Asia - South China Morning Post

From the ready-made “dystopia” of Bangkok’s skyline to the moody limestone cliffs of Krabi, Thailand has for decades served as the backdrop for foreign filmmakers’ flights of fancy.

Now, the country is looking to fly even higher by luring in global streaming platforms with a combination of generous tax breaks and highly skilled local production crew.

Its largest and most recent catch is the sci-fi series Alien: Earth on Disney, created by Noah Hawley with Ridley Scott serving as one of the...

It began as a settlement for Chinese converts to Catholicism. Four centuries later, the world’s oldest Chinatown is a living reminder of how migration can shape a nation.

At its height, Binondo was the Philippines’ commercial capital. From here, Tsinoy merchants – “Tsinoy” being a blend of the words Tsina (Chinese) and Pinoy (Filipino) – built their fortunes in banking, retail and trade.

Some of the country’s richest families can trace their roots to this single square kilometre of Manila: five...

Australia posted a US$659,000 reward on Saturday for the arrest of a gunman on the run for a 12th day after allegedly killing two police officers.

Police in the eastern state of Victoria said they were offering the “life-changing” amount in their hunt for the 56-year-old fugitive, Desmond Freeman.

Freeman is accused of opening fire when police arrived at his home in Victoria with a search warrant.

The shooting killed 59-year-old detective Neal Thompson and 35-year-old senior constable Vadim de...

Emma Choo, a four-year-old Singaporean, possesses an ability that is rare among her young peers – she can greet people in Hokkien, a Chinese dialect that has plummeted in usage in Singapore in recent years.

Catherine Shih, Emma’s 52-year-old mother, is raising her daughter to learn Hokkien along with Mandarin and English out of concern that the younger generation is forgetting their heritage, especially after the death of Shih’s Hokkien-speaking mother and her father developed...

More than a quarter of Japanese citizens were exposed to rumours or falsehoods on social media following natural disasters, according to a new survey, with some admitting they inadvertently hampered emergency responses by sharing the misinformation.

The study was conducted by the Japanese Red Cross Society in the run-up to Disaster Prevention Day on Monday. The annual event commemorates the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake, a magnitude-8 tremor that struck some 60km southwest of Tokyo and caused...

The guilt hangs heavily over Jerry* whenever his mind drifts back to his school days in Kota Kinabalu and that quiet “awkward kid” he once tormented.

Sitting at the back of the classroom, the boy was an easy target for Jerry and his friends, who delighted in humiliating him by stealing his shoes, tugging down his trousers or meting out the occasional beating.

They were only 12, behaving as children do, he once thought. But more than two decades later, Jerry feels the weight of what those moments...

At the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Tianjin this week, the choreography was striking. Chinese President Xi Jinping, flanked by Russian President Vladimir Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, unveiled proposals for a development bank, expanded BeiDou satellite services, and cooperation in green technology, artificial intelligence and infrastructure.

The message was unmistakable: the SCO is no longer just a security forum. It is evolving into a platform offering...

US President Donald Trump suggested on Friday that India is drifting towards China’s orbit, even as his assertive tariffs and public rebukes have tested ties with New Delhi.

Aides are warning that India could soon regret its stance and even face new curbs.

“Looks like we’ve lost India and Russia to deepest, darkest, China. May they have a long and prosperous future together,” the “America first” president wrote on social media.

His remarks were posted alongside a photo of Indian Prime Minister...

US Navy Seals shot and killed a number of North Korean civilians during a botched covert mission to plant a listening device in the nuclear-armed country during high-stakes diplomatic negotiations in 2019, The New York Times reported on Friday.

Citing unidentified sources, including current and former military officials with knowledge of the still-classified details, the newspaper said US President Donald Trump approved the operation during his first administration, as he was involved in...

Singapore must remain a reliable base and a gateway to Asia’s dynamism in an increasingly divided world, while addressing social mobility and cohesion at home, President Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Friday.

Tharman, a former cabinet minister, was speaking at the opening of the 15th parliament in Singapore, during which the city state’s president addresses MPs on key issues in the fresh five-year term.

He noted that the new parliament was opening amid a more fragmented world where economic...