Malaysia will deploy military veterans as full-time hostel wardens at a group of elite boarding schools from Wednesday, in a new push to curb bullying after a series of abuse cases stirred widespread public anger over student safety.

The first 16 former Malaysian Armed Forces personnel will report for duty at eight Mara Junior Science Colleges, in a move reminiscent of Netflix’s hit K-drama Teach You a Lesson, where a Special Ops veteran takes on school bullies.

Mara Junior Science Colleges are...

The Philippines is uniquely positioned to serve as a gateway for Greater Bay Area businesses into Southeast Asia, the country’s trade secretary said on Tuesday, as she outlined Manila’s push to promote a pro-investment environment.

Speaking at the South China Morning Post’s GBA-Asean Summit 2026, Cristina Aldeguer-Roque urged investors to view the Philippines as a springboard into the region and to tap into the country’s young, digitally fluent workforce.

“We are a maritime, demographic and...

Singapore authorities have caught a rider seen in a viral video striking a “Superman” pose while riding an e-bike in the latest of a series of crackdowns.

In the video, taken in the early hours of May 23 outside Keppel MRT station, the rider is caught on camera going faster than cars on his vehicle. At one point, he even lies on his stomach with his legs extended as if he is flying. Based on the 170 metres he covered in about 8 seconds, his speed is calculated to be almost 80km/h (50mph).

In...

Security around the Malaysia-Thailand border has been tightened after two Malaysian men were wounded in a roadside bomb blast in Narathiwat province, an area riven by a deadly insurgency against Bangkok.

While police say the men – Abdullah Syarapi Abd Rahman, 45, and Muhammad Yusri Udin, 38, both from Kelantan – are not believed to have been the target of the improvised explosive device (IED), the incident highlights the dangers of the ongoing conflict in Thailand’s southernmost...

Nepal has culled more than 600,000 birds and destroyed around 1 million eggs as an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu spreads across the Kathmandu Valley, shutting the capital’s only zoo and raising fears among scientists over the virus’ potential to mutate into a form transmissible between humans.

The outbreak began in eastern Nepal in March before reaching the densely populated valley around mid-June – a development that health experts say raises the risk of human exposure.

More than 60 poultry farms...

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. Malaysia has never had so many Chinese tourists. It wants more

As Thailand loses its allure, Malaysia turns to viral algorithms to entice millions of independent Chinese travellers.

2. Pakistan rattles India with new Chinese-built stealth submarine

The last time...

Diners at a sleek teppanyaki restaurant in Tokyo’s Asakusa district wait happily as chefs sear marbled Kobe beef over open grills. Expectations are high at Kisshokichi, one of the world’s largest Kobe beef chains. But behind the brand’s success lies a dilemma shared by businesses across Japan.

Founder Kiyomi Akagi, now in his mid-sixties, faced a question confronting a growing number of ageing owners: who would take over?

With no successor prepared to manage the company’s 50 restaurants, Akagi...

Esmeraldo Maligsa, a farmer and president of the Bohol Ubi Growers Association, harvests 2,000kg (4,400lbs) of ube, the purple tuber native to the Philippines, every seven months.

He and the other farmers in his group manage a collective yield of between five and eight tonnes, fetching prices of 90 pesos to 100 pesos (US$1.50 to US$1.60) per kilogram.

Such is the going price for ubi kinampay, dubbed the “Queen of Philippine yams”. Grown in Bohol province and nearby areas in central Philippines,...

Japan is accelerating plans to acquire and develop military drones by stepping up cooperation with Ukraine and learning from Kyiv’s wartime experience against Russia as it seeks to deploy more unmanned systems across its territory.

Complementing this strategy, Japanese companies are also collaborating closely with their European counterparts to manufacture anti-submarine drones.

“The entire international community has witnessed how warfare has changed since the outbreak of the Ukraine war and...

Australia’s competition regulator said on Tuesday it had taken Amazon’s Australian ‌unit to court, alleging its Prime subscription contracts contained unfair terms that allowed the company to add advertising to its video streaming platform.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) alleged that between November 2023 and August 2025, Amazon Australia used unfair Prime Video contract terms to make negative changes for over ⁠1 million annual subscribers without offering...