SCMP Asia·Thursday, January 15, 2026

SCMP Asia - Thursday, January 15, 2026

10 stories~15 min

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Stories Covered

Malaysia’s super-rich get cold feet as Langkawi luxury car tax perks vanish

For the very rich, a dream car like a Ferrari, Lamborghini or Porsche used to cost 2.5 million ringgit (US$617,240) in Langkawi, a duty-free island in Malaysia’s Kedah state. They will now cost about 5 million ringgit. Industry players say the federal government’s move to abolish tax exemptions for luxury vehicles priced above 300,000 ringgit in Langkawi is expected to hurt the automotive sector and reduce long-term government revenue. Industry veteran Mohamad Azhar Mohd Jamil said the decision.

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2 killed in Thai crane collapse just a day after another kills 32 train passengers

A crane collapsed over a Thai highway outside Bangkok, crushing cars and killing two people on Thursday, just a day after another construction crane plunged onto a rail track in the country’s northeast, killing 32 passengers. Thursday’s incident occurred just outside Bangkok in Samut Sakhon province, where a crane installed on an under-construction elevated highway toppled onto the busy road below. Dashcam footage shared on social media shows the crane collapse onto unsuspecting drivers in a...

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Pakistan’s arms deals cleared for take-off as JF-17 orders soar from Muslim countries

Pakistan is increasingly confident of making billion-dollar arms sales, headlined by JF-17 fighters co-produced with China, as up to six Muslim-majority countries look to upgrade their air forces amid growing geopolitical turbulence and civil wars. A preliminary deal worth US$4 billion for an unspecified number of JF-17s and other training aircraft manufactured by Pakistan Aeronautical Complex was struck last month with the Libyan National Army, according to Reuters reports citing Aamir Masood,.

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Japan, Philippines tighten ties with new defence pact amid China tensions

Japan and the Philippines signed a defence pact on Thursday that would allow the tax-free provision of ammunition, fuel, food and other necessities when their forces stage joint training to boost deterrence against China’s growing aggression in the region and to bolster their preparation for natural disasters. Japan has faced increasing political, trade and security tensions with Beijing, which was angered by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s remark that potential mainland Chinese action against..

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BTS fans in Malaysia ecstatic over comeback concerts but fear scalpers

The announcement that BTS will return to Malaysia after more than a decade has sent K-pop fans into a frenzy, with many calling it a once-in-a-lifetime moment. The South Korean supergroup will stage two concerts in Kuala Lumpur on December 12 and 13, marking its first appearance in the country since 2015, when it performed its Red Bullet Tour at Mega Star Arena. This will also be BTS’ first-ever concert in Kuala Lumpur as its previous Malaysia performance was held in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah. For...

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Trump’s 500% tariff push raises risk of India-US trade freeze

US President Donald Trump’s backing for a Senate bill that would allow tariffs of up to 500 per cent on goods from countries buying Russian oil has raised the prospect of a near-freeze in trade between India and its largest export market, as New Delhi continues to absorb steep US duties imposed last year. Trump last week gave the green light to the proposal, which targets any country that continues to buy Russian oil, petroleum products or uranium, a move seen as part of Washington’s effort to..

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Japan’s Takaichi faces uphill task in lower house election after ally’s exit

Komeito is emerging as a potential political kingmaker in Japan ahead of a widely expected snap lower house election, three months after the party affiliated with a religious movement announced it was ending an alliance with the ruling Liberal Democratic Party over differences with Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi. On January 23, the opening day of the Diet, Takaichi is expected to announce the dissolution of the House of Representatives, with polling likely to take place on February 8 or February.

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High Seas Treaty a chance for China to lead on marine conservation

On January 17, a quiet revolution will take place across around two-thirds of the world’s oceans. A landmark United Nations agreement known as the High Seas Treaty will formally enter into force, creating the first legally binding global framework to protect marine biodiversity in international waters. For the first time, activities beyond national jurisdictions – from industrial fishing to deep-sea mining and bio-prospecting – will be subject to environmental impact assessments, marine...

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Cambodia says Chen Zhi’s extradition to China ‘not the end’ of scam centre crackdown

Cambodia’s arrest of alleged scam centre kingpin Chen Zhi and his extradition to China is “not the end” of ‍the Southeast Asian nation’s battle to stamp out transborder crimes, its foreign minister said. Last week’s surprise arrest of Chinese-born Chen is a key step in an until now fragmented international campaign targeting sophisticated scam networks in Southeast Asia run by criminal gangs, swindling victims worldwide out of billions of dollars. The extradition of Chen, sanctioned by ⁠several.

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Malaysian gets 12 years’ jail in Singapore for Caucasian ‘sugar daddy’ sextortion scam

A Singapore court has sentenced a 38-year-old Malaysian man to 12 years in prison and 15 strokes of the cane for posing online as a wealthy Caucasian “sugar daddy” and coercing women into sex while extorting money with threats to release explicit material. The man, Rajwant Singh Gill Narajan Singh, was convicted of two counts of cheating and one count each of extortion and attempted extortion involving two victims, identified in court documents as PW1 and PW2. “By his horrific and perverse...

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