Asia - South China Morning Post

The alleged gunman shot dead by police during Sunday’s attack on Australia’s Bondi Beach was originally from the southern Indian city of Hyderabad and his family did not know about his “radical mindset”, Indian police said on Tuesday.

Fifteen people were killed in the attack on a Hanukkah event, Australia’s worst mass shooting in nearly 30 years, and it is being investigated as an act of terrorism targeting the Jewish community.

In a statement providing more details about the man alleged to have...

As tourist numbers climb back towards record highs, Nepal is rolling out a new digital registration system to track every foreign visitor, in a move officials say will boost safety and curb visa misuse.

Starting from January 1, all foreign visitors will be required to register detailed accommodation information through the government’s new digital platform, replacing the earlier system that allowed only partial disclosures.

Authorities say the measure will modernise an overstretched immigration...

An increasing number of South Korean men are looking to Japan not only for employment but also for marriage, drawn by what they see as more stable living conditions compared with South Korea’s tough job market and demanding marriage expectations.

According to Shueisha Online, a Japanese media outlet, the number of South Koreans seeking work or permanent settlement in Japan has been steadily rising. Data released by Japan’s Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare showed that the number of South...

A man who allegedly opened fire on a Jewish Hanukkah celebration on Sydney’s famed Bondi Beach was charged with 59 offences, including murder and terrorism, police said on Wednesday.

The alleged father-and-son perpetrators killed 15 people on Sunday in an attack that shook Australia and intensified fears of rising antisemitism and violent extremism.

Funerals of the Jewish victims of the attack began on Wednesday amid anger over how the gunmen – one of whom was briefly investigated for links to...

Indonesia’s flagship programme to provide millions of schoolchildren with free nutritious meals is back in the spotlight after a delivery van linked to the initiative ploughed into a group of students in Jakarta last week, leaving 21 children and a teacher injured.

The accident on Thursday has raised fresh questions about safety and oversight in what critics call the “chaotic” roll-out of the signature initiative of President Prabowo Subianto, which has a 71 trillion rupiah (US$4.2 billion)...

The Philippine government is weighing whether a United Nations anti-corruption treaty can help track down and extradite a former lawmaker accused of being one of the masterminds behind the billion-peso flood control scandal and believed to be hiding overseas.

Presidential press officer and undersecretary Claire Castro said Manila was studying a proposal by Senator Panfilo Lacson to tap the UN Convention Against Corruption (UNCAC) to help locate and extradite former congressman Zaldy Co.

Co, who...

As Chinese tourists pull back from visiting Japan amid a diplomatic row, a slumping won is positioning South Korea as the new bargain destination for mainland travellers, analysts said.

The Korean won has become Asia’s worst-performing currency in the second half of the year, weighed down by an interest rate gap with the United States and sustained equity outflows to the US market.

In October, South Korea’s real effective exchange rate plunged to a 16-year low – falling even further than it did...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim on Tuesday announced his second cabinet reshuffle in two years, reassigning senior ministers and promoting new faces as he seeks to bolster his administration ahead of the next general election.

The changes follow months of mounting political pressure on Anwar’s government, triggered by his close allies’ resignations, internal party bickering and persistent cost of living concerns.

“This is about fine-tuning so the cabinet works as a team and focuses on...

Singapore’s High Court dismissed on Tuesday the first legal challenge in years to the city state’s mandatory death penalty for certain drug crimes, a blow for campaigners in a year that has seen executions peak.

Human rights activists and relatives of three executed drug convicts had petitioned the court, arguing that the mandatory death penalty violates parts of Singapore’s constitution guaranteeing the right to life and equal protection under the law.

They also said legislation restricts...

India’s ruling party has seized on the chaotic handling of football legend Lionel Messi’s appearance in Kolkata to attack the government in West Bengal, turning the Argentinian’s visit into an election-season test for one of the country’s most politically consequential states.

The visit descended into chaos as crowd unrest prompted arrests and an apology from West Bengal’s Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

West Bengal’s opposition leaders from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which governs...