Asia - South China Morning Post

People in Thailand wanting to quench their thirst with an afternoon tipple risk steep fines from Saturday under amended alcohol control legislation that strengthens enforcement and significantly tightens restrictions around marketing and advertising.

Alcohol sales in Thailand have been banned between the hours of 2pm and 5pm at most retail outlets and supermarkets since 1972, but changes to the Alcoholic Beverage Control Act that take effect on Saturday now mean individuals can be fined 10,000...

A Singaporean battery recycling start-up has been crowned overall winner at this year’s EPIC start-up investment competition hosted by the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corp.

One hundred semi-finalists from 28 countries and regions gathered at the Kai Tak Cruise Terminal on Friday as they competed for the top cash prize of US$60,000 and valuable exposure to dozens of the region’s top investors.

This year’s EPIC – short for Elevator Pitch International Competition – marked the ninth...

President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s sharp decline in public trust and approval, set against Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s steadier numbers, underscores the shifting balance of power between two of the most influential political dynasties in the Philippines.

While both leaders remain broadly popular, analysts say the latest figures suggest Duterte-Carpio’s camp may be regaining momentum as Marcos grapples with scandals, governance missteps and waning confidence in his leadership – deepening a...

The publicist of Taiwanese influencer Iris Hsieh, who was found dead in a Kuala Lumpur hotel room shared with Malaysian rapper Namewee, has paid tribute to his friend, hitting back at a cascade of “outrageous” rumours about the former nurse that have filled the information gap left by Kuala Lumpur police.

Hsieh, 31, who shot to fame over TikTok and OnlyFans, was found dead in a bathroom of the Banyan Tree Hotel on October 22. She had arrived two days earlier in Malaysia to reportedly work on a...

A 60-metre (196-foot) tower collapsed during demolition work at a decommissioned thermal power plant in the South Korean city of Ulsan, killing three people and leaving at least two others presumed dead, officials said on Friday.

Five people remain trapped under the rubble, including two whom officials have yet to locate.

Nine people were working at the site when the boiler tower collapsed on Thursday afternoon. Rescuers pulled two to safety shortly after responding, but another worker rescued...

Explosions at a mosque in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta that injured dozens of people during Friday prayers could have been an attack, officials indicated, with a 17-year-old student identified as the suspected perpetrator.

Police said 55 people were in hospitals with a range of minor to serious injuries, including burns, after the blasts at the mosque inside a school complex in the Kelapa Gading area.

Deputy House Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, speaking to media after visiting a hospital, said the...

The US lifted its arms embargo on Cambodia, the latest sign of Washington’s renewed engagement with the Southeast Asian nation after it backed President Donald Trump’s peace accord with Thailand.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio made the decision “based on Cambodia’s diligent pursuit of peace and security, including through renewed engagement with the United States on defence cooperation and combating transnational crime”, the State Department said in a notice Thursday.

The announcement comes a...

South Korea flew military drones over Pyongyang just weeks before then-president Yoon Suk-yeol declared martial law last December, a provocation that triggered North Korea to prepare for war, according to Seoul’s defence intelligence agency.

The revelation, disclosed in a closed-door parliamentary briefing on Wednesday, adds to mounting scrutiny over Yoon’s final months in office, with opposition lawmakers accusing him of attempting to fabricate a national security crisis to justify an...

A man who slashed actor Ryan Lian over a staring incident outside Singapore’s NEX shopping centre was sentenced to nine months’ jail on Friday.

Aaron Samuel Yukon, a 22-year-old Singaporean, pleaded guilty to one count of causing grievous hurt. A second charge of possessing a karambit (curved blade) knife was taken into consideration.

The court heard that the victim, Lian Yong Yi, better known as Ryan Lian, was smoking near the sheltered walkway outside NEX shopping plaza in Serangoon Central at...

When New York elected its first Muslim mayor, Zohran Mamdani, on Tuesday, Malaysians were quick to notice how many Americans blundered in pronouncing his surname as “Madani”, the slogan Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has spent three years trying to brand as the heart of his government.

The viral gaffe began when a right-wing US podcaster, intending to refer to the newly elected mayor, claimed on Wednesday that “Madani” had tried to ban the late conservative commentator Charlie Kirk from an event...