Asia - South China Morning Post

An Indian court has issued death sentences against three men convicted of raping an Israeli tourist and another woman, and killing a man near a Unesco World Heritage site.

The men had attacked a group of five people, which included the Israeli and another tourist, an American man, as they were stargazing in a village in south India last year, according to media reports at the time.

They were in the area of Hampi, which is popular with visitors, known for rocky hillocks and sprawling temple...

A Sydney man who tried to post native lizards, dragons and other reptiles out of Australia in bags of popcorn and biscuit tins has been sentenced to eight years in jail, authorities said on Tuesday.

The eight-year term handed down on Friday was a record for wildlife smuggling, federal environment officials said.

A district court in Sydney gave the man, 61-year-old Neil Simpson, a non-parole period of five years and four months.

Investigators recovered 101 Australian reptiles from seized parcels...

India’s environmental court has given the go-ahead to the strategically significant Great Nicobar infrastructure project despite widespread concerns of ecological damage to the island in the Andaman Sea.

The National Green Tribunal on Monday dismissed a batch of petitions objecting to the megaproject on ecologically sensitive Great Nicobar island – around 160km (100 miles) northwest of Indonesia’s Aceh province – saying “adequate safeguards” had been taken into account.

The infrastructure plan...

Can a dose of old-fashioned matchmaking sell a destination?

Singapore’s tourism board is betting it might, inviting US-based singles to be paired by “aunties” for a chance to win a four-night trip in a campaign marketers see as an attempt to soften the city state’s reputation for efficiency and order with a touch of warmth and human connection.

Comedian Atsuko Okatsuka, Singaporean actress Tan Kheng Hua and astrologer-matchmaker Aliza Kelly have been chosen to front the “Aunties, Not Algorithms”...

We have selected seven stories from the SCMP’s coverage of Asia over the past week that resonated with our readers and shed light on topical issues. If you would like to see more of our reporting, please consider subscribing.

1. How a major Bali bust is putting Indonesia’s tourist visa in the spotlight

The arrest of nearly 40 Indian nationals in Bali for allegedly running an online gambling operation has renewed concern about Indonesia’s tourist visa regime, which analysts warn is vulnerable to...

A man was killed and two other people critically injured on Tuesday in a stabbing attack in Australia’s financial capital, police said.

Emergency services were called to a suburb in Sydney’s west at about 10am after reports that a man had stabbed multiple people before fleeing on foot, New South Wales Police said in a statement. The stabbing took place along a busy shopping strip.

Paramedics treated three people for serious injuries, including a man aged in his thirties or forties who died at...

Garbage-choked streets, overloaded landfills and the fear of trash avalanches haunt Indonesia’s capital region, as the world’s most populous metropolis grapples with a waste crisis.

Jakarta and its satellite cities, known collectively as Jabodetabek, are home to 42 million people and produce up to an estimated 14,000 tonnes of waste daily.

That has placed increasing strain on the eight or so landfill sites that serve the region, which are now all close to or entirely full, according to local...

The broad anti-base alliance that has shaped Okinawa’s politics for nearly a decade is reeling after a bruising election defeat, raising questions about the future of organised resistance to the US military presence on Japan’s southernmost islands.

All Okinawa – a coalition of opposition parties and civic groups that backs Governor Denny Tamaki and campaigns to curb the US military footprint in the prefecture – failed to win a single one of Okinawa’s four single-seat constituencies in the...

North Korea appears to be recasting the human cost of its involvement in Russia’s war in Ukraine as a carefully staged display of loyalty and leadership, with analysts pointing in particular to the unveiling of a new housing district in Pyongyang for families of fallen soldiers as a central part of that effort.

Several observers argue that leader Kim Jong-un is seeking not only to recast battlefield losses as patriotic sacrifice but also to head off potential unease before a key party congress...

On February 12, Bangladesh held its first official general election since the fall of the Sheikh Hasina government. Compared with previous elections marred by violence and turmoil, this one was relatively calm. Although there were scattered allegations of irregularities, international observers generally praised it as one of the most transparent elections in Bangladesh’s history.

With voter turnout at nearly 60 per cent, the Bangladeshi people showed strong enthusiasm for change through...