Shows / Asia - South China Morning Post
Asia - South China Morning Post
Breaking news, analysis and opinion from the SCMP's Asia edition.
Episodes
Asia - South China Morning PostFlights axed, over 1 million urged to evacuate as Typhoon Dujuan hits Japan
More than 1 million people were under evacuation advisories in Japan early on Tuesday and hundreds of flights have been cancelled as Typhoon Dujuan brushed…
Asia - South China Morning PostSouth Korea beats foreign student target, but struggles to keep them
South Korea has surpassed its 2027 target of attracting 300,000 international students a year ahead of schedule, and universities must now find ways to retain…
Asia - South China Morning PostMalaysia’s Negeri Sembilan royal crisis escalates as chief minister defies ruler
Malaysia’s royal crisis in Negeri Sembilan spilled into a new constitutional fight on Monday after the state’s chief minister refused to accept the ruler’s…
Asia - South China Morning PostWill Anwar’s coalition in Malaysia implode amid Loke exit, Najib house arrest?
Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has suffered a double whammy as his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition scrambles to placate public outrage over disgraced…
Asia - South China Morning PostCargo ship slams into Chinese fishing boat in Singapore Strait
Footage of a cargo ship ploughing into a Chinese fishing boat in the Singapore Strait, sending seawater surging across the smaller vessel’s deck as its crew…
Asia - South China Morning PostEasy access to family guns fuels Philippine school shootings
The Philippines has suffered three deadly school shootings since June. In each case, at least one weapon belonged to a relative working in government or law…
Asia - South China Morning PostSingapore retrenchment rates hit highest level since pandemic
Singapore’s retrenchment rate in the second quarter of 2026 hit its highest level since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in late 2020, driven by business…
Asia - South China Morning PostJapanese surgeon removes healthy brain tissue, leaving woman on ventilator
A Japanese woman was left unable to breathe on her own after a veteran surgeon mistakenly removed healthy tissue instead of a benign tumour from her brain…
Asia - South China Morning PostBlack robin rules roost in New Zealand’s Bird of the Year vote
A record number of New Zealanders turned out at the polls this month, not for national elections but to vote for their Bird of the Year – the critically…
Asia - South China Morning PostSuspected DMZ landmine blast injures 3 South Korean soldiers
Three South Korean military officers were injured in an explosion during an operation near the heavily mined border with North Korea, Seoul’s military said…
Asia - South China Morning PostSingapore nets US$862,000 from first auction in money laundering case
A fierce 30-minute bidding war for a rare Louis Vuitton x Yayoi Kusama pumpkin bag – seized in Singapore’s S$3 billion (US$2.35 billion) money laundering case…
Asia - South China Morning PostJapan asks for US$43 million to weed out cherry tree-devouring longhorn beetle
Japan’s Environment Ministry is stepping up measures against longhorn beetles that are devouring cherry trees, with a request for 6.7 billion yen (US$43…
Asia - South China Morning PostPhilippines tribe vows to stand ground against US-led Pax Silica: ‘listen to us’
Tribal leader Petronila Munoz walked across the sweeping Philippine grasslands she has called home for generations, uncertain about its future, as a sprawling…
Asia - South China Morning PostSouth Korea steps up to plug Europe’s jet fuel deficit
Europe faces a fourth-quarter jet fuel deficit, even as it turns to far-flung suppliers including South Korea, which is set to boost its jet exports to Europe…
Asia - South China Morning PostUpgraded but underperforming: Philippines’ growth lags behind
The Philippines’ rise to upper-middle-income status was supposed to mark a new phase for one of Southeast Asia’s most closely watched emerging economies…
Asia - South China Morning PostPacific island states are trapped in Cold War 2.0
In early July, China fired a test missile from a nuclear submarine into the South Pacific for the first time, a weapon capable of carrying nuclear warheads…
Asia - South China Morning PostNew North Korea-Russia bridge delivers a powerful message to China
The recent opening of a new road bridge between North Korea and Russia may look like a modest infrastructure project. In reality, the 1km stretch across the…
Asia - South China Morning PostNorth Korea fires 2 missiles in 3 hours amid tensions over US drills
North Korea fired two missiles off its eastern coast on Sunday, its second set of tests in roughly a week and days after Pyongyang accused the US of driving…
