Heat turned down on holy basil controversy

Australia and East Timor signed a defence deal on Thursday to boost cyber and maritime security as Canberra seeks to curb China’s influence among its island neighbours. Australia is East Timor’s largest defence and security partner and the agreement will significantly increase defence exercises, Defence Minister Richard Marles told reporters. “This is a time to double down on friendship, to double down on family,” he said in East Timor’s capital Dili. Australia will provide A$62 million (US$44...

Runners in Malaysia are swapping their usual routes through parks and city streets for laps around shopping malls, commandeering air-conditioned corridors to keep up their training as a stubborn blanket of haze makes exercising outdoors increasingly hazardous. The switch comes as smoke from forest and peatland fires continues to foul the air across parts of Southeast Asia, with Malaysia’s capital Kuala Lumpur and its surrounding districts among the hardest-hit areas. By 9am on Thursday, 15 of...

PARLIAMENT | Disproportionate burden continues to keep many out of the workforce, says Lim.

Malaysia’s highway authority is working to resolve technical disruptions affecting its TuJu navigation application following a sharp increase in users. In a statement on Thursday, the Lembaga Lebuhraya Malaysia (LLM) said the matter was being resolved together with the application provider Prosignal Consortium. LLM said the surge in users came after Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim suggested that the public consider using a locally developed navigation application instead of Waze. “We apologise for...

Boat traffic resumed beneath the Saigon River pedestrian bridge’s nipa-palm-leaf-shaped canopy Thursday, a day after its final span was connected, as crews raced to finish access ramps ahead of its planned opening for the 2027 Lunar New Year.

People living in Taipei, Singapore, and Hong Kong are highly satisfied with their daily commute by bus, train, tram, and cable car, a survey by a leading U.K. travel magazine shows.

'Govt should improve TuJu until it can become proper replacement for Waze.'

PARLIAMENT | Restriction stems from concerns about data security and legal jurisdiction, minister says.

Malaysian police have arrested a 16-year-old student after he live-streamed an attack on a teacher with an axe at a private school in Kuching, the capital of Sarawak state. CCTV footage shows the teenager entering a classroom at around 7.50am on Wednesday, hitting the female teacher with an axe before leaving. He re-enters through a second door and swings the axe at students as they flee the room. As the teacher tries to intervene, he attempts to hack at her again but is subdued by two male...

Cell Press has commissioned an independent third party to investigate after prominent Chinese biologist Rao Yi accused the editor-in-chief of its journal Cancer Cell of soliciting bribes from Chinese authors.

Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi Airport said on Oct. 21 it found no evidence its own staff opened a travel blogger's checked suitcase, five days after new rules began letting airports search bags without their owners present.

A live snake about 40 centimeters long has turned up under the cabin carpet of a Japan Airlines group plane in Fukuoka, a day after a pilot spotted an animal in the cockpit and its flight was canceled.