Asia - South China Morning Post

A Malaysian student has pleaded not guilty to desecrating the Koran and posting offensive content online, in a case that has stirred widespread anger in the Muslim-majority country during the holy month of Ramadan.

Vikneswaran K. Selvanathan, 21, appeared before the Sessions Court in Kuantan, Pahang, on Tuesday to face two charges: defiling a sacred object and transmitting “grossly offensive” material on social media in violation of Malaysia’s communications law.

He is accused of stepping on a...

A Malaysian national and a Filipino were killed on Tuesday when a helicopter crashed in a vacant lot about two hours southeast of Manila.

The Bell 505 helicopter carrying five people, including two Malaysians, took off from the capital and was en route to Quezon province, more than 400km (248 miles) southeast of the capital, the Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines and other officials said.

It was not immediately clear what caused the forced landing in clear weather in a grassy area of...

A Thai court issued arrest warrants for a foreign businessman and his wife accused of investment fraud and money laundering, with one victim allegedly conned out of more than US$30 million, police said.

Thailand’s Central Investigation Bureau (CIB) accused Ben Smith, also identified in news reports as South African Benjamin Mauerberger, and his wife, Cattaliya Beevor, of “cross-border investment fraud” dating back to 2016, according to a statement from the bureau on Monday.

Media reports have...

As judges in The Hague consider whether former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte’s crimes against humanity case should proceed to trial, a parallel battle over the narrative has taken hold online.

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have accused Duterte of overseeing a campaign of extrajudicial killings linked to his signature “war on drugs”. Rights groups say the campaign left thousands dead during his 2016-2022 presidency, allegations he has repeatedly denied.

Analysts...

When Dujduan Ketsaro wed two men in a single ceremony in northeastern Thailand on Saturday, she was ready for the attention.

“Marry one and the world won’t remember,” the 37-year-old former singer-songwriter quipped to a guest. “Marry two at once and they will.”

The three-way wedding, reported by Thai newspaper Khaosod, brought together Dujduan and two Austrian partners: Roman, a retired police officer she had lived with for five years and Macky, a police officer and Roman’s best friend who had...

India wants 100 gigawatts of nuclear capacity by mid-century. It currently has roughly 8GW.

Getting there will require not just capital, technology and political will, but a reliable fuel supply that domestic production alone cannot provide.

The 10-year uranium agreement signed on Monday when Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney met his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi in New Delhi is designed to address exactly that constraint.

Analysts say it is a structural commitment – one intended to meet...

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. Will Iran collapse without Khamenei or can its regime endure?

2. Why US strikes on Iran just made North Korea less likely to play ball

3. Viral video of child being shoved at Tokyo’s iconic Shibuya Crossing stokes anger

4. Indonesia is getting an aircraft carrier. The...

Filipina carer Charlot David made the run back and forth to the bomb shelter several times before deciding it was better to simply stay there.

The 44-year-old mother of four, who has lived through “several wars” since moving to Israel in 2008, knew exactly what to do when the ear-splitting alert on her mobile phone first woke her on Saturday.

“Our flat is three minutes away from the bomb shelter, so we really have to run fast,” she said in a video interview from her employer’s home in Rehovot, a...

A Japanese man accused of conspiring with a woman to force a then 12-year-old Thai girl into sex work at a Tokyo massage parlour he operated has denied the charges.

“I did not know she was underage,” Masayuki Hosono, 52, told the Tokyo District Court during the first hearing of his criminal trial on Monday.

His defence counsel also argued that he had been deceived about the girl’s age by the woman, Punsiripanya Phakhaphon, 38, a Thai national who managed the private-room massage parlour in...

Representatives of the Unification Church, the controversial South Korea-founded religious group that became a political flashpoint in Japan after the 2022 assassination of former prime minister Shinzo Abe, are set to return to court on Wednesday as judges consider whether to strip it of its legal status.

The Tokyo High Court is widely expected to uphold a lower court’s order to dissolve the organisation, officially known as the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification, in a ruling that...