Asia - South China Morning Post

Since the Ukraine war began in 2022, Asia has been watching conflict as if enrolled in a study course. We have heard every argument: Nato enlargement, Russian insecurity, Ukrainian sovereignty, European fear, American power, energy politics, sanctions, nationalism and resistance.

We have watched Gaza burn. We have watched the United States capture Venezuela’s president and defend the act as lawful. We have watched Iran absorb attacks and retaliate.

For Asians, these are no longer distant events....

A citizen watchdog has been launched in the Philippines to monitor Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s impeachment trial, as turmoil inside the Senate threatens to deepen public doubts over whether the politically explosive proceedings can be handled fairly and constitutionally.

Members of civil society launched the coalition, called Bantay Senado (Senate Watch), on Monday, saying it would “help ensure that the impeachment trial is conducted transparently, fairly and forthwith, in keeping with...

Typhoon Jangmi on Wednesday ripped through the Pacific side of western and eastern Japan after making landfall in the morning, causing flooding and mudslides and leaving dozens of people injured.

The typhoon made landfall around 4.30am in the southern part of Wakayama Prefecture in western Japan, after it passed near Okinawa and Kagoshima prefectures the past two days.

At one point, the weather agency issued its highest level 5 flood warning for the Koza River in Wakayama Prefecture, meaning the...

Indonesian officials arrested on Wednesday the former head of the country’s free school meals programme, blighted by mass food poisonings and corruption claims, a day after he was fired.

The much-hyped billion-dollar feeding scheme was the flagship policy of President Prabowo Subianto’s 2024 election campaign.

Prabowo fired Dadan Hindayana, an entomologist who had led the National Nutrition Agency since its inception in August 2024, along with two deputies on Tuesday. All three were taken into...

South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party is projected to make sweeping gains in local elections on Wednesday, an exit poll showed, but a close race in the key city of Busan left it unclear whether President Lee Jae-myung’s party could claim a landslide victory.

Voting had ‌largely closed in the first nationwide ballot since Lee’s snap presidential election victory last year.

Voters were choosing mayors and governors in 16 cities and provinces in a contest widely seen as an assessment of Lee’s first...

A Malaysian power systems specialist has struck a deal with a Hong Kong battery storage firm to pursue large-scale projects aimed at helping the country prepare its electricity grid for more renewable energy.

The two-year agreement between Mikro MSC Berhad and Hong Kong Cospower Technology Co Ltd (HKCT) makes the company HKCT’s exclusive strategic partner in Malaysia for utility-scale battery energy storage system (BESS) projects.

Such battery systems are meant to address one of solar power’s...

A fire ripped through a hotel in New Delhi on Wednesday, killing at least 21 people, many of them foreign nationals, police and local media said.

Building fires are common in India due to a lack of firefighting equipment and routine disregard for safety regulations.

The fire broke out in the morning at Flourish Stay, a bed-and-breakfast in a congested neighbourhood in the south of the city, Delhi Police said in a statement.

“It is with profound sorrow that 21 persons have been declared dead in...

South Korea has made peaceful coexistence the central objective of its North Korea policy. As outlined in a recent white paper, Seoul has not formally abandoned reunification but has chosen to prioritise the more immediate and achievable objective of establishing a stable framework for coexistence.

The document articulates three guiding principles: respect for North Korea’s political system, rejection of unification by absorption, and avoidance of hostile actions. Underscoring the urgency of...

Thailand’s divisive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was freed from parole on Wednesday after receiving a royal pardon from King Maha Vajiralongkorn, as the 76-year-old billionaire businessman’s plans remain unclear.

Thaksin, who stood at the heart of a two-decade power struggle with rival sections of the Thai elite, served eight months of a one-year jail term for corruption and abuse of power. He was released from jail early last month due to his advancing age, with his term originally...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un personally received the country’s AFC Women’s Champions League winners in Pyongyang earlier this week, embracing the players and posing for photographs with them as they wept with joy and leapt in celebration.

Naegohyang Women’s FC clinched Asia’s top club title with a 1-0 defeat of Tokyo Verdy Beleza of Japan in the final in Suwon on May 23, becoming the first North Korean side to win the AFC Women’s Champions League.

Kim congratulated the players on their...