Asia - South China Morning Post

Prime office rents in Hong Kong and Singapore are expected to reach parity within two years, driven by diverging dynamics in demand and supply for office properties in the rival business hubs, according to CBRE.

By the fourth quarter of 2027, tenants in premium office spaces in Hong Kong were set to pay just over US$122 per square foot per year, while those in Singapore would face slightly higher costs at about US$123 per square foot annually, said Ada Choi, head of research for Asia-Pacific at...

A former member of the South Korean rock band Boohwal has been identified as one of 69 people implicated in a Ponzi scheme that collected more than 200 billion won (US$136 million) from illegal investments and stole 19 billion won.

Police said singer Kim Jae-hee, 54, who once performed as Boohwal’s fourth vocalist, took part in promotional activities that helped recruit victims.

According to the Incheon Metropolitan Police Agency on Sunday, Kim was among those sent to prosecutors on charges...

Snapchat has begun asking teenage Australians to verify their ages, the company said on Monday, just weeks before Canberra enforces sweeping laws banning under-16s from social media.

From December 10, Australia will force social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, to remove users under the age of 16 or face hefty fines.

“Starting this week, many users will be asked to verify their age to continue accessing Snapchat,” the company said.

Users will be able to do so using an...

When activist Sudirman Arshad walked into a Kota Kinabalu police station last month, the 22-year-old expected to file a routine report after a minor traffic accident. Instead, he was held for hours and questioned under Malaysia’s Sedition Act over a rally he had helped organise.

The experience left him shaken, but also confirmed a nagging suspicion: Sabah’s political establishment has finally realised that Gen Z is no longer content to sit quietly on the sidelines.

His brush with the law came as...

South Korea, under President Lee Jae-myung, has repeatedly proclaimed its desire to improve relations and re-engage in diplomacy with North Korea. Yet a landmark agreement with Washington formalised last week reveals a starkly different priority: advancing military capabilities that will almost certainly drive the two Koreas further apart.

The United States has officially approved South Korea’s pursuit of nuclear-powered submarines while supporting Seoul’s efforts to secure uranium enrichment...

Heavy rain, severe flooding and landslides in Vietnam have killed at least 90 people in the last week, authorities said on Sunday, leaving others stranded on rooftops and mountain roadways blocked.

Relentless rain has lashed south-central Vietnam since late October, and popular holiday destinations have been hit by several rounds of flooding, with economic losses estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars.

Whole sections of coastal Nha Trang city were flooded last week, while deadly...

A UN wildlife trade body decided on Sunday not to restrict India from importing endangered animals after many countries supported reversing an earlier stringent recommendation that had embroiled the private zoo run by Asia’s richest family.

Vantara, a 3,500-acre zoo in Gujarat run by the philanthropic arm of the Reliance conglomerate led by Mukesh Ambani and his family, faced allegations from non-profit and wildlife groups of improper imports of some animals, triggering higher scrutiny by...

The crash of India’s Tejas fighter in front of global arms buyers at the Dubai Air Show is the latest blow to a key national trophy, leaving the jet reliant on Indian military orders to sustain its role as a showcase of home-built defence technology.

The cause of Friday’s crash was not immediately known but it capped a week of jockeying for influence at the event, attended by India’s arch-rival Pakistan six months after the neighbouring foes faced off in the world’s largest air battle in...

A tentative thaw in India–China ties is rekindling hopes that the two Asian giants could move from strategic rivalry to clean-energy cooperation at a moment when the Global South is searching for leverage in climate negotiations.

This cautious warming, after four years of strained relations, has unfolded alongside renewed trade in green-energy components and their increasingly aligned push at Cop30 in Brazil for more climate finance and fairer rules, a convergence that analysts say could subtly...

When the rains fall over Madrid, a quiet rural town in the southern Philippines, muddy brown torrents sweep through rice fields and homes.

For Beth Samblado, the floodwater is a recurring reminder of a struggle she and her neighbours in Surigao del Sur province have waged, largely alone, against nickel mining.

“We’re asking the government again to please stop the mining,” the 51-year-old told This Week in Asia in Filipino from her modest eatery in the town centre.

Years ago, she and her fellow...