Asia - South China Morning Post

A Filipino taxi driver who attempted to overcharge a member of K-pop group TXT has been suspended from operating, after the incident sparked backlash both in South Korea and the Philippines.

According to a report aired on Monday on JTBC’s Chief Investigator, TXT member Choi Soo-bin, known mononymously as Soobin, was targeted in a taxi fare scam while travelling in Cebu, a popular tourist destination in the Philippines.

The incident was originally revealed on Wednesday through the group’s...

Iran has freed a Japanese national held since January, Tokyo said on Tuesday, with Kyodo News reporting, however, that the individual is not allowed to leave the Islamic Republic.

The Japanese news agency also reported, citing unnamed sources within the government in Tokyo, that the person is believed to be the Tehran bureau chief of broadcaster NHK.

“The Japanese embassy in Iran has confirmed that a Japanese national who was detained by Iranian authorities on January 20 was released on April 6...

A defamation lawsuit filed by Singapore cabinet ministers K Shanmugam and Tan See Leng against financial news outlet Bloomberg on Tuesday opened with heated exchanges over an article that mentioned their personal property transactions.

According to statements of claim filed in the High Court, Shanmugam, who is coordinating minister for national security, and Tan, who is manpower minister, said parts of the article, titled “Singapore mansion deals are increasingly shrouded in secrecy”, were...

Control of the seas has long defined power in the Asia-Pacific. From strategic chokepoints to contested fishing grounds, maritime space has shaped the region’s economic lifelines and geopolitical tensions. But a quieter contest is unfolding – less visible, yet potentially more consequential.

It is not a contest over territory but over data. As satellite surveillance, digital tracking and advanced analytics transform how the ocean is monitored, a new question emerges: who controls the information...

When Filipino motoring journalist James Deakin recently posted a photo of his fuel receipt – more than 4,000 pesos (US$67) after topping up on nearly 39 litres – his message to followers was blunt: “I’m seriously looking at an EV [or] hybrid now. What’s your breaking point?”

He is far from alone. As the Philippines grapples with a national energy emergency triggered by the war in Iran, record pump prices are forcing consumers to rethink their transport methods, and Vietnamese electric vehicle...

Much Western discourse on artificial intelligence has lately focused on establishing safeguards and installing guardrails against powerful new AI systems, algorithmic bias, the collusion of governments and tech oligarchs, and rising related environmental costs.

The growing AI backlash in the West has been labelled a “botlash” in a recent commentary by Stanford University’s Marietje Schaake, who includes anti-AI movements such as “QuitGPT”, “Resist and Unsubscribe” and “Stealing Isn’t...

A daughter of Malaysia’s late finance minister Daim Zainuddin will be charged at the Kuala Lumpur Sessions Court on Tuesday.

Lawyer Yu Ying Ying confirmed that Asnida Daim, who is in her 60s, will be charged under Section 36(2) of the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Act 2009.

That section relates to the offence of failing to comply with a written notice from the MACC to declare assets.

Court records indicate the case will be mentioned before Judge Rosli Ahmad at 9am.

In a separate...

Singapore’s Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam has said he wished the United States had kept controversial blogger and child sex convict Amos Yee, warning that foreign media and rights advocates have mistaken a repeat offender, who was deported back to the city state, for a free-speech icon.

Yee, who is listed on a US Department of Homeland Security website as among the “worst of the worst criminal aliens” the Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested, was deported from the US on March 19...

Bangladesh has launched an emergency ⁠vaccination campaign ⁠targeting more than a ⁠million children as a fast-spreading measles outbreak sweeps across the country.

Health ministry figures show there have been 17 confirmed deaths from measles so far, with 113 suspected ‌deaths and more than 7,500 suspected infections nationwide.

The campaign, led by the health ministry with support from Unicef, the World Health Organization and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, began in 18 high-risk districts,...

From sea transfers by smugglers and hoarding to stockpiling underground, profiteering from the oil crunch in Thailand has exacerbated a supply crisis that Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul warned on Monday was about to worsen, given the country’s reliance on fuel imports.

As diesel pump prices hit an all-time high of around 50 baht (US$1.54) a litre on Monday, Justice Minister Major-General Rutthaphon Naowarat told reporters that “oil has definitely gone missing”, saying it was too early to...