Japan is leaning towards allowing domestic spectators at the Tokyo Olympics despite the Covid-19 pandemic, media reported on Wednesday, with organisers planning to monitor the movements of foreign media to prevent spread of the virus.More Japanese go...

Two scientific committees under Hong Kong’s Centre for Health Protection are expected to hold discussions on expanding Covid-19 vaccinations to children and the feasibility of conducting antibody tests for those arriving in the city.The meetings wi...

US efforts to combat unfair trade practices with a new strike force and provide government support for American businesses highlight the Biden administration’s “more aggressive” stance towards China, as well as its willingness to implement “i...

Former Hong Kong pro-establishment lawmaker Philip Wong Yu-hong has died in the United States at the age of 82 after a six-month battle with brain cancer.Wong, who also served as a delegate to the National People’s Congress (NPC), became a lightnin...

Taiwan has reported a rapidly rising death toll in the widening coronavirus outbreak that saw a further 275 infections and 25 new deaths on Wednesday.The island’s Central Epidemic Command Centre reported an accumulated total of 11,968 infections wi...

The Chinese military has conducted an amphibious landing exercise in waters near Taiwan amid renewed tensions between Beijing and Washington.According to the official WeChat account of the Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army, it...

Singapore has reported its 34th death due to Covid-19, taking its toll from the pandemic beyond the 33 casualties recorded during the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (Sars) outbreak.The city state was one of the worst-hit countries by Sars out...

One drug trafficker texted another that he had a “job” and a proven way to get it done: two kilograms of cocaine from Bogota using the French embassy’s protected diplomatic pouch.The pair were straightforward, because they were using the newest...

Malaysia’s king is set to have an audience with political parties beginning on Wednesday, amid public anger over the state of emergency that has failed to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.The head of the Democratic Action Party will meet with the king...

A publicly funded Hong Kong university has distanced itself from its student union and accused it of becoming “highly politicised” after the group referred to Covid-19 as “Wuhan pneumonia” in a mass email sent to their peers and refused to am...

Kim Jong-un, North Korea’s Supreme Leader and the bearer of a dizzying array of military and party titles, is learning the value of delegating a busy workload.In recent months, Kim has signed off on the creation of a number of high-ranking position...

Hu Ai was stuck in traffic with her parents during the Labour Day holiday last month when she finally realised China’s culture of overwork had become too much.“My boss called and told me to walk from the highway to the nearest subway station and ...

Former US president Donald Trump has praised Nigeria for banning the social media platform Twitter, a move which prompted international condemnation.Trump, who is subject to a lifetime ban from the platform, commended the Nigerian government for its ...

Around the world, from Bangladesh to Nepal to Rwanda, vulnerable hotspots have been grappling with stalled Covid-19 vaccination programmes as they run out of doses. Many of those shortages can be traced back to a single company: the Serum Institute o...

The US Treasury Department has asked law enforcement authorities to investigate the disclosure of tax records cited in a bombshell media report that showed that some of America’s richest people paid little to no income taxes.US media outlet ProPubl...

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said Hong Kong’s financial system remains resilient to future financial shocks and crises even after a challenging two years that saw the city’s economy experience its worst contraction on record.In its lates...

As deteriorating geopolitical tensions with China spill into trade reprisals, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison will head to the UK to meet global leaders this week with a message: there’s strength in numbers.“We are far from isolated – ...

Factory-gate price inflation in China hit a 13-year high in May as manufacturers passed on the surging prices of raw materials, data released on Wednesday showed.The producer price index (PPI), which reflects the prices that factories charge wholesal...

China’s university entrance examinations (gaokao), held earlier this week, are seen by most of the 10.8 million registered students and their parents as life determining. As more than 80 per cent of exam takers progress to some form of higher educa...

Malaysia’s severe Covid-19 situation may be front and centre of public attention, but in the northern state of Penang, state administrators are contending with a separate headache as a debate against a multibillion-dollar island-building plan once ...

A man in southeastern China was blackmailed by a “nude chat” scam despite the fact that he never took off his clothes during the incident.The man, identified by his surname Li, was extorted for 110,000 yuan (US$17,200) by swindlers who threatened...

Hong Kong’s construction costs have dipped amid a drop in building activity during the pandemic, theoretically putting pressure on the prices of new homes, according to Arcadis, an Amsterdam-headquartered design and consultancy firm.Hong Kong dropp...

To help breathe life into Hong Kong’s stagnant Covid-19 jabs campaign, companies have been offering a host of perks and prizes over the past couple of weeks through lotteries open only to the vaccinated public.Answering the government’s appeal fo...

A Guangzhou man has been arrested and could face criminal charges for breaking quarantine rules to see his parents then hiding the visit from health workers, as authorities grapple with a Covid-19 outbreak.Mass testing is under way in the southern ci...

Many Hong Kong parents and pupils remain cautious about getting Covid-19 jabs despite the government’s decision to lower the vaccination age limit to 12 years old.While health experts said it was generally safe for teenagers to be inoculated, schoo...

