When jazz meets Hà Nội

A cultural space can only truly live up to its purpose when these standards are translated into activities of each agency, organisation and residential community, said a lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City Cadre Academy.

An Australian accused of murdering a teenage girl in Thailand and abandoning her body in a suitcase pleaded not guilty in court on Friday, citing self-defence. Simon Peter Carman, 45, was arrested at a Bangkok airport in June as he prepared to take a flight back to Australia after the 17-year-old victim’s friend had reported her missing. The young woman’s body was found in a suitcase near a railway track in Pattaya, a seaside resort city south of the capital, Bangkok. Police said she died of...

Hundreds of U.S. colleges are admitting high school students who never applied, as the number of American 18-year-olds begins a long decline.

Singapore Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing’s use of Mandarin and Chinese philosophy in his speech at a major security forum in Beijing has won him praise on Chinese social media, while shedding light on how cultural familiarity and language can be diplomatic tools for the city state. Videos of Chan at the Beijing Xiangshan Forum quoting ancient philosopher Mencius, or Mengzi in Mandarin, have gone viral on platforms such as Weixin and Baidu, with users hailing his command of the language and...

Thailand has moved to make weight-loss pens prescription-only, as a glut of the GLP-1 medicines – which mimic the hormones released once someone is full – floods the black market and influencers swarm TikTok to extol the quick wins of the simple injections. The Southeast Asian nation, which is never far behind wellness or aesthetic trends and has a notorious black market in counterfeit drugs, has seen the uptake of GLP-1 medicines skyrocket, doctors say, including the market-leading Ozempic...

Thai Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul has instructed provincial governors to use their legal authority to swiftly deport foreigners who exploit, threaten, or engage in unacceptable conduct toward Thai citizens.

Ex-PM still facing several other criminal charges in court.

Property agent Raymond Heng had suspected True Fitness was struggling, but he did not expect the gym he had visited for more than a decade to disappear overnight. The closure was not entirely surprising given the region’s fiercely competitive fitness industry, but its abruptness left Heng, 47, in disbelief after paying S$8,800 (US$6,900) for a lifetime membership in 2013. “I guessed that they might not have been doing that well since branches have been closing over the years, but I did not...

What's going on in the news today, with updates at 9am, 2pm, 6pm, and 9pm.

The first Border Light Festival in the province, a combination of flying drones and giant lanterns, will be held in Lạng Sơn City centre involving Lương Văn Tri, Đông Kinh, Kỳ Lừa and Tam Thanh wards and connected to the cultural space in Hùng Vương Street on September 19-20.

UPDATED 8.45PM | Electoral watchdog concerned decision was setting a poor precedent.