, said to be haunted by the ghosts of men who attempted uprisings in the 1930s.

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Economics

Thailand’s high-tech utopia starts to take shape – but will it deliver?

At its launch seven years ago, the Eastern Economic Corridor was marketed as a solution to Thailand’s economic malaise. But concerns persist.

Thailand’s once-thriving economy, which grew an average of 5 per cent annually in the early 2000s, has been battered by two decades of political turmoil and coups. Image: Huy Truong
Thailand’s once-thriving economy, which grew an average of 5 per cent annually in the early 2000s, has been battered by two decades of political turmoil and coups. Image: Huy Truong

People

‘Now we know’: Malaysia’s Syrian refugees find Assad’s fall bittersweet

Malaysia offered sanctuary to thousands of Syrians who fled the Assad regime. Now Bashar is gone some want to return. Others aren’t so sure.

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Lifestyle & Culture

Australia faces seismic shift over social media ban – and it’s felt across Asia

As Thailand’s youth advocate for similar bans on under-16s, Malaysia and Singapore ramp up their own efforts to combat online dangers.

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Politics

‘What’s in it for me’: will Trump 2.0 squeeze the Philippines for US support?

The US president-elect’s interest in containing China militarily and supporting the Philippines’ defence remains an open question.

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Donald Trump hugs and kisses the American flag during an event in February. His return to the White House will put US-Philippine ties to the test. Photo: AP
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Highlights from
THIS WEEK IN ASIA
Palm fruit being loaded at a palm oil plantation in Polewali Mandar, South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Photo: AP

Economics

‘Palm oil is strategic’: Indonesia’s Prabowo calls for protection

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Police forensics personnel and National Bureau of Investigation officials are seen by a wall as they work at the scene of the Jeju Air plane crash at Muan International Airport in South Korea on December 31. Photo: Yonhap / AFP

Politics

Jeju Air crash: calls for removal of runway wall, as scrutiny intensifies

Bees working on honeycombs. A Thai honey collector has posted viral videos of his daring tree-climbing missions to reach bee hives in Chiang Mai. Photo: Shutterstock

Lifestyle & Culture

No honey, no money: Thai forager laments risks to bee hives from deforestation

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South Korea’s acting President Choi Sang-mok. Photo: Yonhap via AP

Politics

South Korea’s Choi to fill Constitutional Court vacancies amid political turmoil

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French drug convict and death-row prisoner Serge Atlaoui (right) looks at his Indonesian lawyer Nancy Yuliana during a court hearing in Tangerang outside Jakarta on April 1, 2015. Photo: AFP

Politics

Indonesia reviews France’s request to transfer death-row convict

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MULTIMEDIA
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Deadly hotel fire on Bangkok tourist street

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Jeju Air crash victims’ relatives call for quick recovery of remains

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Remembering South Korea's major disasters

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