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Asia - South China Morning Post

Breaking news, analysis and opinion from the SCMP"s Asia edition.

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‘Forgotten by everyone’: Namewee blasted for job hunt...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/21

Malaysian rapper Namewee has been criticised by Taiwanese model Sprite Fang for seeking part-time jobs amid ongoing investigations into the death of social media influencer Iris Hsieh, Oriental Daily reported.In a social media post on Wednesday, Fang, 42, wrote: “You don’t have money, but at least you still have your life. You can keep writing music to generate income. However, Iris had money but is no longer alive to spend it.” Fang urged Namewee, whose real name is Wee Meng Chee, to take...

Malaysia suspends funding for football association...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/21

Malaysia’s embattled football association has been plunged deeper into crisis after the government suspended fresh funding over a document-forgery scandal that has embarrassed the football-mad nation. Football’s governing body, Fifa, has issued fines and player bans and launched criminal complaints after it found the Football Association of Malaysia (FAM) had cheated by faking documents of seven foreign-born players. Two of the players scored in a victory over Vietnam in an Asian Cup

Mexican model who was called ‘dumb’ by Thai host...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/21

Miss Mexico was crowned Miss Universe in Thailand on Friday, strutting to victory after the beauty pageant’s host had publicly chastised her, among several dramatic missteps in the run-up to the final stage. Contestants from Ivory Coast, the Philippines, Thailand and Venezuela also made it to the final round, selected from more than 120 women vying for the title of Miss Universe in a contest considered one of the “big four” of global beauty pageants. But before Miss Mexico Fatima Bosch was...

Marcos’ cousin faces plunder charges in Philippine...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/21

Plunder, corruption and bribery charges were recommended against Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s cousin for his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal. The Department of Public Works and Highways sought these charges against former House speaker Martin Romualdez during a filing at the Office of the Ombudsman on Friday. The same charges were also recommended for resigned lawmaker Zaldy Co, who was formerly head of the House of Representatives’ appropriations committee.

Show of force? How mass rally put Philippine church...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/21

The Philippines’ deepening flood-control corruption scandal has now drawn in one of the country’s most influential religious groups, with a mass mobilisation by members of the Iglesia ni Cristo (INC) church offering a revealing glimpse into the political fault lines reshaping Manila’s crisis. The two-day gathering, which began on Sunday and drew more than half a million INC members to the capital, was officially framed as a demand for transparency and accountability over billions of pesos...

Jamaican model hospitalised after Miss Universe stage...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/21

A Miss Universe contestant who dramatically fell off stage on Wednesday during a preliminary round of the pageant was doing fine and recovering in hospital, the organisation’s leader said. Miss Jamaica Gabrielle Henry was walking across the stage when she stepped directly off the elevated surface during Wednesday’s portion of the competition in Bangkok. Social media videos showed several people rushing to Henry’s aid as soon as she walked off stage, and other clips showed her leaving on a...

As Japan takes aim at crypto, first mover Hong Kong...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/21

Mere days after her election as Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi delivered a policy speech declaring that a major priority was to build a strong and resilient economy. Since then, her administration has ushered in a rapid-fire series of policies to support digital assets, with the goal of countering Japan’s sluggish economic growth.This shift has introduced a new dynamic in Asia, with Tokyo clearly no longer content to watch Hong Kong become Asia’s premier cryptocurrency hub

‘Wipe them out’: Yoon’s dictatorial mindset evident...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/21

South Korea’s former president Yoon Suk-yeol may have begun laying the ideological groundwork for a self-coup long before his failed attempt to impose martial law last December, according to newly disclosed legal documents. Political analysts say the revelations suggest Yoon’s push for emergency rule was not a sudden response to security tensions, but part of a long-standing pattern of authoritarian inclinations dating back to his early political career and even his years as a...

13 killed in Cambodia bus crash near Angkor Wat en...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/20

A passenger bus in Cambodia crashed off a bridge into a river on Thursday, killing at least 13 passengers and injuring two dozen others, police said. The bus was travelling from Siem Reap, home to the country’s fabled Angkor Wat temple complex, to the capital Phnom Penh, when it crashed in the predawn hours in the central province of Kampong Thom, the deputy police chief for the area, Siv Sovanna, said. All those on the bus were Cambodian nationals, he said. A preliminary investigation

As power balance tips to China, world needs a fairer...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/20

This month, the Russian Academy of Sciences completed a study assessing the comprehensive strength of 193 countries across economic, technological, demographic, military, infrastructural and other dimensions. This annual assessment of national power is conducted using advanced methods of multivariate statistical analysis. The latest results, calculated for 2025 and 2026, show the global balance of power has finally shifted from the United States towards China. Also, several regional power

Python makes itself at home in Malaysian house

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/20

A family in Malaysia was alerted to a massive snake when they discovered a broken ceiling in their bathroom on November 12, 2025. They later spotted the five-metre (16ft) python, weighing 60kg (132lbs), after zooming in on the hole with a phone camera. Animal rescuers subsequently released the reptile back into the wild, far away from residential areas.

