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 | Australian police find body in search for missing indigenous girl, 5 Australian police said on Thursday they have found a body believed to be that of a missing five-year-old indigenous girl and were searching for the man who allegedly murdered her. The girl, now referred to by her family as Kumanjayi Little Baby in line with Indigenous customs, was reported missing from her home in a remote community in central Australia late on Saturday. Police said they located a body of a young Indigenous girl they believed was hers shortly before midday on Thursday about... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Male pageant contestant’s viral swimsuit walk sparks body image debate in Philippines A viral appearance in the swimsuit round by a male beauty pageant contestant in the Philippines has sparked a wider debate about male beauty standards and whether pageantry is ready to make room for people who do not fit its traditional ideals. RJ Perkins, 21, drew widespread attention after a video showed him strutting across an outdoor stage during the swimwear segment of Mister Pampanga, held in the province of Pampanga, north of Manila. Unlike the chiselled bodies typically associated with... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Could a ‘reckless’ Trump’s ‘destroy-and-deal’ tactics target North Korea? As a rift widens among Republicans over US-Israeli air strikes on Iran, a top Korean-American leader said Seoul must recognise that President Donald Trump is heavily influenced by a faction he calls “new neocons”. Conservative commentator Tucker Carlson broke sharply with the president in a Wall Street Journal interview on Saturday, calling him a “slave” to hawkish interventionists willing to deploy military force. Kim Dong-seok, the 68-year-old head of the Korean American Grassroots Conference,... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Malaysian woman jailed 2 years for throwing baby daughter from 38-floor flat A 24-year-old Malaysian woman has been jailed for two years for throwing her newborn out of her 38th-floor flat in Kuala Lumpur. The court on Wednesday convicted Lua Mei Zhu of causing the death of her baby girl on February 26, 2025, the New Straits Times reported. Lua, who is not married, tossed her daughter out of the bathroom window shortly after giving birth between 1.30pm and 9pm. A resident on the ninth floor called police at about 10.20pm after finding the baby with severe head injuries... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Malaysian man who was married 9 times faces wife assault case again Malaysia’s system for tracking repeat domestic abusers is under scrutiny after police said a man accused of assaulting his pregnant wife until she miscarried had been married nine times and was free on bail while appealing a 10-year jail sentence for attacking another spouse who was previously expecting. The 43-year-old suspect, named in local media as Rosmaini Abd Raof, was remanded for seven days in Kedah on Wednesday after police arrested him at a homestay in Alor Setar, the northern state’s... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Is Sri Lanka’s investor call for ‘world’s emptiest airport’ struggling to get off ground? Sri Lanka’s loss-making Mattala Rajapaksa International Airport will need a complete overhaul if it wants to attract investors, analysts warn, after a 30-year lease agreement with an Indo-Russian joint venture failed commercially. The nation’s second international airport, built with Chinese loan, is located near a wildlife sanctuary on the island’s southern coast. It has no regular flights. Since opening in 2013, the small airport has failed to generate enough revenue to cover even its... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Tourists overrun Australia’s most Instagrammed street, driving locals to the brink Viral posts of an Australian street dubbed the country’s “most beautiful” have enticed coachloads of visitors to a picturesque seaside town – and locals have had enough of it. Just a two-hour drive south of Sydney, Gerringong is much like many other photogenic hamlets along Australia’s east coast, with multimillion-dollar properties set against stunning views of the azure blue sea. But recent posts on Instagram, TikTok and as far afield as China’s RedNote showing the town’s Tasman Drive have... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Why Japan is sharing its guarded Mogami warship design with India Common security interests in the region have led to Japan’s unprecedented sharing of its Mogami-class warships with India, according to analysts. The move dovetails with New Delhi’s drive to localise industrial and defence production. Enhanced naval capabilities will also allow India to become a “security provider” in the Indian Ocean. Japan offered India its Mogami design plans and the option to build the frigates in Indian shipyards using Japanese materials, according to recent reports from... