Asia - South China Morning Post

Vietnam has introduced a raft of incentives to encourage couples to have more children as the Southeast Asian nation seeks to reverse a fast-declining fertility rate.

Gone is the country’s long-standing two-child policy, scrapped last year. In its place is a new population law, which took effect on July 1, offering a suite of sweeteners designed to nudge Vietnamese couples towards larger families.

These include seven months of maternity leave for second children, subsidised prenatal and newborn...

A video showing a Chinese tourist berating hotel staff in Malaysia for not flying China’s flag has gone viral after viewers pointed out the flags belonged to the nations competing in the Fifa World Cup finals.

The man, who was reportedly in Kuala Lumpur on business, confronted a staff member at his hotel’s breakfast restaurant after noticing flags from dozens of countries but not China’s.

In the clip, he can be seen interrogating a visibly confused worker for an explanation before telling her:...

No further action was necessary by Singapore’s parliament against Workers’ Party (WP) politicians Sylvia Lim and Faisal Manap over their lying under oath, as the case fell outside a legal time bar, Leader of the House Indranee Rajah said on Tuesday.

“Had the timelines been different, I would have proposed a different course of action,” she told parliament while delivering a ministerial statement on a “determination” of the Committee of Privileges’ (COP) findings on Lim and Faisal.

Lim is a...

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.

1. US touts regional ‘balance’ in missile sale to Singapore. What does it mean?

Washington has recently approved a proposed US$22.3 million sale of additional Hellfire missiles to Singapore, with the US State Department declaring that the transfer and associated arms...

Japan is facing mounting calls to decide whether its long-frozen development aid to Myanmar should stay that way, as rights advocates warn that any resumption could ease pressure on a regime accused of widespread abuses.

The decision is a delicate one for Tokyo, which has tried to retain influence in Myanmar without appearing to legitimise the junta that seized power in 2021 – all while watching China deepen its own engagement with the country.

Human Rights Watch has urged Japan to resist...

Singapore is the world’s most expensive city for luxury spending for a fourth consecutive year, as prices on items such as watches and jewellery surge around the globe.

Zurich climbed to second place, edging out London, while Monaco entered the top three for the first time since the survey began in 2020, according to an annual report by Swiss wealth manager Julius Baer Group. Hong Kong and London rounded out the top five.

Zurich’s three-place rise was propelled by the strengthening of the Swiss...

A man ⁠scaled the 140-metre-high (460 ⁠foot) tower of ⁠a cantilever bridge in the Australian city of Melbourne on Tuesday and painted a giant cartoon bird on it, disrupting morning commuter traffic.

The man demanded ‌a peanut butter sandwich be delivered by drone before he would come down, causing a stand-off with police and closing a lane on the Bolte Bridge.

“A man has scaled the bridge and remains in a restricted area ⁠on the eastern tower. He is refusing to follow police direction ‌and come...

At Carousell’s Singapore office, a red tunnel greets employees with the company’s mission to “make second-hand the first choice” – a slogan its leaders say is moving closer to reality as the platform for buying and selling used goods recorded its first positive adjusted operating profit.

The Singapore-headquartered company, last valued at US$1.1 billion in 2021, said on Tuesday it had achieved positive Ebitda – earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortisation – for the first time,...

New Zealand’s flood-prone homes are outperforming the rest of the country’s moribund housing market, as buyers chase lower prices and shrug off climate risks.

Properties facing the highest flood risk have gained 26.1 per cent in value since January 2020, compared with 19.8 per cent for homes with no exposure, property consultancy Cotality said in Wellington on Tuesday. Discounts of as much as NZ$100,000 (US$60,000) on some houses were proving too tempting for cost-conscious consumers, it...

Lynas Rare Earths said on Tuesday it had signed a partnership deal with South Korea’s JS Link to develop a magnet factory in Malaysia.

The Australian rare-earths producer will also supply materials to JS Link’s magnet factory in South Korea and the planned factory in Malaysia until January 2038. The partnership follows a magnet manufacturing deal between the two companies ⁠last year.

Under the latest deal, JS Link will establish a magnet factory in ‌Kuantan, Malaysia, with an operating capacity...