Asia News Wrap: Japan to get first female prime minister, and more

Here are a few stories from around Asia you may have missed this week.

Japan will get its first female prime minister 

Japan's ruling party selected conservative Sanae Takaichi as its leader on Saturday, positioning her to become the country's first female prime minister. The Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), which has dominated Japan for nearly the entire postwar period, chose Takaichi, 64, to restore public confidence amid frustration over rising prices and a shift toward opposition groups promising stimulus measures and stricter immigration policies. 

Takaichi, the only woman among the five LDP candidates, won the party's presidential election runoff against Shinjiro Koizumi, 44, the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, who had aimed to become Japan's youngest modern leader. A former minister of economic security and internal affairs, Takaichi, who implemented an expansionary fiscal policy for the world's fourth-largest economy, inherits a party in crisis.

China's super golden week turns into a celebration of consumption and culture

China's "super golden week," the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, became more than just a vacation this year. It evolved into a nationwide celebration of consumption, creativity and culture as cities across the country competed to attract visitors and increase local spending. 

During the holiday, many places introduced unique cultural and tourism marketing strategies that highlighted their distinctive features, turning holiday excitement into lasting economic momentum. According to preliminary data from China's Ministry of Transport, a record 2.43 billion trips were made nationwide during the eight-day holiday, averaging 304 million trips per day, up 6.2 percent from last year.

Contaminated cough syrup kills 23 children in India

Twenty-three children have died in India after consuming contaminated cough syrup. Police have launched a manslaughter investigation into a cough syrup manufacturer who was arrested, and whose product was found to contain hazardous levels of a toxic chemical, following the deaths of the children. 

Most of the children were under 5 and died of kidney failure in the past month after using the cough medicine branded Coldrif Syrup. A sample of the syrup, among 19 medicines tested after the deaths in Madhya Pradesh state, contained 46.28 percent diethylene glycol – well above the permitted level of 0.1 percent, according to a state drug laboratory report. "The doctor who wrote the prescription has been arrested," said Rajendra Shukla, deputy chief minister of Madhya Pradesh.

Indonesia ends search for victims of boarding school collapse, 61 dead

Indonesian rescuers finished their search on Tuesday for victims trapped under the rubble of a collapsed Islamic boarding school in East Java province, after recovering more than 60 bodies, disaster officials announced. Grief and confusion swept through the small town of Sidoarjo last week after structural failure caused the Al Khoziny school to collapse on hundreds of people, mostly teenage boys, during afternoon prayers. Most managed to escape. 

The bodies of all 61 individuals in the building have been recovered, along with seven body parts that police are working to identify, according to the disaster mitigation agency, which called this the deadliest disaster of the year and halted the search operation. "Operations due to the collapsed structure of the Al Khoziny school ... are officially closed," stated Mohammad Syafii, head of the search and rescue agency, after authorities cleared away the debris.

Malaysia to introduce foreign digital ID system

Malaysia's Home Ministry announced on Wednesday that a new foreign digital identity (FDID), which includes fingerprints, iris scans and facial recognition data of foreign visitors, will be introduced. The ministry stated that the FDID will serve as the sole digital identity for foreign visitors and will be linked to a centralized biometrics system. "Each visitor will have a unique official record, making it difficult to falsify or manipulate. This system also enables effective tracking of foreign nationals' entry and exit," the ministry said.

The Straits Times reported that, "This comes on the back of various arrests made in connection with counter-setting activities at Malaysia's borders. Counter setting refers to the practice of foreigners entering the country without proper documents through designated and pre-determined lanes at entry points." It will be implemented on March 1, 2026. 

(Cover: Sanae Takaichi, the newly elected leader of Japan's ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party, attends a press conference after the LDP presidential election in Tokyo, October 4, 2025. /CFP)