Asia - South China Morning Post

Hermit crabs, turtles and other species found only in Okinawa are vanishing from its beaches, as smugglers and souvenir-hunting tourists strip Japan’s southernmost islands of their unique wildlife.

Researchers and conservationists say the growing number of poaching cases points to a mounting ecological crisis and warn that without stronger protections, some of these species could soon disappear altogether.

James Reimer, who has lived in Okinawa for 18 years and is a professor of marine biology...

US Vice-President J.D. Vance has defended his hopes that his wife Usha, who was raised as a Hindu, converts to Christianity.

A fervent Catholic who himself converted in 2019, Vance said on Friday that pushback against his remarks reeks of “anti-Christian bigotry”.

The 41-year-old was asked about raising their three children in an interfaith marriage at a Turning Point USA event honouring assassinated right-wing activist Charlie Kirk at the University of Mississippi on Wednesday.

“Do I hope...

A crowd surge at a popular Hindu temple in southern India left at least nine people dead and dozens injured, local authorities said on Saturday.

The incident occurred at the Swamy Venkateswara Temple in the Srikakulam district of Andhra Pradesh state, where hundreds of devotees had gathered to mark one of Hinduism’s sacred days – “Ekadashi”, senior police officer K. V. Maheswra Reddy said.

On this day, the devotees fast and offer prayers to Lord Vishnu, a key Hindu deity.

An initial...

Political leaders like to perform on the global stage and there is no greater “performer” in this regard than US President Donald Trump, who has just been swinging across Asia, doing deals while posing as the best buddy of every national leader he met.

That kind of showmanship may impress people at home and possibly win more political support, but it hijacks the need for genuine diplomacy and international cooperation in both an economic and political sense.

Two cases in point are the most...

The fires have long since been extinguished, but in Kathmandu’s devastated government district, the embers of suspicion still smoulder.

Nearly two months after a Gen Z-led youth uprising swept through Nepal’s capital, forensic teams are working to uncover the origins of the infernos that gutted the country’s courts and ministries, looking for signs of deliberate arson and destroyed evidence.

“The extent of the damage was quite shocking,” said Subash Chandra Baral, president of the Nepal...

Operations at the Singaporean Public Utilities Board’s Johor River Waterworks have been temporarily suspended after a water pollution incident affecting the Malaysian river.

“Water supply in Singapore remains unaffected as PUB has stepped up production at local plants to meet demand,” said Singapore’s national water agency on Saturday morning.

“PUB is monitoring the raw water quality in the Johor River closely. Operations will resume when water quality checks show that the Johor River quality is...

The US and Cambodia will revive flagship military exercises for the first time in eight years, the latest sign of warming ties following a flurry of deals between the two sides including a Trump-backed peace accord with Thailand.

US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the return of the Angkor Sentinel drills after a meeting with his Cambodian counterpart on the sidelines of a security summit in Malaysia on Friday.

The defence exercises were suspended in 2017, at a time when Washington...

South Korean showbiz icons G-Dragon and Cha Eun-woo stole the spotlight at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Meeting gala in Gyeongju on Friday, blending diplomacy, culture and star power in a way that left both K-pop fans and foreign dignitaries buzzing.

G-Dragon was the only K-pop artist invited to perform at the high-profile dinner attended by heads of state and global executives at the Lahan Hotel’s grand ballroom.

The singer-producer took the stage with dynamic live renditions...

Land-scarce Singapore officially remains non-committal about building a nuclear reactor, but experts say all signs point to the city state turning to atomic energy to meet its net-zero goals by 2050.

The discourse around civilian nuclear energy has picked up in recent years, with Singapore studying its deployment, developing expertise and partnering with established companies and nuclear nations such as the United States and France to prepare for a possible shift.

The government, however,...

Five months after a glitzy groundbreaking ceremony just outside Hanoi, the area where The Trump Organisation-branded US$1.5 billion luxury golf resort was unveiled remains just fields of banana and orange trees as angry farmers challenge the site’s clearance plans.

The project in Vietnam’s Hung Yen province is facing land recovery delays as residents contest the amount of compensation being offered by local authorities.

It has been set at about 320,000 dong (US$12) per square metre (10 square...