Asia - South China Morning Post

Mahathir Mohamad has lodged a police report against Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim regarding the Reciprocal Trade Agreement (ART) between Malaysia and the United States.

According to Sinar Harian, the former prime minister claimed that Anwar’s actions were taken without the full mandate of the entities meant to represent the Federation of Malaysia.

“The agreement is not valid because he [Anwar] is not the sole representative of the Federation. Such agreements should require the consent of four...

As New Delhi gears up for a long-range missile test in the Indian Ocean, the presence of Chinese survey vessels in the region signals Beijing’s intention to step up monitoring of its regional rival’s capabilities.

Observers note that China could be challenging India’s interest in the latter’s “backyard” by capitalising on opportunities arising from the missile test.

Indian media last week reported that China had deployed a fourth research vessel, the Lan Hai 101, in the Indian Ocean, waters...

A high-gloss travel video created by a Malaysian visual-effects specialist to promote Singapore has gone viral, prompting some in Malaysia to ask why their own tourism board has not tapped local talent as effectively.

The one-minute film, produced in collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), features Mohamad Sofian Abdullah, better known as Sofyank, weaving his signature special effects into a tightly edited journey across the city state.

The video shows the 29-year-old creator –...

South Korea’s president ordered on Tuesday swift action to penalise those responsible for a major data leak at e-commerce giant Coupang affecting more than 33 million customers.

It was “astonishing that the company failed to recognise the breach for five months”, President Lee Jae-myung said, adding that the “scale of the damage is massive”.

Coupang is South Korea’s most popular online shopping platform, serving millions of customers with lightning-fast deliveries of products from groceries to...

More than 1,900 flights from China to Japan scheduled for this month have now been cancelled, according to state media reports and travel experts, as a political dispute between the two nations over Taiwan grinds on.

The figure represented more than 40 per cent of the flights from mainland China to Japan scheduled for December, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported on Monday, citing data from online platforms.

Li Hanming, an independent civil aviation analyst, said his research indicated that...

AirAsia Aviation Group, one of Airbus’ largest customers of single-aisle jets, says testing protocols for aircraft software need to be re-examined in the wake of the weekend glitch that required an urgent update.

Tony Fernandes, the founder of the Southeast Asian carrier, said it was likely the software was not thoroughly tested.

“It seems a bit bizarre, it is something it has to look at, it’s obvious it wasn’t tested,” Fernandes said in an interview on Tuesday. “I’m not an expert but it failed...

Global footballers’ union FIFPro says that seven players embroiled in a Malaysian national team eligibility scandal are themselves victims and their 12-month bans “grossly disproportionate”.

Malaysia’s federation, FAM, has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after football’s world governing body Fifa banned the players and fined FAM US$440,000 in September for submitting false documents that said the foreign-born players had Malaysian ancestry.

The players were also fined 2,000 Swiss...

Suyitno first saw the news of a deadly fire at Wang Fuk Court in Hong Kong’s Tai Po district on social media last Wednesday afternoon.

Yet, despite the harrowing footage of the estate engulfed in billowing smoke and leaping flames, Suyitno, who lives in the Indonesian city of Malang in East Java and whose wife was working in Hong Kong as a domestic helper, was not immediately concerned.

He did not recognise the location as the workplace of his 39-year-old wife Erawati, who had been living on and...

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. Accountability test for Philippines’ Marcos family as budget scandal widens

A former prominent lawmaker now in hiding has released new videos accusing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s family of orchestrating massive corruption, escalating a scandal that is...

A boy sexually abused his sister, who was six years his junior, over 10 years from when she was seven.

It was only in 2023 that the girl confided in her partner and her sisters and lodged a police report.

The offender, a Singaporean now aged 31, was sentenced by the High Court on Monday to 10 years’ jail and 24 strokes of the cane.

He cannot be named to protect the identity of his sister, who is now 25.

He pleaded guilty to three charges of sexual assault by penetration and incest, with another...