Guest Contributor

After nearly two years of rigid travel restrictions, plane tickets to Singapore are selling like hotcakes since the government announced that fully vaccinated tourists from ten countries will finally be able to travel to and from the island without having to quarantine. The island...

Indonesia has followed the Philippines and Malaysia and returned five sea containers of trash to the United States, saying it will not become a “dumping ground“.  The containers were supposed to contain scrap paper but were stuffed with bottles, plastic waste and used nappies, said...

China has confirmed that a Chinese trawler “bumped into” a Philippine fishing boat in the South China Sea but denied claims the incident was a “hit and run.” China’s vast fishing fleet has been co-opted to serve Beijing’s military agenda and support its naval presence...

Intrepid visitors to Yangon should not miss the military’s bizarre Drug Elimination Museum.  Its gory mannequins depict the dangers of drug abuse and the military’s efforts to tackle the issue.  One interactive display includes a claw-like hand that shoots towards the unsuspecting visitor. However, the giant building...

The Bank Indonesia is set to ease monetary policy to counter the global economic slowdown sparked by the US-China trade war, according to Indonesia’s finance minister, Sri Mulyani Indrawati. “When the situation has now changed, especially in advanced countries, including about the direction of monetary...

Undercover pictures taken in an abattoir in central Thailand show men bludgeoning pigs to death with clubs and using illegal homemade stunning machines.  Thai law states that animals be killed “without suffering” but humane slaughter is rarely practised in smaller abattoirs, according to campaigners. Pork is...

The Philippines is facing a surplus of millions of extra mangoes, with the agriculture minister, Emmanuel Piñol, saying farmers had reported an unusual increase in the harvest.  El Niño, the climatic phenomenon that caused unusually hot, dry weather this year, is associated with the bumper...

Vietnam’s economy has been forecast to grow at around 6.7 per cent this year, the fastest rate in Asean, according to the UK Institute of Chartered Accountants’ Economic Insight report. The report said elsewhere in Asean exports were falling year on year during the second...

The Singaporean Ministry of Foreign Affairs has tried to ease tensions with Cambodia and Vietnam after Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s Facebook post referred to Vietnam’s 1978 “invasion” and “occupation” of its neighbour.  Lee made similar comments at a security forum in Singapore last...

Thailand’s newly reappointed prime minister, Prayut Chan-ocha (pictured), has said little about being selected to head a supposedly civilian administration.  The former general issued a brief statement thanking the parliamentarians who had voted for him, including many of the 250 unelected senators, who were selected...