As a possible Taiwan visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sparks explosive rows between Beijing and Washington, the reaction from Southeast Asian nations has been more muted, including calling upon the two rival powers to defuse tensions. International relations and defence experts say it is understandable that Beijing sees Pelosi's likely trip as a "provocation",...
Seeing a night bazaar pop up in the neighbourhood might be a pleasant surprise, but not for some residents in Hougang who were on the receiving end of a rather distinctive smell from one stall. The source? A stinky tofu stall, Man Kou Xiang, located at the corner of the night bazaar. Since the bazaar, or pasar malam, opened on...
A 70-year-old Chinese woman has begged a local TV station for help as she is "extremely worried" about her single and unemployed 38-year-old daughter who spends her time posting videos of her six cats online. The daughter has a degree from a top university and worked in Beijing and Shanghai, but several years ago quit her...
South Koreans may soon be able to carry a device inside their own bodies in the form of a bespoke tattoo that automatically alerts them to potential health problems, if a science team's project bears fruit. Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) in the city of Daejeon southwest of Seoul have...
A domestic argument in a new marriage spurred a debate on the mainland Chinese internet over the weekend after a shouting match over air conditioning went viral. An unnamed woman in the northern Chinese province of Henan tried to turn on the air conditioning during the heatwave in late July that saw temperatures in the country...
Macau will reopen public services and entertainment facilities, and allow dining-in at restaurants from Tuesday (Aug 2), authorities said, as the world's biggest gambling hub seeks a return to normalcy after finding no Covid-19 cases for nine straight days. Beauty salons, fitness centres, and bars too will be allowed to resume operations, the government said in...
South Korean parent and teacher groups protested on Monday (Aug 1) against a plan to bring forward school enrolment by one year to age five, saying such young kids were intellectually unprepared and the change would increase difficulty in finding childcare. The Education Ministry said last week it would lower the age in stages, beginning as early as...
A small city in southern Brazil has found a way to attract more homeless people to one of its shelters on chilly winter nights: They now also take in people's pets. Canoas -- a city with an estimated population of 348,000 in the state of Rio Grande do Sul -- came to the realization that many...
More monkeypox cases are expected to surface here in the weeks ahead as more than 18,000 cases have been reported in 78 countries, with the majority in Europe. Singapore saw its first monkeypox case on July 6 and now has six local and five imported cases. None of them is linked, but contact tracing is ongoing. The...
A young woman in eastern China who was the target of online abuse hired lawyers and said she plans to take legal action against the cyberbullies who called her a "nightclub girl". They criticised her for her pink hair after she shared a celebratory post that included her bedridden grandfather. Zheng Linghua, a 23-year-old university graduate...
