Asia - South China Morning Post

A court in Bangladesh’s capital of Dhaka sentenced former prime minister Sheikh Hasina to five years in prison and her niece, British Labour Party lawmaker Tulip Siddiq, to two years in prison on Monday for corruption involving a government land project.

Rabiul Alam, the judge of Dhaka’s Special Judge’s Court, said Hasina misused her power as prime minister while Siddiq was guilty of corruptly influencing her aunt in helping her mother and two siblings get a land plot in a government...

The leader of one of South Korea’s largest cultlike churches stood trial on Monday accused of bribing the country’s former first lady with gifts including a designer handbag and a diamond necklace.

The arrest of leader Han Hak-ja in September rocked the Unification Church, which claims to have 10 million followers worldwide and controls a sprawling business empire.

The 82-year-old defendant, known to her followers as “holy mother”, also faces corruption charges over cash payments to a lawmaker...

The toll in deadly flooding and landslides across parts of Asia climbed past 1,000 on Monday as hardest-hit Sri Lanka and Indonesia deployed military personnel to help survivors.

Separate weather systems brought torrential, extended rainfall to the entire island of Sri Lanka and large parts of Indonesia’s Sumatra, southern Thailand and northern Malaysia last week.

Much of the region is currently in its monsoon season, but climate change is producing more extreme rain events and turbocharging...

India and Indonesia are close to finalising a US$450 million sale of BrahMos missiles, in a deal analysts say could give Southeast Asia a long-sought alternative to dependence on the US or China.

The deal, discussed last Thursday during the third India–Indonesia Defence Ministers’ Dialogue co-chaired by Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh and his Indonesian counterpart Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin, would make Indonesia only the second Southeast Asian country after the Philippines to acquire the missile...

Australian police said on Monday they had charged four men in Sydney in relation to “satanic” child sex abuse material circulating online.

Detectives were investigating an “international satanic child abuse material ring”, when they identified the suspects in Sydney, New South Wales state police said.

The men are accused of possessing, distributing, and facilitating child abuse material through a website that was administered internationally.

Police arrested the four on Thursday, including a...

Tengku Zafrul Aziz is rarely seen without his signature gleaming white smile and well-tailored suit over a trim physique and flat tummy, evidence of a strict exercise regimen.

Malaysia’s minister of investment, trade and industry jokes that he is often mistaken for a Singaporean politician when abroad, perhaps because of his lean appearance and – this part is unspoken – his technocratic background. But there is one difference: “You can ask me anything on stage and I’ll try to answer.”

Despite...

Japan’s beloved Princess Aiko is often cheered like a pop star.

During a visit to Nagasaki with Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako, the sound of her name being screamed by well-wishers along the roads overwhelmed the cheers for her parents.

As she turns 24 on Monday, her supporters want to change Japan’s male-only succession law, which prohibits Aiko, the emperor’s only child, from becoming monarch.

Along with frustration that the discussion on succession rules has stalled, there is a sense of...

Academics have sounded the alarm over the decline in programmes devoted to Japanese language, culture, history, art and other social science disciplines at universities in the United States, warning that a “short-sighted” approach could threaten future trade, business and diplomatic ties with one of Washington’s key allies.

Funding for liberal arts courses at US universities has been under pressure for some years, but observers say the pace of the decline appears to be accelerating as greater...

Last year, JYP Entertainment spent 1.12 billion won (US$763,000) on developing new talent, according to its annual business report. The South Korean company operates a dedicated rookie development division that selects K-pop trainees through auditions and provides training in vocals, dance and foreign languages.

From an agency’s perspective, trainees are the engine that drives future growth, making early investment essential. JYP’s spending on trainee development increased by about 30 per cent...

As the clock strikes 8am in Penang, Syamil Azizi slips into his daily grind: picking up passengers across the island in his little Perodua runabout.

At noon, he pauses just long enough to pick up his two daughters from school before returning to the road, often until well past sundown.

Weekends offer no reprieve. Then, the 33-year-old swaps his helmet for a chef’s hat, working weddings and school functions as part of a seven-day grind that keeps his family afloat but offers little security...