Asia - South China Morning Post

The jailing of two Vietnamese men who brokered a sale of 900kg (2,000lbs) of pangolin scales from Africa destined for the Chinese market has returned the spotlight to the illicit trade in an animal that has been poached to the edge of extinction.

Prized for its meat and scales, the pangolin has almost disappeared from forests and their hilly habitats of Africa and Asia.

Conservationists estimate around 1 million have been trafficked over the last decade, triggered by demand for traditional...

A common hand gesture in a South Korean army recruitment poster has prompted scrutiny of a little-known cultural sensitivity in the country.

In the poster, a female model in a combat uniform poses with her hand resting under her chin. All quite innocent – except her thumb and index finger form a shape that many South Koreans associate with man-hating, according to The Korea Herald.

The finger pinching gesture is known as the “Megalian hand”, after the radical South Korean feminist group that...

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi complained she was not getting enough sleep, a veteran politician who met her on Thursday said.

The remark came as Takaichi’s premiership recently reached the six-month mark. After winning her ruling party’s leadership election in October, putting her on course to become Japan’s first female prime minister, she vowed to “work, work, work, work and work”, a phrase that became a catchphrase in 2025.

“I want to get a little more sleep,” the 65-year-old prime...

The Iran war has done in two months what years of climate policy could not: make green hydrogen look economically viable.

Soaring oil and gas prices since February’s outbreak of hostilities have narrowed the cost gap between the zero-emission fuel and its fossil rivals, paving the way for wider uptake across Asia.

The eight-week US-Israeli war on Iran, Tehran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz and Iranian strikes on Qatar’s Ras Laffan liquefied natural gas (LNG) complex have sent Asian fuel...

In March 2024, the Bank of Japan raised interest rates for the first time since 2007, lifting borrowing costs out of negative territory and calling time on decades of ultra-loose monetary policy as Japan emerged from a long period of entrenched deflation.

At the time, inflation had been above the central bank’s 2 per cent target for 22 months. Fast forward to today, and inflationary pressures continue to build. Although headline inflation fell to 1.3 per cent in February, this was because of the...

More than 80,000 people have signed a petition calling for a renewed investigation after a 19-year-old woman died by suicide in late February following a South Korean police decision to drop her sexual assault case.

As of Thursday, the petition posted on the National Assembly site on April 16 has collected 80,900 signatures, surpassing the 50,000-signature threshold that requires the legislature to formally review it.

The case centres on a woman who filed a criminal complaint in December 2025...

The ruler of one of Malaysia’s nine royal states said on Thursday that the government should continue to function “as usual”, using a speech to project calm after four powerful traditional chiefs claimed they had removed him in one of the country’s strangest palace disputes in years.

The row began on Sunday, when the four chiefs publicly declared that Tuanku Muhriz Tuanku Munawir, the ruler of Negeri Sembilan, had been deposed over alleged “misconduct”, without providing details for their...

A court has convicted an Italian man of human trafficking by tricking a Singaporean woman into sex work in Dubai, after rejecting his defence arguments attacking the victim.

Achraf Arjaouy, 31, had claimed trial to one count of recruiting a person by means of deception for the purpose of sexual exploitation in Dubai. The victim’s identity is protected by a gag order.

The prosecution’s case was that Arjaouy had targeted a woman he met on Tinder by pretending to be a wealthy pilot from Qatar who...

The number of Chinese tourists deciding to travel during the five-day Labour Day holiday at the start of next month could rival or exceed last year’s headcount despite higher global fuel prices, analysts said, adding travellers were likely to prefer shorter trips to save on transport costs.

Domestic flight bookings were up about 8 per cent year on year and domestic package-tour reservations were about 10 per cent higher ahead of the break, even after fuel prices shot up because of the war in...

Malaysia’s king said he would select a new anti-corruption chief, the first official confirmation that current head Azam Baki’s term will not be renewed when it ends next month.

“I will determine who is the best candidate to lead the MACC from now on,” Sultan Ibrahim Iskandar of Johor, the current monarch, said in a social media post on Thursday, referring to the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission.

He added that “there is no need for any party to politicise the matter”.

Representatives for the...