Asia - South China Morning Post

Warissara* survived the crash. It was the next four hours that killed her.

The 21-year-old had been riding home from her restaurant job on the night of February 20 last year, caught in heavy rain on a slick Bangkok road, when she came off her motorbike.

Emergency responders who arrived at the scene found only a few visible scratches – and detected the smell of alcohol. She had no identification on her. The call was made: send her to the police station, not the hospital.

She arrived at...

An investigation into allegedly corrupt flood-control projects worth billions of pesos is beginning to ripple through the Philippines’ public finances, slowing infrastructure spending and adding uncertainty to the government’s investment-driven growth strategy.

The budget deficit widened 4.68 per cent to 1.58 trillion pesos (US$26.5 billion) in 2025, Treasury Bureau data showed, surpassing 2024’s record of 1.51 trillion pesos.

Despite slowing disbursements amid tighter scrutiny of public works...

Australia will deploy a military surveillance aircraft to the Middle East and send missiles to the United Arab ‌Emirates but will not put troops on the ground in Iran, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Tuesday.

Australia’s military support would help the Gulf countries defend themselves against unprovoked attacks from Iran, Albanese said, stressing Australia was “not a ⁠protagonist”.

“Our involvement is purely defensive,” Albanese told reporters. “And it’s in defence ‌of Australians who...

For the first time in over three decades, South Korea is doing something it hoped it would never do again: telling the market what it can charge for fuel.

President Lee Jae Myung’s order is more than a mere policy reversal, however.

For a country that imports nearly every barrel it consumes, it is an act of pre-emptive self-defence – the reflex of an economy watching the Middle East burn and knowing exactly what that means.

Fuel prices have already surpassed 1,900 won (US$1.28) per litre at some...

Over the past 12 months, a series of political and military crises has erupted in different parts of the world. Do they have anything in common?

On the surface, the dramas in Iran, Panama, Venezuela and Greenland look separate, each with its own cast, excuse and headlines. What links them is not ideology, or the public language used to sell each move. It is the map.

Iran sits beside the Strait of Hormuz, the choke point for Gulf energy flows. Panama sits astride one of the world’s trade...

French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday the G7 will discuss a possible release of strategic oil reserves, as finance ministers of the world’s leading industrialised nations prepared to meet for crisis talks on the Middle East war.

Macron, whose country holds the rotating presidency of the Group of Seven advanced economies, said that “the use of strategic reserves is an option being considered”.

A possible meeting of G7 heads of state and government could take place this week, Macron told...

North Korea had abruptly cancelled the 2026 Pyongyang International Marathon less than a month before the race, its international partner said on Monday, raising fresh questions about the country’s cautious approach to reopening to foreign visitors.

Beijing-based Koryo Tours, which specialises in tours to the country, said it had received notice of the cancellation from the North Korean race organiser.

“This decision was communicated to us by the DPR Korea Athletics Association and has been...

Five players from Iran’s visiting women’s football team claimed asylum in Australia on Tuesday, seeking protection after they were branded “traitors” at home for refusing to sing the national anthem.

Iranian players fell silent as the anthem played ahead of a tournament match in Australia last week, an act seen as a symbol of defiance against the Islamic Republic.

US President Donald Trump was among those urging Australia to offer the players asylum, citing grave fears for their safety if they...

India received some welcome news last week about its energy supply: it had been granted permission, by the United States, to take delivery of oil it had already bought.

The tankers were already at sea – Russian crude, loaded and paid for, stranded in limbo by the disruptions sweeping out of the war on Iran.

They needed a waiver, which US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced on Thursday: a 30-day exemption allowing Indian refiners to receive the cargoes before American sanctions...

Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim is facing a fresh political test after the family of late former finance minister Daim Zainuddin sued his government over claims they were involved in a plot to topple the administration.

The legal challenge is turning what began as a police investigation into a wider debate over whether Anwar’s reformist government is applying its principles consistently or selectively.

Critics say the controversy risks complicating one of Anwar’s central claims since...