Asia - South China Morning Post

Thailand will start building fences along a portion of its border with Cambodia next month to boost security after deadly clashes between the countries erupted last year following long-standing tensions.

The first barrier will cover 1.3km (0.8 miles) in Chanthaburi province along Thailand’s eastern border, according to Vithai Laithomya, spokesman of the Royal Thai Armed Forces.

The fencing off of the area – a small part of the nearly 800km border between the two nations – was not part of...

Asian utilities are boosting coal-fired power generation to cut costs and safeguard energy supply, industry officials say, as the US-Israeli war on Iran chokes liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments and soaring prices threaten to suppress LNG demand.

Asia spot LNG prices have doubled to three-year highs in the second major supply shock in four years, as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz has all but stopped and No 2 global exporter Qatar has halted shipments.

In South Asia, Bangladesh is...

Every year, roughly half of Indonesia’s 288 million people pack into trains, buses, ferries and cars and head home.

The mudik, as the great Eid ul-Fitr exodus is known, is one of the largest annual human migrations on Earth and a ritual of return that defines the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

This year, the Ministry of Transportation estimates that 143.9 million journeys will be made. But it could hardly arrive at a worse time for the government’s finances.

Oil prices have surged...

The redeployment of US military assets from the Asia-Pacific to the Middle East has split security analysts, with some arguing that any strategic damage is largely “psychological” while others warn of a real and measurable gap opening in the region’s defences.

More than 2,000 marines and at least one amphibious assault ship have begun moving from Japan towards the Gulf as the US-Israeli war on Iran grinds on. The assault ship USS Tripoli, docked at Sasebo in Nagasaki prefecture, is expected to...

Not only was he punched repeatedly by a peer, a Malaysian student at a secondary school in Kuching, Sarawak, was caned and forced to write a note admitting his mistake, China Press reported.

Angered at how the case was handled, the boy’s mother shared the incident on social media and lodged a police report.

The incident took place last Thursday when another student allegedly grabbed her son’s leg and caused him to fall.

The victim’s mother said the aggressor then sat on top of her son before...

Even before the war in Iran sparked a surge in energy prices, Malaysia stood out from its Southeast Asian peers as the new-found darling of global investors.

A rare stretch of political stability and investments in higher-value manufacturing and data centres lifted Malaysia’s appeal as some of its neighbours grappled with leadership changes and financial strains. The conflict in the Middle East further burnished the country’s advantage as investors looked for markets better placed to weather...

A man was charged on Tuesday with molesting and harassing an air stewardess on a Singapore Airlines flight on February 9.

Akash Tiwari, a 36-year-old Indian national, is accused of using criminal force on the woman by using his body to make contact with the area around her buttocks.

He is also accused of using threatening behaviour by following her to the galley area, cornering her in the confined space and continuing to pursue her, causing her to be distressed.

A gag order was imposed on the...

Malaysia charged two men on Tuesday and was aiming to bring back another from abroad as authorities sought to contain a wave of religiously charged provocations that had sharpened tensions in the multicultural country.

Controversial preacher Zamri Vinoth, 41, and activist Arun Dorasamy, 56, both pleaded not guilty in separate magistrates’ courts to charges linked to social media posts that prosecutors said were capable of “causing public alarm”.

The cases come as conservative groups push for the...

Malaysia will wait for Washington to submit updated terms before deciding its next steps on their tariff deal, the country’s trade minister has said – just days after he declared the agreement had been rendered “null and void” by a US Supreme Court ruling.

The government began the week on the back foot as allies and critics demanded clarity on the status of the multibillion-dollar deal with the United States, after Trade Minister Johari Abdul Ghani was reported on Sunday to have said it was no...

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.

1. As US missiles leave South Korea, the Philippines asks: are we next?

2. Nepal just elected a rapper for PM. His foreign policy has a new beat

3. Why has the US-Israeli war on Iran left Brics speechless?

4. ‘He’s so handsome’: Japan’s youngest governor, 36, sets social...