Asia - South China Morning Post

A leaked plan to grant the US military sweeping overflight access to Indonesia’s airspace has triggered a domestic backlash over concerns that Jakarta is “colluding with the aggressor” amid Washington’s war on Iran.

Analysts say the defence document, first reported by New Delhi-based newspaper the Sunday Guardian, raises concerns that President Prabowo Subianto may be trading away Indonesia’s strategic independence.

The proposal, which reportedly emerged following a meeting in February between...

The latest Singaporean establishment that the internet has come for with its pitchforks and torches is the Cantonese zi char restaurant, Eat First.

The Geylang restaurant recently received a spate of one-star Google reviews following an article published by Mothership on Sunday, which reported that the restaurant charged a family S$2 (US$1.57) for bringing their own bottle of water, in line with its strict no-outside-food-and-drink policy. The internet did not hesitate.

The moment the article...

An American YouTuber who caused outrage for filming himself kissing a statue commemorating Korean wartime sex slaves has been sentenced to six months in prison, a court in Seoul said on Wednesday.

Johnny Somali, 25, gained notoriety several years ago for recording himself doing a series of provocative stunts in South Korea and Japan, and streaming them on platforms such as YouTube and Twitch.

South Korean authorities indicted Somali, whose real name is Ramsey Khalid Ismael, in 2024 on public...

For the first time in nine months, former South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol finally saw his wife again on Tuesday. He was the defendant. She was the witness. She barely looked at him.

The reunion, their first since his arrest following a failed martial law declaration that ended his presidency, lasted all of 30 minutes. The couple made eye contact only once.

Yoon looked visibly thinner, his face gaunt and marked with age spots, his once-dark hair now almost entirely silver.

Kim Keon-hee wore...

Jewellery and cash worth hundreds of millions of ringgit were found in overfilled luggage bags stored in a luxury condominium in Kuala Lumpur during a raid linked to the 1Malaysia Develop­ment Bhd (1MDB) investigation, the High Court heard.

The police had found 71 ­luggage bags, a plastic box and more than 200 boxes during the operation at Pavilion Residences on May 17, 2018.

Former Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Amar Singh Ishar Singh testified that the sheer amount...

Former Philippine leader Rodrigo Duterte discussed removing President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr from office and even considered assassination if a supposed power-sharing deal fell apart, a jailed witness told a House impeachment hearing into Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio.

Ramil Madriaga, a self-described political organiser, intelligence operative and bagman who said he had once been close to Duterte-Carpio, made the sensational allegations before the House Committee on Justice on Tuesday during...

The operator of Japan’s Narita International Airport is considering compulsory acquisition of farmers’ land to complete a planned third runway, recalling the forced land purchases that led to violent clashes between riot police and local residents when the airport was built in the 1960s.

Narita International Airport Corporation (NAA) has been able to secure 88.4 per cent of the land it requires to finish the extension of the existing 2,500-metre second runway at the airport and construct a new...

As the US imposes its own blockade on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz following the collapse of talks with Iran at the weekend, we take a look at how major economies in Asia and Europe could be affected by further restrictions on passage through one of the world’s most critical choke points for energy supplies.

Who is most vulnerable in this energy crisis?

According to a recent report by Japanese investment bank Nomura, the regions most exposed to the tensions in the Persian Gulf are Asian...

After more than 20 hours of high-level negotiations in Islamabad, US Vice-President J.D. Vance confirmed that Washington and Tehran were walking away without a deal. Iran reportedly refused to accept US terms on its nuclear programme, laying bare the deep strategic divides that continue to stall diplomatic solutions to the conflict.

However, the venue tells a larger story. India has long been seen as South Asia’s most globally networked actor and has maintained ties with Washington, Tel Aviv,...

The Philippine military on Tuesday rejected Beijing’s claim that Manila had staged a “cyanide stunt” near a contested reef in the South China Sea, after Filipino officials accused Chinese fishermen of using cyanide around a grounded warship that serves as a military outpost.

“We reject any statement that this is fabricated news,” said Navy Rear Admiral Roy Vincent Trinidad, a spokesman for the Armed Forces of the Philippines.

At the centre of the dispute is the BRP Sierra Madre, a derelict navy...