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NEW DELHI: Former Bangladesh PM Sheikh Hasina was sentenced to death in absentia Monday for the violent 2024 student crackdown by a special tribunal in a verdict that she described as a foregone conclusion. Chief adviser Muhammad Yunus hailed the verdict, saying no one is above the law.Hasina had told TOI earlier the tribunal was a deflection tactic by political adversaries.India responded to Hasina’s sentencing with caution, saying it had taken note of the verdict of the ‘International Crimes Tribunal of Bangladesh’, and, as a close neighbour, remained committed to the best interests of the people of Bangladesh, including in peace, democracy, inclusion and stability in that country.“We will always engage constructively with all stakeholders to that end,’’ said the external affairs ministry, giving nothing away on Dhaka’s renewal of its demand, immediately after the sentencing, to extradite the deposed PM who remains in India. 2013 treaty with Dhaka states extradition can be refused if..

AdvertisementHong Kong societyHong KongSocietyRoar trip: Singapore football fans land in Hong Kong for historic Asian Cup clash2,000 Singaporeans expected to turn up for winner-takes-all qualifier against hosts at Kai Tak Stadium on Tuesday night
Reading Time:2 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPLo Hoi-yingandJiang ChuqinPublished: 8:30am, 18 Nov 2025Hundreds of Singaporean football fans have flown into Hong Kong for what some call the city state’s biggest football match when the Lions take on the hosts on Tuesday for a place at the 2027 Asian Cup.
Advertisement“Singapore has not qualified for the Asian Cup since 1984, when we hosted the games,” said Chue Guo-xian, who works in the sports industry. “So this is probably the biggest match in our national team’s history.”
Chue, who is in his late thirties, said he would be gearing up for Tuesday’s qualifier, carrying a large national flag and wearing the jersey of the national team, also known as the Lions.
He and his wife plan to stay in the c..

AdvertisementSouth KoreaAsiaSoutheast AsiaSouth Korea indicts Japanese woman for forcibly kissing BTS’ JinThe suspect, who kissed the K-pop star without consent at an event in Seoul last year, was charged with indecent assault
Reading Time:1 minuteWhy you can trust SCMPThe Korea TimesPublished: 8:13am, 18 Nov 2025A Japanese woman in her 50s has been indicted without detention for forcing a kiss on Jin of BTS during a public fan event last year.AdvertisementThe Seoul Eastern District Prosecutors’ Office said that the suspect was charged on Monday with indecent assault.
She is accused of approaching Jin (real name Kim Seok-jin) during a fan meeting held at Jamsil Indoor Stadium in Seoul’s Songpa district in June last year, shortly after he completed his military service. She forced a kiss on Jin’s cheek without consent.
A photo showing Jin pulling away as if in discomfort spread online.
Following the incident, several fans filed complaints through the National Petition System, accusing h..

President Donald Trump has said Americans could see $2,000 tariff dividend checks in 2026, but no exact date has been set yet, although he hinted at the timeline.The payments are expected to come from revenue raised through tariffs.Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Friday, Trump said the checks will not arrive in time for the Christmas shopping season. “It will be next year. The tariffs allow us to give a dividend. We’re going to do a dividend and we’re also going to be reducing debt,” he said.The MAGA chief first floated the idea of tariff dividends earlier this month, suggesting that high-income earners would be excluded, though he did not define a specific income threshold. Trump said his Truth Social platform, “A dividend of at $2000 a person (not including high income people!) will be paid to everyone. Those against the tariffs are FOOLS!” Rebate for families making less than $100,000
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent explained last week that the administration was stil..

White House posted a photo of POTUS and FLOTUS and called it 'power couple' Amid the latest sex scandal, social media went all in after newly leaked Epstein emails hinted that Donald Trump might have had a scandalous connection to someone called “Bubba” — a nickname long associated with former President Bill Clinton. The outrage went viral when many interpreted the phrase as a crude, sexual reference: “Trump blowing Bubba.”Democrats accused Trump of scrambling to deflect blame. He called the controversy a “hoax” on Truth Social and called for the DOJ to investigate Clinton’s ties to Epstein, insisting the outrage was a politically motivated attack. Press secretary Karoline Leavitt also defended the MAGA chief. The White House recently shared a photo of President Trump with First Lady Melania, captioning them as the “power couple.” Social media users quickly noted the timing, pointing out that these posts often appear whenever Trump is linked to Bill Clinton in the newly leake..

