Asia - South China Morning Post

In the mist-wrapped hills of northern Thailand, where cacao trees erupt from the rich, nutrient-dense soil, three little words are spreading fear through a community of farmers.

“There is no way to know for certain,” Koranut Rattanayanyong told This Week in Asia. “But it could be a total wipeout.”

The weather event Koranut is dreading? A “super” El Nino.

Earlier this month, the climate phenomenon officially started to form over the Pacific, with a bloom of ocean heat running 2.5 degrees Celsius...

For much of the 20th century, many were accustomed to thinking of people as an ever-expanding resource. As the number of people grew, so did labour markets, consumer markets, scientific communities, production systems and armies. In 1950, the world’s population was about 2.5 billion. In 2026, it is reaching 8.3 billion. In just 75 years, the population has increased more than 3.3 times.

In this sense, the current human population may turn out not to be a permanent norm, but a historical anomaly...

Authorities in Indonesia’s tourist island of Bali foiled an attempt to illegally trade 21 protected green sea turtles, police said on Friday.

Bali police seized the live animals during a raid on the Pegametan coast of the island on June 10, after local residents reported suspected illegal turtle trading activity in the area, said Nanang Pri Hasmojo, head of law enforcement at the force.

Police arrested a 67-year-old man identified only by his initials KS, who is suspected of storing the...

The son of Myanmar’s jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said his mother’s “spirit cannot be caged”, in a moving video greeting for her 81st birthday – a milestone she again marks while confined by the junta.

Suu Kyi, Myanmar’s de facto leader until the 2021 coup removed her administration, was jailed for 33 years following that military takeover on charges including election fraud and corruption.

International observers and her pro-democracy supporters say the allegations were...

We’ve never had it so good. The S&P 500 and Nikkei 225 have hit record highs this month. SpaceX had its spectacular initial public offering, the largest in history. The company raised an eye-popping US$75 billion and saw a sharp rise in its share price to a mind-blowing valuation of US$2.5 trillion in two days. The US-Iran deal on reopening the Strait of Hormuz caused petrol prices to drop back to below US$4 per gallon.

Global stock markets are creating seemingly unstoppable wealth for...

A Vietnamese national deported to South Sudan by Donald Trump’s administration under its controversial third-country deportation programme was repatriated to Vietnam on Friday after spending more than a year in detention.

South Sudan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced the repatriation of 44-year-old Tuan Phan at a press briefing on Friday.

“We are grateful that while in our custody Mr Phan was very disciplined, joyful, and importantly, he remained healthy,” spokesman Agok Anyar said.

Phan...

Arsenio Butil Jnr fell to his knees and began to pray when last week’s deadly 7.8-magnitude earthquake began shaking his home on the coast of the southern Philippines.

When he opened his eyes, he saw a once-familiar shoreline changing in real time, with swathes of previously submerged coral suddenly pushing above the waterline.

The June 8 quake, driven by a shifting of the nearby Cotabato Trench, toppled buildings, triggered landslides and killed at least 76 people on the southern island of...

Australia has supplied the Philippine coastguard with a new batch of aerial and underwater drones that could significantly enhance Manila’s capability to monitor activities in the disputed South China Sea.

The systems would help the coastguard gather evidence and enhance deterrence across the contested waters, including areas within the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, where Manila has faced repeated confrontations with Chinese vessels, according to analysts.

Based on images released by the...

A social media post by London Mayor Sadiq Khan calling his city and Singapore global powerhouses has ignited scrutiny of both places, with critics arguing that they are worlds apart.

Khan, who was in Singapore this week, posted a picture of himself standing in front of the Marina Bay skyline on Sunday with the caption: “This is what it looks like when two global powerhouses unite. Delighted to be here to bang the drum for London and supercharge the strong ties between our countries.”

Social...

A fire that broke out at a primary school in Tokyo on Friday, injuring eight pupils and two teachers before being extinguished, authorities said.

The fire was reported around 11am, according to the local fire department. It started in a room next to the music room on the top floor of Takinogawa Dai-san Elementary School in the Kita area of the Japanese capital.

It was extinguished at around 1.45pm, with 75 fire engines and dozens of firefighters at the scene.

Most of the injured suffered from...