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Fame and celebrity

Software engineer Atul Subash’s final message before ending his life set off a national reckoning in India over family law and gender bias. Photo: Handout

Lifestyle & Culture

Indian software engineer’s suicide sets off reckoning over bias in family courts

Atul Subhash blamed his estranged wife, her family, and the judicial system for his death, alleging extortion and manipulation of the legal system.

14 Dec 2024 - 6:47PMvideocam

‘Everything Malaysia has, Singapore does better’: neighbours spar over migration

11 Dec 2024 - 1:57PM

Indonesia’s Bali aims to root out foreign travellers offering sexual services

10 Dec 2024 - 7:36PMvideocam

Lifestyle & Culture

Tokyo University investigates if ‘Tiananmen’ hack aimed to block Chinese access

Officials are investigating if resentment towards the growing number of Chinese students at Japan’s most prestigious university was a factor.

10 Dec 2024 - 9:30AMvideocam

A welcome ceremony for new students at the University of Tokyo in April. Photo: Kyodo

Lifestyle & Culture

Nepal’s ‘barbaric’ animal sacrifice ritual persists despite outcry

Activists estimate as many as 500,000 animals will be sacrificed at Nepal’s Gadhimai Temple this week to honour the Hindu goddess of power.

8 Dec 2024 - 3:00PM

Lifestyle & Culture

New Delhi’s 10-year-old spiritual influencer faces threats amid rising fame

The rise of ‘Bal Sant’ has sparked controversy, with critics questioning the authenticity of his spiritual claims and the role of his family in his public image.

8 Dec 2024 - 12:04PM

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Lifestyle & Culture

Jung Woo-sung’s apology sparks debate on single-parent families in South Korea

The actor’s apology for fathering a child outside of marriage raised issues of deep-rooted cultural stigmas and systemic inequities faced by single-parent families.

8 Dec 2024 - 9:18AMvideocam

Jung Woo-sung poses for portrait photographs at the 75th Cannes Film Festival in 2022. Photo: AP

Lifestyle & Culture

‘I trust it more’: Chinese app Xiaohongshu offers unexpected window on Malaysia

With over 2.5 million users in Malaysia, Xiaohongshu not only attracts tourists but helps Malaysian Chinese connect with their heritage.

8 Dec 2024 - 8:22AM

Lifestyle & Culture

Elon Musk’s ‘going extinct’ jab at Singapore spotlights birth rate challenges

‘Ultra low’ fertility rates could affect Singapore’s social fabric and economic competitiveness in the long term, analysts say.

7 Dec 2024 - 12:39PM

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.

9 Dec 2024 - 10:05AM

Image: Huy Truong

Lifestyle & Culture

Insult of tea seller by Indonesian cleric unites Malaysians in outcry

The saga prompted Malaysian PM Anwar Ibrahim to warn against high-handed attitudes from those supposedly well-versed in religion.

6 Dec 2024 - 1:36PM

Miftah Maulana Habiburrahman, a cleric from Java, was criticised by Indonesians and Malaysians for scolding an iced tea seller who was selling during his lecture. Photo: PCNU Kabupaten Magelang/YouTube

Politics

Indonesia’s battle with bootleg liquor reveals hidden health crisis

The country’s limited access to legal alcohol drives many, especially young people, to seek cheap, illicit alternatives, often laced with toxic methanol.

5 Dec 2024 - 10:00AMvideocam

Lifestyle & Culture

Japan’s end-of-year drinking parties downsize as enthusiasm wanes

Younger employees say they do not want to be pressured to go to such corporate parties, seen as an extension of work they would rather avoid.

4 Dec 2024 - 11:00AM

Politics

Bhutan’s ‘mindfulness city’ angers displaced ethnic Nepalis

Bhutan’s plan for southern farmlands has sparked outrage among forced-out ethnic Nepalis, who say the megaproject would be on stolen land.

2 Dec 2024 - 8:02AM

Bhutan, a Himalayan nation of fewer than 800,000 people, is pitching its Gelephu Mindfulness City project as “a sanctuary for global businesses and professionals”. Photo: Getty Images

Lifestyle & Culture

Why more Indonesian couples are saying no to children

With rising costs and changing priorities, more Indonesians are choosing to live childfree – raising some demographic concerns.

30 Nov 2024 - 5:00PM

Children look at their mobile phones along a roadside in Jakarta on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

Lifestyle & Culture

Tokyo’s ‘embarrassing’ street prostitution prompts demand in Japan for new laws

Politicians and online users bemoan Japan’s decline following reports about local women who seek clients in Okubo Park for paid sex.

30 Nov 2024 - 9:00AM

Lifestyle & Culture

Japanese cities raise onsen ‘bathing tax’ to boost revenue, offset rising costs

Analysts hope the funds raised will be used by the local travel sector to provide better facilities and services for visitors.

29 Nov 2024 - 9:30AM

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Lifestyle & Culture

Hair-sniffing case in Japan sets off debate over ‘touchless harassment’

The issue gained national attention after a man was detained by police for standing close to a girl and sniffing her hair on a train.

27 Nov 2024 - 3:07PMvideocam

Pedestrians walking down a Shinjuku street in Tokyo, Japan. Photo: EPA-EFE

Lifestyle & Culture

Blackface cases in Singapore spark outrage, calls to plug racial awareness gaps

In the latest case, eight people attended a UOL event wearing afro wigs and black-painted faces, prompting the company to apologise.

26 Nov 2024 - 7:59PM

Lifestyle & Culture

Pioneer Sabah indigenous language film Sinakagon to make Netflix debut

The ‘fully Sabah’ production, directed by Timothy Stephen and shot entirely in the Dusun dialect, is based on the legend of the goddess Huminodun.

25 Nov 2024 - 1:28PM

Lifestyle & Culture

Meet the South Korean webtoon artist behind Netflix hit All of Us Are Dead

Joo Dong-geun shares his journey from part-time artist – and explains why webtoons are behind so many South Korean Netflix hits.

26 Nov 2024 - 8:06AM

Park Solomon in a still from the first series of Netflix hit “All of Us Are Dead”. Photo: Netflix.

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