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Malaysia seeks return of elephants as Japan climate, welfare concerns grow The three Malaysian elephants sent to Osaka in Japan from Zoo Taiping and Night Safari should be brought home, according to Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Arthur Joseph Kurup. Arthur made the call amid concerns that Japan’s climate is unsuitable for the elephants and that one of them, Kelat, has suffered an injury. Last Friday, a group of protesters gathered outside the ministry, urging the government to bring the elephants back. They cited welfare concerns following... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Singapore charges French teen over vending machine straw-licking stunt A French teen is facing mischief and public nuisance charges in Singapore after posting a video on social media of himself licking a straw from an orange juice vending machine and then putting it back. Didier Gaspard Owen Maximilien, 18, was charged on April 24 and has not entered a plea, the city state’s largest English-language newspaper, The Straits Times, said. He allegedly committed the offence at a shopping centre on March 12, and his video spread rapidly when it surfaced, the report... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Can Philippines’ new anti-Pogo playbook rein in fast-moving scam hubs? Philippine authorities have introduced a new national playbook for raiding and prosecuting online scam centres, as criminal networks once tied to the country’s offshore gaming industry splinter into smaller and harder-to-detect operations. The rules aim to close gaps exposed during earlier raids, when agencies struggled to coordinate evidence, freeze assets, identify trafficking victims and build cases against operators who often left few physical traces. Analysts and former officials said the... Source: © SCMP News |
 | India overtakes England to become Australia’s largest migrant group Indians are now Australia’s largest migrant group, supplanting the English for the first time ever, in a change that highlights the rise of immigration as an increasingly contentious political issue. Some 971,020 people in Australia – or 5.2 per cent of the population – were born in India, narrowly surpassing the 970,950 born in England, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The England-born population slipped from just over 1 million in 2013. The third-largest cohort... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Brics to push for intra-currency payments as ‘immunity’ against Western clout Brics nations are assessing whether a digital payments framework linking their currencies could lessen the impact of Western sanctions, tariffs and US dollar volatility without destabilising the Washington-led global financial system. Under the plan proposed by India’s central bank, Brics is looking to allow cross-border transactions to be settled in local currencies. Its feasibility depends on how far the bloc’s members can lessen their reliance on Western-controlled payment channels without... Source: © SCMP News |
 | From Japan to India, overtourism cries out for new success metrics Can tourism be considered successful if arrivals increase, but the local communities – the very soul of the destination – feel strained and excluded? Too often, tourism success is measured in arrivals, occupancy and revenue. These numbers matter. But they tell only a fraction of the story. We must ask: who is this success really for? Traditional growth metrics are no longer sufficient to protect the residents who host the world or the workers who power the experience. To prevent cultural... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Tropical rainforest loss eases after record year, but still ‘11 football fields a minute’ The pace of tropical forest destruction slowed in 2025 after record losses the year before but remained at worrying levels equivalent to 11 football fields per minute, researchers said Wednesday. The world lost 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres) of tropical primary rainforest last year, down 36 per cent from 2024, said researchers from the World Resources Institute (WRI) and the University of Maryland. “A drop of this scale in a single year is encouraging – it shows what decisive... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Why an era of managed Hormuz disruption wouldn’t bode well for Asia Even if the immediate phase of conflict subsides, the Gulf is unlikely to return to the status quo. For Asia, the central question is no longer simply whether the Strait of Hormuz is open. It is whether the waterway remains reliable, predictable and politically insulated from coercion. That distinction now matters more than ever. For China and other major Asian importers, it is a question of whether energy flows, shipping routes and sanctions exposure are increasingly being shaped by a crisis... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Southeast Asia’s Mekong River being poisoned by rare earth mining Perched on the bow of his long-tail fishing boat, 75-year-old Sukjai Yana untangled a handful of small fish from his net, disappointed by his catch and fretting over whether he can sell them. Some days Sukjai earns nothing: demand for fish is falling due to worries over contamination of the Mekong River and its tributaries by toxic run-off from rare earth mines upstream that is threatening millions who rely on those waters for farms and fisheries. Chiang Saen, a fishing hub in northern Thailand,... