Asia - South China Morning Post

A Chinese tourist has been barred from returning to Thailand for life after he allegedly kicked and damaged automated passport control gates at Bangkok’s main airport, in a case that comes amid a wider Thai crackdown on foreign visitors accused of disorderly behaviour.

The 30-year-old man, identified by Thai media as Zheng Liwei, was accused of damaging two automatic gates at Suvarnabhumi Airport on Wednesday afternoon while trying to pass through passport control for a flight to China.

The...

The Philippine Senate has witnessed political coups, scandals and the occasional shouting match.

It had never, until this week, seen a sitting senator sprint down its corridors in a muddy olive shirt, knocking aside female investigators like bowling pins, to avoid an international arrest warrant for crimes against humanity.

That was Monday. By Wednesday night, gunshots were ringing out in the building that houses the upper chamber of the country’s Congress.

“I worked in the Senate for 15 years...

Most readers of foreign news pages this weekend will be assuming that US President Donald Trump’s summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing has been dominating everyone’s attention. But across Asia, Trump, with his massive business entourage, was not the only act in town this week.

At least two other major sets of meetings should not be overlooked. First, in New Delhi, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was hosting foreign ministers from the 10 Brics economies and a growing community...

A new giant dinosaur weighing about 27 tonnes has been unearthed by researchers in Thailand, making it the largest ever found in Southeast Asia.

According to a study published in the journal Scientific Reports on Thursday, the 27 metre (88 foot) long plant-eating beast is believed to have meandered through what is now Thailand between 100 and 120 million years ago.

It likely weighed at least 10 tonnes more than Dippy the Diplodocus

Thitiwoot Sethapanichsakul, lead researcher

“Our dinosaur is big...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s ruling alliance will doubtless try to project a united front this weekend, but two former ministers from his own party are threatening to pull attention back to the fractures inside the reformist camp.

Pakatan Harapan (PH), the reformist coalition led by Anwar, holds its first convention in four years in the southern state of Johor on Sunday.

That same day, former economy minister Rafizi Ramli and former natural resources and environmental sustainability...

Australia’s trade minister will visit China in an effort to shore up fuel supplies that have run short this year because of bottlenecks in the Strait of Hormuz during the US–Israeli war in Iran.

Australian Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell told a press conference that he would travel to China to meet Commerce Minister Wang Wentao after a stop in Japan on Monday.

“Very much the topic of the day will be how do we continue to ensure reliable fuel supplies into this country,” Farrell said,...

South and Southeast Asian nations may emerge as unexpected clean energy beneficiaries after the Green Party of England and Wales made record-breaking gains in recent UK local council elections, according to analysts.

The Greens expanded their footprint in the May 7 council elections, capitalising on widespread voter disillusionment with Britain’s two major parties, Labour and Conservative. It was the party’s best-ever performance in a local election.

While Nigel Farage’s right-wing populist...

Malaysia will not support any pardon for fugitive businessman Low Taek Jho, better known as Jho Low, says Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, who described the matter as a “non-issue” for Putrajaya.

The prime minister said any decision on a possible pardon application rested entirely with US authorities and was not something Malaysia intended to pursue.

“There is no issue. We are not going to consider that. No issue,” he told reporters in Negri Sembilan yesterday when asked about reports surrounding...

Japan’s quest for rare earth self-sufficiency and its drive to decouple from Chinese supply chains have prompted the government to consider building a dedicated deep-sea mining vessel to recover minerals from the Pacific Ocean floor.

Local media reported that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s special committee on ocean development will soon present a draft proposal to the Takaichi administration, calling for unspecified project funding.

While the initiative will face technological and...

Tensions were already high on Wednesday night in the Philippine Senate, days after lawmakers abruptly ousted its leader and an ex-police chief wanted by the International Criminal Court showed up after six months in hiding.

But few could guess at how suddenly terrifying things were going to get.

Hours after wanted Senator Ronald dela Rosa had serenaded a group of reporters with the alma mater song of the Philippine Military Academy and declared his right to sanctuary from arrest in the building,...