South Korea on Wednesday established a panel to debate a strategy on how to “live with Covid-19” in the long-term, as the country seeks to phase out coronavirus restrictions and reopen the economy amid rising vaccination levels.Under the strategy...

A North Korean soldier clad in a super-tight blue outfit in a state media photo has generated a buzz on social media, with some calling him “a superhero”, “a captain DPRK”, or “a rocket man”.He was among nearly 30 soldiers who posed for a...

Trade and investment ministers in the Group of 20 (G20) major economies affirmed the need to reinforce international rules on industrial subsidies to ensure fair competition, according to a statement released on Wednesday by ministers.The statement t...

The naval forces of the United States, Japan, Australia and India have started a joint exercise, Pentagon press secretary John Kirby confirmed, in the face of China’s maritime assertiveness in the region.The four nations, known as the “Quad”, a...

The United States will open its land borders with Mexico and Canada in early November to non-essential travellers who are fully vaccinated against Covid-19.A senior White House official said the administration would give the “precise date very soon...

Eleven prominent international rights groups on Wednesday said Singapore’s “already limited civic space” could be further narrowed as a result of the country’s contentious new anti-foreign interference law, and urged authorities to withdraw i...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing.The Hong Kong Observatory has downgraded Typhoon Kompasu to a No 3 warning signal, after more than 23 hours of...

Inside a huge crater in Israel’s sun-baked Negev desert, a team wearing spacesuits ventures forth on a mission to simulate conditions on Mars.The Austrian Space Forum has set up a pretend Martian base with the Israeli space agency at Makhtesh Ramon...

The costs of solar and coal power will be comparable across China by 2023 as solar energy conversion becomes more efficient and the cost drops, according to a new study by researchers in China and the United States.The researchers also found that sol...

For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration on Tuesday authorised an electronic cigarette, saying the vaping device from R.J. Reynolds can help smokers cut back on conventional cigarettes.E-cigarettes have been sold in the US for more than a...

China’s exports rose more than expected in September, data released on Wednesday showed.China’s exports grew by 28.1 per cent in September from a year earlier, to US$305.74 billion – up from the 25.6 per cent growth seen in August.This was abov...

US government expert panel said it no longer recommends a daily dose of aspirin to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in people aged 60 and over.The United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) said it plans to update its 2016 recomm...

Myanmar’s former president Win Myint, who was forced out of office eight months ago when the army seized power, testified on Tuesday that he defied a demand from the military to resign, saying he would “rather die”, his lawyers said.Win Myint w...

There’s a new weapon of choice for cold-blooded Indian murderers: venomous snakes.Indian courts have warned of a disturbing new trend in which killers provoke snakes into biting their victims in an effort to make their deaths look accidental.In the...

A Chinese father lay down in the middle of a road begging police to detain him because his daughter could not solve a simple mathematics calculation.The man, a resident of Kunshan in Jiangsu eastern China, said he felt “so angry and so helpless” ...

Worldwide supply chain disruptions are driving price increases and draining momentum out of economies recovering from the coronavirus pandemic, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned on Tuesday.The ongoing hit from the pandemic and the failure ...

This story is published in a content partnership with POLITICO. It was originally reported by Caitlin Emma and Jennifer Scholtes on politico.com on October 12, 2021.The Democratic-controlled House of Representatives approved a bill on Tuesday to brie...

Thailand wants wealthy foreigners to settle down in the Southeast Asian nation after the pandemic, and is looking to lure them with possible perks including longer-term leases and tax remittances – but analysts are unsure whether the scheme can riv...

Daily exposure to phthalates, a group of chemicals used in everything from plastic containers to make-up, may lead to around 100,000 deaths in older Americans annually, a study from New York University warned Tuesday.The chemicals, which can be found...

The UN’s top court handed Somalia control of most of a potentially oil and gas-rich chunk of the Indian Ocean on Tuesday after a bitter legal battle with Kenya, which strongly rejected the ruling.Kenya got only a small slice of the disputed tract o...

Australia is swimming in avocados thanks to bumper harvests and months of stay-at-home orders that have kept people away from cafe brunches.Once considered a symbol of lavishness on the brunch menu, avocado prices in Australia more than halved from a...

The United States was largely absent in vaccine diplomacy early this year but entered the arena when President Joe Biden announced in May that the US would distribute 80 million Covid-19 vaccine doses worldwide.Biden did not hide his intention: the U...

Hong Kong police will equip frontline officers with a new anti-riot weapon they say is capable of firing irritant pepper solution at targets with more accuracy than offered by existing hardware while inflicting less harm.The force said some of its of...

In the country that first legalised gay marriage, the Dutch crown princess has the right to marry a person of any gender without giving up her right to the throne, the prime minister said on Tuesday.Crown Princess Catharina-Amalia, 17, has not made a...

China’s foreign ministry has called on Canada to be “non-discriminatory” towards Huawei Technologies Co. and other mainland firms after a survey found more than three-quarters of Canadians want the tech giant banned from the country’s 5G netw...

