Society
The culture coming out of Asia-Pacific isn’t a trend — it’s a redefinition of who gets to set the global conversation. The films, faiths, and generational shifts behind it.
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Sep- 2026 -22 September
Cambodia’s scam crackdown leaves the money trail untouched
US lawmakers estimate scam profits reached 60 percent of Cambodia's GDP, but frozen assets and compound raids leave politically connected beneficiaries largely unexamined.
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20 September
A Chinese family blamed an AI chatbot for their burial date disaster
When Doubao first recommended April 19, then retracted it as inauspicious, a relative's traffic accident followed. Now a Zhejiang court is testing whether chatbot advice on cultural decisions carries legal…
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13 September
A Tokyo fashion brand learned China’s historical calendar the hard way
WEGO canceled a My Hero Academia clothing line after Chinese consumers connected a September 18 launch date to the 95th anniversary of Japan's 1931 invasion of Manchuria.
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10 September
Indonesia threatens to block Netflix over a decade of unpaid music royalties
The national royalty collector is demanding 75 billion rupiah (US$4.3 million) and has signalled it will ask authorities to shut down the platform if Netflix does not comply with Indonesia's…
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10 September
Eighty-seven missing after Philippine ferry fire kills five
The MV June Aster caught fire Wednesday evening off Coron, Palawan, with 42 rescued and five confirmed dead, leaving families searching through hospital hotlines and shifting casualty counts.
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8 September
Five thousand sailors landed in Pattaya. The rust stayed on the ship.
The USS Abraham Lincoln's record 286-day deployment exposed the strain on U.S. carrier crews and Thailand's dependence on volatile foreign spending surges.
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2 September
The Used returns to Bangkok for a new emo festival this November
The American rock band headlines NOWHERE DISTRICT on 22 November, marking its only Asian tour stop this fall and testing whether Thailand's emo revival can sustain mid-scale festivals.
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2 September
Cambodia’s scam crackdown pushed the networks across Southeast Asia
The UN estimates $88–114 billion in annual losses across the region, yet analysts say the 12,000 Indonesian workers fleeing Cambodian compounds in 2026 signal relocation, not elimination.
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Aug- 2026 -28 August
A Malaysian family’s scam debt became a murder-suicide
Police link the deaths of a Kuala Lumpur businessman, his wife, and two children to an alleged RM260,000 love scam, exposing the hidden toll of Southeast Asia's fraud epidemic on…
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23 August
Hong Kong’s beauty counters are trapping elderly shoppers for hours
An 88-year-old woman spent HK$100,000 in three hours at a Sheung Wan counter, prompting Customs to arrest two managers and investigate six related complaints under consumer-protection law.