AdvertisementLegislative Council election 2025Hong KongPoliticsWhat are Hong Kong Legco election candidates prioritising in their manifestos?The Post reviews the manifestos of all 161 candidates for December 7 poll, but only 38 contenders offer versions in English
Reading Time:4 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPMatthew ChengPublished: 8:30am, 17 Nov 2025Integration with mainland China and boosting Hong Kong’s sluggish economy have dominated the manifestos of candidates contesting functional and Election Committee constituencies in the Legislative Council election, while those running for directly elected seats have prioritised livelihood concerns, the Post has found.
AdvertisementA check by the Post of all 161 candidates’ manifestos on the government’s election website also found that only 38 of them, or 23 per cent, provided English versions.
Of the 161 hopefuls competing in the December 7 poll, 60 are contesting the 30 seats in the sector-based functional constituencies, while another 50..

AdvertisementMalaysiaThis Week in AsiaEconomicsIn Malaysia’s Johor, silicon dreams meet parched realitiesAs global tech titans invest billions in data centres to power the AI revolution, the state’s most precious resource is fast evaporating
Reading Time:4 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPUshar DanielePublished: 8:00am, 17 Nov 2025Malaysia’s southern state of Johor is being transformed by a torrent of tech investment.AdvertisementGlobal heavyweights – Microsoft, Nvidia, ByteDance – are pouring billions into vast data centres, the digital foundries that underpin the international AI industry and cloud economy.
For Malaysia’s government, these investments are nothing short of transformative, representing a once-in-a-generation opportunity to vault ahead in Southeast Asia’s technology race.
But for Johor residents like Muhammad Azrien Mohammad Ali, the future arrives with a simple, daily anxiety: will water still flow from the tap?
“This year I have experienced three water disruptions,” the 3..

Dates advance for Indians in employment category visas in December. US visa bulletin for December has good news for Indians as there has been some forward movement for EB-2 and EB-3 final action dates for Indians. For Indian applicants in the EB-1 category, Final Action Date advances 1 month with a cut-off date of March 15, 2022. In the EB-2 category, Final Action Date advances 1 month 14 days with a cut-off date of May 15, 2013. In the EB-3 category, Final Action Date advances 1 month with a cut-off date of September 22, 2013.Dates for Filing Applications remain unchanged for EB-1 category with a cut-off date of April 15, 2023; EB-2 category Filing Dates remains unchanged with a cut-off date of December 1, 2013; EB-3 category Filing Dates remain unchanged with a cut-off date of August 15, 2014.”A visa must be available before you can take one of the final steps in the process of becoming a lawful permanent resident. Because more prospective immigrants want lawful permanent residency t..

A section of MAGA is upset that Vivek Ramaswamy has Trump's endorsement but Marjorie Taylor Greene doesn't. Amid MAGA mayhem triggered by President Donald Trump's rage against Marjorie Taylor Greene, GOP leader Vivek Ramaswamy still dominated social media chatter as MAGA supporters exclaimed that Trump rescinded support for Marjorie but made a fresh endorsement for Ramaswamy — as MAGA equations are changing. While Trump and Greene's fallout was mostly over the Epstein files, Greene objected to Trump's H-1B stand and said America does not need foreign workers. Greene said she would introduce a bill to stop H-1B visa program completely though Trump believes America needs certain foreign talent. The H-1B row amid MAGA was triggered last year during Christmas when Vivek Ramaswamy called out American culture and said American education system does not produce enough STEM workers needed for American tech companies and hence companies have to rely on H-1B. Ramaswamy ..

AdvertisementJapanThis Week in AsiaLifestyle & CultureJapan’s ‘monster parents’ heap misery on teachers with absurd demandsThings have got so bad that Tokyo is creating guidelines recommending police and lawyers be called to handle difficult parental encounters
Reading Time:4 minutesWhy you can trust SCMPJulian RyallPublished: 8:00am, 16 Nov 2025Updated: 8:13am, 16 Nov 2025When the cherry blossoms fail to bloom on cue or a lunch menu falls short of expectations, teachers in Japan know what to expect: a barrage of late-night emails, angry phone calls and, increasingly, a sense of despair.AdvertisementThe problem has reached such proportions that authorities in Tokyo are planning official guidelines intended to protect educators from parental harassment and establish boundaries around what schools can be asked to do.
According to a draft released this month by the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education, the guidelines are “aimed at enabling teachers and other school staff to work with pea..