We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.
1. Malaysian badminton player threatened with knife attack online over performance 2. K-drama star Cha Eun-woo’s ad campaigns pulled amid tax scrutiny in South Korea 3. Malaysia’s expat salary rules dubbed ‘ridiculous’, stoking talent drain fears 4. Groomed at 15:…
Chinese boy at Islamic preschool in Malaysia wins hearts, stokes debate
A Chinese mother enrolling her toddler in an Islamic preschool, a move that remains uncommon in Malaysia, has sparked widespread attention and debate on social media.
Chan Zhu Er, 31, said she enrolled her three-year-old son, Low Zi Kang, at a Pusat Asuhan Tunas Islam in Chaah, Johor, when she returned to her hometown in November to attend to personal matters.
“I brought my son along while my husband remained in Perak, so I needed temporary childcare support while I handled my commitments,” Chan…
How the Creative Content Exchange plays into UK AI policy
A UK project has the potential to help AI developers access the high-quality data they crave for training their models while ensuring content creators are fairly remunerated for that activity.
South Korea mourns ‘kingmaker’ Lee Hae-chan after fatal heart attack in Vietnam
South Korean former prime minister Lee Hae-chan, a veteran politician and influential fixture on the country’s road to democracy, died during an official visit to Vietnam’s southern hub of Ho Chi Minh City, both governments said.
Lee died on Sunday, after emergency medical aid for a heart attack, a South Korean presidential advisory panel said in a statement.
The 73-year-old reportedly complained of flu-like symptoms before his departure to Vietnam and decided to return home one day after his…
Thailand releases first aquarium-bred leopard sharks to rewild endangered species
After a brief countdown by conservationists, a young Indo-Pacific leopard shark glided into the blue waters off Maiton Island in southern Thailand, released in the country’s first efforts to “rewild” the endangered species.
Once a familiar sight for snorkellers and divers, the spotted sharks have sharply declined in the wild over the past decade due to overfishing and habitat loss, even as they flourished in private aquariums.
“Why not take the breeding population that is doing well in the…
Did a shelved anti-disaster scheme lead to Philippines’ corrupted flood control projects?
The Philippines is reviving a popular disaster monitoring and simulation programme that was defunded nine years ago by then president Rodrigo Duterte – a move that some have blamed for resulting in a swathe of corrupted construction projects now plaguing the country.
Last month, Congress said it would allot 1 billion pesos (US$16.9 million) in the 2026 General Appropriations Bill for the Nationwide Operational Assessment of Hazards (NOAH) project, a clutch of programmes that identifies risk…
‘Resilience’ is Indonesia’s new foreign policy buzzword, but is it just rhetoric?
Indonesia has placed “resilience” at the heart of its foreign policy this year, pitching it as a way to keep the country from being buffeted by intensifying rivalry among the world’s major powers.
But analysts say the concept, though rhetorically appealing, lacks clear objectives and a long-term strategy – running the risk of Jakarta’s diplomacy becoming more transactional and drifting away from its stated values of non-alignment, multilateralism and respect for international law.
In his annual…
Has Japan’s tourism peaked? Row with China set to slow arrivals from record high
Japan welcomed a record 42.7 million foreign visitors in 2025, fuelled by a weak yen that made it one of the world’s cheapest major tourist destinations, but the boom may already have peaked.
The number is expected to decline this year amid a political row between Japan and China, and staff shortages in the tourism sector, according to industry forecasts, potentially complicating the government’s ambition to attract 60 million overseas visitors by 2030.
In comparison, 31.9 million tourists…
Malaysia arrests ‘well-known’ Tan Sri over US$75 million investment fraud
Malaysian anti-corruption authorities have opened two investigation papers into a man bearing the title “Tan Sri” over his alleged involvement in a large-scale investment fraud amounting to more than 300 million ringgit (US$75 million).
The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) had arrested two individuals and carried out searches at five premises around the Klang Valley earlier in the week following information received.
Preliminary investigations found that between 2021 and 2024, nearly…
Luxembourg to reform carried interest tax
UPDATED: Luxembourg is set to overhaul its carried interest tax regime to better attract active fund management and other front-office talent, after a new law was voted in on 22 January.