Asia - South China Morning Post

A sign hanging from a rusty shipping container installed by Thai forces on what they say is the border with Cambodia proclaims: “Cambodian citizens are strictly prohibited from entering this area.”

On opposite sides of the makeshift barricade, fronted by coils of barbed wire, Cambodians lamented their lost homes and livelihoods as Thailand’s military showed off its gains.

Thai forces took control of several patches of disputed land along the border during fighting last year, which could amount...

Many tourism entrepreneurs in Nepal have welcomed the arrest of executives accused of orchestrating fake rescue operations on the country’s Himalayan trekking trails and swindling millions of dollars from insurers.

The arrests follow a nearly three-month investigation by Nepal Police’s Central Investigation Bureau into a long-running insurance fraud scheme where travel and rescue companies allegedly staged helicopter evacuations from the mountains to pocket insurance money from foreign travel...

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday hailed an interim trade agreement with the United States, saying it would bolster global growth and deepen economic ties between the two countries.

The pact cuts US “reciprocal” duties on Indian products to 18 per cent from 25 per cent, and commits India to large purchases of US energy and industrial goods.

US President Donald Trump, while announcing the deal Tuesday, had said Modi promised to stop buying Russian oil over the war in Ukraine.

The...

South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Bithumb said on Saturday it had accidentally given away more than US$40 billion worth of bitcoin to customers as promotional rewards, triggering a sharp sell-off on the exchange.

Bithumb apologised for the mistake, which took place on Friday, and said it had recovered 99.7 per cent of the 620,000 bitcoin, worth about US$44 billion at current prices. It had restricted trading and withdrawals for the 695 affected customers within 35 minutes of the erroneous...

Hashim Djojohadikusumo is smiling almost beatifically, but the trademark feistiness is unmistakable. We are sitting down for a chat amid the turmoil gripping Indonesia’s capital markets and he says emphatically that “it’s good, it’s good” that it happened.

This unvarnished answer is one of several he gives as we talk about his country, nearly two years after his elder brother, Prabowo Subianto, won the presidential election by a wide margin, securing 58.6 per cent of the votes on his third...

Thousands of mourners gathered in Pakistan’s capital, Islamabad, on Saturday to start burying the 32 people killed in a suicide bombing ‍at a Shiite mosque during Friday prayers, as the city tightened security and authorities arrested four people believed to have helped the bomber.

The Islamic State group (Isis) has claimed responsibility for the attack, the deadliest in Islamabad since the 2008 Marriott hotel bombing.

Minister of Interior Moshin Naqvi told a press conference on Saturday that...

A top South Korean official has hinted at a possible shift in frozen ties between the United States and North Korea, raising expectations that Washington could articulate a more open security stance on Pyongyang.

In an informal meeting with South Korean reporters in Washington on Thursday, the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “there may be some new progress in a few days”.

His remarks come amid speculation that US President Donald Trump could seek a meeting with North Korean...

In a Cambodian compound with rooms designed to look like Singaporean and Australian police offices, papers were strewn across desks and floors: the detritus of a fraud factory abandoned in haste.

Among the documents were profiles of a 73-year-old Japanese retiree, complete with his phone number and bank account balance, and an American woman who disclosed that she was a victim of domestic abuse.

Nearby were scripts to commit love scams and impersonate police, as well as a room set up to resemble...

When India sealed a landmark free-trade pact with the European Union last month, Brussels’ top bureaucrat saw more than an economic deal taking shape.

“India has risen and Europe is truly glad about it,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen declared. “Because when India succeeds, the world is more stable, more prosperous and more secure.”

Her words were more than just a diplomatic nicety; they reflected a growing consensus in European capitals that India has become an...

“I would be grateful if they take me. If they don’t, there’s nothing I can do.”

At first glance, the North Korean prisoner of war captured in Ukraine looked rather calm as he appeared on MBC’s investigative programme, PD Notebook.

But in reality, only one outcome awaits if he fails to make it to South Korea. “I won’t survive,” the prisoner said, describing what would happen to him if he were returned to North Korea.

In North Korea, soldiers are taught that being captured is an act of treason and...