Asia - South China Morning Post

Thousands of residents fled their homes along the Pacific seaboard of the Philippines on Saturday as Tropical Storm Fengshen made landfall, triggering warnings of coastal flooding.

The storm barrelled into the municipality of Gubat at the southeastern tip of the main island of Luzon late afternoon, with gusts of up to 80km (50 miles) an hour, the government weather service said.

There were no immediate reports of serious damage or casualties, authorities said, with evacuations already carried...

Are politicians dispensable, and can elite bureaucrats run a country more efficiently? The question has become one of more than academic importance in Japan, where the political situation has degenerated into chaos as potential leaders and their parties vie for power.

This is a question that has considerable economic and financial as well as political significance. Japan is a key trade, investment and security partner to other leading nations in and beyond Asia and its financial markets are...

One month after Nepal’s youth-led revolt redrew the political map, competing visions for the future and the daunting challenge of turning protest into meaningful reform are casting uncertainty over the country’s political future.

In the wake of the September uprising, which ousted the government of K.P. Sharma Oli and left more than 70 people dead, new Gen Z factions have proliferated, defined by their deep ideological divides.

Groups with names like the Gen Z Alliance, Real Gen Z Nepal and Gen...

Authorities in Thailand and Singapore are looking into a Cambodian real estate group after the United States and Britain imposed sanctions on the company’s chairman on allegations of fraud and money laundering.

Surapol Prembutr, commissioner of the Cyber Crime Investigation Bureau, said Thai officials would work with their US counterparts to review the asset seizure process and legal proceedings involving Prince Holding Group, the Bangkok Post reported.

Singapore police were looking into the...

Openings at overseas energy storage operations flood John Yang’s screen anytime he browses recruitment websites, with listed giants and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) alike offering salaries well above those typically found in China’s manufacturing sector.

“Job seeking has never felt easier. The only worry is whether the new role could last beyond next year,” joked Yang, Thailand director at a Shenzhen-based energy storage firm.

Yang’s experience reflects the recent, rapid overseas...

As dusk settles over Angeles City, Justin Cunanan prepares for another long night. While the rest of the Philippines sleeps, he joins millions of his compatriots powering a global industry that is now facing threats from both Washington and Silicon Valley.

For the next nine hours, the 33-year-old will field customer service calls for a company based in the United States.

The night shift is gruelling, but for Cunanan, who previously worked in hospitality, the benefits of a business process...

Myanmar’s ruling junta said on Saturday that it had recaptured a town on a trade highway to China from an ethnic armed group in the country’s war-wracked north.

Following a 16-day operation, “Tatmadaw reoccupied Hsipaw completely” on Thursday, the state-run Global New Light of Myanmar newspaper said, referring to the military by its Burmese name.

Northern Shan state has been rocked by fighting since June 2024 when an alliance of ethnic armed groups renewed an offensive against the military along...

Sixty-four South Koreans who had been detained in Cambodia for alleged involvement in cyberscam operations returned home on Saturday and were under arrest, police said.

South Korea had sent a team to Cambodia on Wednesday to discuss cases of fake jobs and scam centres involved in kidnapping dozens of its nationals.

“A total of 64 nationals just arrived at Incheon International Airport on a chartered flight,” a police official said.

Seoul had said around 60 South Koreans had been detained by...

As the streets of Dili thrum with anticipation, East Timor is preparing for a diplomatic victory decades in the making.

Next weekend, Asia’s youngest nation is set to take its place as the 11th member of Asean – concluding a campaign for acceptance hard won through an unflinching belief in its own destiny.

For the country of some 1.4 million people on the eastern half of Timor island, it represents both a declaration of belonging and an affirmation that its future lies squarely within Southeast...

A breast cancer awareness fundraiser by a South Korean high fashion magazine has come under fire for focusing too much on the celebrities and not on the cause itself.

Photos and videos of celebrities such as BTS’ V and RM, Aespa’s Karina and Lovely Runner actor Byeon Woo-seok drinking and partying at W Korea’s “Love Your W 2025” breast cancer awareness campaign at the Four Seasons Hotel in Seoul’s Jongno district on Wednesday sparked criticism that the event looked more like a fashion party than...