Asia - South China Morning Post

A 15-year-old student was stabbed multiple times at a secondary school in Malaysia on Monday, in an attack that sent students fleeing and prompted a police investigation.

The suspect, also 15, has been arrested and was set to be remanded on Tuesday, with the case being investigated under Section 307 of the Penal Code for attempted murder.

Kuala Langat district police chief Superintendent Mohd Akmalrizal Radzi said police received a report at about 9.50am on Monday that a female student had been...

A ⁠Philippine senator who is ⁠an ally of Vice-President Sara ⁠Duterte-Carpio was arrested on Monday on a plunder charge, hours before the Senate begins a high-stakes impeachment trial that could determine Duterte’s political future.

Senator Rodante Marcoleta was due to sit as a senator-judge on Monday at the impeachment trial ‌against Duterte-Carpio. If convicted by a two-thirds majority in the 24-member Senate, Duterte-Carpio could be barred from running in the 2028 elections, where she remains...

For decades, the Philippine Air Force hunted communist rebels and Islamist militants in the country’s forests and southern islands.

Now, amid seemingly intractable tensions in the South China Sea, it is being reshaped into an armed service meant to defend one of Asia’s most contested maritime frontiers – even as analysts rank it the weakest air arm among Southeast Asia’s six largest militaries.

“Because we are an archipelago, we really need to strengthen our air assets,” air force spokeswoman...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim has promised durian growers in Johor that he will raise their falling prices with his “good friend” Chinese Premier Li Qiang during a visit to Beijing next month, as a nationwide glut leaves farmers struggling to sell the famously pungent fruit at sustainable prices.

Speaking during a political campaign stop in Johor, where a state election will be held on Saturday, Anwar said growers had complained to him during his two-day swing through the southern state...

A 24-year-old man has died after he was reportedly struck by lightning in Singapore.

The man was among a group of people, aged between 13 and 54, who were taken to hospital on Sunday afternoon, the police said on Monday.

The police said they had received a call for help on Sunday at about 4.50pm from 131 Pasir Ris Road, just off Pasir Ris Beach.

The incident reportedly involved a lightning strike.

Two people were taken to KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital, while five others were taken to...

Australia signed a new defence alliance with Fiji on Monday, bolstering ties with its South Pacific island neighbour as it seeks to outmanoeuvre China in the region.

The Ocean of Peace alliance elevates Fiji to one of Australia’s few treaty allies and binds each nation to come to the other’s “mutual defence”.

China sent waves through the region in 2022 when it signed a secretive security pact with the Solomon Islands, stoking fears it could one day lead to a permanent military...

A prefecture in western Japan is drawing attention for a unique bear management programme that uses microchips implanted in captured animals to estimate population levels and guide culling decisions, as rising sightings across the country fuel calls for more effective countermeasures.

Hyogo prefecture says it is the first in Japan to use information gathered from microchipped bears to determine an appropriate population size and maintain a balance between conservation and population control.

The...

The South Korean won was stable against the dollar after inching higher as the currency began its first day of 24-hour trading, marking a milestone in Seoul’s push to open its financial markets to global investors.

The won eased 0.1 per cent to 1,531.40 against the US dollar, after rising as much as 0.2 per cent when it started trading at 6am. Other major currency pairs were little changed.

The launch of 24-hour trading is the centrepiece of a years-long effort to improve foreign access to local...

Three months after moving from China to Japan, Alisa Lin has yet to buy a single drink from Mixue – the Chinese ice cream and tea giant – despite being a frequent customer back home, where a cup costs under five yuan (73 US cents) during promotions.

“It’s not a very popular brand here. Only one of my friends in Japan has ever bought it,” Lin said, adding that value for money was the main consideration behind her own consumer choices in Tokyo. While Mixue’s basic teas are cheap, a plain bubble...

In the Philippine capital, 85 pesos (US$1.40) is barely enough to buy a meal for one, let alone a family of five.

Yet that modest sum, roughly the price of 1½kg of premium imported rice, is the largest single wage increase ever approved for Metro Manila’s minimum-wage earners.

The government called it “historic”. Labour groups called it an insult.

The increase, to be rolled out in two stages, was confirmed by the Department of Labour and Employment on Tuesday.

Non-agricultural workers will see...