Asia - South China Morning Post

Japan’s order for hundreds of Tomahawk missiles from the US is under threat as the American-Israeli war with Iran burns through inventories, the latest example of how the conflict is drawing in supplies and troops at the expense of defending against Washington’s primary strategic rival, China.

Tomahawk missiles are a centrepiece of Tokyo’s new strategy of equipping itself with long-range strike capabilities to deal with challenges from China and North Korea. But Washington has informed Tokyo...

Indonesia is accelerating the transition to clean and renewable energy while pushing for more investments in oil and gas projects, critical minerals and rare earth mining, amid the global energy crisis triggered by the Middle East conflict.

In the past week, Jakarta signed a raft of deals with international partners to develop renewable and fossil fuel projects, aimed at achieving energy security as an insurance against the impact of heightened geopolitical tensions.

Green energy could also...

His makeover from junta chief to president now complete, Myanmar’s Min Aung Hlaing may seek to tiptoe back into the international fold as a civilian leader.

But critics say the change is just a “veneer” that poses a challenge for Asean, the regional bloc that has frozen out Myanmar from its top summits, while its military wages war on its own people.

On Friday, a parliament stuffed with military loyalists made Min Aung Hlaing president. They were put there by an election held five years after...

An Indonesian woman who spent nearly 15 years on death row in a Malaysian prison for drug trafficking has returned home after receiving clemency, in a case rights groups say highlights the exploitation of poor migrant women in cross-border drug operations.

Ani Anggraeni, also known as Asih, boarded a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Jakarta late on Thursday after being freed from custody.

In a video message shared with This Week in Asia while en route, the 66-year-old said she was still struggling to...

Korean Air said on Friday it will faithfully respond to legal procedures in the United States, where a lawsuit was filed in Virginia on behalf of the estate of Porscha Tynisha Brown, who died at age 33 in March 2024, during a flight from Washington to Incheon operated by the airline.

Burns Charest, the law firm representing the complainants, claimed her death resulted from a series of critical failures by Korean Air flight personnel.

According to the complaint, Brown experienced sudden...

The Philippines is weighing a new anti-disinformation law, but digital rights advocates and researchers warn that the leading proposals could give the government sweeping powers while doing little to stop the networks that actually drive online influence campaigns.

In February, President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr asked Congress to prioritise 21 measures before adjourning in June, including an anti-disinformation law that he said should be “balanced” – fighting fake news while maintaining freedom of...

A Malaysian electrician was recruited by a syndicate and travelled to Singapore to set up devices in a rented house that would blast thousands of automated scam calls, with call origins masked to appear like they were being made locally.

The devices transmitted over 50,000 call sessions over a 50-minute period, linked to around 18,000 phone numbers, 40 of which later featured in 42 police reports.

The call sessions contained automated voice messages perpetuating scams from purported government...

After playing in a forested area in the Solomon Islands, Billy’s children often break out in rashes or itchy boils at home. A few years ago, the family became dizzy, suffered headaches and vomited – they believed it was due to the clams from nearby mangrove beds that they had eaten.

“It was lucky that we stopped the children from eating them,” said Billy, whose family lives a hand-to-mouth existence in the village of Yandina in the Russell Islands.

The 50-year-old farmer suspected that...

A month into the Iran war, Washington still says it expects to achieve its objectives in weeks, not months. That may prove optimistic. The terms on offer from the United States and Iran barely overlap, and markets remain unconvinced a durable settlement is close. But one fact is clear: the war’s most consequential effects may be felt not only in the Middle East but across East Asia.

It would be a mistake to see this as only an oil story. It is also about hierarchy. In East Asia, the war is...

The Philippines is the latest country to consider banning minors from social media, joining a regional wave led by Australia and Indonesia, but technology analysts warn that restricting access alone will do little to address the platform design flaws that expose young users to harm.

Philippine Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday called for legislation to limit minors’ access to social media platforms, days after Indonesia began enforcing a ban on under-16s using “high-risk” platforms such as...