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Rights groups hail Indonesia’s ‘new chapter’ for domestic workers, warn of long road ahead Indonesia’s new legislation to protect domestic helpers has been hailed by rights groups as the beginning of a “new chapter” for millions – though they warn that the road to change remains long and winding. On April 21, Indonesia’s House of Representatives passed the domestic worker protection bill into law, 22 years since it was first proposed. The legislation “provides legal certainty, protects workers from various forms of unfair treatment, and encourages improvements in the skills and... Source: © SCMP News |
 | New Zealand officials reject statue remembering Japan’s WWII sex slaves New Zealand officials rejected on Wednesday an application to install a statue commemorating so-called “comfort women” enslaved by Japan before and during World War II after Tokyo suggested it could harm diplomatic relations. Japan forced up to 200,000 women from Korea, China and Southeast Asia into sexual slavery from 1932 until 1945 and the issue remains a sore point in Tokyo’s relations with its neighbours. The Korean Garden Trust had sought to install a statue honouring the survivors at... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Zoo in Japan’s Hokkaido delays reopening over search for body in incinerator One of Japan’s most popular zoos has delayed its reopening after an employee reportedly told police he had burned his wife’s body in an incinerator on its grounds. Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido’s second-largest city of Asahikawa, which had been closed for a seasonal break since April 8, was set to reopen on Wednesday, a national holiday. But the date has been pushed back to at least Friday to allow police to search for the body, according to The Asahi Shimbun newspaper. At a news conference on... Source: © SCMP News |
 | South Korea’s Yoon has jail term raised to 7 years in obstruction case South Korea’s jailed former president Yoon Suk-yeol had his prison sentence increased on Wednesday in a separate case linked to his failed martial law decree, in what analysts said could be a “bellwether” for the trials still unfolding from the crisis. The Seoul High Court raised Yoon’s sentence from five years to seven for obstruction of justice and other offences after finding that he used presidential security agents to block investigators trying to arrest him over the December 2024... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Thai influencer sells premium durians for dirt cheap to avoid rotting amid surplus Thailand is turning to live-streamers to clear a looming durian glut, slashing prices as weaker Chinese demand threatens its biggest export market. Top online seller Pimradaporn Benjawattanapat, or Pimrypie, led a high-energy live stream on Tuesday night, pitching to her combined 31 million TikTok and Facebook followers. Known for selling everything from her own-brand fish sauce to luxury perfumes, Pimrypie priced premium Monthong at as low as 100 baht (US$3) per fruit, well below typical market... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Malaysian Indians least likely to be scammed as they ask too many questions: police Being a Malaysian Indian is apparently a good indication that you are unlikely to fall for a scam. Police have found that potential victims from the ethnic group are more than likely to frustrate scammers with a barrage of questions. Malaysians lost an estimated 2.7 billion ringgit (US$684 million) to online scams last year alone, according to data from cybersecurity firm Fortinet Malaysia – a 76 per cent increase from the previous year – as syndicates adopt increasingly sophisticated methods... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Hormuz crisis revives Thailand’s land bridge plan but business case still lacking Thailand’s vision for a land bridge splits opinion: some see it as a crucial new Asian trade route for a global economy held hostage by geography, while others view it as an expensive and environmentally ruinous distraction for a kingdom with plenty already on its plate. But to its backers, the proposed road and rail corridor, bookended by ports on the Gulf of Thailand and another 90km (56 miles) away on the Andaman Sea, to bypass a vital chokepoint, has never felt more urgent. Iran’s virtual... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Singapore firm sorry after Changi Airport baggage handler caught tossing luggage Singapore ground handler SATS has apologised after one of its employees was filmed tossing passengers’ luggage onto a conveyor belt at Changi Airport, in a video that drew scrutiny partly because Changi has long been ranked among the world’s best airports. SATS is a separate aviation services company that provides ground-handling services at Changi, which is operated by Changi Airport Group. The minute-long video, posted on social media on Sunday, showed a worker in a blue shirt moving large... Source: © SCMP News |