Is naval drill a sign that India, other Quad members...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/20

The Quad nations have completed a major round of naval drills, pressing ahead with their defence cooperation even as political tensions test the cohesion of the regional security bloc. The decision to continue joint exercises reflects a “growing convergence of strategic interests” among the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue’s members and defence remaining high on the agenda despite trade and other disagreements among some of the bloc’s members, according to analysts. Comprising Australia,

‘Labubu queen’: Michelle Yeoh stuns TV host with doll...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/20

Oscar-winning Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh melted hearts on the Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon after sharing that she has more than 100 Labubu dolls, a secret number fans never saw coming. Yeoh revealed that she has over 100 of them tucked away at home. “Oh maybe a little more than a hundred of them,” she shared casually on the show, as if having a miniature mythical creature colony is completely normal. Host Fallon, understandably gobsmacked, blurted out, “You have 100

Cambodian beauty queen angers Thais over border row...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/20

A Cambodian beauty queen has stirred controversy in Thailand after giving a political speech accusing Bangkok of provoking conflict during a pageant segment in Phnom Penh, with social media users accusing her of using an international dispute to grab attention. A day after Chouri Laorhours was crowned Miss Teen Cambodia, her tearful speech was posted on the pageant’s social media account. In a video, Laorhours carries a Cambodian flag and starts her speech in Khmer. Speaking “on behalf of all...

Russian mum warns Malaysians over jellyfish threat...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/20

A two-year-old Russian boy has died from complications after being stung by a box jellyfish at Chenang Beach in Langkawi, Malaysia’s Kedah state, following five days of fighting for his life. Sinar Harian reported that Vladimir Lakubanets died on Wednesday at the Sultanah Bahiyah Hospital (HSB) in Alor Setar after suffering serious complications from the sting, which occurred last Saturday. His father, Nikita, 32, said the incident happened suddenly while his son was playing in shallow...

Helmsman’s phone distraction blamed for South Korean...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/20

A South Korean ferry ran aground after the helmsman became distracted by his mobile phone, a member of the coastguard said on Thursday. All 267 passengers and crew were safely brought to a nearby port after the ferry crashed on an uninhabited island off South Korea’s southwestern coast. The passenger vessel was travelling from Jeju Island to the port city of Mokpo when it ran aground after 8pm (local time) on Wednesday, authorities said. A preliminary investigation found that “the officer...

Alice Guo gets life term for human trafficking linked...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/20

A Philippine court has found a former mayor guilty of human trafficking and sentenced her to life imprisonment over her role in setting up a scam centre, as Manila and other Southeast Asian governments vow to fight transnational criminal syndicates. “Alice [Guo] was convicted and seven others, and it’s life sentence,” Deputy State Prosecutor Olivia Torrevillas told reporters outside the court hall in the capital on Thursday. Guo, who has been detained in a Manila jail since last year,

Malaysian border control mistakes cannabis for...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/20

Malaysia’s border control agency clarified on Thursday that about 43 kilograms of cannabis buds were found in the suitcases of three Japanese men detained at Kuala Lumpur International Airport two days ago, correcting an earlier statement that said they had found 12kg of cocaine. In correcting its previous day’s statement, the Border Control and Protection Agency offered no explanation for how the initial error occurred. The men arrived from Bangkok by plane on Tuesday. “Suspicious images”

‘We can’t have it all’: Turkey to host UN climate...

Asia - South China Morning Post ·

2025/11/20

Turkey will host next year’s UN climate summit while Australia will lead the conference’s negotiations among governments under a compromise deal taking shape in talks in Brazil, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Thursday. The annual Cop conferences are the world’s main forum for driving climate action. The compromise would resolve a stand-off between Australia and Turkey over who would stage Cop31. Both bid in 2022 to host it and refused to stand down. The two sides were now...

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