Asia - South China Morning PostMiddle powers don’t have to wait for a Trump-Xi-Putin summit
The prospect of United States, Chinese and Russian leaders meeting at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit in Shenzhen this November has revived…
Asia - South China Morning PostPending US$12.3 million house arrest fine keeps Malaysia’s Najib in prison
Former Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak said on Sunday that he would remain in Kajang Prison as he and his legal team study the conditions attached to his…
Asia - South China Morning PostAustralia to ban student dependants as Labor fends off far-right pressure
Australia is set to introduce sweeping changes to its immigration policy by barring international students from bringing dependants, in a bid to ease housing…
Asia - South China Morning PostTrump taking notes from India? US$5,000 cash pitch draws ‘freebie’ comparisons
Donald Trump’s proposal to give adult Americans US$5,000 if Republicans win November’s midterm elections has drawn an unusual accusation from India: that the…
Asia - South China Morning PostHow wildfires are threatening Indonesia’s economy and carbon market
Forest and peatland fires raging across Indonesia are threatening to become more than an environmental emergency, with analysts warning that the thickening…
Asia - South China Morning PostSingapore court rejects 90-year-old’s spousal support claim against ex-wife, 89
A Singapore family court rejected a 90-year-old man’s claim for spousal maintenance from his 89-year-old wife, noting that both of them are in the twilight of…
Asia - South China Morning PostHong Kong rated Asia’s top financial hub for fourth straight year: report
Hong Kong has retained its status as Asia’s top financial hub for a fourth consecutive edition of the Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI), even as many of…
Asia - South China Morning PostMalaysian councillor resigns after DAP remarks at Umno assembly
A Malaysian city councillor has resigned over remarks he made about the Democratic Action Party (DAP) at the recent Umno general assembly. Permatang Pauh Umno…
Asia - South China Morning PostSouth Korean killer’s drone escape from Philippine prison foiled by test footage
A South Korean crime lord convicted of murder in the Philippines reportedly planned to escape prison by strapping himself to a drone – until his own…
Asia - South China Morning PostJapanese monks embrace material world to raise cash as donations shrink
Koukyo Yoneta, a fifth-generation Buddhist priest in a small town in Japan’s Hokkaido, was struggling to keep up with the maintenance needs of his century-old…
Asia - South China Morning PostIndia and Russia push to expand defence ties with more joint production
India and Russia are seeking to push one of Asia’s oldest defence relationships beyond arms sales and into a more technology-driven industrial partnership…
Asia - South China Morning PostSouth Korean court orders Pyongyang to pay US$32.5m for destroying border office
A Seoul court ordered Pyongyang on Wednesday to pay roughly US$32.5 million for blowing up in 2020 an office in North Korea that was intended to foster…
Asia - South China Morning PostRodrigo Duterte appears in ICC courtroom for pretrial proceedings
Former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte appeared in person at the International Criminal Court for the first time on Wednesday as he faces charges over his…
Asia - South China Morning PostJapan’s Takaichi opts for stability in first reshuffle since taking over LDP
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi retained many of her Liberal Democratic Party’s (LDP) executives on Wednesday, in her first reshuffle since taking the…
Asia - South China Morning PostSingapore ministers earn millions. What do other Asian leaders make?
Singapore’s ministers are among the world’s highest paid, a system its leaders have defended as necessary to attract capable people into public service and…
Asia - South China Morning PostWhy I am grateful for Asean’s endless meetings
I remember 2011 well. Indonesia was chairing the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and I was serving as deputy foreign minister for Asean cooperation. I…
Asia - South China Morning PostJapan jails man for forcing Thai girl, 12, into sex work
A Japanese court on Tuesday sentenced a 52-year-old man to five years in prison and fined him 1 million yen (US$6,500) for forcing a 12-year-old Thai girl to…
Asia - South China Morning PostThe world is not so much embracing China as recoiling from Trump’s US
Global surveys show China is now more popular than the United States in most countries. The reality is China hasn’t become more popular, only that Uncle Sam…
Asia - South China Morning PostWho will shoulder the debts behind Indonesia’s China-backed Whoosh railway?