 | India’s major airlines on ‘verge of closing down’ as high fuel costs sting India’s major airlines warned of a potential suspension in services unless the government lowered jet fuel prices. “The airline industry in India is under extreme stress and on the verge of closing down or of stopping its operations,” the Federation of Indian Airlines, representing carriers including IndiGo, Air India and SpiceJet, said in a letter to India’s Civil Aviation Ministry, seen by Bloomberg. They sought a return to pandemic-era cost caps on aviation turbine fuel and a reduction or... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Why UAE’s exit from Opec is good news for Asia’s energy security Asia’s oil import-dependent economies will benefit from the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) exit from Opec, though the ongoing closure of the arterial Strait of Hormuz may not offer any immediate relief from soaring prices, analysts say. Global oil prices continued to surge on Wednesday, with benchmark Brent crude oil prices hitting US$111 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) approaching US$100 a barrel. Before the Iran war, Brent was trading around US$70 a barrel, while WTI was about US$65... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Resistance to new mosques exposes tensions over Japan’s growing Muslim communities Plans to build a mosque in Fujisawa, a city southwest of Tokyo, have become the latest flashpoint for Muslim communities in Japan, as a growing need for places of worship meets resistance from some local residents. Muslim community leaders and scholars say the opposition in Fujisawa reflects a broader pattern in Japan, where resistance to mosques has increasingly been shaped by negative overseas coverage of Islam and claims spread on social media. A public meeting in February called to allow... Source: © SCMP News |
 | How South Korea’s Samsung clan made a US$45 billion financial comeback in 1 year When Lee Kun-hee, the patriarch behind Samsung Electronics, died in 2020, his dynasty soon dealt with a crisis on two fronts: first, a multibillion-dollar inheritance tax. The following year, his son Jay Y. Lee was jailed after being convicted of bribing South Korea’s former president Park Geun-hye to win support for his succession. At the time, some observers speculated that the sheer scale of one of the world’s largest death levies could threaten the family’s control over the... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Why more Singapore graduates are choosing jobs below their qualifications: ‘it’s meaningful’ Shortly after completing a bachelor’s degree in 2023, Warren Neo considered doing what many business graduates in Singapore do: look for a corporate job. Instead, he became a full-time barista. “I considered going into human resources, since that was what I specialised in at university, but I discovered my interest in making coffee during my part-time job,” said Neo, 29, who majored in business at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. “I gave myself a chance to pursue being a barista... Source: © SCMP News |
 | A remilitarised Japan threatens more than just China There is a time and a place. Just because you have a right to do something doesn’t mean you should exercise it. The United States and its allies keep claiming they have the right of navigation in international waters by sending their navies through the Taiwan Strait. Their intention to provoke is clear despite their justification under international law. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s row with Beijing over her remarks about militarily intervening in a Taiwan crisis has yet to die down.... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Japanese travellers rush abroad for ‘golden week’ before fuel price increases Thousands of Japanese are defying rising prices at home and the pain of the feeble yen to have one final foreign holiday over “golden week” before airlines increase fuel surcharges. The operator of Narita International Airport anticipates that 1.59 million travellers will pass through the airport on the outskirts of Tokyo between last Friday and May 10. That would be an increase of around 2 per cent from last year’s golden week holiday season, which in Japan refers to a cluster of national... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Leading by example or showmanship? Singapore politicians’ train rides split opinion Social media posts of Singapore politicians taking public transport amid the global energy crisis have divided public opinion online, with some users hailing the move as leading by example while others call it showmanship. Cabinet ministers, members of parliament and even a retired defence minister have followed with their own public transport posts after Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong urged Singaporeans in an April 7 ministerial statement in parliament to take public transport as part of... Source: © SCMP News |
