Thai authorities have vowed to seize more than US$1 billion in assets from a group accused of laundering proceeds from Southeast Asia-based scam syndicates. A criminal court issued arrest warrants on Tuesday for the alleged ringleader, South African Benjamin Mauerberger, his Thai wife Cattaliya Beevor, Cambodian businessman Yim Leak and four others, police said. Media reports have previously linked Smith, also known as Ben Smith, to transnational scam operations in Cambodia, part of a...

A boy in central China who donated 10 yuan (US$1.5) to the Three Gorges Dam project in the 1990s now works for the power grid, helping transmit the electricity it generates across the country. Wang Yu, 47, works for the State Grid Corporation of China in his hometown of Zigui county, Hubei province, according to Hubei Daily. In 1991, 12-year-old Wang received a daily allowance of just one yuan – barely enough to buy breakfast – at a time when his parents earned a combined monthly salary of less...

Immigration rules are discouraging a growing number of air travellers from visiting certain destinations, a global aviation survey has found, while geopolitical tensions are also influencing travel decisions, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region. The International Air Transport Association (IATA), an airline industry body, said its annual Global Passenger Survey found that 43 per cent of respondents had been put off from visiting certain destinations by immigration requirements, up from 33...

On a hillside in Anji, in Zhejiang province, a cluster of umbrella-like canopies steps gently down the slope, following the rows of tea bushes. There is no grand entrance, no plinth, no monumental block of stone. On October 22, at Dutch Design Week in Eindhoven, this project, Anji Hood by RoarcRenew Architects, was named Cultural Space of the Year at the Frame Awards 2026, chosen from more than 1,000 submissions by 100 jurors across 10 panels. I served on the Frame Awards 2026 grand jury for the...

Australian Defence Minister Richard Marles said Thursday that China’s military build-up was creating a “condition of pressure” in Southeast Asia, and urged allies and partners to deepen cooperation. Philippines Defence Secretary Gilberto Teodoro delivers his opening remarks during the 13th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) in Cebu on October 29, 2026. Photo: Eloisa Lopez/AFP. Beijing deploys hundreds of coast guard, navy and other vessels to patrol disputed areas of the South China Sea, which it claims almost entirely despite an international ruling that its position has no legal basis. In July, Australia protested China’s test of a nuclear-capable missile in the South Pacific, calling the launch “destabilising”. “We’re obviously seeing the biggest conventional military build-up that the world has seen since the end of the Second World War from China,” Marles told reporters Thursday on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian defence ministers in the Philippines. “There’s not an explanation from China as to why it’s doing this, and all of that is creating the condition of pressure.” Beijing’s growing assertiveness was “providing challenges” for Canberra, he added, saying Australia relied on maintaining the existing rules-based order. “We need to be ensuring that how we understand the rules of the road continue to apply, because for a middle power like Australia, it is actually the rules which give us agency,” he said. Australia’s Defence Minister Richard Marles arrives before the 13th ASEAN Defence Ministers’ Meeting-Plus (ADMM-Plus) in Cebu on October 29, 2026. Photo: Ezra Acayan/AFP. China’s growing assertiveness and militarisation of artificial islands in the South China Sea have spurred Canberra, as well as Washington, to deepen defence cooperation with some Southeast Asian countries. The ‘Squad’ Marles said Thursday that he met with the “Squad”, an informal defence and security group composed of Australia, Japan, the United States and the Philippines, where they committed to greater defence policy coordination. “I think the challenges that are being faced in this part of the world and the pressures that are being experienced are well understood by all four countries,” he said. “Now is a time to double down on friends and to double down on neighbours and to be working more closely together to provide for our collective security,” he added. See also: China ‘loves peace’ but could ‘easily win’ confrontation with Philippines – ambassador The Philippines, a close security partner of Australia, has been engaged in years of confrontations with China in the South China Sea. China’s military and coast guard presence in contested areas of the critical waterway nearly doubled in September, Manila said earlier this month.

The Security Bureau held a launch ceremony for its Andy and Security Bear: Young Citizens Safeguarding National Security educational picture books on Tuesday. The Security Bureau held a launch ceremony on October 28, 2026 for their “Andy and Security Bear: Young Citizens Safeguarding National Security” educational picture books. Photo: GovHK. The three-volume set of titles includes new stories and national security-themed children’s songs. They will be distributed to 900 kindergartens and public libraries by the end of the year. According to a Tuesday press release, Secretary for Security Chris Tang said the “engaging storyline enables children to discover and learn the meaning of following rules and thinking critically, so that they can understand the importance of safeguarding national security from an early age.” Schoolchildren interact with “Security Bear,” a mascot of the Security Bureau, during the premiere of a national security-themed interactive drama at City Hall on November 11, 2025. Photo: GovHK. The Security Bear series was launched by the bureau in 2024. A theatre show toured schools shortly after, with the Security Bear mascot telling children that their homeland must “remain free from disruption, allowing everyone to live in peace.” See also: From interactive drama to election forums: Politics turns to pageantry in Hong Kong All eight University Grants Committee-funded local universities have national education and national security courses which students must pass in order to graduate. Children’s books In September 2022, five members of the General Union of Hong Kong Speech Therapists were sentenced to 19 months in prison for publishing children’s books that were deemed seditious. The books involved an allegory of sheep facing off against wolves, with the sheep representing pro-democracy protesters and the wolves representing the police. Beijing inserted national security legislation directly into Hong Kong’s mini-constitution in June 2020 following a year of pro-democracy protests and unrest. It criminalised subversion, secession, collusion with foreign forces and terrorist acts – broadly defined to include disruption to transport and other infrastructure. The move gave police sweeping new powers and led to hundreds of arrests amid new legal precedents, while dozens of civil society groups disappeared. The authorities say it restored stability and peace to the city, rejecting criticism from trade partners, the UN and NGOs.

The Villa Vie Odyssey suspended its voyage and is working with passengers on "temporary living arrangements".

Kyaw Moe Tun - Myanmar's representative to the UN - makes an emotional appeal after saying the international community had failed the country's people.

Serbians stormed a TV studio and confronted its editor-in-chief after a student-led protest movement swept into power.

Flavio Bolsonaro claimed to be the ‘true president-elect’ of Brazil in his first statement since fleeing to the US.