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. ‘We’ll be Taliban soon’: Malaysian state to jail Muslims for skipping prayers
Malaysia’s Terengganu state has warned it will start fully enforcing a sharia law enabling the imprisonment of Muslim men for up to two years if they skip Friday prayers without a valid reason – a move widely seen as emblematic of the multicultural country’s tilt towards religious conservatism.
2. Kim Jong-un weeps for North Korea’s Ukraine war dead as reality hits home
For the first time since its founding in 1948, North Korea has openly acknowledged the deaths of its soldiers fighting on foreign soil with a carefully staged ceremony that analysts say betrays supreme leader Kim Jong-un’s deepening domestic anxieties.
3. Zara’s death: 5 teenagers plead not guilty to bullying Malaysian student
Five teenagers were charged on Wednesday with bullying Malaysian schoolgirl Zara Qairina Mahathir, whose death has seen an outpouring of grief across the nation and triggered a movement against a pernicious bullying culture in the education system.