Indonesia’s finance ministry is preparing to absorb debt payments for Whoosh, the China-funded high-speed railway connecting Jakarta and Bandung, in a move…
Asia - South China Morning PostMalaysia’s ex-PM Muhyiddin acquitted of 4 charges in US$49 million corruption case
Malaysia’s former prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin won a significant court victory on Tuesday after he was acquitted of four charges linked to a government…
Asia - South China Morning PostIndia scores Brics win with joint declaration despite divides
India scored a diplomatic win at the latest Brics summit, analysts have said, after steering an increasingly unwieldy bloc towards a joint declaration despite…
Asia - South China Morning PostCambodia, Thailand take US$300 billion seabed dispute to UN
Months after deadly clashes that cost dozens of lives along their shared border, the foreign ministers of Cambodia and Thailand laid out opening arguments on…
Asia - South China Morning PostIndonesian finance minister found out about his firing in mid-meeting phone call
Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa, who was sacked as Indonesia’s finance minister this week, said on Tuesday he was upset to be removed from his job, but was half…
Asia - South China Morning PostThais stage rare Israel protest; Singapore ministers get pay rise: 7 Asia highlights
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…
Asia - South China Morning PostUS throws weight behind Thai submarine cable that skips South China Sea
The US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA) on Monday announced funding for a feasibility study on a new transpacific submarine cable linking the US with…
Asia - South China Morning PostMalaysian mother honours slain daughter Yap Shing Xuen’s memory
The mother of Malaysian schoolgirl Yap Shing Xuen has shared a moving tribute to her late daughter, who was stabbed to death nearly a year ago in a school…
Asia - South China Morning PostAir quality across Singapore reaches unhealthy levels from Indonesian wildfires
Singapore was shrouded in haze on Tuesday, with smoke from wildfires in neighbouring Indonesia raising island-wide pollution to levels that pose a health risk…
Asia - South China Morning PostSingapore jails armed Malaysian gang for US$3.9 million ‘lightning heist’ at bungalow
After learning that a woman regularly hosted high-stakes poker games at her home in Singapore’s affluent Bukit Timah area, two men plotted to rob the house…
Asia - South China Morning PostPhilippine VP’s impeachment trial heats up as unexplained wealth takes centre stage
Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s impeachment trial entered a politically explosive new phase on Monday as prosecutors turned to allegations of…
Asia - South China Morning PostIceland’s whaling ban plan threatens to leave Japan alone in defending industry
Iceland’s move towards a whaling ban could leave Japan more exposed than ever as it defends an industry critics say relies on public money, political symbolism…
Asia - South China Morning PostSingapore’s Chan Chun Sing to visit China, speak at defence forum
Singapore’s Defence Minister Chan Chun Sing is set to visit China from Tuesday to Thursday at the invitation of his Chinese counterpart Dong Jun and will speak…
Asia - South China Morning PostSoutheast Asia weighs energy transition amid LNG supply crunch
Energy ministers and executives met in Bangkok on Monday to discuss the prolonged price increase for liquefied natural gas (LNG) triggered by the Iran war…
Asia - South China Morning PostChina’s J-10CE has foreign buyers, but not yet a market
Uzbekistan’s recent confirmation that China’s J-10CE fighters have entered into service in its air force ended months of speculation. It is the latest of three…
Asia - South China Morning PostMalaysia’s Negeri Sembilan royal crisis deepens amid claims of grave disloyalty to ruler
Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan royal crisis escalated on Monday after the state’s customary council said six men behind the latest attempt to remove ruler Tuanku…
Asia - South China Morning PostMalaysian teen acquitted of murdering schoolmate Yap Shing Xuen
A Malaysian teenager was on Monday found not guilty of murdering his 16-year-old schoolmate last year, after a high court ruled that he had been of unsound…
Asia - South China Morning PostSingapore is open to chemical castration, but what are ethical, health concerns?
Singapore’s openness to chemical castration for sex offenders has cast light on the ethical questions surrounding the treatment, with the discussion centred on…
Asia - South China Morning PostIndonesia’s Prabowo appoints third finance minister in under 2 years
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto abruptly removed Finance Minister Purbaya Yudhi Sadewa on Monday after just over a year in the job, turning to veteran…
Asia - South China Morning PostHow an AI plot targeted Malaysia’s elections and exposed deep data risks
Anthropic’s discovery of an AI-powered election manipulation platform targeting Malaysia offers a glimpse into how the technology can exploit a country’s…
Asia - South China Morning PostHimalayan ‘glacier bankruptcy’ threatens water security for 2 billion in Asia
The Himalayas are approaching a tipping point as glaciers melt faster than a decade ago, threatening water security as the region approaches “peak water” by…
Asia - South China Morning PostHigh pay, high peril: conflict-torn Indian Kashmir still attracts migrant workers
Every spring, mason Mohammad Ghulam Sarwar boards a train to Indian Kashmir, seeking higher wages despite the risk of being targeted by militants in the…
Asia - South China Morning PostJapan’s Chubu Electric bosses resign over quake data-tampering scandal
Two top executives at Japanese nuclear plant operator Chubu Electric Power would step down following a quake data-tampering scandal, the company said in a…
Asia - South China Morning PostSouth Korean president’s cabinet reshuffle hits new snag as gender minister nominee quits
South Korean President Lee Jae Myung’s 36-year-old gender minister nominee stepped down before gaining confirmation of her position amid a public backlash over…