Asia

More than 170,000 respiratory cases were recorded in regions affected by haze in Indonesia, a health ministry official said on Tuesday, as the country continues its battle to control fires that caused the toxic smog. Blazes in Borneo, Sumatra and Papua have blanketed parts of the vast archipelago of more than 280 million people with haze, as well as neighbouring Malaysia and Singapore, sending air quality indices plummeting. The toxic smog contains pollutants including PM 2.5, a fine particulate...

The Philippines has less than two years to turn its ambitious Pax Silica project from a US-backed plan into a functioning industrial hub before a change of government in Manila – and potentially Washington – puts its future to the test. Pax Silica is an initiative by US President Donald Trump’s administration to diversify US supplies of critical minerals and semiconductors. The Philippines is seeking to position itself as a manufacturing base for companies looking to reduce their dependence on...

The mother of a 15-year-old Thai-Swedish teenager who died after his motorbike crashed into a truck illegally reversing into oncoming traffic has made an emotional appeal for justice, accusing police of failing to execute an arrest warrant for the alleged driver, a Chinese national, seven months after the fatal crash. Tommy Boulanger, an aspiring footballer, was left in a coma following the February 20 crash in the Nongpure district of Chonburi, near the resort city of Pattaya. He never regained...

A South Korean university has embedded graduation photos with anti-deepfake technology to prevent a repeat of a scandal two years ago, when portraits of female graduates were used to create sexually explicit manipulated images. Seoul National University’s (SNU) use of StealCut Protect, created by a start-up founded by SNU alumni, marked the first time it was used for a university graduation album in the country, The Korea Herald reported. StealCut provided the technology to SNU free of...

Indonesia plans to press ahead with discounted Russian crude oil imports to secure domestic energy supplies and manage fiscal pressures, despite the risk of higher US tariffs as Washington moves to tighten economic pressure on Moscow. On Friday, US President Donald Trump signed into law an act that would give him authority to impose sanctions on Russia and slap tariffs of up to 100 per cent on the top five buyers of Russian crude oil, gas and military equipment, or countries that help Moscow...

Sri Lanka’s High Court has found 15 of the 24 men accused of being directly involved in the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings guilty. The attacks killed 279 people and wounded around 500. The three-judge bench found that 14 of the accused were guilty on all charges, which included murder, conspiracy to commit terrorism and possessing firearms and explosives under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. A 15th defendant was found guilty of only some of the charges, while nine others were acquitted. The...

The United States, Japan and South Korea agreed to resist “economic coercion” and emphasised the need for stability in the Taiwan Strait, taking an implicit shot at China just days before President Xi Jinping’s White House summit. The three countries plan new talks on economic security and enhancements to a trilateral supply chain early warning system, according to a statement issued after a meeting between US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and counterparts Toshimitsu Motegi of Japan and Cho...

The third son of Thailand’s King Maha Vajiralongkorn has said he wants to return home for urgent brain surgery. Chakriwat “Than Aong” Vivacharawongse posted a video on social media on Monday saying he had two large brain tumours requiring surgery. The 43-year-old doctor said he wanted to receive treatment in Thailand. “I want to return to Thailand for treatment because Thai doctors are highly capable,” he said in the video. Chakriwat said he did not have enough money to pay for the surgery in...

Indonesia’s bid for another term on the United Nations’ premier security body stands a good chance of success given Jakarta’s growing global engagement, analysts say, but its balancing act between competing powers could complicate efforts to speak for the Global South. Jakarta’s Foreign Ministry said on Thursday that it would launch its campaign this week for a fifth term as a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council for 2029–2030. The ministry said it was seeking the seat to...

Residents of a wide swathe of eastern Japan were picking up the pieces on Tuesday after Typhoon Dujuan tore through the area the previous day, causing extensive flooding, landslides, power outages, flight cancellations and at least four deaths. Nearly 2 million people were instructed to evacuate their homes in low-lying coastal areas, or be prepared to move at short notice, after the Japan Meteorological Agency had warned that the typhoon posed an “imminent threat to life”. While the evacuation...

Inside a brightly lit cleanroom at Chungbuk Semiconductor High School in South Korea, a group of teenagers in head-to-toe protective suits carefully handled silicon wafers, learning the same production processes used in commercial chip plants. About half of the school’s graduates head straight to large companies such as Samsung Electronics or SK Hynix without ever setting foot in a university classroom. The scene illustrates how South Korea’s semiconductor boom is beginning to challenge the...

Cambodia is set to present the outcome of its crackdown on scams to global governments and security agencies gathering in Phnom Penh this week. Yet questions remain over where the missing billions have gone – as well as the role of the country’s elite, who for many years denied the problem existed at all on Cambodian soil. Scam compounds took over declining mega-casinos during the pandemic. As borders closed, gamblers were replaced with scam workers: many tricked, trafficked and forced to commit...

Believing that a lorry driver in the same neighbourhood had punctured his tyres, a private-hire driver twice left urine and faeces outside his neighbour’s flat in Singapore. Martin Chua Kim Soon, a 67-year-old Singaporean, was fined S$5,000 (US$3,920) by a court on Tuesday. He paid the fine in full after pleading guilty to two counts of insulting behaviour under the Protection from Harassment Act. The court heard that Chua was a private-hire driver with Tada at the time of the offences and lived...

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. South 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 accomplice’s rehearsal footage gave the...

