Asia - South China Morning Post

Australia on Wednesday became the first country to ban social media for children under 16, blocking access to platforms including TikTok, Alphabet’s YouTube and Meta’s Instagram and Facebook.

Ten of the biggest platforms were ordered to block children from midnight on Wednesday or face fines of up to A$49.5 million (US$33 million) under the new law, which drew criticism from major technology companies and free speech advocates, but was welcomed by parents and child advocates.

The ban is being...

Before the deadly landslides and floods hit Indonesia about two weeks ago, Amran Siagian, 39, frequently met Tapanuli orangutans on a hill in the region of Sipirok, North Sumatra province.

Siagian, who has been working as a ranger to protect the endangered animal at the Orangutan Information Centre (OIC) for at least five years, remembers how the orangutans were fond of eating durian and other fruits from farms in the area.

But after the landslides hit Sipirok, the orangutans are nowhere to be...

Japan issued a megaquake advisory on Tuesday after a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck off the eastern coast of Aomori, the northernmost prefecture of Japan’s main island of Honshu, and just south of the northern island of Hokkaido. Damage from this quake was modest – 34 mostly mild injuries and some damage to roads and buildings.

Officials said the advisory was not a prediction and the probability of a magnitude 8 or larger quake is only about 1 per cent. But there’s hope the advisory will serve...

Beijing and Tokyo’s war of words over Taiwan was expected to be bad news for Japanese businesses in China. Previous diplomatic flare-ups have brought waves of online vitriol, protests and boycotts.

But at a Japanese-invested luxury department store in China’s eastern Zhejiang province, the outlet’s executives seemed largely unruffled. They are already well versed in riding out tense political situations.

The billion-dollar project – which is operated by a major Japanese retail group – had a...

Indonesia is confronting its deadliest natural disaster in more than two decades as floods and landslides ravage Sumatra, overwhelming local authorities and prompting scrutiny of how President Prabowo Subianto’s administration is managing the crisis.

Officials insist relief efforts have moved quickly, given how the scale of devastation demanded complex coordination, but critics and segments of the public argue the response has felt slow and at times tone-deaf, a perception analysts said could...

A last-minute medical intervention halted the deportation of a Filipino man from the United States after advocates warned that his deteriorating condition and months of alleged neglect in immigration custody had put his life at risk.

Greggy Valerio Sorio, a 37-year-old long-time US resident affectionately known as Kuya G, had already boarded a plane bound for Manila on Sunday night when Philippine Airlines medical staff reportedly intervened, citing his condition.

He was returned to the...

A recent seizure of more than S$30,000 (US$23,000) worth of Pokemon cards from a Singaporean at Changi Airport has led Malaysian authorities to caution that returning citizens would face the same issue.

Singapore’s Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said in a social media post titled “Gotta catch them all!” – in a nod to the Pokemon catchphrase – that its officers at Changi Airport had detected a large quantity of assorted Pokemon trading cards, believed to be for collection and resale, while...

A fire ripped through an office building in Indonesia’s capital, Jakarta, on Tuesday, killing at least 22 people, including a pregnant woman, police said.

Flames engulfed the seven-storey building, sending thick black smoke billowing into the sky and causing panic among nearby residents and workers in a neighbourhood in Central Jakarta.

The fire, which broke out around midday, is believed to have started on the first floor of the building in the Kemayoran neighbourhood before spreading to other...

An arrest warrant is being prepared for Cezarah “Sarah” Discaya, the businesswoman once dubbed the Philippines’ “queen of flood control”, after prosecutors accused her of pocketing millions from a government project that was paid for but never built.

Discaya’s impending arrest – expected within days, according to President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr – would mark one of the most high-profile developments in the multibillion-peso flood control corruption scandal that has roiled Manila’s political...

Nepal’s anti-corruption watchdog has filed criminal charges against ex-ministers, senior bureaucrats and a Chinese state-owned construction giant accused of inflating costs and manipulating contracts at a multimillion-dollar infrastructure project.

The Commission for Investigation of Abuse of Authority (CIAA) on Sunday charged 55 people, including five former tourism and finance ministers, 10 ex-government secretaries and dozens of other high-ranking officials. Also named was China CAMC...