3 d. ago ‘Schrodinger’s Pakistan’, Chinese travellers eye Singapore: 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. Accountability test for Philippines’ Marcos family as budget scandal widens A former prominent lawmaker now in hiding has released new videos accusing Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr’s family of orchestrating massive corruption, escalating a scandal that is...

Politics

1 week ago Alice Guo gets life in jail; Bali hostel poisoning mystery: 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. Alice Guo gets life term for human trafficking linked to Philippine scam hub 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...

Events

1 week ago Bali hostel poisoning mystery deepens after Chinese traveller’s death

More than two months after a mass poisoning at a Bali hostel left a young Chinese traveller dead and scores of guests violently ill, the incident remains mired in conflicting accounts and uncertainty. Many of the lingering questions are due to the possibility of overlapping causes behind the tragedy, with medical experts pointing to an unusual mix of symptoms that could reflect severe food poisoning, mismanaged fumigation or both. Amid the scrutiny, the hostel at the centre of the incident has...

Events

2 w. ago Alice Guo gets life term for human trafficking linked to Philippine scam hub

A Philippine court found a former mayor guilty of qualified human trafficking and sentenced her to life imprisonment over her role in setting up a scam centre that victimised foreigners, as Southeast Asian governments vow to fight transnational criminal syndicates. A regional trial court issued the verdict against ex-Bamban town chief Alice Guo, according to the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission. There was no immediate reaction from Guo and her lawyers. Guo helped incorporate Baofu...

Politics

2 w. ago China daughter urges court to show leniency for dad who electrocuted mum in shower

A 14-year-old girl in northern China has written to a court begging it to be lenient with her father who electrocuted her mother to death while she was taking a shower. The case has sparked a heated discussion on mainland social media after the judgment made by a court in Hebei province was released to the public in early November. The man, surnamed Yang, 36, was sentenced to life in jail for killing his wife, Yin, by electrocution in March 2023, Red Star News reported. The couple married in...

Events

4 w. ago US singer unknowingly marries sultan, HKU ranks first in Asia: 7 highlights

We have selected seven stories from this week’s news across Hong Kong, mainland China, the wider Asia region and beyond 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. US singer unknowingly marries Malaysian sultan: ‘I deserve a proper divorce’ When American recording artist Brittany Porter met Sultan Muhammad V, ruler of the Malaysian state of Kelantan, she thought their fairy tale romance led to...

Politics