South China Morning Post - Asia

Homes in New Zealand’s capital were flooded with faeces and sanitary products on Friday after an overnight storm blocked waste water pipes, the city’s utilities company said. Wellington Water said the waste water overflow in the picturesque suburb of Island Bay was the result of a blocked main. It said five properties were affected by the overflow and its crews were working to r...

A revision to Malaysia’s public university admissions rules has reopened one of the multicultural country’s most sensitive political debates: how far its national education system should accommodate Chinese-language schooling. Malaysia’s government on May 15 said students from Chinese independent secondary schools could apply to public universities through specified pathways usi...

Asia-Pacific is expected to drive global retail sales over the next five years, even as the Middle East conflict is hurting consumer confidence, according to business analysts. The war could continue to weigh on consumer and business sentiment for now due to higher energy prices and supply chain disruption, Anand Ramanathan, Deloitte Asia-Pacific’s retail and consumer products s...

South Korea’s Ministry of Justice on Tuesday sought to defuse criticism over a 1.2 billion won (US$779,162) plan to install air conditioning in prisons, clarifying the equipment will cool corridors, not inmates’ cells. The ministry framed the installation as a minimal measure to protect vulnerable inmates and correctional officers from extreme heat, while online critics condemne...

The recent deaths of two men from crocodile attacks in North Sumatra have put a spotlight on Indonesia’s record as the country with the world’s highest number of such killings annually, raising questions over whether habitat destruction is pushing people and wildlife into increasingly dangerous contact. Environmental groups said the deaths reflected a wider pattern across the ar...