Asia - South China Morning Post

Britain and the United States on Tuesday sanctioned a Southeast Asia-based multinational network accused of operating large-scale online “scam centres” that used trafficked workers to defraud victims around the world.

The British government said the centres, located in Cambodia, Myanmar and across the region, used fake job adverts to lure workers who were then forced to commit online fraud under threat of torture.

This included luring victims into fake romantic relationships before persuading...

Singapore’s government has reinforced its bottomline of zero tolerance for the politics of race and religion as well as foreign interference, arguing that such elements should be rejected swiftly.

In parliament on Tuesday, Workers’ Party (WP) chief Pritam Singh and Coordinating Minister for National Security K. Shanmugam disagreed on the “timing” and “substance” of the WP in rejecting election endorsements by a self-styled Islamic preacher Noor Deros and Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS)...

A fire at a garment factory in Bangladesh and a nearby chemical warehouse on Tuesday killed at least 16 people and injured several, with the death toll expected to rise as rescue efforts continued, an official said.

“Sixteen bodies have been recovered from the second and third floors of the garment factory,” fire service director Tajul Islam Chowdhury said.

He said the cause of the blaze wasn’t immediately known.

The fire broke out at around midday on the third floor of the seven-storey factory...

A viral hot mic moment in which Indonesia’s President Prabowo Subianto was heard asking US President Donald Trump if he could meet his son Eric shortly after the Gaza ceasefire summit in Egypt has raised questions about Jakarta’s diplomatic strategy and whether the move was tied to any business agenda.

The offhand exchange, however, is not expected to have much political bearing in Indonesia as observers note Prabowo enjoys strong support back home.

The brief conversation between the two...

As US President Donald Trump continues to hail the peace plan to end the Israel-Gaza conflict, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has urged caution, saying he was not invited to the ceasefire signing ceremony in Egypt due to his concerns over the deal’s details and its durability.

On Monday, Israel began releasing nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners during the first phase of the deal, while Hamas militants released 20 surviving Israeli hostages kidnapped during its assault on southern Israel...

Police in Malaysia have arrested a 14-year-old boy in connection with the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old female student at a school in Selangor on Tuesday.

“The suspect allegedly stabbed the female student outside a classroom, and she died at the scene,” Inspector-General of Police Mohd Khalid Ismail was quoted as saying by The Star.

He added that the police have yet to establish a motive behind the incident, which occurred at SMK Bandar Utama Damansara (No 4), in Petaling Jaya.

The authorities...

The death of a South Korean student in Cambodia, leading to Seoul summoning the Cambodian ambassador, is set to dent tourism and Phnom Penh’s reputation in the eyes of the Korean public, but ties between both sides may not be drastically affected, according to analysts.

Last Friday, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun summoned the Cambodian ambassador in Seoul to protest the death of the student, linked to an employment scam in Cambodia. Cho also called for stronger measures to tackle the rising number of...

A plan to construct South Korea’s first civic nuclear bunker in the country’s capital has raised eyebrows, as critics question both its practicality and potential to inflame public anxiety amid growing threats from the nuclear-armed North.

Seoul Metropolitan Government’s plan reflects both the growing unease over Pyongyang’s advancing nuclear arsenal and broader global instability, analysts say.

City officials have confirmed that the underground fallout shelter will be built beneath a new public...

Pakistan has vowed to respond to future terrorist attacks launched from Afghanistan with overwhelming military force after deadly cross-border clashes over the weekend, with the conflict setting the stage for prolonged hostilities between Islamabad and the Taliban regime.

Analysts say the fighting, sparked by retaliatory Pakistani air strikes against insurgents in Kabul and the eastern Afghan province of Paktika on Thursday, is unlikely to break into an all-out war, but a diplomatic solution...

Western sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine have shifted global energy flows, with India and China emerging as prominent buyers of Russian oil. The question is no longer from whom New Delhi and Beijing will purchase energy, but in which currency they will pay.

Amid warming ties between India and China following US President Donald Trump’s imposition of sweeping tariffs on Indian exports after New Delhi refused to stop purchasing Russian oil, Indian traders are reportedly asking...