Asia - South China Morning Post

A Malaysian paediatrician based in Perth has been remanded on 33 charges of child sexual offences and possession of child exploitation material, widening a case that Australian prosecutors say involves multiple children.

The case adds to a list of child sex-related prosecutions involving Malaysian medical practitioners overseas, including a child psychiatrist jailed in Ireland in 2024, and another doctor convicted in Australia last year.

Saw Chia Liang, 41, remains in custody after his latest...

Every booking inquiry that lands in dive operator Richard Swann’s inbox these days carries the same undertow of anxiety. Before his clients commit to a dive trip off Kota Kinabalu, they want reassurance: are Sabah’s reefs still worth the journey?

It is a question that would have seemed strange a generation ago, when the waters off Malaysian Borneo were simply assumed to be among the finest on Earth. Now it is one of the first things visitors ask – and the answer, according to a new environmental...

A Form Two male student died after collapsing during a rugby training session at a secondary school in Telok Mas, Malaysia’s Melaka state.

The 14-year-old is believed to have lost consciousness at about 6pm on Wednesday shortly after a break while listening to a briefing by his coach.

The victim’s granduncle, Yahya Endut, 64, said he rushed from Alor Gajah after receiving news of the incident involving the teenager, whom he had raised since childhood.

“I was informed that the victim had only...

The war in Iran is effectively over. Although the dust has yet to settle, some lessons are already visible.

First, US President Donald Trump has waged a personal war at the world’s expense. Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu warned that arms are ill-omened tools, employed only as a last resort. Trump, who has admitted he doesn’t like to read, may not realise this. Few people know why he ordered a strike on Iran. Maybe kidnapping president Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela was too easy or Israeli Prime...

Pakistan police said on Wednesday that they had rescued a French woman and her five children after she told authorities she had been held captive by her husband for more than a decade and subjected to years of domestic abuse in the country’s northwest.

The woman, identified as 54-year-old Sylvie Yasmina, was rescued earlier this week from a mud-brick home in Bara, a town in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province near the Afghan border, district police chief Waqar Ahmad said.

He said Yasmina’s husband,...

A key road named after US President Donald Trump in India’s opposition-ruled tech hub of Hyderabad has drawn criticism from ‌Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party, which dismissed the move as “hypocrisy”.

US-India ties have deteriorated during Trump’s second term, with Washington imposing high tariffs on Indian goods, punishing New Delhi for purchasing Russian oil, and engaging closely with India’s arch-rival Pakistan.

The road in the capital of the southern state of Telangana, ruled by...

Beijing is sharpening the tools it uses to police rare earth and other strategic mineral exports, announcing fresh measures that will reward companies and individuals for reporting suspected violations.

The announcement came on Wednesday, the same day Tokyo confirmed that two of its nationals had been detained in China over alleged attempts to smuggle rare earth-related goods out of the country.

“Any organisation or individual has the right to report conduct suspected of violating relevant laws...

As Singapore bets on becoming Asia’s leading wellness destination, tourism experts say the city state must prove that its attractions can draw international visitors in a region replete with spas, retreats and hot springs.

A S$1 billion (US$770 million) waterfront complex scheduled to open in 2030 is expected to be a major driver of the country’s wellness sector.

European developer Therme Group is slated to start work on the project in the third quarter, after being awarded the tender in...

A wave of power outages across Indonesia’s Java island has left millions of residents and business owners in the dark, igniting public fury and raising questions as to how the world’s largest coal exporter is failing to keep its own lights on.

The answer, analysts say, lies less in a coal shortage than in the rules and incentives governing who gets to buy it, at what price and when.

Hours-long blackouts since last week have disrupted the lives and businesses of millions of subscribers of...

Chinese-Filipino business groups have sent aid to earthquake-hit residents in the southern Philippines, continuing their tradition of providing disaster relief at a time when worsening Manila-Beijing ties have complicated public perceptions of people and organisations linked to China.

In General Santos City, among the areas hardest hit by the devastating 7.8-magnitude earthquake that struck the country on June 8, local officials and survivors said politics had little place in disaster recovery...