Asia - South China Morning Post

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. Malaysian tourists in China scorned for calling locals ‘smelly’

A group of Malaysian tourists is facing intense backlash for filming strangers and mocking locals in China as “smelly”, sparking debate on travel etiquette and national image.

2. Indonesia market sell-off...

A luxury superyacht seized from fugitive financier Benjamin Mauerberger is due for auction at a starting price of US$18 million on Tuesday, as authorities seek to claw back money from powerful money laundering networks across Thailand.

Mauerberger and his wife, Cattaliya Beevor, are wanted by Thai police on fraud and money laundering charges, linked to what prosecutors allege was a bogus investment scheme stretching back to 2016.

The highly connected South African businessman is also believed to...

Victims of violent acts and threats by loan sharks have been urged to come forward under a nationwide initiative led by the Malaysian Chinese Association’s Public Services and Complaints Department.

MCA chief Michael Chong said the party’s youth and women’s wings have also been roped in to collect data and provide aid to loan shark victims.

“Throwing paint at homes is now considered lenient, as we are seeing loan sharks throwing petrol bombs. They are getting rampant with no regard for the law...

A Malaysian donor whose organs and tissues went to five patients has drawn tributes online after a local hospital corridor send-off was shared widely on social media.

Normah Sabar, remembered by Malaysia’s national mapping agency as the country’s first female surveyor, died at Hospital Sungai Buloh in Selangor on Saturday. She was 72.

The next day, hospital staff and medical teams held a walk of honour, a ceremonial procession in which health workers line hospital corridors to pay tribute to an...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un criticised Japan as turning into a “war state”, in a speech during a three-day meeting held through Monday, according to official news media.

“Japan, a defeated country in Asia, has openly turned itself into a war state by taking the present disturbing circumstances as an opportunity to get rid of all shackles restricting its moves to become a military power,” he said, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported on Tuesday.

“This is inviting a strong backlash...

A passenger on a Singapore Airlines flight molested an air stewardess, with his friends laughing in response.

When the woman went to report the incident to her supervisor, the culprit followed her into the galley, stood extremely close to her and cornered her.

The flight captain reported the incident and a police report was lodged, leading to the man’s arrest when he arrived at Changi Airport.

Akash Tiwari, a 35-year-old Indian national, was sentenced to six months’ jail on Monday. He was also...

South Korea’s AI-driven semiconductor boom has sent exports, corporate profits and stock prices to record highs, but a senior policymaker has warned that the windfall could fuel property speculation and deepen inequality if its gains remain narrowly concentrated.

“Looking solely at the numbers, it is something to cheer about. However, strangely, a corner of my heart feels heavy,” Kim Yong-beom, chief of the Presidential Policy Office and one of South Korea’s most senior economic policymakers,...

The US strike on an oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman earlier this month did more than kill three Indian sailors and severely undercut US-India relations. It has also cast further doubt on the unity of the Quad, an informal bloc made up of the United States, Japan, Australia and India, and the group’s ambitious agenda aimed at loosening China’s dominant grip on critical minerals.

Despite the persistent US-India fissures that could slow down the Quad’s momentum, however, a counter-unifying force may...

A rare shooting at a public high school in the central Philippines that left three students dead and seven injured has gripped the country amid concerns over campus safety and the mental well-being of young people.

Two Grade 9 students, aged 14 and 15, were arrested over the incident at the San Jose National High School in Tacloban City, Leyte province.

The weapons involved were a .38 revolver and a 9mm pistol – the latter of which was traced to a police officer who was one of the suspects’...

In a layered signal to Indo-Pacific nations and America’s domestic audience, the Trump administration last week said the US Indo-Pacific Command would revert to its long-used name, the US Pacific Command. The Honolulu-headquartered command was renamed in 2018 during Donald Trump’s first presidency.

The administrative order by the Department of Defence was justified to honour the legacy of America’s oldest and largest unified combatant command, established in 1947. In the run-up to the 250th...