Asia - South China Morning Post

The Trump administration plans to ‌replace the US ambassador to Vietnam with a nominee set on addressing “imbalanced” trade relations, as Hanoi’s goods trade surplus ‍with Washington surpassed China’s in recent quarters while it was locked in unresolved tariff negotiations with Washington.

On Sunday, current ambassador Marc Knapper will end his tenure after being abruptly recalled before Christmas alongside several other career diplomats. His designated successor, career diplomat Jennifer Wicks...

A well-intentioned US embassy post featuring a satellite image of Malaysia has sparked a distinctly local burst of self-deprecating humour, with social media users quipping in response to the picture: “Sorry, we don’t have oil.”

On Friday, the embassy in Kuala Lumpur posted a 2016 photograph taken from the International Space Station showing lightning flashing in clouds high over Malaysia. The caption says the Southeast Asian nation had “never looked more electric”, clarifying that the bright...

Grok-generated deepfake images of Japan’s Princess Kako, the niece of Emperor Naruhito, in a bikini circulating online have renewed scrutiny on Elon Musk’s X chatbot.

Since the AI assistant started allowing users to manipulate any posted image, a nudification trend has gained traction online, with people asking Grok to generate sexualised deepfakes using prompts such as “put her in a tiny bikini” or even “undress her”.

Princess Kako, second daughter of Crown Prince Akishino, became the latest...

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s first visit to Asia has raised India’s hopes for a long-awaited trade pact with the European Union as Berlin pushes for deeper engagement with South Asia amid heightened global tensions.

Merz began his two-day visit to India on Monday by paying homage to India’s founding father Mahatma Gandhi at his ashram, or place of meditation, in Ahmedabad before joining counterpart Narendra Modi at a traditional kite festival, where the two flew kites together from an...

Malaysia’s top judge has warned that the country does not have enough judges to deal with a growing workload, stressing that this has placed an “immense and growing pressure on the justice system”.

In his speech at the Opening of the Legal Year 2026 on Monday, Chief Justice of Malaysia Wan Ahmad Farid Wan Salleh said that the number of court cases in Malaysia had surged in the past few years by about 60 per cent.

He cited how criminal case registrations had risen from 1,522,005 cases in 2021 to...

Three Australian Labor politicians have apologised after a complaint alleged they were overheard playing a game of “shoot, s*** or marry” about male political opponents at a crowded public festival, an episode that has widened into a debate over standards of behaviour for politicians outside parliament.

The incident involved federal Assistant Minister Rebecca White and Tasmanian state MPs Ella Haddad and Sarah Lovell, who were attending Hobart’s Taste of Summer – a food and music festival held...

Thailand’s election season has triggered a dizzying array of cash giveaway offers from parties vying for votes, from a US$2,000 payment for newborns to debt write-offs and US$100 monthly top-ups for the poorest households to combat pay worth US$6,300.

But economists warn that in a slowing economy saddled with debt amid political gridlock, such lavish pledges are highly unlikely to revive growth.

Many Thais, like 34-year-old Ton, see the handouts as a distraction from the deeper problems...

Two cases within a week involving foreign-registered cars receiving subsidised RON95 fuel have led to calls for Malaysia’s government to go after the vehicle owners as well rather than just the petrol station operators.

The common view was that it was unfair for the operators to be the only party penalised while the vehicle owners were let off the hook.

“Since there are no penalties, these culprits will try their luck,” said a cashier at a petrol station, who only wanted to be known as Lee.

He...

Indonesia’s Prabowo Subianto reiterated his commitment to a US$32 billion project to build the country’s new capital city as he ‌made his first overnight stay there as president, the government said.

Questions about ‍the fate of the Nusantara capital city project have lingered since Prabowo took office in October 2024.

The project is a legacy of his predecessor, Joko Widodo, who first announced his plan to move the ⁠capital 1,200km (745 miles) away from overcrowded and sinking Jakarta on Java...

Malaysian police are investigating after a viral road-rage video showing a Ferrari driver aggressively chasing another driver triggered a wave of online fury in the country.

Social media users turned their ire on perceived elite entitlement after the Ferrari driver was identified as the co-founder of a local streetwear brand.

The label, Stoned & Co, said it had suspended co-founder and managing director Tan Jia Hui after a video circulating over the weekend showed him tailgating and blocking a...