 | North Korea’s executions for watching K-dramas, foreign content surge during Covid-19: report When people were told to stay home during the Covid-19 pandemic, watching K-dramas became a solace for fans of South Korea’s best-known export around the world. But for North Koreans, it spelled death. A report released by North Korea-focused human rights organisation Transition Justice Working Group (TJWG) on Tuesday showed that the number of people executed for consuming South Korean cultural content – such as K-dramas, films and K-pop – and religious practices surged by 250 per cent after... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Energy security comes first for Indonesia as it defies EU over Russian oil Jakarta’s move to press on with importing 150 million barrels of Russian oil despite latest EU sanctions against an Indonesian port underscores a growing divide between Western efforts to isolate Moscow and Asia’s push for energy security. On Thursday, the European Commission announced its 20th package of sanctions against Russia, which includes Indonesia’s Karimun Oil Terminal for its “connections with the shadow fleet and circumvention of the oil price cap”. The sanction on Karimun, located in... Source: © SCMP News |
 | India, New Zealand boost trade diversification with ‘forward-looking’ pact A free-trade agreement signed between India and New Zealand has marked yet another regional push towards diversification and away from overdependence on major powers. The deal, which comes after 15 years of on-and-off negotiations, gained urgency in recent weeks as Indian exporters contend with the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and steep American tariffs that have rattled supply chains. New Zealand, for its part, has been pursuing a strategy to reduce dependence on China, its largest trading... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Survivors describe chaos, blood and twisted metal after Indonesia train crash kills 15 Herman Susanto and Dwi Aksan were heading from Indonesia’s capital Jakarta to the satellite city of Cikarang after a long day at work on Monday when disaster struck. Susanto, the head of the Indonesian Workers’ Federation, and his colleague, Aksan, were in the third carriage of a commuter train crammed with workers going home at around 9pm when it stopped to let passengers alight at Bekasi Timur station. The two men had hoped to rest before they reached their final stop, but instead, they found... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Why Asean cooperation remains primary shield against Malacca Strait tolls Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Middle East has turned the spotlight on a strategic waterway thousands of miles away in Southeast Asia, with littoral states having different ideas on how to control their stake. Indonesian officials last week flirted with the idea of imposing tolls for passing vessels in the Strait of Malacca. Malaysia and Singapore, however, have insisted that navigation in the vital corridor remains free. The likelihood of tolls in the strait is low thanks to... Source: © SCMP News |
 | South Korean court increases Kim Keon-hee’s corruption sentence to 4 years South Korea’s former First Lady Kim Keon-hee was sentenced on Tuesday to four years in prison for stock manipulation and bribery, after an appeal court increased her earlier sentence. The court said that Kim had participated in manipulating the price of a thinly traded Korean stock with multiple traders, reversing a lower court’s ruling that acquitted her of the charge. It also found that she accepted two Chanel bags and a Graff necklace, worth around 80 million won (US$54,257) in total, from... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Vietnamese hiker survives 37-hour ordeal thanks to an unlikely Lunar New Year snack A college student stranded in the mountains of Vietnam reportedly survived for 37 hours on just Orion Choco Pies. The South Korean snack, already beloved across Vietnam and often exchanged as a gift during the Lunar New Year, is now drawing attention as a survival essential in emergencies. According to Vietnamese news outlet VnExpress, Nguyen Tuan Anh, a 19-year-old student at Dai Nam University, had joined friends for a hike on Tam Dao Mountain north of Hanoi. The group set out from Vinh Ninh... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Philippines’ Sara Duterte hits back against wealth allegations as impeachment looms As impeachment looms, Philippine Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio and her spouse are firing back at allegations of ill-gotten wealth, with the couple’s combative responses seen as damage control over what critics say will be “smoking gun” evidence to be presented to the Senate. A handful of lawmakers are expecting the House of Representatives to submit Articles of Impeachment against Duterte-Carpio to the Senate soon. “I think she will be impeached by the first week of May. My guess is 160 to... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Asean’s natural leader, Bali on edge over Japanese earthquake: 7 Asia highlights 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. Why Indonesia is ceding its role as Asean’s natural leader to Singapore 2. Why Japan’s earthquake has Bali on edge over magnitude 9 ‘megathrust’ risk 3. 