At eight years old, Mengmeng is as familiar with eyeshadow and lipstick as she is with textbooks and toys.The primary school student in Shanghai is a part-time child model and has appeared in various advertisements and kids’ fashion shows since sta...

Emma Coronel Aispuro, the wife of Mexican narcotics kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, is expected to plead guilty this week to federal charges of helping him run the notorious Sinaloa drug cartel, The New York Times reported on Tuesday.The Times...

The Chinese government’s landmark policy to prod couples to have up to three children will fundamentally alter the housing industry, and spur developers to build bigger homes to accommodate larger families.Flats smaller than 90 square metres, which...

Turkey vowed to save the Sea of Marmara on Tuesday by launching a disaster management programme meant to clean up a slimy “sea snot” outbreak threatening marine life and the fishing industry.The thick layer of organic matter, known as marine muci...

Four Hong Kong universities have dropped in the latest worldwide rankings, with only Chinese University (CUHK) and Polytechnic University (PolyU) rising in the league table, but researchers said the city’s higher education remained in “rather goo...

The United States on Tuesday eased its warnings against travel to a number of major nations including Olympics host Japan, raising hopes that widespread vaccinations will bring a return to normal travel.Close US allies and neighbours including Canada...

In a rare show of bipartisan solidarity in the polarised US Capitol, the Senate came together on Tuesday to pass sweeping legislation designed to strengthen Washington’s hand in its escalating geopolitical and economic competition with China.By a v...

Businesses in China could get caught in the crossfire as the national legislature presses ahead with a bill meant to bolster countermeasures against Western sanctions, according to analysts.The draft anti-foreign sanctions legislation is a response t...

A South Korean mayor who had boasted of his city’s ability to secure Covid-19 vaccines has publicly apologised after it was revealed he almost got taken in by fraudsters.Kwon Young-jin, mayor of Daegu, told reporters on May 31 that a foreign tradin...

A replica of the Statue of Liberty, smaller but based on the original plaster cast of its big sister on Liberty Island, Manhattan – a gift from France – was given a send-off on Monday before a trip to the United States where it will be displayed ...

This is the ninth in the South China Morning Post’s series of explainers about China’s Communist Party, in the lead-up to the party’s 100th anniversary in July. Here, William Zheng discusses the concept of chief officials, or “No 1 hands” a...

A Senate investigation of the January 6 insurrection at the US Capitol found a broad intelligence breakdown across multiple agencies, along with widespread law enforcement and military failures that led to the violent attack.There were clear warnings...

Australian businesses say there are signs the trade relationship with China will not collapse as exports and imports between the two countries continue to be healthy despite bans on certain products.China’s total imports from Australia in May rose ...

The United States and the European Union are set to back a renewed push into investigating the origins of Covid-19 after conflicting assessments about where the outbreak started, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News.In a draft statement the...

A British police officer has pleaded guilty to the kidnap and rape of a woman as she walked home in south London and whose body was found a week later in the woods.A court at London’s Old Bailey heard Tuesday that Wayne Couzens, 48, accepted respon...

While most of Europe’s top leaders rooted for a Joe Biden victory in last year’s election, his first months as America’s president have left some of them frustrated and anxious.He has maintained some of former president Donald Trump’s least p...

On June 5, the world’s leading economies announced an agreement that will bolster their ability to raise taxes on global corporations. It still needs approval from a wider set of countries, and many details need to be worked out. Nonetheless, the d...

United Nations war crimes judges on Tuesday upheld a genocide conviction and life sentence against former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, rejecting all grounds of his appeal against a lower tribunal’s verdict.Mladic, 78, led Bosnian S...

A bystander slapped French President Emmanuel Macron across the face during a trip to southeast France on Tuesday on the second stop of a nationwide tour.Images on social media and broadcast on the BFM news channel showed Macron approaching a barrier...

The communications watchdog on Tuesday defended its decision to warn RTHK over its portrayal of Hong Kong police, calling the judicial challenge from journalist groups “overdramatised” and unrealistic, like the satire at the heart of the case.Abr...

Covid-19 sequencing in Singapore has revealed the emergence of the delta variant as the country’s major local virus strain, underscoring the highly infectious nature of the mutation that has proliferated globally since its first detection in India....

The emergence of another mutant Covid-19 case in Hong Kong has stalled a government plan to resume live music and potentially relax seating rules in bars and other nightspots, the Post has learned, even as the industry embraces vaccinations to help r...

China’s defence ministry has vowed to defend Beijing’s sovereignty over Taiwan “at all costs”, after US senators made a high-profile visit to the island in a military plane.Washington’s growing engagement with Taipei could push Beijing to t...

Tesla’s delivery of electric vehicles (EVs) rose by nearly 30 per cent in May, as backlogs due to strong bookings in the first quarter buffered the carmaker’s performance in the world’s largest vehicle market from scores of home-grown competito...

India’s concerns over China’s growing influence in Sri Lanka have been exacerbated after the approval of controversial legislation governing a Chinese-funded US$1.4 billion project to build a special economic zone (SEZ) next to the main port in C...