Gabby Petito, the young US woman who vanished on a road trip with her fiancé and later turned up dead in Wyoming, was killed by strangulation, a local coroner said on Tuesday.Teton County Coroner Dr Brent Blue, whose office had already ruled Petito�...

Queen Elizabeth on Tuesday used a walking stick for the first time at a major public event, as she attended a church service at London’s Westminster Abbey.The 95-year-old monarch stepped out of the car in which she was travelling with daughter Prin...

For more than two years, wildlife officers tracked an elk that was spotted with a tyre around its neck. Saturday, the elk was found and, at long last, it is free of the tyre.Wildlife officers tranquillised the elk, sawed off its antlers and removed t...

Hubert Germain, the last of France’s officially designated Heroes of the Resistance, has died aged 101.He was the only surviving member of the 1,038-strong Order of the Liberation – France’s highest bravery order – hand-picked by the country�...

Hong Kong’s rural powerhouse, the Heung Yee Kuk, has defended the controversial policy of allowing male indigenous villagers to build small houses as a “constitutionally protected” right, telling the city’s top court it cannot be challenged b...

A government adviser in Beijing has cautioned against being too optimistic about signs of a thaw in relations with Washington, saying the US will not stop trying to contain China.Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Renmin University ...

The Taliban on Tuesday held their first face-to-face talks with a joint US-EU delegation in Qatar as Brussels pledged €1 billion (US$1.2 billion) in aid for Afghanistan.The hardline Islamists are seeking recognition, as well as assistance to avoid ...

Chinese state television has highlighted a new armed spy drone, with one report saying it will be able to work with other unmanned aircraft to carry out reconnaissance and strike operations.The WJ-700 – which completed its first flight in January �...

A British publisher has withdrawn a cookbook written by a celebrity chef from circulation amid allegations that it contains material plagiarised by a Singaporean author.Written by former MasterChef UK contestant Elizabeth Haigh, the book Makan: Recip...

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has reinforced the importance of an “orderly” nationwide move towards meeting carbon-reduction targets, while chastising local provincial governments for cutting off power in a “one-size-fits-all” approach towards m...

This story has been made freely available as a public service to our readers. Please consider supporting SCMP’s journalism by subscribing.Hong Kong is facing another shutdown after the Observatory raised a second No 8 typhoon warning signal in thre...

Harvard is moving its Chinese language programme from Beijing to Taipei next year, its organiser said.Jennifer Liu, director of the Harvard Beijing Academy summer study abroad programme, told student newspaper The Harvard Crimson that the decision wa...

Hong Kong’s office rental market is showing signs of recovery after being battered by 2019’s social unrest and the Covid-19 pandemic that immediately followed it.The three months to September saw “net absorption” for the first time in two yea...

Fearful of the loss of personal freedoms and losing trust in the local government, Jane Leung* left a well-paid job in human resources when she swapped Hong Kong for the British city of Nottingham in June.Now, four months after entering the country u...

A domestic worker has taken her Hong Kong employer to court over accusations that she was beaten, threatened and in one case, forced to eat porridge spiked with detergent.Secondary school teacher Mak Pui-shan stands accused of mistreating Eden Gumba ...

After nearly 70 years in state hands, Air India is flying home to its founder, the Tata Group. The salt-to-software conglomerate is buying back the country’s flag carrier from the Indian government for US$2.4 billion in a deal slated to close by th...

Gui Congyou, China’s ambassador to Sweden and one of its best-known Wolf Warriors, ended his diplomatic term late last month after an eventful four years.Gui gained notoriety with his unusually strident, confrontational posture, especially with Swe...

China’s top economic planning agency said on Tuesday it would liberalise pricing in the state-controlled power market to help resolve an electricity crisis that has caused rationing across more than half the country and threatens to weigh on econom...

An unmanned Chinese submersible has bettered its world record by diving one metre deeper into the depths of the western Pacific Ocean, according to the machine’s developer.The Chinese Academy of Sciences Shenyang Institute of Automation said on Mon...

Honor, previously the budget smartphone unit of Huawei Technologies Co, will soon launch new flagship handsets outside China with Google apps, breathing new life to the brand since US sanctions barred its former parent from selling phones pre-install...

A former champion boxer is wanted by police in eastern China for suspicion of taking part in an illegal lending scheme and causing “intentional injury”.The case has highlighted public misgivings about the fate of high-level athletes in China afte...

An extra Covid-19 vaccine shot should be offered to people aged 60 and above immunised with Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm doses, a WHO advisory group said on Monday.The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) also said a third shot...

Japan’s Princess Mako visited the graves of her great-grandparents in Tokyo on Tuesday to offer prayers ahead of her controversy-hit marriage to boyfriend Kei Komuro later this month.The visit was made at the request of the 29-year-old princess, a ...

International institutional investors and overseas governments piled into Shenzhen’s 5 billion yuan (US$775 million) dim sum bond on Tuesday, the first direct offshore debt offering by a local-level mainland government in Hong Kong.The offering, wh...

Hong Kong’s leader has back-pedalled on a suggestion that the city’s main provider of public housing pay cash handouts to those on its years-long waiting list, but kept up pressure on the body to accelerate the delivery of new homes by taking adv...