3 killed in Japanese Type 10 tank blast that has military baffled 4. This retiree in the Philippines downloaded an... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Pricier than gold: why thieves in Malaysia want your car’s catalytic converter Catalytic converter theft is rising across Malaysia amid strong demand for rare metals used in automotive emission systems. Most of these thefts were reported to have occurred in residential areas, public car parks and transit hubs. Vehicles left unattended, especially overnight, are among the most vulnerable. A senior manager at a car service centre said thieves were targeting catalytic converters, which are components beneath the car along the exhaust system, because they contain rare,... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Malay parties unite in Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan in test of Anwar’s fragile alliance Malaysia’s Negeri Sembilan state was pushed deeper into crisis after Barisan Nasional (BN), a key ally in Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim’s coalition government, declared it had secured a simple majority to form a new state administration with the opposition. The move turns an extraordinary palace dispute into the sharpest state-level test yet of Anwar’s fragile ruling alliance, ahead of a national poll due in less than two years. BN, the former ruling coalition led by Umno that ruled Malaysia for... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Southeast Asia’s office workers reel from energy-saving drive, heatwave A heatwave sweeping across Southeast Asia is making offices even warmer, as workers continue to adjust to energy-saving measures put in place by governments due to the war in Iran. Many countries have imposed temperature controls at government workplaces since the war began, among other measures to conserve energy. As the prolonged shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz drains energy reserves, relief does not look to be coming any time soon, with parts of the region set to bake in abnormally hot... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Will Asean’s scramble for Russian oil fuel shift in regional alliances? Across Southeast Asia, governments are seeking Russian oil and gas to ease fuel shortages triggered by the continuing chokehold on the Strait of Hormuz, a crisis that has sent energy prices higher and forced import-dependent countries to look beyond their usual suppliers. But analysts say the scramble for Russian fuel also raises a bigger question for the region: whether Moscow can turn a short-term role as an emergency energy supplier into longer-term influence there. Member states of the... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Without diplomacy, deterrence in Asia is a path to escalation “Balikatan 2026” is meant to reassure allies and deter adversaries. But the military exercise hosted by the Philippines also reveals a harsher truth: the Indo-Pacific is drifting into a security logic in which deterrence no longer contains risk but multiplies it. Every move taken in the name of stability now invites a countermove. Every display of resolve is answered by another. The result is not equilibrium, but a trap. That is why diplomacy has to return to the centre of regional strategy... Source: © SCMP News |
 | 14 killed and dozens injured in train crash near Jakarta Indonesia’s president ordered an investigation on Tuesday after a long-distance train smashed into a stationary commuter train overnight, killing 14 people and injuring dozens. Officials ended a nearly 12-hour rescue effort near Bekasi Timur station, east of the capital Jakarta, which saw crews prying open mangled carriages following the Monday night collision. “And this morning … it is all finished,” Mohammad Syafii, head of the National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), told a news... Source: © SCMP News |
 | India, New Zealand sign ‘once-in-a-generation’ free-trade deal India and New Zealand on Monday signed a free-trade agreement to deepen economic ties and expand market access, as both countries navigate mounting global trade disruptions. The deal comes as New Delhi moves to diversify export markets to offset the impact of steep tariffs imposed by the United States and instability in shipping and energy routes due to the Iran war. For New Zealand, the agreement is part of a broader push to reduce reliance on China, its largest trading partner. The agreement... Source: © SCMP News |
 | Japan’s Takaichi faces women-led backlash over constitution reform push, arms build-up Japan’s first female prime minister is facing a growing backlash from women new to political activism, as alarm spreads over her government’s push to revise the country’s pacifist constitution and expand its role in arms exports. The women are part of a protest wave that has grown from a few thousand people in late February to tens of thousands outside the National Diet in Tokyo, where demonstrators have rallied against constitutional revision, weapons exports and what they see as Japan’s drift... Source: © SCMP News |