appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

SCMP

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. Trump’s ‘wind-up doll’? Japan’s PM faces backlash over White House fawning
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is facing accusations of diplomatic sycophancy after White House footage showed her giggling at a portrait of an autopen – placed by US President Donald Trump in the spot reserved for his predecessor Joe Biden – during summit talks last week.
2. Philippines scores poorly on work-life balance. Filipinos are not surprised

In New Zealand, Keisha Constantino likes to start her morning at a leisurely pace. In when she was in the Philippines, she had to handle unpaid tasks like thesis advising as a faculty member. Getting to and from the workplace was a chore as she lost precious time daily due to heavy traffic and poor public transport options.
3. Malaysia’s weather is so hot that it can warp a payment card
Across peninsular Malaysia, the heat is getting unbearable and posing health risks for many, and nowhere is this felt more sharply than in Kedah and Perlis, two northern states at the centre of Malaysia’s food-growing belt.
4. A US$19 billion scam industry is fleeing Cambodia. Where will it end up?

Scam bosses and their multibillion-dollar crime networks are fleeing to Myanmar, Laos and Thailand ahead of an April deadline.
5. How North Korea makes US$500 million yearly – at its own people’s expense
A state-sponsored forced labour programme that has escalated in recent years generates up to US$500 million annually for North Korea, according to a report by a global rights group. The report also warns that workers are trapped in “brutal” conditions where they are subjected to “control, abuse and coercion”.
6. Joy in a bag: for overseas Filipinos, Jollibee is a taste of home

Forget McDonald’s and KFC, Jollibee – with its sweet spaghetti and crispy Chickenjoy – is something else entirely: a cultural anchor for a diaspora scattered across every continent on Earth. No fast-food chain has ever meant quite what Jollibee means to Filipinos.
7. As haze returns to Singapore, is crisis ‘quietly accepted’ by Asean?

In recent weeks, Singaporean Cindy has been troubled by an odour lingering in the air during her evening walks to the gym. “It’s the same situation every year, but I would say that the fogginess and burning smell have been getting stronger for the last year or so,” said the 33-year-old resident who lives in the southern estate of Telok Blangah.


Chinese brands eye Europe; Geely joins Chery and BYD in profit slide: 7 EV reads

Philippine pageant debate, Chinese stealth jets in Pakistan: 7 Asia highlights

Xi’s leverage ahead of Trump meet, Hong Kong schools: 5 weekend reads you missed

Shanghai’s changing expats, Hong Kong trail sign fallout: SCMP’s 7 highlights

SCMP Highlights

Japan PM’s fawning sparks backlash, Philippines’ work-life balance fails: 7 Asia highlights

Jollibee employees attend to customers at an outlet in Manila in 2015. Photo: AFP

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi points and laughs at a portrait in US President Donald Trump’s Presidential Walk of Fame at the White House on March 19. Photo: White House

Heavy traffic on the streets of Manila. Photo: Shutterstock

A Thai soldier shines a torch into a room disguised as a Chinese police station inside an abandoned scam centre on the Thai-Cambodian border on March 12. Photo: AFP

A fire razes through a peatland field in Ogan Ilir, South Sumatra, Indonesia last July. Photo: AP

Iran war risks, Southeast Asia’s fuel crisis, Xinjiang’s ‘salmon’: SCMP’s 7 highlights

Emergency personnel work at the site of a residential building hit by a strike in Tehran on March 16. Photo: Reuters

People queue to buy petrol at a station in Hanoi amid disruptions in supply and price surges due to the Iran war. Photo: Reuters

How’s your luck in the Year of the Horse’s second month? Feng shui master Andrew Kwan gives his predictions for all 12 Chinese zodiac animal signs. Photo: Shutterstock

China’s 7-day hypersonic design; Andy Lau’s Ming mystery: 7 science highlights

Hong Kong actor and singer Andy Lau appears to have shared a name with a Ming dynasty brickmaker. Photo: Getty Images

The profiles of (from left) Wu Manqing, Zhao Xiangeng, and Wei Yiyin have disappeared from the website of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Photo: Handout

Ngo Bao Chau says he wants to help turn Asia into a powerhouse of maths and science. Photo: Handout

A US Air Force B-2 stealth strategic bomber. Photo: Handout

Hong Kong actor and singer Andy Lau appears to have shared a name with a Ming dynasty brickmaker. Photo: Sam Tsang

Chinese scientists have discovered a way to turn cheap coal into medicines after cracking a puzzle that has baffled the science world for 160 years. Photo: AFP

South Korean weapon outdoes US rival, Singapore’s secret to aging well: 7 Asia highlights

Visitors look at the KM-SAM Cheongung missile system during the Seoul International Aerospace and Defence Exhibition in October last year. Photo: AFP

Farouk’s wife gave birth in a Malaysian immigration detention centre a day after the family was arrested. Photo: Ushar Daniele

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi raises her fist while delivering remarks during a dinner hosted by US President Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday. Photo: Reuters

Elderly citizens gather at the Yong-en Active Hub to take part in art, language and exercise classes, or socialise with others over board games like Rummikub. Photo: Kolette Lim

News

Asia

From Cambodia’s scam industry exodus to Jollibee’s meaning to overseas Filipinos, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting


From Cambodia’s scam industry exodus to Jollibee’s meaning to overseas Filipinos, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting.


Japan PM’s fawning sparks backlash, Philippines’ work-life balance fails: 7 Asia highlights

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From Cambodia’s scam industry exodus to Jollibee’s meaning to overseas Filipinos, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting

1. Trump’s ‘wind-up doll’? Japan’s PM faces backlash over White House fawning

From Cambodia’s scam industry exodus to Jollibee’s meaning to overseas Filipinos, here are a few highlights from SCMP’s recent Asia reporting