Malaysia’s Sabah state has ordered a full investigation into the Semporna resort where a female tourist from China was allegedly molested and assaulted inside her room by an intruder early last Saturday. State Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Jafry Ariffin said he instructed tourism authorities and enforcement agencies to investigate the security lapses that led to the incident and the resort’s licensing status. “I have instructed the relevant tourism authorities to immediately look...

More than 200 Japanese companies still operating in Russia face growing uncertainty following Moscow’s seizure of three Western firms’ assets, amid deteriorating diplomatic relations. The Kremlin announced on Friday that the assets of Swiss food giant Nestlé, French retailer Auchan and home improvement chain Lemana Pro had been transferred to Russian entity LEV Management under a decree signed a day earlier by President Vladimir Putin. “These are unfriendly nations,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry...

The September 24 summit between President Xi Jinping and US President Donald Trump is no ordinary engagement. Their May summit took place in Beijing and largely centred on economic issues. This one will be on Trump’s home turf and is expected to put strategic questions on the table. Will the Korean peninsula and North Korea’s nuclear programme again be pushed to the margins? In Beijing, both sides focused on their immediate national interests, such as trade, semiconductors, rare earths and...

Former Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan’s party said on Monday that his three sisters had been arrested ahead of ‌a protest ⁠march planned for September 27. “Punjab police have raided Aleema Khan’s home and have abducted Imran Khan’s other two sisters, his nephews and their children,” Zulfi Bukhari, a spokesman for Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, said on social media. “Khan’s sisters and their children were taken into custody but the children were released,” PTI’s information...

Under a global cloud of wars and bitter divisions, world leaders meet at the United Nations in New York this week facing new fears that runaway artificial intelligence could threaten humanity even as climate shocks and escalating prices are already making life much tougher for hundreds of millions of people. The annual high-level gathering at the UN General Assembly will also be consumed with major wars in Iran, Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Congo and Myanmar and a persisting question: can the leaders...

A 3.5-metre-long shark that wandered into a Busan waterfront channel has become an unlikely internet celebrity in South Korea, drawing nearly 20,000 spectators over the weekend as authorities opted to leave the animal alone rather than risk provoking it. The shark was first spotted on Friday in the waterway at North Port Waterfront Park, where it has remained for at least four consecutive days despite repeated efforts by the public to catch a glimpse of it. South Korea’s National Institute of...

Chinese President Xi Jinping is expected to meet US President Donald Trump in Washington this week, after the May talks in Beijing and before the November Apec summit in Shenzhen. This sequence of diplomacy will test if the commitment to building a “constructive China-US relationship of strategic stability” translates into practical arrangements. The Washington meeting faces clear limits. Differences over trade, technology, industrial policy, Taiwan and regional security are deeply embedded in...

Southeast Asia remains comparatively confident in international cooperation even as scepticism grows over whether the United States or China should take a leading global role, a new survey has found. Analysts said the findings reflected a long-standing regional preference for keeping strategic options open, particularly among smaller and middle powers wary of an international order dominated by either Washington or Beijing. “Seeking Security and Opportunity in a Stormy World”, released this...

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 past Tokyo, bringing torrential rain, flooding and landslides to the region. Four people have been confirmed dead as heavy rainfall triggered landslides in Chiba and Kanagawa prefectures near Tokyo, local governments reported according to Japanese media including the Kyodo News agency. Japan often sees strong typhoons in the late summer and...

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 and develop them, a new rankings assessment has shown. First launched last year and described as the country’s most internationalisation-focused assessment to date, The Korea Times University Rankings assess institutions on seven indicators, including the ratio of exchange and international students to total enrolment, diversity of the...

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 dismissal of the entire executive council – a dispute that has already brought down one government and triggered a snap election. The latest showdown comes less than a week after the executive council backed a disputed bid to remove the ruler, putting the palace and state government in conflict over both the throne and executive...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has suffered a double whammy as his Pakatan Harapan (PH) coalition scrambles to placate public outrage over disgraced ex-leader Najib Razak being granted house arrest and the shock resignation of his transport minister in protest against the royal clemency. But observers do not expect the administration, already reeling from PH defeats in two recent state elections as federal allies turned against the coalition, to implode just yet. Anwar and PH’s reformist...

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 scrambled to hold on, has circulated widely online. The 229-metre-long (750-foot) bulk carrier First Margaux struck the Luqing Yuanyu 108, a 49-metre (160-foot) Chinese fishing vessel, at around 5pm on Thursday last week, according to ship-tracking data cited by The Maritime Executive. Both vessels had left anchorage near Singapore at...

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 enforcement, whether as an official service issue or a privately licensed firearm. On Friday, a student at Banga National High School in South Cotabato province shot dead two classmates, wounded several others and then killed himself. He reportedly used the licensed firearm of his father, who works in the Education Department’s risk...

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 reorganisation and restructuring, the manpower ministry said on Monday. There were 4,620 retrenchments in the second quarter of this year, up from the 3,830 retrenchments posted in the first quarter of the year, the ministry said in its labour market report for the period. It is the highest since the 5,640 retrenchments recorded in the...

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. Kyoto University Hospital apologised for the medical error and vowed to take measures to prevent similar incidents, local news outlet TV Asahi reported. The woman, in her fifties, was diagnosed with a benign brain tumour after consulting doctors for dizziness and unsteadiness. Although she was able to carry out her daily activities, she...