Asia - South China Morning Post

The Philippine Senate convened on Monday as an impeachment court for Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio, even as a fresh battle for control of the chamber threatens to shape the direction of her trial and the fallout from the crimes-against-humanity case against her father, former president Rodrigo Duterte, in The Hague.

Duterte-Carpio was impeached by the House of Representatives last week on allegations including corruption, betrayal of public trust and culpable violations of the constitution...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s whirlwind visit to the United Arab Emirates on Friday – the opening leg of a five-nation tour that will also take him through the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and Italy – arrived at what analysts characterise as a moment of acute strategic opportunity.

With oil prices spiralling amid the fallout from the US-Israel war on Iran and the Middle East’s diplomatic landscape shifting beneath everyone’s feet, Modi brought with him not just diplomatic pleasantries but...

In South Korea, the clock is ticking on what threatens to become the most consequential labour dispute in recent history – and Seoul is running out of patience.

With 50,000 workers at Samsung Electronics poised to walk off the job on Thursday in an 18-day strike, the government of President Lee Jae Myung finds itself cornered by a crisis it cannot afford to mishandle, with up to 100 trillion won (US$66.7 billion) in projected economic damage on the line, plus the potential disruption to global...

Chances of Malaysia’s Anwar Ibrahim winning a fresh mandate look increasingly fraught, according to experts, as the unravelling of his coalition government gathered pace over the weekend amid threats of all-out war between allies and the defection of former stalwarts to a rival party.

Anwar has presided over a period of relative political stability since his appointment as prime minister in November 2022 by then king Sultan Abdullah Ahmad Shah, on condition that he included both allies and...

India may be the world’s most populous country, with 1.42 billion people and challenges like high youth unemployment, but powerful allies of Prime Minister Narendra Modi are championing larger families to counter a declining fertility rate.

Even though the United Nations projects India’s population would keep rising for ‌about four decades, peaking at around 1.7 billion, some policymakers and Hindu groups say the shift away from smaller families should begin now, including through government...

Bangkok residents were digesting yet another avoidable tragedy on Monday after eight people were killed when a goods train ploughed into a city bus at a busy level crossing on Saturday afternoon.

The train driver, who later tested positive for drugs, had also not received a valid operator’s licence from the Department of Rail Transport.

A fireball erupted as the train struck the bus at the Asok-Dindaeng intersection, in a notoriously congested part of Thailand’s capital, igniting the vehicle’s...

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called on top military officials to bolster front-line units and turn the southern border into an “impregnable fortress”, state media reported on Monday.

Kim gave the instruction at a meeting on Sunday where a photo released by the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) showed him presiding over commanding military officers wearing full-dress uniform.

The North Korean leader told the military officials that a “great change” would be made in an effort to deter war and...

First-time drug abusers in Singapore who surrender themselves to the authorities will no longer face detention at the city state’s rehabilitation centre, a government minister has confirmed.

All such abusers will now be placed on drug supervision in the community with mandatory case management for their rehabilitation, under changes that took effect on Saturday.

The change came after a review to “encourage more first-time abusers to come forward and seek help with their addiction”, Law Minister...

South Korea ⁠will pursue all options, ⁠including emergency arbitration, to ⁠avoid a labour strike at the country’s biggest employer Samsung Electronics and to minimise any damage if one does occur, its prime minister said on Sunday.

The world’s largest memory chipmaker and its South ‌Korean labour union will resume pay talks on Monday with a government mediator, in a move that could ease concerns over a potentially disruptive strike at the tech giant that accounts for nearly a quarter of the...

Two prominent ⁠former Malaysian ministers said on ⁠Sunday they would vacate their parliamentary seats ⁠and resign from Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling coalition party to join a small party that they would take over.

The move by Rafizi Ramli and Nik Nazmi Nik Ahmad, who resigned from cabinet last year after losing leadership posts in internal party elections, ‌could create a challenge for Anwar, amid speculation of an early election this year. The next general election is not due until...