The popular social media platform has started to invite merchants for a beta run of TikTok Shop in Mexico, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

It was the latest demonstration of the country’s strong support for Palestinians, which has also driven a boycott movement that has taken a toll on targeted businesses.

The “murky ecosystem” of buyers, sellers and brokers has also made it hard for public procurement oversight on such purchases, the Amnesty International report said.

The play on China’s panda diplomacy has been proposed amid new regulations meant to ensure palm oil products don’t contribute to deforestation

Data centre deals in the Asia-Pacific this year are expected to surpass the region’s record tally of US$3.45 billion in 2023.

The sale of Shell’s assets in Singapore include the refinery on Bukom island, which opened in 1961, and a plant that produces mono-ethylene glycol on Jurong island.

Mount Ruang erupted spectacularly last month and has been spewing ash that forced nearby airports to close and flights to be cancelled.

Most salt is industrially processed but in Bali, it is won from the sea by farmers who harvest it by hand. The tradition has been handed down for generations, but it is now a dying art.

Winner of UN Tourism’s Best Tourism Village award in 2021, Nglanggeran offers visitors experiences from hiking to tours of its cacao and durian farms, all run by locals through a working group.

From Singapore to New Zealand, same-sex couples wanting to start a family often find the doorway to parenthood barred by entrenched conservatism, legal hurdles and prejudice.

Consumers in Indonesia and Malaysia expressed concerns about whether the Chinese-made products meet halal certification standards

An adult male named Rakus chewed a plant used by people in Southeast Asia to treat pain and inflammation, then applied it to an injury on his right cheek.

An armed gang attacks an armoured car, kills the guards but leaves the money, then threatens to explode 13 bombs across Jakarta, in this Netflix action thriller that doesn’t match its lofty ambitions.

A return of Chinese travellers, who spent almost US$248 billion on trips abroad in 2019 before the pandemic, is key to filling a big hole in the global travel industry.

Silicon Valley giants including Microsoft, Amazon and Google, along with Chinese tech conglomerates such as Alibaba, are making a big push to grow in Southeast Asia.

Despite a 2-0 loss in the U-23 Asian Cup semi-finals, the Young Garuda have a chance of reaching the Olympics if they clinch third place.

Indonesia has offered the island of Bali and the nation’s new capital Nusantara as potential locations for Microsoft’s new research facility and data centre.

Jetour targets markets like Malaysia and Indonesia with right-hand drive models as globalisation drive accelerates.

The annual Leaders’ Retreat ‘formally introduces’ Lawrence Wong and Prabowo Subianto as their respective countries’ new leaders, in addition to deepening bilateral ties.

Indonesia had a 27 per cent uptick in primary forest loss in 2023 from the previous year, according to World Resources Institute analysis. But the loss is still seen as historically low compared to the 2010s, it said

Blockchain made up about 15 per cent of the talks at Money20/20 Asia this year, just slightly below the proportion of talks on AI, as interest remains high in Asia.

The biggest challenge for Prabowo will be in persuading the ruling party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), to join his coalition.

The former World Bank economist’s sustainable clothing label, SukkaCitta, ensures better wages for the women working for it, while providing education to their families

The president and his elder son chose not to endorse the party’s presidential candidate Ganjar Pranowo during the election, the official says.

UK-based rights group RSI says Britain deliberately ‘exported’ a counterterrorism programme to Indonesia as part of its post-Brexit geopolitical outreach.

Tanoto, who runs a US$35 billion paper and edible-oil empire, is raising his bets on China with a new investment, while closing out the privatisation of tissue producer Vinda International at the same time.

Accusations of widespread fraud and state interference rejected by Constitutional Court in 5-3 decision.

The scandal now engulfing Cordlife Group Ltd. has implications across the region, given its operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India.