Asia - South China Morning Post

A court order requiring Japan’s government to compensate the family of a Peruvian man whose arm was broken at an immigration facility has intensified scrutiny of the country’s detention system, with rights experts warning that the case shows reforms are urgently needed.

On June 25, the Osaka High Court ordered the government to pay 880,000 yen (US$5,400) in damages to the family of Vladimir Burgos Fujii, a Peruvian man of Japanese descent who was injured while being restrained at the facility in...

More than 2 million cars could be damaged by tsunami waves in the event of a megaquake along the Nankai Trough off Japan’s Pacific coast, according to a survey by an organisation offering free rental vehicles to disaster victims.

The survey, which covered 12 of Japan’s 47 prefectures, including Aichi in central Japan, showed that at least 2.04 million privately owned vehicles could be hit by tsunami waves following a magnitude-8 or -9 earthquake – about five times the number of vehicles damaged...

Ukraine’s unresolved decision regarding two North Korean prisoners of war who have said they want to go to South Korea has given Kyiv leverage as it presses Seoul to sell weapons for its war against Russia, observers say.

The soldiers, captured in early 2025 after being deployed to Kursk to support Russia’s war effort, are considered South Korean nationals under Seoul’s constitution, which defines the entire Korean peninsula as the country’s territory.

Seoul has said it would be willing to...

When people speak of the Great Game, they usually mean the 19th-century rivalry between the British and Russian empires for influence over Central Asia. It conjures up images of spies crossing deserts, mountain fortresses and imperial intrigue – an era vividly brought to life in Peter Hopkirk’s books, which first awakened my fascination with the region.

A century and a half after the Great Game, another contest is unfolding across the same region. To the north is Russia, the region’s traditional...

We have selected seven of the most interesting and important news stories covering global relations from the past few weeks. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.

1. With no team in World Cup, Chinese fans root for Ronaldo, Messi … and a referee

Among the hundreds of thousands of fans who travelled to North America for the World Cup are countless Chinese supporters. Yet while China remains one of the world’s largest football markets, its presence at the...

Indian telecom giant Reliance Jio’s plan to launch one of the country’s largest public share offerings in recent years is expected to shake up the domestic market and spur digital companies to raise funds amid a lull in the Iran war and global trade tensions.

Earlier this month, the company filed its initial public offering plan with the Securities and Exchange Board of India to raise US$3.8 billion to US$4 billion, potentially surpassing Hyundai Motor India’s record US$3.3 billion IPO in 2024....

When Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto promised to build 80,000 village cooperatives across the archipelago, the aim was to drive rural growth, strengthen food security and give communities greater control over essential goods and services.

But the deaths of five trainees preparing to manage the cooperatives have cast a shadow over the US$13.4 billion programme, one of Prabowo’s flagship initiatives alongside free nutritious meals and affordable housing.

The trainees were required to take...

Malaysia has given its courts the power to prosecute some sexual offences against children committed overseas, extending the reach of its law beyond national borders as abuse allegations increasingly cross countries, devices and jurisdictions.

But lawyers and child rights advocates say the change will only be as strong as Malaysia’s ability to secure evidence, obtain cooperation from foreign governments and support child victims through complex cross-border cases.

The amendment comes amid...

Malaysia’s Johor election has opened a new front in the country’s long-running racial politics, after former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and Islamist party PAS urged voters to put “Malay-Muslim political power” ahead of party loyalty in one of the country’s most closely watched state polls.

The southern state, which borders Singapore and sits at the centre of Malaysia’s cross-border growth plans, is also a stronghold for the United Malays National Organisation.

The Barisan Nasional (BN)...

Just days after she last saw a girl, known to her friends as Cake, on Pattaya Beach, Ning began to realise the unfolding horrors that shocked Thailand.

Ning said she regularly saw the teenager at the beach, where many young women gathered daily, drawn to the Thai resort city’s neon-lit nightlife as an escape from unemployment.

On Saturday, the 17-year-old was found dead, her body placed inside a black suitcase and dumped in scrubland beside a railway track.

“I would see her often. I didn’t...